i need help.
Ordered March 9
Arrived at VDC since April 24
Expected Date of Delivery May 3
Still no MINI!!! Thats over 2 weeks at the VDC

at this point the car has not been delivered to my delear. i understand that there are a lot of things that can occur for the delay in deliverey that the dealer has no control. My MA never promised me a specific delivery date. What worries my is that there might be something wrong with the car, hence the delay. I don't want the car the had to be fixed/repaired at the VDC. I don't want a lemon. I could keep waiting or cancel my order. what are my other options?

 

You can find out if there was damage once it gets to your dealer. Otherwise not much you can do. But, here are two other options since you asked:

a. Bust into the VDC and steal it
b. buy MINI from BMW and have them deliver it to your house

 

What does the owners lounge say? Your MA should be getting print outs from the VDC. Ask him to show you? Mine was at the VDC for ten days. There was a huge backlog in California. Did you have the VDC put on any accessories? Another possible reason. Have you called MINI USA? This thread might help ease your mind a bit, but every answer is a wild guess just like the name of the thread "is it a lemon."

 

owners lounge still states 5-3-07 as expected date of delivery.
i have no accessories to be placed on at the VDC.
i have already called ASK MINI and they are of no help.

 

Call your MA. ASK MINI knows nothing after production is done.

 

i talked to my MA many times. he states that he contacted the VDC and was told that they were behind. (behind on repiars?)

 

i talked to my MA many times. he states that he contacted the VDC and was told that they were behind. (behind on repairs?)

 

There can be a lot of reasons for this.

Maybe the car fell off the rack and crushed its tiny head and they are fixing it.

Or maybe they are waiting for some other cars to fill out the delivery to your area of the country.

Or maybe aliens broke into the VDC and stole your car and the insurance company has frozen all deliveries until they can come up with a viable story for all to believe!

Or maybe MY car hit the VDC and they dropped everything to get it ready for ME!!!

I like the last option the best.

 

Hang in there pray4dirt. I wouldn't cancel your order just yet. All things equal, chances are your MINI is fine, just extra time to clear the VDC. Depending on state law, the dealer must disclose damage or repair done to your car during transit over a certain limit. Here in Oregon, the damage or repair must be disclosed if it's over 3% of the value of the car I believe. I was also told by my MA that MINI will scrap a car (means they don't repair or try and fix, just junk it) if it has been significantly damaged. I wouldn't start thinking about lemons or rejecting the order until you finally see it or until your MA officially comes back with a final result.

 

What makes you think he/she is lying?

 

Get as much info from the report as you can, which probably won't be til the car arrives at the dealer. If there was major damage, you'll know. If there was a major mechanical problem, e.g. they replaced the whole tranny, why is that bad? You've got brand new parts (again) and (hopefully not too naive to say) it will worked on and inspected until perfect, which is the point of the inspection.

Oh yea, GOOD LUCK and hope you get her soon!

 

Well, the fact that his MA hasn't given a clear answer is one good reason. OP is absolutely right..behind on what?

 

My car sat at the VDC for a month. The only thing I was ever able to learn was that it wasn't damaged (the dealer does get that information). The car's been great except for a clutch that's more sensitive than those on the demo cars. I considered rejecting it but really wanting this car won out in the end. Letters to ASKMINI and questionioning the dealer incessantly yielded absolutely nothing.

Good luck. If it's been damaged the dealer has to tell you about it. If you learn more, please let me know what magic formula you used to glean that information.

 

My mini sat at the VDC for over 4 weeks, at 1st my MA told me that they were just "behind" then it was "waiting for a truck". Finally after about 2 weeks, VDC came clean with the real story: my car was missing a key and need the all the locks and startup module replaced. That took another week and a half, but at the end everything work out fine. My car was in perfect condition and they gave me the ipod adapator with installation for free. At pickup my MA showed me on the computer that the was no "D" on the comment of the car meaning that there was no damage or repair.
Hope everything works out for you also.

 

Hmmm,..nevermind. I was being pretty selfish,..even for me!

 

thanks everyone for talking some sense into me. i visited my MA today and also spoke to his manager. appearently after my last call, the manager called the VDC himself and found out that the supervisor in control of the VDC had retired and they had a replacement supervisor. Hence, causing a delay in delivery of up to "30" MINIs. they also assured me that the car had no damage or fix performed. also, they will be disclosing to me the VDC invoice/history statement on the car when the car arrives in 2 days. i won't hold my breath. i think that if i had not made all of these contacts with my MA the wait period might be even longer.

 

Good Call/ be persistent

 

Which VDC was this, pray4dirt?

 

It's entirely possible that yours was just wayyyyy at the very end of the pack. Someone has to be at the end of the line

Some other odd things have happened in the past, like the VDC ran out of oil that had to go into each car so they got backlogged for a couple weeks, things like that.

Don't panic. I bet your baby is just fine.

 

Good one!

They must have used cleverexcuses.com

 

BMW's Port Hueneme Vehicle Distribution Center

 

Mine was there a month. A MONTH!!! It was tough because there's just no feedback once it hits the VDC. I had sold my old car in anticipation of receiving the new one "any day now" and went a full 2 weeks as a one car family... Good luck to you - it's definitely the worst part of the process. For me, the delay was probably due to fixing production issues for all the new MC/MCS (arrived at the VDC Feb 7th) as well as backlog issues. I was conversing with someone nearby that was on the same boat as me (literally) and when he got the call to pick his up, I knew it was a matter of time. A few days later (and several calls to my MA), I received the call.

 

Mine was there (Charleston) for two weeks. It had a scratch on the bumper. They replaced the whole bumper (rear). It was frustrating, but rather them just replace than try to touch it up and send it on its way.

 

My MCS was unloaded at Hueneme on May 1st or 2nd. I picked it up last Thursday. Others on the ISOLDE picked their's up earlier. One person picked his up a day or two after landing. Odd that ours didn't suffer from the same "managerial-change delay" that yours did. They probably lost the keys.

 

Yeah, mine spend 2 1/2 weeks at Port Hueneme...

Supposedly cleared the inspection in the first few days, but was waiting for a pir of trucks to fill to come up to Portland, then Seattle. That wait was the hardest part of the whole 6+ months!