Argggghhhh!

My MCS has been sitting at the dealer since LAST FRIDAY waiting for its title to show up! As of this afternoon, the dealer -- Habberstad MINI (and I've gotta say, they're losing stars on their dealer rating the longer this nonesense goes on!) in NY -- says that they still cannot locate the title documents which are "someplace" between BMW NA and Habberstad. Apparently the process of getting titles is more than a bit mysterious to this dealer and the operating principle seems to be "we wait, and they magically arrive." The salesperson wasn't even sure how to do a fedex trace. Of course, after I spoke to the dealer's finance person (who handles the mundane details like actually delivering the cars), it turns out that there's nothing to trace since BMW claims that the title is simply "unavailable"...and everyone is just supposed to wait.

In the meantime, I have no car (really, no car...I've already sold my other car!) and soon no valid license plates as plate transfers expire in MA after 7 days. Once that happens, I have to extend the process a whole other week while I deal with a long distance registration.

I understand that I've set myself up for a more complicated deal than just going down to the corner car store to pick one up off the lot...but the general level of incompetence in logistics I've experienced here (dealer, ASK MINI, BMW) is quite frustrating. Yeah, it'll all be worth it eventually, but sheeeesh. And given what I've heard about many MINI service departments, I hope that I can stay as far away from them folks as possible. As usual, I love cars, but I (am getting to) hate the manufacturers and dealers.

BTW, I hear --for what it's worth -- that my title isn't the only one "unavailable." Turns out that the backlog of cars in NJ has resulted in a backlog of paperwork for BMW. That, and the fact that most of the NYC area (where my dealer is and where BMW NA is) is shut down for the rest of the week doesn't look real good for most new northeast deliveries.

Thanks for letting me rant and rave...yech.

 

I didn't get my ONLY remote key because it's was either never sent with the car or was lost when the car was offloaded on the lot. Since I'd driven 6 hours in a 1-way rental to pick it up, I wasn't going to let it stop me...but I STILL haven't got the key and the dealer hasn't called back to confirm they've orderd a replacement key. I'm also missing a couple of the dealer-programmed options I requested. Not as bad as not getting the car...I'm sorry!!!!

 

Jsun,

Your dealer can't allow a vehicle on the roads before first knowing WHO it belongs to in case there is an accident. But...

For a dealership to totally not have the legal documents with it's product IMHO is well.. suspicious. To pass the responsibility overseas to BMW is lame.

How patient you want to be is up to you, since I don't know how much of a deposit you put down either. But you *MIGHT* consider reporting this to your state's BBB (Better Business Bureau) if you don't get some satisfaction soon.