I just ordered a Cooper S Clubman, was given a production number (no VIN yet) . how do I track the production

 

Register on the Owner's Lounge -- but that is often a week behind. Your MA can track it through production, then, once aboard a ship, you can track the ship, depending on the line.

Congratulations!!

 

My car is in production now (yeah). I got the VIN fairly quickly but I couldn’t go in to the owner’s lounge until right before production began.

You can track via production order number by calling 1 (866) 275-6464. Once you have your Vin, you can put it in to the vin decoder at Bimmer.work and it will show you everything it’s being born with.

 

I have my VIN, bimmer.work reiterated the build detail, as did my MA and he advised that my new Cooper S Clubman is scheduled to be built early in September, which works out well for a planned mid-October delivery.

I couldn't find a 2017 that came close to my specs, so I ordered one the way I wanted. No big deal, but a 2018 build won't qualify for any of the "get rid of last year inventory" deals. Oh well.....

I did not want the moon roof, but did want the technology and JCW interior packages with the paddle shifter sport auto and a few other goodies. Since my dealer in Michigan orders almost all their inventory with the cold weather package and 4wd. Since I spend summers in Michigan and winter in Charleston, SC, I have no need for heated seats and 4wd. notwithstanding the weather here is getting cold (mid 40s tonight)

I am buying the car and registering it here in Michigan rather than in South Carolina because SC will whack me with an annual property tax on the car if registered there that is just crazy. Not much sales tax but a 6% annual tax based on the car's value makes this decision easy.

I don't mind the wait for delivery. I ordered a Porsche 911 years ago and waited almost a year for it to be built! Now, that was deferred gratification! Now all I want is to follow the Clubbie through production and delivery cycle.

 

Same here. I couldn’t find anything remotely close to what I wanted anywhere in Florida (pretty well loaded with the six speed manual). The dealer was pretty generous on reducing the price considering it’s an ordered car so I’m happy.

 

I ordered as well, all the Clubmans in the SouthEast were all automatics.

My tracking info showed up 7 weeks after ordering the car. and that was with the VIN and Production number from my MA. That site is a shell of what it used to be so tracking this time around wasn't as fun as with my R53.

 

The owners lounge website is totally useless. It forces me to login at least twice and when I click on the "track my mini" function it stops working and gives me a black screen FOREVER!

Other than bugging my MA or,calling the ASK MINI number, are there other online production tracking alternatives!

This is ridiculous (and a man in my position can't afford to look ridiculous!)

 

Try accessing the owners' lounge with Chrome. The lounge build-status page probably still uses Flash; Chrome has a built-in Flash module. There's not much current build information readily available at the lounge, in my recollection, but it at least should work that way.

 

Chrome worked just fine, even though it took a bit to load the site probably my crappy internet connection up here in northern Michigan.

My Cooper S Clubman has been built (whoopee!) and is awaiting transport. it will be shipped to Baltimore sometime soon and then on to the dealer in the Detroit area. I will be in that area at the end of September and, if all the stars line up and hurricanes don't interfere, I may get a peek at it. Delivery is hoped for in mid-October which is a more likely scenario.

Build detail:

British Racing Green body, black roof and mirrors
Technology package
JCW interior package (I want the anthracite interior, looks much better than the grey)
Black 17" wheels
40/20/40 back seat
Sport Automatic trasnsmission w/paddle shifters
Spare Tire
LED headlights
Sirius Radio

 

Sounds like a beautiful machine will soon be on its way to you. I was near my dealership when the transport truck arrived, so my MA shot me a note and I got to see my F54 only moments after had been off-loaded. Enjoy!

 

Congrats! You can enter your vin here to see if it is already loaded on a ship... https://att.2wglobal.com/gstattweb/

 

She’s gonna be a beauty. Mine is sitting on the dock as well. My guess is that we will both end up on the K-line ship Drive Green Highway. The ship is scheduled to arrive in Southampton on 9/10 and leave on 9/11. It arrives in Baltimore on 9/19 and in Brunswick on the 9/22 (where mine is headed).

 

Loonysup, thanks for the info on shipping. I will try to follow the loading/shipping process but my primary internet access is via my iPad and it isn't very good, at least here in the boonies of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It might be God's Country, but it is waaay far away from what is laughingly referred to as civilization.

I have been obsessing about my f54 for months and now, as delivery draws nearer, it is getting kinda crazy. My wife is laughing at me, not that is anything new.....

 

My wife doesn’t get my excitement either. I’ve shown her pictures but she has never been in one or driven one so all she keeps saying is “why did you buy a station wagon?” I’m guessing at the first time she drives it, I’ll be wrestling it away from her.

I called Mini today and they told me it is slated to be loaded at the beginning of next week so I think the ship information is correct. I received my order of paint care supplies today and told my motoring assistant to not, under any circumstances, wash the car at the dealership prior to delivery. I worked on a dealership wash rack when I was in college so I know what goes on back there.

 

Hopefully the weather won't adversely impact delivery schedules. In any case, your patience will be rewarded.

I've told this story before. Worth repeating. MINI wasn't on our shopping list. When looking at BMWs, I saw an F54 S All4 at the BMW/MINI Center. I took a close look and test drove it. Told my wife, who was certain we weren't getting a MINI to replace our Range Rover. She agreed to take a test drive. The girl never hit the brakes, whipped around a few corners, and said she believed the MINI Clubman would be our next car. Our poor Jags have become garage queens -- we take the MINI everywhere and are both enjoying it every time we drive it.

As for dealer wash/prep. They really load these cars up with that wax/cosmoline-like stuff prior to shipment and if you don't get it all, it tends to ooze out for weeks and it's hard to get off of the black plastics and the chrome pieces. So if you don't want the dealer to do a final pre-delivery wash, make sure the vehicle delivery center got all the rust prevention gunk off or plan to do some work on it yourself, especially around the bonnet seams. But if you don't let the dealer do the final wash and you get the dreaded ooze, it will be hard to complain to the dealer.

 

I live in Orlando so I'm perfectly happy that the car is (hopefully) safely sitting on a dock in England.

I'm really looking forward to my wife seeing the car and driving it for the first time as she has no idea what Mini's are all about.

Unfortunately, the Mini Dealer in Orlando has an automatic (not brushless) car wash out back that they run every car through. I don't want them to swirl the hell out of the paint and am prepared to do a full decontamination on the car. I'm putting a ceramic coating on it so I want the paint to be as clean as possible.

 

Hunker down. Keep us posted. Stay safe.

 

David-

Our ship Drive Green Highway has been in Southampton since 9/10 and must be loading our cars on board. Hopefully all the f54s there make it on board for the trip. The Mini Owners Lounge still shows my Clubman as awaiting transport but I certainly will be disappointed if it doesn't make it on board for this trip.

I hope you made it through Hurricane Irma without too much distress, although you probably are still without power. Our home in Charleston is OK, no issues.

Tom

 

We lost power for 48 hours, but luckily it came on last night before bed time.

I noticed that ship came in a day late and left a day late, but I’m losing hope that car made it on. I called ASK-MINI after it left and they didn’t have any updates. Next possibility comes in on the 15th. I’m surprised they let sold cars sit so long on the dock.

 

Dammit! Bought for sure our cars would be on board. Maybe the tracking info is a little delayed and they made the ship. Let's wait a day and try asking again, as their data seems to lag reality by a fair amount.

Fingers crossed. At least this isn't as bad as my wait for a Porsche 911 Carerra 4 back in 1999. I had to order it a year in advance to secure the awd chassis as 2001 was the year Porsche reintroduced the turbo which were all built on the awd platform and they were back ordered like crazy. The silver bullet arrived at the model year introduction in September 2000 and I had to wait a couple days for the dealer to install a few options I had ordered. Eventually I got my hands on it and drove it like I stole it. Kept it for 13 years, sold it to my son's best friend and he is getting it ready to sell to my son so it will be back in the family!

 

Have you tried calling ask-mini? I’ve been tracking the VIN iof the clubman two ahead of mine as they have been together all along and that one now says in transit.

 

Woohoo! Called ask-mini today and was advised that my Cooper S Clubman is "in transit" meaning it is on board the transport ship which I assume is the K-Line vessel Drive Green Highway (what a weird name for a transport ship). Next stop will be the prep center in Baltimore next week.

It is my understanding that the prep center goes over each car to make sure everything works, transpo gunk is removed and any damage is repaired. Apparently it takes some time for the cars to be unloaded and prepped before going on a car carrier to be delivered to the dealer so maybe end of he month delivery isn't out of the question.

Loonysup, I hope your Clubman made it onto the boat as well.

 

FWIW, my F54 S All4 spent very little time at the Galveston VDC after being offloaded. I believe it was just a day or so before it was on the truck to my dealership. Hope it's as quick for you there.

 

That’s awesome. Can’t wait to see it.

I called again today and it’s still sitting at the port. I seem to get a different story each time I call. Today they said my car will be on the dock 3-5 days awaiting transport. When I mentioned it’s been 15 days, they had no response. I’m just hoping everything is ok with the car.

 

Both ask-mini and the owners lounge tell me that my Clubman is in transit which must mean that it is aboard the Drive Green Highway transport ship, due in Baltimore on 9/21. That is, assuming Hurricane Jose doesn't interfere.

I would imagine your Clubman is aboard as well. Unless they parked it behind the door......😏