Perhaps our MINIs will be on the same cruise together... I'm just hoping to have mine before the July 4th holiday... I get the 4th, 5th, and 6th off of work and it would be great to go motoring for a day or two...

 

My Mini was ordered on 5/8/2016 and went into production on 5/18/2015. Now that it is in production, I haven't heard of any updates (no paint shop etc).

Any idea how long in production before I should get to the next stage? Are there multiple statuses while in production or just in production and then in transit?

Also can I expect to hear the multiple statuses on the automated phone system or do I need to talk to a rep for that?

 

my MINI was 'in production' for 4 or 5 days, then the status moved to 'awaiting transport' today... Im just guessing 3-5 days before it is updated to 'en route'

 

Cool. My estimated completion date according to the phone is 6/1 but I think it might be sooner than that because I've heard that it's only a sort of "build by" date and can oftne be done sooner. If yours was 4-5 days mine might be done by Monday. I wonder if they do any work on the weekend.

 

I would imagine they at least work Saturdays, I work for a Honda/Nissan parts supplier and we work 7 days a week every week on a 3 shift schedule with everything running 24/7.

 

Mine has also been updated to "Awaiting Transport". Mine took the full 8 days to build. So does that mean it's at the docks, or waiting transport TO the docks?

 

I'm not sure, I suspect calling the Ask MINI 866 number and talking to one of the CSRs would yield more information. I am trying very hard to just be patient and not harass the MINi people but it is very difficult 😳

 

During those 8 build days, did the automated phone give you status updates (paint shop, body shop, etc)? Or did you need to get an actual live human on the phone to get updates like that?

Mine has been in production since Wednesday and no status updates so far.

 

I would call and talk to a customer service rep to get information that specific. The owners lounge website will just say "scheduled for production" without any details. I got my actual build date by talking to a CSR on the phone, she was very nice and friendly, they are used to neurotic and impatient new mini owners obsessing over these details 😀

 

Yeah the people at the call center seem nice. But the phone gives you an automatic message (I know the OL website sucks). I was wondering if the phone automated message has as much info as he call center reps or if it's worth checking them when the automated message information hasn't changed.

The message says my car is in production and will be complete by 6/1.

 

For me the automated message said my vehicle would be completed on May 17th and that was the exact day it was finished (I called the rep that day) so the automated messages are fairly accurate in my experience thus far.

 

That's good to know. Do you remember how many days ahead it projected your completion when it first went into production? My projected completion date is exactly 2 weeks.

Do you remember if the automated system gives you updates on sub-statuses within the "in production" category, Ie:

Production Started
Body Shop Started
Paint Shop Started
Assembly Started
Production Completed

Or does it have a more limited number of categories like the Owner's Lounge?

 

Unfortunately no... It just said "in production" on the Owner's Lounge site... so again 866-Ask-mini has the juicy deets... :-P

 

What Mini ought to do is set up a webcam that follows each Mini along the assembly line 24-7 for us to have something to watch for 8 weeks...

 

Haha I'd totally love that.

 

Me too... and now all of my co-workers are asking every day about Nigel, I had 3 people ask me this afternoon if I had heard anything new about him... I think some of them are more excited than me... Apparently I will be giving a lot of rides around the block when he gets here!

 

My friends seem pretty excited too!

I am curious about when it might arrive because I have to sell off my old 2006 mini to make room in the garage. But mostly I just want to know because I'm so excited about my new F55.

 

The status of my MINI has become a topic at our weekly staff meetings.

 

It could be either one. I was surprised when mine seemed to get in to production so quickly, but it sat around "awaiting" transport for at least two weeks before finally leaving England. Ordered 4/3. Loaded on the boat 5/3. Left England 5/4. Expected in CA 5/27. How long after that it'll take to get to me in Seattle is anyone's guess. I'm hoping only a week, maybe? I figure I'm still looking at another 2 weeks minimum before I get my sweaty hands on her JCW-clad steering wheel...

 

I am loving the newfound popularity of a car that I don't even have yet... LOL

 

So I called the automated system this afternoon, and the system said "in transit" whereas the MINI Owners Lounge says "awaiting transport"... both of which are a bit vague... So mine could be sitting in a vast parking lot or hiding in a rail car or being loaded onto a cargo vessel... :-/

 

Cool! When did you first go into "in production" status on the phone? Just wondering how among days I should expect it to take for me.

 

Oh gosh, I don't know... my first call to a live MINI CSR was the day Nigel was in production, May 17th, so I don't know how many days the MINI production process actually takes.. I watched a BBC Documentary on it called "Building Cars Live" and they tracked the production of a 5 door MINI over a 2-day period from start to finish...

(Part 1)

(Part 2)

 

So I called the automated system today and the system said that my MINI is "at the port awaiting a cargo vessel. No further information is available at this time." So Next step is to board a ship and then go on its trans-Atlantic cruise.

 

Oh, and watch the two-part BBK Building Cars videos i posted , just switch to full HD or they look like crap, very interesting and a great way to kill 3 hours of waiting for your MINI to arrive...