Congrats! Welcome to the Waiting Club!

 

Cyber...What form did this announcement take? Automated ASK MINI says "production is complete and is waiting to be released to the carrier." Human ASK MINI says undergoing final QC checks, and they can't tell me any more. Did you get anything more definitive than that? What's funny is no matter how much info we know, we're not pushing it along any faster. It's like pressing an elevator button a hundred times. Does nothing really, but makes us feel like we're doing something.

 

How do you know that Chase is in a parking lot waiting to get on a train and not on his way to Bremerhaven? Just curious because my CM was completed yesterday and ASK MINI led me to believe that mine was on its way. I was wondering if they really knew that information or not.

Regardless, congratulations. I am anxious to start tracking mine across the ocean hopefully next week.

 

Lenmonster, you are right that this doesn't speed up the process, especially the next week as all these vehicles sit at port. We aren't going to make the ship leave any faster.

I was thinking about your analogy and wanted to add to it - I view this as looking at the numbers on the elevator to know where it is. If it gets stuck on the 3rd floor, I will want to call someone to get it unstuck.

If nothing else I like talking with everyone here and hearing about our different cars and experiences.

 

Ask your MA to check your status code. The code is very specific. 183 means completed, released to carrier and awaiting transport BUT not actually on its way to the port.

190 means it is on its way to the port.

193 is at the port

195 is loaded on the vessel

 

Oh so close! My MA told me I am at status 182 - "Handover to carrier/load assig".

 

My last mini was ordered over 5 yrs ago was the same then as it was for the CM. The Owners Lounge is about 2 weeks behind. My MA told me the production date, 2 weeks later it showed in production. Etc.

 

Released to carrier -- let's get to the darn boat!

 

MA said I left the factory last night and on the way to the port!

 

Cool! Time to monitor the webcam at Bremerhaven.

 

Auto ASK MINI now says "Your vehicle is released to the carrier and is waiting transportation to the port of exit."

 

Good stuff! We'll probably be on the same cargo ship..

 

I was just wondering if anyone has been checking WW to see if their VIN has been checked in. I've been checking mine and it isn't showing up yet. I didn't expect much to happen over the weekend, but I do hope it gets on one of the ships that depart this week.

 

Mine isn't showing up yet. Even my owner's lounge is showing Awaiting Transport, so we know it left the factory. I do think that most likely it's going to be a week. If it ships WW, then the next ships don't leave until the 26th or 27th of January. Hopefully they'll catch one of those. The Independence II , Tampa, and Torino are all in that group and arrive right around each other in Baltimore (my port of entry) around the 10th or 11th of Feb. So I'm hoping that sometime around the end of this week, my MA will email with the ship. He's been good about emailing me weekly unsolicited to give me updates.

 

How long does it usually take after assembly complete until it hits a ship? Ours is due to complete tomorrow, Jan 24, and it would be great if it could make the Jan 27 ship at bremerhaven. Is that realistic?

 

I don't really know. I guess it depends on how many other cars are waiting to get on said ship, but even if it doesn't hit the 26th or 27th, there's another group a week later. I seem to remember reading that some waited a while at the port and didn't roll right onto a ship. It will be fun once we know which ship we're on. I actually can see the port from a frequent driving route and I pointed out a WW ship docked to my kids yesterday. You can see it from 1-95 in Baltimore, and I actually accidentally drove to the storage lot one time when I was dropping my brother and sister in law off for a cruise at the port of Baltimore and I drove down a wrong street. I just hope the voyage is one that doesn't inflict any damage on my car.

 

That won't happen, sorry to say. It gets to be a frustrating time waiting until the car reaches Bremerhaven.
The next step....the car needs to be released for transport (by train) once it is completed. Ours sat for two weeks at the factory in Graz even though ASK-MINI said it was released for transport. It took that long until it was loaded onto the train and then it sat an additional 2 weeks in Germany and we think that was due to the sticker issue (rear axle weight number not being printed on the sticker).

Sit tight and be patient.

 

That's what I'm afraid might happen. Trying to coordinate selling our MCS and prefer not to be without a second car for several weeks but might have to just bite the bullet and sell it while hoping it doesn't take too long for our CM to get here.

 

Ah the memories of waiting and waiting once production was complete. 03mini-S's car and mine were transported together. That was the worst part of the process, knowing your car was just sitting there while ships came and went.

 

Our CM is now complete!

Status per ask mini rep is "Handover to Carrier/Load Assignment". She did not know the status code. Anybody know if this means it's getting ready for a ship or if it's just getting on a train to get to Bremerhaven?

 

I don't think it's yet on a ship. My MA just emailed me about an hour ago saying that my car has left the factory and is on its way to Bremerhaven. ASK MINI has "released to the carrier and awaiting transportation to the port of exit." I think it will be a bit until you hear anything else. Your ship assignment is the next thing you will hear most likely.

 

You are still in Graz and waiting to be loaded on a train to the port at Bremerhaven. Your MA can give you the specific status code.

ASK-MINI will not be able to supply futher updates once your car arrives at the port, then you will have to rely on your MA.

Congrats to both Lenmonster & lindseybp, it won't be long now...

 

Saw my first "wild" countryman .... In Lisbon, Portugal. Can't call mini for a week!

 

so, when calling 866-ask-MINI, I feel really dumb asking them for a production update... it's not like they don't have an automated system that gives me this data already...

so what do you ask them when you call?

(I couldn't even get to talk to a human today, the peppy-man-voice didn't "hear" any of my responses)

 

"I'd like to check the status of my MINI order please" - this is their job, no need to feel awkward using the number or asking the question. It is not like they have something better to do

Also, you don't have to use any voice commands for the automated system, you can use the phone's keypad. Dial the number and wait for response to start, then press 2 and wait for response to start, then enter your production number, wait for response to start then press 1. No need to wait for voice response to complete.