hi there--

put my money down (pepper white MCC) on april 17th. heard nothing back until i called last weekend, when i learned that my order went in on may 5th. is that a normal lag--or should it have gone in right away and i'd just be waiting for a production date?

i also learned that my MA, eddie s, had left the company, and i'm wondering if that's related to this delay. or is it simply that there's an allocated number of orders and one can't be officially accepted until some certain time rolls around? i don't really understand this process!

and...once the order's in, how long typically until i get my production date?

thanks for any insight!

cheers,
d.

Where is the dealership located? If it is in Pleasanton California, then the wait would long. I called and was told 7-8 months wait time. That seemed typical for this dealership from several owners. Ultimately I ordered from Mini of San Francisco. Order taken on April 1,2006, production number received on April 4, completed April 24 and now waiting transport.

damn--eddie told me i might get into may production, worst case june--but he's GONE now. i guess my order should at least have gone in much more promptly than it did.

i very much hope i'm not looking at 7-8 months. desire aside, i have a friend who wants to buy my current car who can't be asked to wait that long.

yeah, it was east bay mini in pleasanton.

maybe i can at least leverage this into some good breaks on accessories.

You're lucky to have gotten an order in w/o much lag. I called East Bay MINI too and was told 8 month wait so I ordered thru Long Beach MINI in SoCal ordered 3/31. Built 4/27. In transit right now.

Two week's delay sounds about right on a Cooper. If it was an S, you'd have waited longer. I wanted an S, and Eddie tried to push me into a Cooper a couple of months ago -- maybe because he knew he was leaving and wanted to close the sale? (He actually told me, "You don't need the power of a Cooper S") That scumminess/pushiness and his general unresponsive nature made me go with MINI of the Hamptons instead.

I ordered my MCS convertible from East Bay Mini in mid April and received a May 4th production. The car is on the boat as I type. That being said, I asked about lead times both times I went in prior to ordering, and they were very consistent about saying ~13 weeks for the convertible and 7-8 months on the hard top. It was a good thing I was looking for the convertible...

Just FYI.

Cheers,
--Doug

Well, that's encouraging--maybe my production date is actually right around the corner! thanks for the potentially good news! would love to have my convertible for summer...of course san francisco summer is really in the fall, anyway...

one more question, doug--was there a lag between YOUR ordering the mini, and the order "going in" and you getting a tracking number? my mini is NOW on order at the plant, but it took nearly 3 weeks before i had anything to check for on line, etc. does it quickly move from "on order" to a production date? or am i looking at another indeterminate wait?

thanks-
diana

Well, I'm no expert on this process. But, I can share with you how things progressed for me.

I ordered the car on a Sunday (09-Apr) at which point Robert (the MA) told me that the order would probably go in on Wednesday, 12-Apr. That Tuesday, I received a call to ensure that my specs hadn't changed. After a couple of weeks, I called to check on -- and received -- a production number. With the production number, I went to the owner's lounge and started to track things there. About a week or so before my car completed production, the status on the OL changed to "Scheduled for Production," at which point I found the VIN for the car by looking at the Service (?) area of the OL. Ever since then, I've been tracking it with 866-ASK-MINI ... at least until the last couple of days when I learned the car was on the boat. At this point, there's not much reason for me to keep checking until the boat gets (close) to Port Hueneme. I mean, as much as I would like to think otherwise, the boat's not gonna go any faster if I check.

As for how long between "on-order" and "in-production," I can't really say. Each dealership has an allocation available to them AFAIK. I suspect (an MA would have to confirm) that if they don't have a firm order for one of their slots, they simply come up with their own spec for the car (something they think will sell). If a customer comes in with an order before that spec enters production, then they replace their spec with the customer's. In my case, the slot that wasn't tied up came up pretty quickly. I suspect that how long can be pretty variable based on model (witness the difference between convertible and hard top lead times). That said, I would imagine that an MCS convertible ordered a couple of weeks after mine the relative timing would be similar... but I don't know that for sure. Anyway, this whole paragraph is speculation based on my experience. But, it seems to fit my experience and what I observe of others' experiences.

I try (really, I do!) not to get worked up about the car. It will get here when it gets here, and there's little I can do to influence that timing. We waited close to 6 months for an Audi A6 back in '00, so this 2-3 month wait seems like a walk in the park.

Cheers,
--Doug

thanks a lot for taking the time w/ that detailed reply. it's very helpful to realize that once you get a production date production goes THAT fast. i had it in my head that there'd be a much longer lag at that point.

i'm trying to calm down & actually ENJOY the anticipation too--i just feel anxious & orphaned given eddie's departure. i have no idea if things fell through the cracks or not for me. For example, my order went in without anyone checking my specs. I had to call to find out that it had been ordered and then requested that we check. not reassuring.

but...so far seems all is well...

so in case i see you on the road...what does your convertible look like? i'll be in pepper white non-s, black leatherette, black top.

cheers,
d

Cool Blue MCSC
Black Leather
Convenience
Cold Weather
Xenons
VSpokes

I attached the shot from the miniusa configurator.

I placed a deposit and initial order on 1/15 at East Bay and by March my order still hadn't gone in. To be fair, I was told the order would probably be submitted in June and I'd get the car July/August, about 6-7 months. Being worried that it was too close to the 2007 production, I ended up going with MOTH instead, placing a new order on 3/11. Received my deposit refund from East Bay MINI in April, the same week my car was built and my car is set to arrive in the Bay Area 5/21. So roughly an 8-9 week wait compared to 6-7 months from my initial order.

I placed an order for a MCS in the Philadelphia area on May 6, and I was told to expect delivery in mid June.

Good luck with the EB dealer... I know that Norcal Minis work with them and maybe they can give you some additional feedback. I know that they have a long long wait time... They're a good dealer though!

We just ordered our second MINI, a cabrio S, from Niello MINI and we're production week 19, build date 05/02 and we're in the paint shop right now... Niello has some mixed reviews, but they've been ok with me. I've had some service related issues, but you can read/write about the northern California dealers at the GCM forum. Hope this helps!

As a current 'owner in waiting' I thought I would put my two cents in as well. I was on the order list for March, April build, but my car had not sold by the time to place the orders for April had passed. Once the car sold I called Eddie and ordered and as luck would have it I got in on the end of the April build. I can't explain why, the dealership was suprised also, they were told that my car would be on the April list that is planned for the May build.

So to give you an idea on how varried everybodys experiences are my order was placed on 11 April. Production number on 14 April. Built on 27 April. Car was loaded on the ship 8 May. My baby is due in the VPC Long Beach on 31 May.

I am getting a Works MCS and that may have affected my build schedule.

The dealership is telling me that the Works suspension that I have ordered will be installed at the VPC, not at the dealership, and that's part of the reason for the delay in getting to Pleasanton. They expect my car to arrive the last weelk of June. Needless to say, all of this is subject to change.

Good luck to you with you new baby when she arrives.

Hope this helps...

Well here's mine:

Order on April 3rd (recieved Production # on this day)
Build Date April 21st
On ship April 22nd or 23rd
Currently heading to West coast
Expected delivery to Denver, CO May 23rd

6 weeks and this is for a regular mini cooper.