BMW Dealer in Otopeni, RO

BMW Motorcycle Dealer in RO.

There is only one BMW dealership in RO. Only ONE!

 A nice enough place, built to the specs of BMW headquarters in Germany but it uses Romanian personnel. Not that they are unfriendly, but I did not feel they had an understanding or grasp of the concept of being stranded on the side of the road. Everything they do here is by the book. It was worse than being at a bureaucrat’s mercy. Please let me explain.

Carol and I decided to leave my bike at the dealer too because my side stand really is too short. To travel with a 2x4 to put under the side stand every time we stop is a pain. We thought while we are at a dealership, we might as well have my problem addressed too and have BMW fix my ‘too short’ side stand.

So after our not so good day on Tuesday, sitting endless hours on the tow truck, we made sure to get to the BMW dealer “Automobile Bavaria” in Otopeni, RO as soon as they opened. 

The trouble Spot is the Dark Goo You See 

Nice Bike, But Does Not Run at This Point

We were at the Service Dept. at 8.00, when they opened. We had to wait outside a bit because we were early.

At 9.00 AM a young man, good looking, nice blue eyes shows up and introduces himself. His name is Romeo Daniel Bernech. His English is very, very good. He listens to our issues and nods and then tells us he cannot look at Carol’s bike until Friday, at the earliest and today is Wednesday.

Hmmm, not even look at it? 

No, sorry, he cannot! He takes down all of our information and takes the keys to our bikes and that is it for today.

The BMW dealership has WIFI in the lobby and I found a Hostel about 10 minutes away from the dealership. I saw no reason to stay in Bucharest proper and take a taxi each day to check on the bikes. Hotel Triumf was 45 minutes away in rush hour this morning.

It is too early in the day to check into the Hostel Taxi I just booked, so we hang out at the dealership but by about 1.00 PM we call a taxi to take us to Taxi. (Smiles)

The Taxi Hostel place is not bad, not great, but not bad. We get a room on the ground floor; large enough for all of our stuff (we could keep our riding gear, boots, helmets, etc. under the staircase inside the room).

 Now what do we do? 

We are in the middle of a totally residential area. All around us are small apartment buildings, but there is a ‘shopping’ street not far away. It is time to explore the surrounding area of the Hostel to see if there is something here, near us, within walking distance that bears mention. Unless you love to hear the story of a Dönner place nearby, and some other fast food joints, there is not much. People live here, they take the bus to work, come back at night and just live here. It is so normal, so suburban Bucharest, so Romanian, that that in itself is unique. Most of the time, when staying in a hotel it is ‘near’ something. This place is near nothing. Yes, you can buy food; there are a few restaurants but nothing too fancy. I find a small shop with a minimal amount of groceries and buy bread, some cold cuts, some cheese and we have dinner. There is not much else to do. 

We are parked here, waiting for the BMW people to look at Carols’ bike.