[FONT=&quot]Hi, I have been through the process of ordering and tracking my Mini now for about a month and a half. Through this I have gathered from your many posts the steps to track your mini. They are scattered about so I thought I would put them all together so future readers can track theirs easier.

1. Production #: you have to have this to start. I got mine the day I ordered from my dealer, walked out of the showroom with it. Some have reported waiting up to a week or more for theirs, I believe that this is a matter of dealer allocation. If you order when a dealer still has allocation on a production run, you get your number, if not you have to wait until that dealer gets another allocation.

2. Owners Lounge: Once you have your production number you can goto www.miniusa.com and sign-in to the owners lounge. The 1st few days the info may be wrong (color etc) but it will correct itself soon enough. This is really the slowest to update of the various tracking options. Anyway this is also 1 or 2 ways to get your VIN. Once the Owners Lounge (OL from here on) has your correct car, goto the Where's my baby? page. You need to see the HTML code here, so if you have MS Internet Explorer right click anywhere on the page and select 'View Source', for Firefox use the view menu and select 'Page Source'. There will be 2 lines way down the page with your VIN along with all your order options as well as your dealer’s name. Wright this down somewhere!

3. 866-ASK-MINI: This is really the best info for the early stages, production to being loaded on the ship. Call often, sometimes you will get confliction info, just call back until you get the same answer several times. Talk to a person, the automated system is not much netter than the OL. They can tell you things like when it's in the paint shop etc. Once they tell you it has finished production and is waiting for transport, you can move on.

4. Transport: This is where the Wallenius Wihlmsen site (WW) comes in,
http://schedule.2wglobal.com/AppTracking/cargoTrack.do , Go here and click on 'Auto Cargo'. Put your VIN in the 'Cargo ID' box. If nothing shows up wait a few hours and try again. Mine took 24 hours from when they said it had left the factory. Once it shows up, you will know the ship, booking and voyage numbers. The voyage details will tell you when and where this ship is going. The bill of lading number will let you see which VIN's are on the ship with you. you may have to scroll down many pages to find yours.

5. Ship tracking: Now you need the www.sailwx.info site Use the 'Find ship by name or call sign' under the Ship Tracker menu. Once you find your ship you can track it across the Atlantic. If the ship is too close to land it will not show up. It seems that they don't report to this site unless they are out to sea. You can always go back to the WW site and check the voyage details to see if it has left a port. Once it gets close to the good 'ol USA you need to switch to http://aisfree.aislive.com , you will need to do a free registration. This is really a paid site but you can usually get enough info from the free version. They have a really details view of the NYC ports, with lists of every ship updated every hour. Once it leaves NYC the info is less detailed and you have to hope to check it at the right time to see your ship listed.[/FONT]

 

good summary! I would like to point out that sometimes the ww site will think that your mini is going to travel with them when in fact it is not. This happened to me and several others in my production week. The ww site listed that we were booked but not loaded on 3 ships in a row. We came to find out that our minis were actually halfway across the ocean on a different carrier! We spent some disappointing time thinking our minis had missed yet another boat when in fact they were on their ways! Once it leaves the port your MA will be able to tell you a specific arrival date.

 

Another way to track your Mini.

 

This is the absoute best post I have read all day. Every time I go into the owners lounge to track the mini it says its waiting to be transported. Now I can see it actuall left 2 days ago, what boat its on and where it is in the ocean. Thanks , once again excellent post!

 

BTW does anyone know how many days it is across the Atlantic to the NY port?

 

I'd also add that there's a big difference between west coast and east coast, and not to panic if you're MINI isn't in the WW system. It could be one of the other shipping lines (especially if you're on the west coast).

 

Katesmini, the same thing happened to me exactly. This morning, I thought that my mini had missed its third boat, but then I called my MA and he said that it was really allready on a boat scheduled to be in charleston on the 11th(june). I just dont know what ship it is.

 

This is the first think I thought of when I saw the thread title

Such an awesome photo

 

That was I was thinking when I clicked the link!

 

Methinks a sticky is in order?

Thanks for the info!

 

The number is 866-ASK-MINI. I know - I call it several times a day!

 

Fixed the 800 number to 866, sorry I scre**d that one.

 

Great post! Although I knew some of this information, it is great to see it all compiled in one location. Now if you can just tell us all how to sit and be patient, that would be another great post...

 

Great post...I've been dying to get the vin number & was wondering why I couldn't see my stats! AOL stinks LOL, must use explorer!

 

Great summary!

 

Very helpful information and thank you very much for putting this together into one thread!

GoodFinder

 

Thought I might give this a bump. Dave, any chance of making this a sticky?

 

Just bumping.....great summary!

 

I only have a production number and am schedule for Week 27 (confirmed). I see my prod # in the "View Source" option from IE but no VIN#. I also see my Dealer Name. ???

 

As I understand it, the VIN shows up closer to production.

I think Mini needs a hibernation program. Order your car, then pass out for twelve weeks or so, wake up, and take delivery.

 

I just tracked my Mini using W&W's Website & it's not accurate at all?!?

It says my Mini was "loaded on vessel" on 5/06/2006 when I know it was just built last week...

-Brett

 

That's the time travel portion of the production cycle. Your dealer should have told you about it.

 

My Mini has been on the boat for 4 days according to Mini's Website, so I think you're missing the point of my original comment...

W&W's Website states my car was "loaded on vessel" on 5/06/2006 & that's impossible because it was just built last week.

-Brett

 

I was joking... "time travel" as in the Back to the Future Delorean style where the car is loaded on the boat before it is made

 

ww is a european company. 5/06 is the fifth day of the sixth month...

your MINI may be closer than you think...

also, if you want to find a specific number on the ww detail pages, use the "print page" link on the right. it will show you whatever list you are looking at whole, rather than 10 or 20 items at a time.