Hello to Everyone!!

First of all, we would like to say thanks to Dave of NAM for setting this up for us.

Welcome fellow Mini owners. You do not have to be in the Philippines, nor even be a Filipino to contribute to our forum. Everyone can post here! Now we finally have an official common ground.

As an introduction, our group started out with 5 Mini owners, meeting over breakfast on 2004. Now we have grown to 12 Mini owners, having occasional runs and meets. As the Mini brand does not have a dealer here in our country, our cars are very rare. Turning heads every corner we pass and getting the thumbs up from other motorists, more so if we're running a convoy of 6 Minis. The negative side to this is that we don't get officially serviced by anyone and warranty is non-existent. Our official service advisers are this forum and fellow Filipino Mini owners. Without each other, our experiences with the Mini wouldn't be as good as it is now.

Well that's it. Welcome again everyone. Post away, but I'd like to remind everyone to post responsively, we're old enough to know the rules.

John

 

Welcome to a bunch of hard core Mini Owners.I say hard core because how else could you describe a group of people who have purchased a car without a dealer network.

 

Looks good!
Let's plan more activities then.

 

Congrats!

Here's a shot of the largest gathering so far!

 

finally i can post here @ NAM :D

 

Bienvenidos.
Saludos desde España a mis hermanos Filipinos.

Hello.

I´m the President of the new national Club of Spain, called "masmini" .
We have friends all over the country, and we hope show our site in a few days.Post, images,comments and diversion.

See you in our page www.masmini.com

 

There are MINIs in the Philippines?

I didn't see any when I was there last year..

 

There are - see pics above.

While BMW Philippines does not support the MINI, there are 5 or 6 BMW Dealerships nationwide.

 

Hey everybody! Half Filipino here (the other half Polock- go figure). It's cool to see this group started.

I've never been to the islands. In fact my mom has been in the states longer than she's lived there. Although I'm not really in touch with my native heritage, I'm proud to have Filipino blood.

 

I got a question for you. How did you get your minis? Did you buy overseas and import? Is that expensive? I am asking coz I might move to manila and if so I would love to bring my baby if possible.

 

Hey there. I'm an American born and raised Filipino living in Alaska. Good to see that there's some Minis out in the PI. My uncle used to have a classic Mini, and has desires to buy a 'new' Mini after seeing pics of mine. He says there's no dealers out there though. How did you guys get the Minis over there? Was it hard or expensive to do so?

 

All units will have to be imports of course, from the US, Europe and Middle East. We have predominantly MCS, some MCVT with paddle shifts & JCWs, up to the latest 06 models, convertibles and even GPs. The whole works.....

They are serviced by after-market shops for bimmers and the parts we source from BMW Asian delears - Singapore, Malaysia, HongKong - whenever we go on trips in the region. No warranty though, and luckily we have not heard of lemons yet within the group.

At the club, we help each other with parts by requesting whoever is travelling to get some parts if & when possible. One of the perks of being members....

 

So,
If you import from outside, what percentage of the value do you pay in duties. Say I want to bring my used 06 MCS in, will I have to pay a lot of taxes on this? I am trying to see if it is do-able. Looks like I'm going to PI, just want to know if I should sell now or hold out and bring her with me.

 

Oh, import duty is at least a 100% of the assessed value of the car. Considering its an 06, it's like paying for another unit once again.
Unless you have military or balikbayan considerations, but I hear this has been revoked.

 

Hello! I just want to know if I can join in you Mini Club here in the Philippines? Who should I contact if I want to join the club?

 

pm me your contact details.
will then give you contact info & eb meets so you can meet the group.

 

Ok my e-mail adress is mercenary1888@yahoo.com. You can also contact me through this number 0922 8430113.

 

Bogart, are you Derick's friend?

GTV, JohnD, when is our next EB/Run?

Seems all are busy this Holiday Season.

 

Also, for all's info, we have the flollowing as members and potential members
Members: Derick, Eddie, Eric, Enchong, Janille, John, Joselu, Macky, Martin, Van, Vic, York.

About to be members: Arlen, Dante, Jon, Mac, Norman, Red.

That's practically 18 Mini's (actual and potential members) composing the MINI Philippines Club. Surely there are at least 8 to 12 more driving around that we are tracing and trying to catch that we can add up to the roster.

 

No, I'm not aquanted with Derick. Oh please let me know if you have got any activities, I'd really like to join.

 

Kumusta Kayo!

I'm a fellow Filipino(/American) living in the states.. I'm glad to see this on NAM, just saw the thread now. I'll be heading home for a visit in July (Manila, Batangas, and Cebu) to survey and work a little with Gawad Kalinga. (I do a lot of the work in the US usually for them)

I was thinking to myself the other day about if I move there, bringing the MINI.. so Glad to see you all there!

 

guevasd, some guys in the club are involved in GK over here, too. call us when you're here in Manila.

 

Kamusta!
Don't let the name fool you. I studied architecture abroad in Paris one year, and I have lived in Chicago since I was 5yo. Anway those are stories for another time. I just wanted to say hello to y'all (yes, with a Chicago accent). I bought my MCS on 12/06, so I am relatively new to NAM. Glad to hear you guys (and gals?) are making do with the limited MINI resources. I give you credit for not allowing that to stop you from owning and maintaining the MINI's.

Also, what lead me to seek out other Filipino MINI owners is my yearning for a Filipino Grille Badge. I have created a design and submitted to a manufacturer. The cost to create a metal badge with colored enamel finishes is $300!! Of course that makes sense because of setup fees. Obviously, a mass quantity order would dramatically bring the price down. If I recall correctly, the minimum order was at 30. So I was wondering if any of you are interested?

Just a fair warning. My version is not a true depiction of the Filipino Flag. I did take some creative license, and defintely no political posturing. Most notably, I replaced all blue with light gray, and deleted yellow totally. Why you ask? Because My MINI (aka Nila, short for Manila) is CR/W/W Bonnet Stripes. So I am sticking to the color theme of my MINI. Hopefully there are enough similar Filipino owned MINI's witht the same colors to make the minimum. I also did the same with the British Union Jack.

Let me know if you are interested in a group buy or if you have any comments.

BTW, I would also like to know your thoughts on the term "FLIP". Growing up in Chicago, we found that some people used "FLIP" to mean "Funny Little Island People", or also the more derogatory "F***ed-up Little Island People. I understand it does not harbor as much sensitivity as the "N" word for Afro-Americans, but I am just curious to hear what others think of it.

Later...

 

kamusta, and welcometo nam!!

 

glad to know there are other "kabayans" out there cruising around in Minis

great idea with the grill badge! i have a PS/B MC, a grill badge with the Philippines' colors would surely give it more character

FLIP? first time i've heard that. should we all think of it as a derogatory term?