Hello,

I currently live in Hawaii, but I am moving in March, probably of 2016 or 17 (up in the air, but could very well be this March, so let's assume for sake of argument it's March 2016).

I want to build a specific JCW Mini online to get everything I want, and none of the dealers really have manuals around here anyhow (because of traffic).

If I had it built in October, would it definitely be done by March? Or could I wait until November/December? What is the general lead time on a custom car? How does the process work? Do I finance all of the vehicle in advance and get credit approval, or do I just put a nonrefundable deposit down?

What if for some reason I move early or the production is delayed, can the car be re-routed to a different dealer in the US, such as in Arizona or North Carolina to finish the deal?

I tried to ask my local dealer these questions, but they couldn't really answer any, and wanted me to buy and drive the one stick shift 2015 MCS orange/yellow they had on the lot, when I'm really only interested in the 2016 JCW in red.

 

Good guide right here:

http://www.motoringfile.com/2015/02/...rdering-guide/

Once order is placed for MINI it can be about 3-4 month till it lands. If they have a MINI close with options or the same options , dealerships can do search t see if any on lot.

 

I'd say it would take about 8 weeks to get from the UK to Honolulu once a MINI is released for distribution. Surely the dealer should have a better idea of how long it takes.

The dealer should have an idea of how many JCW build allocations they get for each month and how many people they have on their JCW waiting list. They should also be able to tell you if the car can be diverted to another dealer if you move before it starts or completes production. Ask to talk to the Sales Manager if the Motoring Advisor can't answer these questions.

Have you looked into how much it will cost to ship a car from Hawaii to the mainland?

 

Build times probably vary by how busy the factory is at any given time. I would expect them to be more busy near the beginning of the model year, and for that to taper off over the year--especially if that is the first model year of a redesign.

We have heard tales of cars that have sat at Southampton for a couple of months, waiting for a ship that is going to the right places. On the other hand, mine made it into a ship within a few days of being completed. Transit times are always too darned long, if you're paying attention to them. (Or obsessively tracking the ship on Vessel Tracker, not that I did that or anything....)

You can see the dates of my order and shipping and delivery in my sig, below.

I paid a deposit when I ordered Fenimore, and talked finance with them on delivery. They did not make any room in the process for negotiation, so you'll probably have to bring that up early on yourself if you aren't going to pay list price. (Yeah, I was a bit dumb that way.)

Each dealer has specific "slots" in the build process, and they usually have ordered cars in those slots that they think they can sell. But they're happier to order one built the way you want, because they're much more certain they can sell it. They will change one of their slots to match your order--or they may swap slots with some other dealer. (Or at least, they may tell you that.) They will give you a better idea of when the car will go into production once the slot is assigned, and production takes the same amount of time (within a day or two), so the finish time is pretty well known. But not necessarily transit time, as mentioned above.

 

Months waiting to ship? lol Not in a million years.


At max, I'd say 12 weeks after order it, you will see the car in Hi. Then you can get in your new MINI, drive for 3 hours and be back where you started...


But if I were you... I'd wait til you get where you are going and start a relationship with your local dealer...

 

I agree that those waits are atypical, but there have been at least two examples that I have read about on this very BBS of people checking and re-checking and re-re-checking the status of their cars, and they weren't loaded for well over a month. Not sure why, but that was what they were saying.

 

Keep in mind that in Europe they typically have an August factory shutdown as most go on holiday. In the past Mini shut down the last week of July and the first two weeks of August. This is why when I ordered my 2014 in 2013, I could not get a production slot with my dealer for the new 2014 year until August 14 2013 and it was not Scheduled For Production until August 21--- and it arrived Sept 20. This is shutdown is usually in sync with the model year switch as well. (This is not only MINI but most manufacturers in Europe).

 

First off, welcome to NAM

I'm struggling to figure out what you're trying to do; take delivery of the car before or after you move?

Normally it takes about 3 months from refundable deposit to delivery. However, since the JCW has limited allocations, it's key to understand how many allocations a particular dealer has, how many are unsold, and when those allocations are scheduled to be built. So, in particular with the JCW, it's a much stronger "it depends". It's important to ask those allocation questions straight-up so they don't dupe you and try to take your deposit with no actual allocation.

So, how about finding a dealer with a JCW allocation right now? Why wait for pricing to go up?

 

Heh, true dat! A one-liner I've heard before is:

Q: "Know what the German word for vacation is?"
A: "August."