[shbecky]

Hi all! We ordered our new Cooper S 4 door on February 5th after a ton of shopping around. I'd owned a mini cooper back in 2004 when they first showed up in the US and it once saved my life. I've been wanting a new one forever and it finally seemed like the right time. We went with Thunder Grey with black roof, racing stripes, mirrors and 16 in black wheels. Things got off to a relatively smooth start and our car was out of production by Feb 25. It took a day to get on a truck to Southampton and then things stopped altogether. The status has not chanced since Feb 27 and we are going nuts as we have watched a number of boats leave without our new car. It seems like 3/week head to Baltimore.

Most disappointing has been our dealer at Montgomery Mini in Maryland. He was so nice and attentive during the shopping phase (to be expected) but wooed us with these great offers of providing regular updates and information. We never heard from him after he sent us our production order number. I finally emailed him and he took 10 days to answer (only after I sent a follow up). We tried again and never heard back from him. We called the manager and left a message saying as much and got a short one line response from the salesman saying it can take up to 8 weeks (we were told 5-6 up front). No expected delivery date or helpful information to explain why nothing has progressed in two weeks.

Has anyone else had this issue or gotten answers about the hold up in Southampton?

I'm a huge mini fan but GOSH the dealer is frustrating me to no end. EDIT: I know this is quite a vent, but many of you seem to be familiar with the crazies caused by waiting for a mini!

 

[sirron]

Do the dealers really care after they have your money?

 

[MINIgirl]

Sorry to hear about the frustration. I went through something similar as far as the sales guy went. It wasn't until I threatened to switch to another sales guy and get him the commission that he got his act together.

First of all, are you sure your car is being built in England? I was told mine was, only to find out from my own investigation that it was actually built in the Netherlands. My sales guy and dealership didn't even know the cars were being built there and swore the cars are all built in Oxford (never figured out if they really knew or not). Secondly, my sales guy didn't know anything about tracking the voyage overseas. Astonishing!

Once you have the production number, you should be able to find out where the car is and once it is on the boat, you will be able to track it.

You can always threaten to cancel your order if they don't give you specific information.

 

[mini sideways]

time frame

my dealer told me it could be 8-10 wks before I get mine....I'm hoping more for 8 wks...Mines' been in 'production' for 1.5 wks. My salesman told me that's about the time for 'production'. I'll be anxious to see if my status changes tomorrow. I'll have to ask my salesman if he can confirm its being build in Oxford or Netherlands.
cheers

 

[sirron]

They're just 'salesmen', what do you expect?

 

[MINIgirl]

I got mine in exactly 10 weeks. Ordered in August, arrive November. If it's any consolation, the car is definitely worth the wait! Still grinning ear to ear!

 

[archermoo]

I got mine in exactly 10 weeks. Ordered in August, arrive November. If it's any consolation, the car is definitely worth the wait! Still grinning ear to ear!

Ordered mine January 4th, drove it off the lot on February 27th. And yeah, still grinnin.

 

[Peter]

In the Netherlands they only build 3-doors NON Cooper S models. That's what i've been told.

 

[shbecky]

Finally got it!

Our cooper finally arrived on March 28th! So far I am loving it, although having issues getting it to send instead of only receive texts. We ultimately went over our dealer's head to the general manager of the dealership. Things went really smoothly after that. He was able to call a production manager who told us exactly what day the car would be on a ship and when it was expected to arrive. I was worried it would be awkward when we picked the car up, but it was not at all.

It was definitely made in the UK! It just sat in Southampton for WAY TOO LONG. It's so weird not obsessively having a car to stalk every day haha.

 

[Tiger]

Our cooper finally arrived on March 28th! So far I am loving it, although having issues getting it to send instead of only receive texts. We ultimately went over our dealer's head to the general manager of the dealership. Things went really smoothly after that. He was able to call a production manager who told us exactly what day the car would be on a ship and when it was expected to arrive. I was worried it would be awkward when we picked the car up, but it was not at all.

It was definitely made in the UK! It just sat in Southampton for WAY TOO LONG. It's so weird not obsessively having a car to stalk every day haha.

Ha - I think K-Line Galviston Highway and Oregon Highway quit reporting their positions for a couple days because they felt me watching too closely.

 

[Tiger]

It's off the ship!! Turns out, I was tracking the correct K-LINE ships... Oregon Highway docked this morning and sometime between 5pm and right now, my little orange buddy rolled off and has started his final checks. It's a short trip from the VDC to the dealer, so I should be able to go get him next week at the latest!

 

[02fanatic]

It's off the ship!! Turns out, I was tracking the correct K-LINE ships... Oregon Highway docked this morning and sometime between 5pm and right now, my little orange buddy rolled off and has started his final checks. It's a short trip from the VDC to the dealer, so I should be able to go get him next week at the latest!

I'm envious! I have at least a 5 month wait! ENJOY!

John