yeeeeeeeeeeeeah..........booooooooooy!!!! now that sounds much better!..........I think you were the last week 41'r left to get on a ship as far as we all know... so now were all in some stage of @ a vdc, coming into a vdc or on a ship to a vdc......

so, lets just sit and patiently wait..... whateva.... now, just trying to get my car loan approval in play and trying to figure out how to best sell/trade in my 07 civic!.... uugghh... what a PIA!.. ......

 

Woohoo, indeed! MINI of SA is going to submit my financing app next week and then I'll start shopping around for better rates once I know what I can get through them. They offered me a pretty good trade-in on my '06 MCS (bought and serviced through them 3 years ago), but I'll also see what CarMax will give for it once we get closer (offer only good for 1wk).

Edjd - if you don't mind, what kind of rates are you getting. PM me if you wanna share but not with the whole forum

BTW, I'm really hoping that MINI of SA will do something nice for me having to wait so much longer than usual.... free carpet mats?

 

maybe u can throw in a good word for me at Mini of SA on getting some of those 'mini' logo floormats for my clubman!!!.....just talk to ROB and warm him up for me will ya.....

BTW to all and for what its worth.....took my 07 Civic LX Sedan (45Kmiles/all hwy) to Carmax on Friday and they quoted me a price @ 11K.... which I balked at to be honest... remember, if u look around these USED cars are selling @ almost 'new' prices, very similar to coopers....anyways went to Honda Dealership in Selma and in South S.A. both offering 13K, which is more like it...so will be 'selling' to south side honda dealer.. they say should take about 5 days to payoff my car and I'll carry the equity to put down on my clubman....

NOW..rates.... USAA always has this little 'prequal' stuff in our accounts, so right now I"m at 5.99 offer, but I also just signed up for PENFED account, they are running at 4.75 apr on their loans, which sounds much better, will apply for it l8r tonite/week..... don't expect any issues as last I checked my credit rating was mid 700's... so I guess worse/best case no more than 5.9% (60mos), no less than 4.75% (72mos), currently.. I thought about going w/ MINI Financial, in fact just got an email invite to do so....but not sure they can match these type of rates..just my guess...but don't want to start having too many 'hits' on my credit just yet....

now, I"m going to be doing/thinking of renting a car for a couple of weeks... anyone thinkig of doing the same thing???? the honda dealer said if I wanted, i could wait till the last day to turn in, but then of course I wont' have the cash down I want...so only thing i can think of is just to get a very cheap rental car for couple of weeks.......

 

I've been carless for almost two months now! Mini of Annapolis offered me $17500 for my two year old Cooper (no options other than sports seats). That was just too good to pass up, and my girlfreind has been chauffering me around while I wait for the JCW Clubman to arrive. That's about to end, though......

 

I'll definitely put in a good word for you, edjd, but you'll see them first as my car is at least a week behind yours. Perhaps you should do the warming up for me! "You know, my friend gadgeTT on the forums ordered the same week as me and he has to wait at least another week for his to get here.... "

Wow! I have 16k miles on my '06 and yours has 45k miles on a car a full year newer than mine - I guess I just don't drive enough, but what miles I have driven have been MOTORED . Mini of SA quoted me $20k for my fully-loaded and pristine '06 MCS and I thought that was good enough to entice me to order an '09. I figure that with the tax benefits of trading in versus selling and bringing cash, I'd have to get at least another $1.5k from Carmax to make it worth my while. Since Carmax's quotes are only good for 1 week, I think I'll wait until just before delivery to see what they'll give me. Either way, I have about $7k in equity in my current ride, so that'll help soften the blow with the new '09.

My dad (now deceased) was a vet, so I think I'll qualify for PenFed. Wonder if I should apply now or wait for MINI of SA to put my application through next week first. Wells Fargo has my home and checking, and they said that I should give them an opportunity to meet or beat any other loan offer, so I'll check them, too, but don't think they'll be able to. Agreed on now wanting to many inquiries (hits) on my credit app, but if they're all for a new car loan and no loan was taken out in between, it should be OK, right?

 

I 'commute' from home to S.A..... thus my 'hwy' miles kinda rack up.....used to higher when I worked in Austin!....62miles EACHWAY!!!

if i read the penfed info. on the website correctly, you have up to 90 days to 'use' the loan, etc... once u've done it, etc... USAA was/is the same once you get qualified, u just have a 'blank' check (up to limit of course)....and u decide when to 'pull' the trigger....
BTW: if u go penfed route..(tons of posts in NAM)...u might need to choose option 6 to 'join', thats what I did.... worth a shot to get the 4.75.... thats my logic anyways..

and good for you... I only have ($4500) in equity I'm carrying over, but better some equity than none, huh???!!.. the good news as I understand it, is even though the civic has great resell value, I believe the cooper has a bit higher percentage value so that is a big bonus..when it's time to 'resell' the cooper (I usually rotate new cars about every 2-2.5 yers)... only car i ever straight up kept was an 02 civic coupe.....man, I really miss that car....I hope to say that about the clubman....

 

Ha! My commute is less than 5 miles each way, and we have a larger vehicle for road trips (usually need to bring tons of scuba equipment that the MINI wouldn't hold too easily).

I just joined up with PenFed. Fortunately my dad (2 yrs anniversary of his passing was yesterday) was a vet, so I was able to use option #4. My account is now open and set up for online access/banking. Now I just have to apply for that loan. Still don't know if I should apply now or wait at least until MINI also applies at the end of the month for reason of rates, not necessarily for reason of time-out on the offer.

As for equity, I bought my MINI in '06 with no trade-in and almost no down-payment. My previous car was a leased Audi TT. I loved that car, but after the lease was up, I just couldn't justify the price the dealer wanted for me to buy it after the lease. My '06 MINI has held an incredible amount of value, so I'm sold on the brand. In fact, the only reason I'm trading in my MINI is for another, and the only reason I was able to do so was the high trade-in value of the MINI. Hopefully you'll be as happy with your Clubman

 

Well I'm new to the mini (former diehard VW owner) and got my production date of 10/6/8 (week 41'er).....and i just got a call for my MA that my MINI is in! unfortunately I gotta go outta town for like a week...grrr ah well... my Lightning Blue 09 MC will just have to wait for me i guess....maybe my MA can email me some pics of it =D

 

So yeah guys, my MINI is sitting in San Antonio ready to be picked up... Just that i'm in Lubbock and can't have it till Saturday!! >.<

 

paulie and war, just out of curiosity..... do either of you know which ship ya'll were on, especially WAR?.... because us week 41'rs were predominantly scattered across two ships for the East Coast VDC's... (except Gadgett...he's special! likes drama in ordering a MINI).....
Just wondering out loud, I can't recall which ships left in the middle of OCtober, I'm on the Southern Hwy ship, scheduled to be in Charleston tomorrow....so MA said up to 10 days from then.....just wondering if VDC's is whipping it out!.....

 

Ok, I'm typically pretty good with computers (all tech, in fact), but this one has me stumped... I'm sure it's way easier than I'm expecting, but how do I search for my vessel name? I have Google Earth installed and have the vessel tracking plug-in installed. I tried searching for my ship "Sierra Nevada Highway" (and portions thereof) and don't see any mention of a ship. What am I doing wrong?

 

I just got the call that my MINI is at the dealership and ready to be picked up. Like some others, will have to wait until Sat when we can both get there. Sigh....what's a few more days....plus I have the flu.

 

And I just got a call that my MINI is definitely on a ship (although they can't tell me which but I know it's not a W&W ship) and that it should land in Charleston on 11/8. Then 4-5 days later I might be able to accept delivery. Patience is a virtue, huh? Any other choices?

 

No clue dude... I'm sure it was on a K-Line ship, but it seems odd to me that it arrived in just 5 weeks... Maybe my MA had sympathy for me since I'm a repeat customer. Who knows. I just called up yesterday wondering when it would get to SA and he says "oh yeah, it just arrived this morning". I was stunned.

 

For anyone following my delayed shipment drama (that's you, edjd), the OL finally got updated to "En Route"! That, combined with some other signs seems to confirm that I'm on the K-Line ship "Sierra Nevada Highway" bound for Charleston on 11/8. My poor MINI was stuck at the docks for nearly 2 weeks but he's finally on his way to me.

To everyone else who wasn't delayed and is accepting delivery within the next few days, Congratulations! (I'm jealous).

 

LOL!!! u gotta say something good about OL and that's that it is consistent, consistently late!!!!!

so heres the schedules area again for the charleston port... you'll (we'll) be at the UP terminal in charleston...

ok, so now (for those not aware).... you can jump to this thread and read up on what happens at the VDC.......

for those of us on the SOUTHERN HWY, the ship will be in PORT Charleston at 3:30 AM on 10/30/08.........(might even be possible to get our cars by next weekend???).....maybe, ..... ok, maybe not......ok, maybe....??

btw gadgett: sold my car last night.....so went to the airport to get my rental car (just needed a cheap rental), so I had 'reserved' a ford focus for the lowest rate they had....real nice worker there 'checkin' me in, we just talked, told him I live in the area, just need a car to get around till my other car gets here, etc... so process the paperwork, credit transaction,etc... and the guy says', I hope you enjoy your new car when it gets here and you need to go to "x" parking spot to pick up your rental...........A convertable toyota solara w/ Satellite radio for the same $$ as economy car... .... of course, my wife is like," I thought u said that you were getting a ford focus!"....
I thought i was, too! but not complaining!........

 

Woohoo! Best of luck for a safe discharge of your MINI, edjd! BTW, from the first link you provided (port schedule), my ship is scheduled to dock on 11/7, not 11/8 as everyone else has been saying. Maybe I'll get it a day earlier than expected

Congrats on the sale of your other car and for getting the Solara convertible. Hopefully it'll warm up a tad before your new one comes in so you can take advantage of the convertible for a few days

Did you get your financing all set, too? I now have a PenFed account but haven't yet applied for the car loan. Figured I'd wait until MINI of SA also applies for stuff. Hopefully I can grab me one of them 4.75% loans as my "affordability" predicitions were based on a 6%, so anything less is monthly gravy

 

thnx.
matter of fact, I received the savings account 'paperwork' to sign for the PENFED account yesterday and just finished signing the paperwork a few minutes ago, so will be mailing it off back to PENFED today...I'll sign up for loan hopefully before week is out....haven't had a full chance to really 'sit' still .... and I seriously doubt the JUST announced FED rate DEcrease will affect loan rates positively anytime real soon for most of us...

 

Hmm... maybe I will wait a few extra days to lock in a rate just in case

 

FYI auto loan rates don't "lock" like home mortgages. The rate you get is the one in effect at the time of disbursement. So my PenFed loan could disburse at a higher or lower rate than the current 4.75%. I only recently learned this when I inquired about renewing my loan application after the first one expired. However, PenFed told me the 4.75% rate should be in effect for the immediate future so no need to worry.

 

For those that are on the Southern Highway - it docked in Charleston this morning at 6:55 and is scheduled to begin unloading at 8:00!!!! Getready to motor on!

 

So a brief financing update....

MINI of SA got me approved at 5.25% with SSFCU (they have my current MINI's loan, too). So last night I started filling out the online auto loan application with PenFed. It was taking a bit longer than I had to spend so I did a "Save Application for Later" button and went to dinner. This morning I go back to the site to complete my app and it says that I've been approved. Kewl. So now I have an approval at 4.75% with PenFed and 5.25% with SSFCU. Next is to see what my main bank, Wells Fargo, can do. Worst case, I can use the PenFed loan at 4.75%.

One question about PenFed - the rep claims that the loan starts when the check is mailed and that I need to call them back with the vehicle's VIN and then wait up to 5 days for the check to arrive. Don't they send a blank check like everyone else, and then the dealer fills in the exact amount and calls for approval? If so, why does the loan start on the day the check is mailed? Is this the way it works with PenFed?

TIA!

 

mrng gadge...

do a search in nam on penfed, there are a couple of really good posts...some of them are from folks that have used them considerably, ...if i read correctly in some cases, it seems like there is 2 facets or so of the 'check' process....and you'll also notice in the posts some rumbling on the phone staff at penfed....but for 4.75% loan, i can get over that....
I'll tell you what gadgett, it's nice to know that mini of sa isn't trying to pull one over on you, that's very good feedback and I"m sure not only i, but the others reading the post appreciate you providing the feedback!....so thanks on that note...
I"ll let everyone know what I come up with on my end as well, if anyone wants to throw their feedback, please do....

 

On my last loan with PenFed I bought the car on December 16 and there was some paperwork exchange back and forth between the dealer, myself and PenFed. I honestly can not rememeber if there was an actual "check" I had to fill in and sign like USAA does. My first payment didn't come due until Feb. 1, so there was apparently some "transaction float". On the rate issue, two weeks ago PenFed told me that the rate I receive will be the one in effect on the date of disbursement. When I pressed them for the definition of "disbursement" they said it was when they paid the dealer. Bottom line, it was an easy process. I went to the dealer, told them I had an approved loan from PenFed, signed some papers at the dealer and that was it.

 

interesting reading...mini competitor