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So. I finally got inside the car. Had to eventually go to the local dealer give them my title and drivers license. Took 2 weeks to get the key as it was cut in germany. Cost the equivalent of $175 US. By the way, my car is rhd jap spec. i live in jamaica. But the dealer here does not like to assist people who have not bought cars through them. I get all my parts from dealers in Florida which is only 1hr and 20 mins away. I tried to get the key through an american dealer, but they would not accept my jamaican title and drivers license as proof of ownership. if they had, i would have gotten the key within 48hrs. thanks for the assistance and advice.

correction, i cant bring myself to break a freaking light out. i would rather tow it and try an figure something out.

Christ...I am really screwed. to actually get a spare key from a jap spec, do i send the vin to a german dealer? what do you guys do? i can bring myself to break a frikking light out. ima tow it to my house till i can figure this sh*t out. what is the process to get a key made? and yes i tried my sketchy associates so i guess i should be happy that they couldnt do anything. any euro dealer reccomendations? i guess i could get the key sent via fed ex. i dunno.

Greetings all. I locked my keys in my trunk while preparing to wash my 2006 e60. The car is jap spec. 2 locksmiths have come and used the airbag technique to brace the door and try to hook the handle. the car is apparently deadlocked. if someone was in the car now, they would have to break a glass to get out. what can I do?? i got one key with my car. the dealer in jamaica will take 2.5 weeks to get a replacement key. i contacted american bmw dealers and was told that they can only cut and prog keys for american cars. (I am 2 hrs from miami so I can get someone there to mail my key if it was possible) so it seems that i need a european or japanese dealer to send my vin to in order to get the replacement key. any suggestions. what do people in NZ who have japanese spec new bmws do to get spare/replacement keys? help! help! my car is stuck in my friends drive way like a piece of @#$%^ furniture.

Thanks amillion guys!! Jochen? is swapping radios with another 525 difficult. my brother has an 08 that is set for jamaica. However my i-drive tv works but his doesnt. i would not want to lose this feature. i am trying to reach the bmw tech and see if he is familiar with the programs you mentioned. thanks again guys. Changing language from Japanese to English is easy and can be done yourself under the options / preferences menu. You can do it yourself - but if you cannot read Japanese then you need to either a) find a japanese person who can read the menus and then find the setup menu and change the language put the car side by side with a Jamaican car and go through it step by step - the structure of the menus is the same. c) get the English manual and look at the pictures of how to change settings, and then follow the sequence in your system I've done this many times but I cannot rememder the sequence. You know you're in the right menu location when you see an "English" or "USA" option appear :-) As for radio, nav, TV, phone etc: these items are different for the Japanese market compared to the rest of the world. I know it well, as I have converted many cars from Jap spec to Euro spec to make the radios and nav systems work. BUT I worked on older cars, the newer cars like yours are very software dependent. The radio hardware is the same for the entire world, but the software settings determine what mode it should operate in. So you have to fudge the software, or change the car from Japan to Jamaica car and then reprogram the car. Fudging the software is for experts only, if you have any qualms, don't do it. Another solution is to remove your radio tuner, temporarily fit it to a Jamaicain car, and the recode the tuner. This will load the tuner with the right settings for US-mode. Then refit the radio to your car. This method is by far the easiest. However the change will revert back to standard Japan mode if your car is ever reprogrammed, as the US-mode programming in the radio tuner will appear as 'incorrect' for a Japanese car. But if you never take the car to a dealer afterwards, the radio will stay in US-mode. As for relevant questions to determine if someone has experience, you must ask the person "do they have, and are they experienced in, using the BMW expert programming tool called INPA or EDIBAS?" It requires good knowledge of the systems and architechture of a BMW and knowledge and experience of reprogramming cars.

Hey Thank you for your response. just googled that software and it is no joke. i am not really a tech savy person and it say that with unstable current and all sorts of minor stuff, you can fry your computer. thats not a good look. i would love to get in touch with someone or company that has actually done this stuff before. i am scared of trying this by myself. they are a couple people in jamaica that do programming but i am not sure if they are that capable. what are the relevant questions to ask someone if they say that they can do this stuff? i want the radio opened to US specs. Language changed to english, idrive software upgrageed to whatever the current version. if anyone knows anything else i should do to make my car english please let me know. i also want to install a cd changer in the glove and i hear that has to be done with the compuetr as well!!!! it mite be easier for me to learn friking japanese.

Greetings and Salutations!!! I am a new member to this forum and you guys are the only people on the web that seem to have some of the same problems we have in Jamaica. I just imported a 2006 525 m-sport. What a work of art. Problem is its from japan, so the radio band and language issue in idrive are my major problem. I saw in a previous post that there are people in NZ who have successfully changed the radio to NZ spec. I would want to change to North American spec. The BMW dealership in jamaica gargles balls more than they fix cars. worse if its a car that wasnt purchased from them. They are of no assistance whatsoever. any suggestions please as to how I can get my vehicle speaking and acting a little more Jamaican. one love