There are other ships going to California, they're just harder to figure out if your MINI is on it. I have heard that NYK and K line have some ships that make that trip. You just have to find out that info from your MA.

 

Qball, great point! The schedule I posted only applies to the scheduled Wallenius Wilhelmsen voyages and does not include vessels that they manage for NYK Lines...

 

Welp. According to the WW site... My MINI just got received at the terminal for the Don Juan, leaving tomorrow! So excited. Should be in NY port on the 25th! Booyah! Anyone else on the Don Juan?!

 

Located my car. Surprised to find it left Southampton on the "California Highway", not one of the usual WW line carriers. Looks to be a day or so out of Baltimore then will off load in Charleston on the 20th. Even wife is excited now. She should be as it will be her new chariot - - or so I'm letting her think (:-)

 

I wanted to make a new thread about this question but maybe you guys would know. So I went to a Mini dealer today and they said that they don't have a slot for me to order a JCW Hardtop. How does that work? I am willing to give them my business but its almost like they don't want it. So what's this whole "limited order/slot amount" funny business?

 

Has anyone been tracking the Topeka. For the last 6 hours it's been doing this holding patern in the North Sea. Very strange.

 

 

Happens all the time.
Each dealer is only alloted a certain number... If you read through the posts, you will see its not just you..

 

Febmoon, Ok, great news, glad to see you made It ashore
I just left a post on another thread checking on your status....l

 

Officially loaded onto the Don Juan. Leaving port Southampton today. Just ten days on the water and he'll be in NY! (Well, NJ rather.) So I'm guessing a rough 3 weeks till I take delivery of him. Can't wait!

 

Nice! Looks like a blast to drive!

 

I had to wait two weeks for a JCW Hardtop allocation. As far as I understand, dealers get assigned allocations for each type of vehicle, and the number of allocations depends on their sales volume as well as the individual dealer's sales performance. JCW's have a very low sales volume overall, so the allocations are extremely low. I think allocations are assigned every month, but I haven't been able to confirm that. If you have multiple dealers around you, you can call them asking if they have an allocation available. A larger dealer would more likely have a slot. Seems a bit unfair... but I guess that might make smaller dealers try a lot harder to keep your business.

Hope that helps, good luck!

 

Sweet!
My first MINI came over on the Don! In 2002

 

That's pretty sweet! This will be my 3rd MINI, but first brand new one that I got to build. Whole process is extremely new to me, but it's so exciting to see every step go by knowing I'm the one who picked everything on this car. Starting to wish I would have just ordered a JCW, but I've decided for my 21st birthday I'd just get the JCW package added on. Figured that would work. Lol.

How awesome is that Roadster?! I haven't got to see one in person yet.

 

OMG - 21..and your 3rd MINI wow !
I agree the fact you can order to your specific taste is very cool
The Roadster is awesome...

 

+1

 

Yup. Got my first MINI when I was 17. It was a 2003 R50. Had it for 8 months before I realized I "needed" a S. So I upgraded to a 2007 Cooper S. Love these cars!

 

My Absolute Black CMS is FINALLY en route! Anyone else aboard the Don Juan??? Due in NJ/NY 4/25.

 

That's awesome !

 

Thanks ... I am blessed

 

Thanks for the clarification. It just doesn't make sense why MINI does that. Is it because their factory can only output so much and it's an issue of higher demand than supply? Just blows my mind because I never heard of such a thing when trying to buy a car.

 

My MINI is on the Don Juan also! Waiting for the NJ/NY port too! How stoked are you?! Ten days!

 

I believe most if not all auto manufacturers use an allocation system. High volume cars like a Camry will probably always have units in the production pipline that can be altered to a customer's specifications. It also wasn't a problem when dealers carried large stocks of cars on their lot, decreasing demand for custom orders. The allocation problem seems to be more prevalent everywhere now, however, seeing as dealers are starting to carry a lot less inventory.

I think the allocation system is in place to try and put the supply where the demand is. Unfortunately if you never supply certain dealers, and you base future allocations off sales that they can't make because you never gave them any cars in the first place... seems like a vicious cycle. I believe dealers can trade allocation slots, but I don't know how efficient that is.

 

Wow, very interesting stuff. Thanks.

 

Aren't we all, just being a part of this thread. We're very fortunate