Sorry for any confusion...."sales models" was refering to one of the many Minis the dealer has on his sales lot, not one that is pre-sold.

 

I'm sorry to hear others are having some snafus.

I picked up my MCS yesterday afternoon. I am still so excited I can't believe it! Everything turned out like I wanted it (wasn't sure about the Rooster Red color line with the brushed alloy dash, but it looks great).

The drive home was a blast, even while keeping it under 4500 RPM.

For those wondering about the iPod interface, I opted to skip the iPod interface and am just using one of these with my iPod and the handy Aux. jack: http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/tuneflexaux/

It sounds great and looks good in the car. You'll never beat the ease of the interface in the iPod itself, and the $500+ I saved helped get me a JCW aero kit that is killer!

My dealer had a MCS with a JCW Stage One kit installed. Tried to talk me into it, but I'm happy with what I have (for now!).

 

I take it no one is seeing the usb port yet?

 

I don't have a USB port, but I have neither Blue Tooth nor NAV.

 

Well, our worst fears have come true...

It turns out that our week 34 built MINI has been damaged during shipment. We were afraid of this seeing as how the car has been held up at the VDC for nearly two weeks now (our last three MINIs took only four short days to pass through the VDC). Our MA confirmed today that it has indeed been damaged. They've stated that the damage is minor, but we're opting not to accept the damaged car at this point and will be completely passing on ownership of another new MINI.

After such a long wait, we are now desperate for a car and will have to look elsewhere. I'm afraid that we're just not willing to accept a car this expensive ($30k MSRP) that has been damaged no matter how minor the damage is. What a bummer.

Take care folks and enjoy your MINI's.

 

that really sucks to hear :(

which boat did yours come off of? the medea? the topeka?

 

Maven, that's a sad story. I'd like to know how something like that happened.

 

Sory to hear the bad luck and that you won't be re-ordering. Hope you find a vehicle that you like.

 

Considering the number of Minis shipped each week the percentage that arrive at a VDC with shipping damage is really rather small. But it really does suck when it happens to your Mini.

 

So sorry to hear this. Did the dealer make any attempt to retain you? Like offering a loaner (I know 8 weeks is a long loaner!!) or discounted inventory car (if you had wanted)? It seems like if they sell them all for MSRP, they could afford to take a hit on one, and probably have a devoted customer for life . . . I wish you better luck in your next quest.

 

@tomah,

It sure does suck as we were really excited about getting the new MINI. I've been without a car for near two months now and just can't go another two months without one. The ship the damaged car came in on was indeed the Medea.

@pastabatman, @Tharkun,

Thanks for the kind words. I too hope that we can find another car that we are happy with.

BTW, from what I understand, minor damage is quite common during shipping (i.e. it happens more than you'd think - or more than you'd like to know). However, most of it is cleaned up/repaired at the VDC and the customer never knows that anything ever happened (and they don't willingly reveal it to you). We only found out because we pressed our dealer to find out why the car was being held up at the VDC for so long.

@T-POD,

At this point things are still up in the air while we decide what we are going to do. I can tell you that this is our FOURTH MINI order and the dealership has always been great to us. Our very first MINI was a lemon and MINI USA had to buy it back from us. The dealership stood behind us 100% and was in our corner every step of the way. It took nearly 3 months to resolve the buy back and to get a replacement car ordered and delivered, and the dealership gave us a loaner MINI Cooper S for the entire time (this is exactly the reason why we've gone back to them for our three other MINI orders).

I'm not sure if the same will be offered this time around though as they consider the car to be fixable (i.e. they consider that nothing major has been done to the car and so it's still a brand new car that they can sell without problem) and we don't actually own it like we did the other one. However, I'm damned if I'm going to pay full pop for a "fixed" car. A new car of this caliber should indeed be perfect when delivered. Not "fixed" or considered "as good as new".

Thanks again everyone.

 

My comment about the percentage of damage during shipping was in regards to the BMW policy of informing the customer when the damage is 3% of the value or greater. This is my first Mini so not the expert on BMW policies or products. In the short time of being on NAM I have seen one Mini owner that needed to re-order because of severe damage and a few that had minor damage repaired and took delivery.
BMW is the first car company in my 40 years of experience of buying new vehicles that even has a policy of informing the customer of "minor" damage of any kind. In the past when I have ordered a "custom" built vehicle I was given a delivery date and until the day I took delivery I had no knowledge of info on the car at all.
I agree that shipping damage is not uncommon and more common than new owners would like to think about. In the last four years I have purchased 3 other new vehicles and I have no clue as to if there was minor shipping damage that was repaired before I took delivery.

 

yea ive been without a car a week before i ordered the car on August 18th. ive been riding a bike 10 miles a day. i would definately be looking elsewhere as well. i understand how you feel, though i wish you would reconsider and maybe pick one off the lot :T

i wonder what happened to your car exactly?

 

@Tharkun,

You are indeed correct. I'm surprised to hear that MINI has such a policy as well. I was merely commenting on minor damage that can be easily fixed at the VDC (things like dented fenders that can be pulled and then repainted, scratches in the paint, tears in the bumpers, etc.). It may seem that we're being picky (since they claim the damage is minor) but something really bothers me about paying full MSRP for a car that has been repainted in order to correct shipping damage. We work hard for our money and so we'd like a (near as possible) perfect car.

I'm sure that the only reason the damage was even divulged to us was because of the delay in delivering the car. The average buyer that doesn't follow NAM and watch their car's shipping process like a hawk probably would never know and buy the repaired car without thinking twice about it. I'm sure that we won't even be able to tell the car was damaged once we see it, and I doubt we'll ever know to what extent it was damaged or what was involved in fixing it (another reason I'm leary about accepting it).

@tomah,

We too wonder what actually happened to it. At this point all we are being told is that it suffered "minor" damage and that it can be repaired to "perfect" condition. Hmm...

 

if it was a dent in the body or something, were you willing to reconsider buying it? i mean i can understand if it was some kind of chassis twisting, car falling off the rack issue. i just wonder how minor, minor is to them at the VDC.

 

Good questions and ones we're still trying to get the answers to. We've asked them if they can let us know exactly what has happened to the car and what was involved in fixing it. Based on that information my wife will decide if she still wants the car or not. Personally, I'm opposed to taking it if it required any repainting whatsoever.

We've owned cars in the past that were repainted and after a few years or so the paint seems to fade and not match the factory paint. That's just not something I'm willing to put up with on a brand new car. If we wrecked it in an accident, etc. then that would be our own fault and something we'd have to live with, but not something we expect out of a brand spanking new car. I'll let you all know if/when I find out more. Still waiting to hear back from our MA at this point (and the car is still stuck at the VDC).

 

yea i hear yah. good luck!

 

Thanks.

BTW, just heard back from our (awesome) MA and found out that the repaired car has now been released to the carrier and should be at the dealership sometime tomorrow. He said that if my wife no longer wants it, the dealership will happily order her another one, or try and find another car in their inventory that matches its spec as close as possible. We're still trying to find out exactly what happened to the original one though...

 

My 2 cents: I totally agree with you that you deserve to know exactly what was damaged and what was involved in getting it fixed. Once you know that (, you can fairly assess whether it's enough to make you wise to walk away from this car. My guess is that it won't be so bad, and once you have the car staring at you at the dealer, you'll get comfortable taking it home.

Having just picked up my first MCS 4 days ago, it would be awfully hard to walk away after all that waiting. It's really a shame a fun experience has turned into a disappointing headache for you. Hope it works out in the end!

 

I think if that is all it turns out to be, I'd at least go look at it when it comes in. The VDC is supposed to be perfectly capable of reproducing a factory paint finish, for stuff like the JCW Aero kits they install. But I understand how you feel. The crucial thing to find out is, exactly what was damaged, and how did they fix it.

 

Man, I hope it turns out to be something really minor... I hear ya on waiting so long and then being let down Like has been said, go check it out before deciding, and at least your dealership is giving you the option of getting another one!

My MA got back to me saying the part they need has shipped from Germany, so I'm still another week and a half out

 

Thanks again for all of the support and for all of the great advice guys. I'll definitely let you all know what happens.

@gjhsu,

So what happened with your MINI?

 

maybe you can tell them to stick it on one of those military transports and have it here in a few days hehe

 

While the dealership was prepping the car for delivery, it threw a passenger airbag light. They aren't allowed to deliver a car with a light on. Likely the Body Control Module failing, as some have reported on this site. Hopefully all the problems are working themselves out before I pick it up

 

Ah... Well at least you know exactly what happened to yours. We're still in a black hole. Although... Have you guys seen this thread:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co....php?p=1775100

It looks like another So CA MINI was damaged (this one was actually totaled) during shipping. I'm wondering if his MINI was on the same ship as ours and involved in the same shipping accident???

Maybe the captian of the Medea had a little too much to drink with dinner one night.