Is anyone forming a MINICCA recognized by MINI? I'm not in the "for profit" thing but getting recognized nationally and maybe even discounts on MINI parts and services would not be all that bad. A few of us in Portland (yes I know I don't have my car yet!) are looking at forming a MINI club and although we could do it locally it would be nice to be part of a nationally recognized group.

Any information would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

If you do a search on Yahoo you should be able to find the MINICCA site, it has not started yet but supposedly they are working on it. In the mean time meet with your local MINI owners and have some fun.

 

>>If you do a search on Yahoo you should be able to find the MINICCA site, it has not started yet but supposedly they are working on it. In the mean time meet with your local MINI owners and have some fun.

Yes, i think we should all bombard their site with email requesting information and/or offering help. I think this sounds like a great idea! Let's give them out support!

 

I had hopes for MINI CCA at one point, but things seem to have really bogged down with the roll-out to the local level. I have offered my support a few times and basically had no interest returned from MINI CCA. I know other people in other parts of the country offered their help didn't get replies either.

Honestly, I think MINI CCA has miscalculated. The local MINI clubs are forming and getting very organized at the grass roots level. MINI enthusiasts are moving out, but without MINI CCA.

Here's the problem for MINI CCA: they have dragged their collective heals so long in telling local clubs anything that they are alienating prospective members. And not just any members, the ones who would have been most likely to be interested in forming MINI CCA chapters.

At one point I was told that I should consider myself the interim chapter president for the Denver area. I asked for clarification on what that meant, what the expectations where, and so on. No response from MINI CCA.

There are a few basic questions that haven't been answered:
- How much are dues?
- How much of those dues will stay with the local chapters?
- What are the unique benefits of MINI CCA membership that wouldn't be available through a locally formed/organized/unaffiliated club?

As someone organizing local events, there was a point where MINI CCA recognition would have been helpful. But since myself and others have had repeated offers of help ignored by MINI CCA, we have moved out on our own.

IMO, MINI CCA now runs the very real risk of looking the part of the outsider once they do start to flow things down to the local level.

My $0.02

 

I'm in total agreement with you, Dave. When I began planning the SoCal Caravan & MINI Meet at the Santa Paula Airport (which is TOMORROW, hurray), I emailed the MINICCA site to let them know that they could send me applications for MINIacs to join their group...and I got no response! Not even a thank you or acknowlegement! It's a shame, too, as we ARE going forward with our fun events.

What's interesting to me is the nice offers from the various vendors to donate things like gift certificates and MCO sent me 2 of their awesome t-shirts! This is all without being under the umbrella of the "official" club. In the meantime our casual car club is "SCMM" (SoCal MINI Maniacs) and we have more than 30 member-MINIs!

Hopefully, they'll get their act together soon!

Cheers!
Clover

 

Clover: Your point about the aftermarket is a very good one.

Consider the next big event in Denver is a fun rally right before Halloween.

The Yalla-Yalla has sponsorship by:

- MINI Madness
- Helix13
- MINI Cooper Online
- Schomp MINI

All told we'll have about $800 worth of stuff to give away as prizes. None of this came about because of some national organization.

It's worth remembering who really supported local MINI enthusiasts (see the list above for a start)

 

Hello, I'm Casey from MINI2 and Roadfly. I am part of the group that is getting the MINICCA going. The reason for the delays is a few different things. The goal is to launch MINICCA on Jan 1st of 2003. We don't want to launch the club, take in membership, etc and not have all our ducks in a row. We want meaningful benifets to joining. We are holding a conference call tommorow and will discuss alot of issues. Things that we will be working on...get good discounts for members at MINI dealerships for accessories, or even the a car, aftermarket companies for both the classic and new MINI, etc. We are also planning for how the structure of the club will work, etc...all the fun fun busniness side of things.

I assure you the club is moving along, but to do it right our ducks need to be lined up first. We want to offer a great service to the Mini and MINI communities and not something your paying 20 bucks or whatever it ends up costing a year just to say your in the MINICCA.

If you have any questions you would like answered about the club, please email them to me at NewMINICooperS@hotmail.NOSPAMcom with the NOSPAM removed from the address. I will bring issues up I can not answer myself on our conference calls and get back to you.

Please be patient everyone - we are working hard to get something going.