Q & A on reason to join the Club...

[macfly]

For all those of you who are not members of the wonderful Z8 Club this Q&A may help make your decision.

[Scott Pettit]

Could you explain the benefits of membership, especially about the $300.00 sign up fee. I am curious as to where that and the $300.00 per year goes.

Please, whoever reads this don't be offended. BMWCCA has several benefits including a magazine, discounts and vehicle purchase rebates- all for 40 bucks a year. The ZSCCA is $25 a year and offers a ton of chapters and numerous activities each year. I am interested in joining the Z8 club but since there are very few owners who do serious drives and the cars are few and far between there does not seem to be much that is offered.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Scott

[macfly]

What is offered is a full time club that is dedicated to supporting our car, and it's particular needs. The Club has very tight contacts with BMW AG, and that is a great help in every aspect of the long term care of one of the lowest volume cars that BMW has made. That is the biggest 'passive' benefit.

The biggest 'active' benefit is all the amazing events that the do in Europe, if you take some time to look through the Drives forum you'll see the ones I've join in are documented there. You won't find the Z8 Club doing too many events in the USA as it is hard for them to plan things here, but I know there are two in the early stages of planning. You also won't find Z8 owners wanting to do endless tours at the drop of a hat like the smaller Z's, we are all very conscious of the mileage each trip puts on our car, so it really has to be worth it.

This board isn't part of the club, it pre-dates it by several years, but I am very proud to be the first US member, I fully support the club, and what they are doing to help keep the Z8 flame burning bright at BMW AG. Without them we'd be lost at sea trying to keep our cars in parts and support over the long term, and I think you'll find that most of us here are in this Z8 adventure for the long term.

[Norcal]

Also, I believe the way clubs are sanctioned and structured in Germany (compared to the casual US) drives up costs. Not to mention, amortizing any overhead across such a small owners group. I also know firsthand of the value/benefits of their relationship with the BMWAG. In fact, quite a bit of the "tech" info on this site has come from or been corroborated by the International club. And the ability to participate in the Euro tours......PRICELESS.

[gutMD]

Nicely stated.
I also feel that it serves to perpetuate awareness of the marque which serves us all by preserving it's desirability and VALUE.

[thegunguy]

Count me in for München!

Also, I believe the way clubs are sanctioned and structured in Germany (compared to the casual US) drives up costs. Not to mention, amortizing any overhead across such a small owners group.

This is VERY true. A "non-profit" entity in Germany requires substantial more effort and cost to both establish and maintain compared to one in the US. And the relatively small size compared to the other BMW AG recognized clubs like the 2002 Club e.V. does translate to increased costs per member.

Certainly the events in Europe conducted by the Club are beyond equal, but the real value, as stated by others, is the direct representation with BMW AG. As you may not know, BMW RARELY directly recognizes (noted by the official BMW club logo) an owner group club, particularly a single model like the Z8. Not even the CCA holds this status. They’re merely recognized with BMW NA.

With this recognition with BMW AG, the Club has been instrumental in identifying and coordinating with the BMW AG on many technical issues with our car. While most notably is the development of the Performance Kit, others include notification on and resolution on the debris/cooling issue, numerous electrical issues, soft top issues, oil specification, and many others. Notification of these issues is sent directly to Club members via mail (part of the cost of membership), but Jürgen, the current Club president, has been kind enough to post these notifications on this board for even non-members to have access. In addition, there is much historical information on this site that has been posted or gathered by the Club and their direct relationship with BMW AG. For example, the production information for each year, color combinations, etc.

Direct representation with BMW AG is vital for continued enjoyment over the coming years as our cars continue to age and new issues arise. The BMW Z8 Club e.V.’s stewardship of our cars benefits all owners. Andrew has been most gentlemanly in promoting memership of the Club, but I’ll be more direct. To all those who aren’t already members, please do your part by joining. You already enjoy many of the benefits – help share the cost.

[hayvenhurstkid]

I just joined. I agree with Rifle that the club is and will be instrumental in the proper maintenance and up keep of our cars both presently and into the future. I also was lucky enough to get a Stratus/Red Kyosho Z8 model which matches my car. Juergen said the club bought up all of the models from BMW AG and fortunately he had one in my color.

[///M Blitz]

I just joined. I agree with Rifle that the club is and will be instrumental in the proper maintenance and up keep of our cars both presently and into the future. I also was lucky enough to get a Stratus/Red Kyosho Z8 model which matches my car. Juergen said the club bought up all of the models from BMW AG and fortunately he had one in my color.

Same here. After meeting Jurgen and Silvi in Monterey (and significant prodding by Cindi Morris), I felt that the Club and the PEOPLE in it are more than worth the price of admission. I'm already looking forward to September 2009.

[pandaman]

Routineer & I both joined in Monterey. I believe it is going to be $$ well spent.
Pandaman
Panda8 2001 Silver/Black

[thegunguy]

It's great to see we have so many new members from the Monterey trip. Now, let's see how many we can get to make the trip to Germany next fall!

[Juergen Wunderlich]

Dear Scott,

I think I understand your point in the previous post and I will try to give you an extensive answer because this is a common question about the BMW Z8 Club e.V.: What are the benefits of membership?

I apologize before writing this because English is not my mother tongue and maybe I will not find the right words to express myself.

The idea and the vision at the inaugural meeting in Munich in 2005 was to create ONE Club all over the world to bring people together who are sharing the same passion for the BMW Z8.

The Z8 is a car, is a car, is a car, BUT! it is a special one, and I truly believe the Z8 is looking for the right owner. Some “short time” owners were disappointed with the car because it is not a real sports car that can drive the fastest lap on a track. For this purpose, we could easily find more competitive cars (but only “ordinary” cars!). I am sure there are a lot of reasons why the Z8 is not a real sports car, but there are also tons of reasons for simply to fall in love with this “vehicle”.

The “vehicle” Z8 brings people together no matter where they live, no matter of religion, culture, government, age, sex, country etc. And this is a key fact for us! The Z8 as “a vehicle” can help us to cross boarders, understand a lot more about different cultures, and hopefully participate in making this world a much more better place to live in (with our Z8 of course).

With being a member of the BMW Z8 Club e.V. you will also support this “vision” and we do everything we can to make this happen…

There are also “countable” benefits for members:

You will get a yearly magazine with all technical things we discovered over the year, a special ring binder, a membership card and a special present with the welcome package. This present has changed over time. In the early days of the Club each member got a silver Z8 pin, which was part of the marketing campaign of BMW for the Z8. BMW decided not to give them away, so we (the BMW Z8 Club) bought them all and gave them as a present to the new members. There are no pins left so the presents will change over time. There also were Christmas presents the last years like silver Z8 name tags or a special Z8 aluminum pen. Things you can only get if you are a member and which are not available for money.

The technical information from the BMW Z8 Club e.V. on the Z8 is worth “thousands of dollars”. Since the Z8 is a special vehicle, there will also be special problems in the future. We had the frame issue and it is certainly the merit of the BMW Z8 Club e.V. to have a performance package from the manufacturer now. It took us one year hard work to make this happen, and all members of the Z8 Club’s board are working on a voluntary basis during their leisure time.

The story about “breaking the news” of the frame issue was very interesting. I was visiting Andrew over Christmas 2005 in LA and gave him a full update about the problem we discovered a few weeks earlier. I will never have such a Christmas time again! Andrew did break the news on this board and the rest is history…

This only as an example for the way we are acting. I am in close contact with Andrew and he will always get the latest technical news. He will post it on this board to keep all owners informed, NOT only club members, following the vision, I tried to explain before. I have chosen this way because we can avoid misunderstandings caused by my limited language skills.

By doing a simple math, knowing about the performance package from the BMW Club e.V. will save you the membership fee for 200 years in case of damage.

As a second example, knowing about the radiator issue will save you the membership fees for 240 years in case of damage…

That is a real countable benefit of being a member of the BMW Z8 Club e.V., I think!

With 540 members from all over the world, 19 countries, and nearly 100 members from the US at the moment, we really have a very loud voice at BMW in Munich and strength in numbers really is the key in our effort to have support from BMW forever…

You may have noticed in Monterey that I am not the one who is going after all Z8 owners for becoming a member. The BMW Z8 Club e.V. is a lot more than the answer to the question “what will I get?” It is also to support a vision by using the vehicle Z8 as a tool and having fun of course…

I am proud to be a part of the Z8 world and meeting all the wonderful people at the Monterey event was a real pleasure. There are some true friendships and being a Z8 owner did affect my whole life so the “vision” becomes reality…

There are a lot of BMW Clubs around, BMWCCA being one of them. Some of them offer good value to BMW drivers, no matter which model they own. The BMW Z8 Club e.V. is a much more exclusive community dealing with this very special model that is expected to become the second 507 for BMW. Hence all activities have to be seen long term, be it the attempt to establish the community around a collectable car very early through reunions and trips, or be it by steadily collecting any and all technical information as long as there are people around who have it.

As said above, drivers/owners are selected quickly, usually during the first year of ownership. Thereafter, we mostly deal with proud owners who want to keep their Z8 for a long time, very different from the average Porsche owner (nothing bad about Porsche here). The BMW Z8 Club e.V. will do its best to help making this long time a very enjoyable one.

But then, of course, we simply like driving the Z8 as well.

[macfly]

Wow, 540 members, almost 10% of the production run, what a fantastic result - keep up the great work!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[z84.6jim]

As an original owner of a 2000 and a member of the club since the beginning, a simple thank you would not be sufficient as the joy of owning and driving this one of a kind piece of art is beyond words other than:

YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!

Jim Trachtenberg
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

[Scott Pettit]

Juergen,

Thank you for for your extensive reply. These were the benefits that I was looking for.

As the president of the Z Series Car Club of America,one of the largest single series BMW clubs in North America, may I suggest that you create a page, on your website, listing these benefits. Your response to me was filled with passion and that can be translated into a "list" of benefits that will help increase the perceived value of membership (can you tell that I own a business that sells customer service and not a physical product?)

I agree that we all love our cars, you don't need to sell me on that. And when I need service, I will either do it myself as I do on my other Z or I will have my (very trusted) dealership handle it. A new owner, who is not into doing their own work, probably won't care about the research that you and the members have done, and multi millionaires who buy the car because it is "cool" and who could care less about it as an investment, probably won't care about the performance package and how it came to be.

So to attract new members, the club needs to develop a benefits page so as to sell itself. This will help answer questions like "why is there an initial sign-up fee?" which, by the way, is unheard of in the US car clubs. Oh, by the way, from a marketing stand point, your currency conversion fee needs to be hidden in the sign-up fee as I am sure that many people wonder why they are paying you or your bank to convert US to DM. I suggest that you just increase your sign-up fee as the way to hide it.

In the ZSCCA, we hold an annual membership meeting and one of the topics is club finances during which we breakdown our budget, what we spend and what we donate. As inexpensive ($25.00 per year) as our membership is, we still get asked by potential members about what the benefits are. This is why I asked.

I am planning to join the Z8 club as soon as I am back in town and my head clears. I hope my expertise in running car clubs, putting together local and national events, hosting car shows (I own an annual car show) and more, can be of benefit to you and the members of the Z8 club.

By the way, did I mention, when we spoke in Monterey, that the ZSCCA is planning to host a celebration of the first anniversary of the Z4 in Regensburg, Germany? The Z4 has moved from Spartanburg to Germany due to the conversion of the South Carolina plant to the X6 assembly. Maybe the Z8 club could host a reception or short drive to help bond the two groups. Just a thought.

And for all of you fun lovers out there, the ZSCCA is holding ZFest 2009 at Kings Island Resort in Ohio over Labor Day weekend. We will open registration around the first of December and all Z1, Z3, Z4, Z8, roadsters and coupes are welcome and membership in the ZSCCA is not required. The event website is being developed as we speak at www.zfest.com and will be completed in the coming weeks. This will be an exciting 3-4 day event including lunch on the Ohio River aboard a chartered riverboat, drives through the Ohio River Valley, car museum tours, vendor booths and much, much more.

Again, thanks for your reply.

Scott Pettit

[DirkZ8]

It is my intention of participating in this Z8 Club organized event as well as the spring event which, I have been told by Jurgen will take place sometime in May in Italy. Jurgen indicated that he would work with me on finding a suitable location to store the car(s) in Germany between those two events. Last year, when I got some information regarding shipping the Z8 for the Monaco event, I learned that shipping 2 cars in a 40 ft container is only marginally more expensive than shipping 1 car in a 20 ft container. I ended up going to Monaco without a Z8. Even though it was a wonderful event, and the 135i Coupe which I picked up in Munich is a great little car, it wasn’t quite the thrill as what we experienced last month in California. I am sure that Jurgen can attest to that.

Some Z8 owners who were in Monterey, casually indicated their interest in taking their Z8's to Europe as well. We’ll see what transpires.

[Obie Wan]

How do I join the club?

[thegunguy]

Follow the Z8 Club link to the left. See Membership.

[Obie Wan]

Also what is the easiest way to join the club. I am finding the link difficult to use.

Jim

[macfly]

Here is the direct link - Membership Form (http://www.z8-club.de/?section=14)

[Obie Wan]

Andrew

Thank You


Jim