Let me please ask you fellow MINI owners...

What would you do if...

you get this job transfer to another country but you have to
come up with your won $$s to ship your MINI there(about $1500),
the US warranty will not be honored so you have to pay $1000 or
so for international factory warranty, also you have to pay for
regular maintenance $ yourself such as for oil change($200-300)
and things like that...not to mention the price for gas probably
being more than what we pay here...

Say your MINI is about one to two years old...would you do it???
Would you trust MINI enough for you to survive wherever they
are sending you for about the next 2-5 years???

Any insight/opinion is greatly appreciated!
Thank you for your time...

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It will definitely be 3 years and if we are lucky, maybe more...
And, there are MINI dealerships there...(we are going to Germany!)
We are shipping our main(other) vehicle and the $ for shipping that
car is covered for...so we have to ship my MINI ourselves...
We are going there with the military order...and so the car will be
exempt from the local requirements...at least thats what we've heard...
We are looking at losing $5-8000 if we were to get rid of it...it is very
new 2013 Paceman S...
We want to know if it is possible, to see if it will be worth our while
to ship it ourselves...(reliability is a biggie...)

 

Do they have MINIs where you are going?

 

How long are you going to be there? If it's three years or less I would sell and buy a car whereever it is you are going.

 

I'd get rid of it since it sounds like a huge effort. A long time ago I was shipped overseas (Scotland) for three years. I sold my car and never looked back. Everybody that I knew that had a car ended up getting in some kind of trouble with it...and don't forget that you'd have to insure it, maintain it up to wherever you're going's standards, get it back over here when you're time is up, etc. Get rid of the car and enjoy your time without the hassle. That's my opinion, but I don't know your situation or where you're heading.

 

I concur that you're probably going to be better off not trying to take the car with you. Even if they have MINIs where you're headed, they may well not be able service US-model cars if you need anything more than filters.

 

I'd hate to say it, but sell your local MINI and lease a new one when you get there (or buy a local classic MINI or another local small car... have fun as it's something that is short term).

MINI will still be here when you come back.

 

Ok to be honest sell it and when you get back here buy or lease another one, we keep our cars when we move from Puerto Rico to Georgia because the relocation package include the shipping of both of our cars and like you said here the gas is cheaper and the warranty here is the same so it was a no brainer, but once again in my opinion I think you are better off selling the MINI, best of luck mdri98

 

I worked with a lot of international assignees and they never shipped a car unless the company was paying for it.

 

Oh wow! Thank you everyone for your 2cents!!
Wasn't expecting much movement till tonite or something...

Well, to clarify...
It will definitely be 3 years and if we are lucky, maybe more...
And, there are MINI dealerships there...
We are shipping our main vehicle and the $ for shipping is
covered for...

We are wary of possible/unforeseen events while we have this
MINI for the next 3yrs in another country...(paying in euros,
$ for winter tires and its a S model...) We never owned any
MINI and so I have no idea what to expect...long term...

As much as its fun to drive and all that but not really sure if
its worth taking with us...big dilemma!!

Your continued support is appreciated...
Thank you!

 

If you're going to Europe, aren't you going to want a diesel? I'd sell unless the car had sentimental value to you.

 

Op its obvious you are military or DoD. So what country are you going to? The warranty issues isn't even the first thing you should worry about or the cost to ship it. The first thing you should look at is what are the vehicle laws about bringing a vehicle with you from another country. I looked into shipping my car to England just for giggles and what I found out made me decide that if I ever moved out of the country(minus New Zealand) that I would just sell my car. 1st just be able to drive your car in England you would have to swap headlights because ours are angled left and theirs angled right. 2nd rear fogs would have to be installed. 3rd taxes and 4th registration. Just in that your $1500 shipping fee is now chump change. That is just England though, some countries might not let you bring your car unless you are part of the consulate. It would be cheaper to sell and buy the same thing there then do all of that work. Plus you can bring it back with you when you come back to the States. SO go out there and get a Cooper D or SD now that would be awesome.

 

If you can't live without it, take it.

 

Thank you for your continuing input.

As someone had guessed, we are going there with the military
order...and so the car will be exempt from the local requirements...
at least thats what we've heard...(the only thing we were told so far
was to remove the tint from the windows on driver & passenger side...)

And more and more we think about it...and writing them all down here is
helping quite a bit, it is kind of making more sense to leave it here...
(if only the car would worth more for appraisal......)

Thank you for your time!

 

BTW being a military member "they" are the most dangerous people on the planet. Do the research yourself. Question everything and assume nothing because if do take and something "they" said can **** you over pretty hard.

 

So anybody else want to know? Where are you going? Afganistan? That would be a sell call. North Pole? Sell.

 

Sell it and get something wherever it is you are going. Seems like to much of a headache to bring her with.

 

Hi all!
Thank you for your input...
That's the thing...we don't really get anything for the car...
(we are looking at losing some$$ actually...anywhere between
$5000-8000...that was through dealerships, carmax, etc,...)
We are going to Germany...but since we don't know how reliable this
car will be(Paceman 2013)...that is why we are questioning everything
now...
Its so hard trying to figure all this out!!!(moving overseas wasn't
in the picture when we purchased this car...)

 

I had a similar dilemma IRT a military PCS move to London. This was about 20 years ago though. I had a nearly new Dodge Dakoka. The military would ship it there for free. I decided to sell. After I got there I was very happy with my decision. In fact I didn't even buy a car there. I used public transportation and walked. Such a hassle with left side drive. Germany would be better though.

I strongly suggest you sell. Get something over there. You can probably find a decent deal from someone who is there under PCS who doesn't want to bring their car back. Very stringent rules about selling a car to a local national that was brought in under Status of Forces Agreement - but selling to another service member is usually not a big deal.

Then, about 6 months before you rotate back to the States, look into the Overseas Sales Program that some of the European manufactures have (Mercedes, Volvo, BMW, Audi) this is good website to start from:
http://www.militaryautosource.com

Hope you have a great tour!
Thank you for your service!

 

Mdri98,
Unless you are shipping another car, there is a stipulation for you to ship your POV to Germany at the governments cost. unless you are doing a short tour of course. If you are doing an accompanied tour, then it will be authorized on your orders, along with your family and HHG. I cannot answer the warranty loss, but I did have a 96 Caravan shipped there and abck and was able to have it repaired. I also had a Dodge Dakota on another tour to Germany with No issues.

 

i'm in md, and just happen to be thinking about getting a paceman s... let me drive it 'till you get back

 

Sell it. There will be some very cool cars where you're going. Don't pass up a chance to drive one(or some...). Maybe you'll want to ship one back

 

Put it up on your base's lemon lot for what you owe on it. You should be able to part with it with no problem.

 

Can you leave it in your garage on a trickle charger? That's WIWD.

 

And when he gets to Germany, he will probably find a suitable replacement at that base's lemon lot.

 

True but, I would never buy a car through a base lemon or as I really refer to it as the dream lot because people over price what they are selling. I also had a truck sold out from under neath me about a month ago.