So I'm crazy for thinking about two things, I'm known to be crazy but would like your opinion to see if I'm not going overboard with my craziness and not thinking through.

PART I:
Getting a used MINI from a dealer 2400 miles away. It's a CPO in the color I want with all the features I want + it's a great deal!
I'm planning to do all the initial work online and fly in to pick it up.

PART II:
Instead of getting it shipped, I'm excited about flying in and driving the MC across the country during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend and take a day or two off. And planning to take detours, so the trip now looks like ~2800 miles.

Questions about PART I & II of craziness:
- is the MINI CPO program good. Can I confirm this car online as it's a CPO?
- is it sensible doing the cross country trip?

Would love your $0.02 to support/discourage my craziness!

 

Crazy, no f***ing way, your brilliant. CPO is always smarter than new if you can get what you want and a good deal (especially if your arranging your own finance). Cross country drive is my dream, if I could only fine the time and the motivation.

 

I traveled about 1,000 miles to pick up our convertible. Had a GREAT time driving it back home. If I had to travel 3,000 miles, I would have. After all, I was considering one in San Diego before buying the JB MCSC.

Just one word of advice: Since you're not buying from a NAMmer whom you can trust as a true MINI enthusiast (CPO, or not), ask a NAMmer who lives close to the seller to go check it out for you. That's what I did and that's why I did not fly out to San Diego to by the one MINI we were considering.

 

While I can't definitively comment on your mental state, your proposal sounds quite reasonable to me. A stated earlier, I would get it checked out by a trusted source before flying, but otherwise, it's spring - the perfect time for a road trip! Good lick

 

ROAD TRIIIIIIIIP!!!!

 

Oooooh yeah!! Am glad all of you are on my side!! Now to look for a NAMmer! Get the deal done and then road trip planning, yeaaa!!

 

ooh can anyone direct me to roadtrip resources? 3000 miles in 4 days is mostly driving by with not many stops..I think it's doable!

 

+1 Nothing like an adventure to bond with your new friend.

 

PART II:
Instead of getting it shipped, I'm excited about flying in and driving the MC across the country during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend and take a day or two off. And planning to take detours, so the trip now looks like ~2800 miles.

A day or 2 off is not going to be enough I would at least take if not 4 just for a recovery day. But what I am hearing from this whole thing is "No *****"

 

I backpack a lot, and always pack in more than most people..I've got threads on at road trip planning forums and getting the same, but do know my capabilities..would get the same response when I would plan my backpack trips..

 

get a good radar detector before you head out to pick it up

 

mine was about 1000 miles away from me as well and I flew down and drove back. I found a NAMer to check it out in person since I couldn't and it gave me peace of mind about what I was getting. I doubt my wife would have agreed if it was 2400 miles though

 

We did it too, but about 1000 miles away. Road trip bonus!

 

Where do you live and where is the car? Some drives in this country are amazing, others are horribly horribly boring (think Western Kansas or I-40 through AZ / NM / TX). It'd also help us find a NAMer for you to look at it.

 

+1 on having a NAM'er close to the car go check it out! This will save you a lot of hassle. Where's the car located? If it's within an hour of me, I could grab my mechanic friend and go take a look...

Advice for the road trip: Go to AAA and get a triptik. My parents do this every time they drive out here and they always end up with great road trips when they do it.

http://www.aaa.com/AAA_Travel/AAAMap...directions.htm

Also... if the car is used, does it have BMW roadside assistance on it still? If so, no worries, if not... I might consider signing up for AAA if you don't already have it. Of course I don't foresee any problems, but any time you're taking a trip of that distance, the last thing you need is to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with a guy at a gas station staring at your head who is asking you for the fifth time, "So what kinda car is that again? It don't look like no Chevy. We only work on Chevys and Fords 'round here."

Better safe than sorry!

Oh... and no you are not insane. I'm planning a similar road trip for next year with Viola. I think I might just motor on out to the dragon next year for MOTD and that's about 2400 miles for me.

Sometimes, if it's the right thing, you do what you've gotta do.

 

Thanks for the inputs guys, I've got in touch wit a NAMmer who will look at it. I have AAA and when I'm bored at work, I'm fiddling around with TripTik and Google Maps. The car is also a CPO so it does have roadside assistance. Now just hope the car works out fine and all's well that ends well

And yes, I feel this one is meant to be, I've been craving for a trip, and this is making it multi-purpose

 

This post is exciting. I am excited for you! I am imagining what you felt when you FIRST came accross your PERFECT CPO MINI match.

That's amazing. It doesn't happen very often that you find exactly what you want! It's meant to be!

 

Yes! What Carlisle said! Keep us posted and if you can, send updates from your trip! We'd love to hear how it goes!

 

Keep you posted guys! And yes, when I saw it, was love at first sight! Cause I made this crazy excel sheet and kept looking for cars adding/deleting off my list, numbering them in order of preference and when I saw this, the excel which was always open has been kept to rest

Thanks for your support, I really hope it works out! And I have the most awesome first 3000 miles bonding experience driving her back

 

Every time I see this thread title pop up on the "new posts" lists, I hear Gnarles Barkley in my head.

Yep, keep us posted, elusion. It's like watching a tv show and you can't wait to see how it ends.

 

Nope, not crazy!

We flew to Houston to buy ours... about 1500 miles back home. If we'd had more time we would have taken a bit more of a detour but timing was bad.

The husband has a cousin that came over from Switzerland for a visit to my MILs house in Maine. He bought a POS car for $400 and drove cross country to California by himself! He's a little skinny, nerdy kind of guy and although he speaks English pretty well... you could definitely tell that he was a "foreigner". At some point in his journey some guy ran into his car. The guy that hit him paid him money and he bought a bus ticket and finished his journey. SO... if he could do it... YOU definitely can!

Your story reminds me of our own decision making process. We were just going to pay to have our car shipped but we ended up making the trip instead. We thought we were crazy too! It was a little more expensive but more fun. The only problem was trying to fit in between hurricanes Gustav and then IKE. Ended up that we had to wait until after IKE... but it all worked out.

Good luck!

 

DO IT!!!!

 

You guys are simply AWESOME!! Am glad I fit into adventurous MINI owner category Impatiently waiting to hear back from the NAMmer about the car, cause then I can get the paperwork started and start planning the roadtrip. This is turning into a reality show, but way cooler than some of the lame ones on tele!!