Is it just me? Or, doesn't this process feel more like navigating an obstacle course than buying a car.

If anyone gets word tomorrow about what's going on at the VDC in Newark, thanks in advance for letting us know.

 

Living in the age of instant information has a lot to do with this feeling of urgency. Somehow if we don't have up to the minute data we feel lost. And it's not just with our Minis!

I was thinking back to 1986 when we ordered a new Taurus station wagon from the local Ford dealer. We went to the dealer filled out an order sheet, gave them a deposit and 2 months later our car arrived. There was no checking to see where the car was in the build process, no worrying about where the truck was, or if it would be delayed by bad weather in Wyoming.

Perhaps those that ignore the OL, ASK-MINI and the WW website are smarter, healthier and happy. NAH I don't think so, we all obsess about something and what better to obsess about then a NEW MINI!!!!!!

 

We didn't track my wife's MINI and when it showed up a couple of weeks early we were both surprised and thrilled. With mine, I have been obsessively tracking her and now I worry about the 20 inches of snow that hit Newark! Oh, well, what else do we have to do!

 

I can't seem to find any fresh word on Integrity's position as of this morning. Sailwx.info shows her last position yesterday at 6:00 pm as about 200 miles out. The firstnynj.com site shows the following, but note that the info has not been recently updated:

Vessel Schedule Result:
Vessel INTEGRITY
Call Sign WDC6925
TerminalBerth # Public Berth - NJ 17
Cargo Autos
Estimated Arrival 2/13/2006 06:00
Estimated Departure 2/13/2006 11:00
Actual Arrival
ActualDeparture
Updated 2/10/2006



Maybe we'll get an update sometime later today. Wildlifesc - what's the last position you're showing with your tracking? Hope the dockworkers in NJ are kind enough to offer my car a blanket as she exits the toasty confines of her cruise ship.

 

4 More days

 

Don't worry, these auto carriers seem to turn off the tracking beacon when they get to around 200 miles from shore. The Boheme followed the same pattern. The firstnynj site never showed an update for Boheme either but I kept checking the WW tracking site with my VIN until I finally saw that my MINI had been off loaded.

 

My dealer is only 10 miniuites away and I went over to drop off a few things for my car. I learned that I'm actually scheduled for transport to Philadelphia tomorrow, a day earlier than listed on the OL. The MA said to expect delays however, perhaps until the end of the week given that it's alot worse in NY/NJ with 26 inches having fallen there. Even the dealership here is closed until they can plow their parking lot. So the obstacle course continues to do what it does best.

 

Just checked the WW Voyage Details page, it looks like the Integrity has finished it's business in New York and has set sail on it's way to Baltimore!!!!

Jason

 

Yep...hopefully she's unloaded in NY & back out to sea. Her position has not been updated on sailwx.info for over 36 hours, so she's not reporting weather yet. Once clear of the harbor, maybe we will get a fix on her this afternoon. Hopefully she'll clear all this white frozen crap and make her way down south to Charleston where she'll get a nice warm welcome! (Forecasting temps in the 70s for this weekend. I will be at Edisto Beach prepping my offshore boat for the coming season...maybe I'll mosey on over to the wharf and see my baby unloaded this Saturday! Yeah right!)

 

I would tend to agree with this statement, but the weird thing is the Integrity is still on the map (not moved in the past 24hrs)... What you don’t see on the map are the ships that would obviously be at the docks with beacons off. I would think if the integrity had its beacon off it wouldn’t show up anymore. I think it’s out there for a reason..waiting for traffic to clear and get the okay to head in. But then again, i could be totally wrong, which i hope i am

 

Last time I checked Sailwx for Boheme, it still showed about 200 miles out of Halifax - this even though it was docked in Halifax. Sailwx continues to show the previous voyage dots until the ship shows on its' next voyage. I just checked, Boheme still shows the same position.

 

i don't mean just the dots, I now understand what you are talking about - and that may very well be...but this certain page I see shows (all) ships out to sea, by name and a dot...and the Integrity is still there..while other ships that were sailing close with it a few days past are no longer there by name..but the Integrity still is.

 

and maybe you can check to see what I mean...go to Sailwx and click the drop down on 'Ship Tracker'..then hit the first one ('Ship Traffic Worldwide') and then click around the New York area to zoom in...You still see the Integrity sitting there. Thats the sceen I'm looking at. Do you see the same?

 

OL now shows my delivery date as tomorrow!!!! It was originally 2/16

 

Where is the delivery date? Does it pop up when you move out of the "En Route" status?

--dwf

 

My status in the OL is "at distribution center". If I click "review order detail", all I see now is an estimated delivery date

 

Correction, my MINI is at the dealer My MA just called!

Roof rack is being installed tomorrow, picking the car up on Wednesday!

 

Saakey:
I just read your latest post and I quess I'm too late to see this. I did try the world wide view and zoom in on NY, but the Integrity doesn't show for me at this point - hopefully that means she is in port. Actually, the WW site shows that she has left NY now.

 

I've been DISCHARGED from the INTEGRITY as of 8:00 this morning. Looks like the WW site's been updated. If you were on her and scheduled to be "offed" in NYC, it's time to check your VIN's please. Guess they at least got an area plowed clear to drive our little babies into. Just think if your job was to clear the two feet of snow off all the cars that were buried by the storm. Hope they're not too reckless with that snow brush!

 

Wheeeeeeew.... Yep Discharged now! ...come on transportation truck, take good care of our babies and come home safe

 

Hmmm. "Review Order Details" for me is oddly blank.

--dwf

 

Their website was back up today. I've been able to confirm that the Sirius Leader is still an NYK ship. But their RoRo site (NOT Firefox friendly, use IE) doesn't have much to offer.

They don't show any regularly scheduled Southampton to Port Hueneme route nor do they have VIN tracking.

So I guess we're down to 7 days to Port H. Nothing more to find out.

--dwf

ps: my Miata (which the MCS is replacing) finally manifested its jealousy after nearly 14 years that I needed to pay for one last repair visit and dumped coolant all over my driveway over the weekend. Ugh. I guess I'm waiting another month for the Bluetooth kit, IPod, and Icelink+.

 

The "Review Order Details" page was also blank for me when the car was still at the VDC. If seems as if an estimated delivery was set only when the car was on its way to the dealer.

The good news is that it arrived a whole 3 days earlier than the OL told me it would.

Having the factory rack installed tomorrow, and picking up on Wednesday

 

My Review Order Details screen is also blank. I'm a little concerned because it never updated to show the Interior Description, but my MA assures me it's in the options he sent.

 

Congrats!!