My 2004 EB/W MCS arrived at the dealership on Friday. I’ve visited my car; my Motoring Advisor said it is all washed up, prepped, under the cover in the delivery bay, ready to be delivered. I’ve prepared to pay for the car, and my insurance is taken care of. Everything has been ready since Friday. So what’s stopping me from taking delivery?

I can’t take delivery because MINI USA has not sent my dealer a piece of paper called the Certificate of Origin. I am in Massachusetts, and we need the C of O to register a new car. MA does not offer temp plates. My Motoring Advisor had hoped that the C of O would be Fedexed here today, but this morning he found out it is not even generated (printed) yet. Once it is printed, it still has to be sent from New Jersey MINI headquarters to the dealership before I could take delivery of my car.

What were you thinking MINI USA? Did you guys not realize here in Massachusetts (and possibly some other states) we need that piece of paperwork in order to take delivery of the car? You’ve already sent my dealer, MINI of Peabody, about 60 cars in the past 3 days. Did you not realize that they could not deliver most of them, since most cars are ordered by Massachusetts residents? My Motoring Advisor said he could only deliver one of his cars to a NH resident. Even Maine residents cannot take delivery of the car because they only get a 1-day temp plate.

866-ASK-MINI is of absolutely no help. All he could say was I apologize for the inconvenience but there is absolutely nothing we at customer service can help you.

Does anyone know anybody at MINI/BMW USA that I can talk to to expedite this process? What can I do? Can anyone help me?

 

Frustrating for sure, but just look on the bright side. Your MINI is finally here and you will be out motoring in a very short time. If I were you, I would take the opportunity to request few freebies or accessories at dealer cost to make up for your lost weekend of motoring enjoyment!

I hate government red tape paperwork! Grrrrr!

 

I'll agree with Yucca. Notify your dealer that the only way to help quell your outrage is with a heavy dollop of free swag and other goodies. Your car is there, is ready, and is stuck because of incompetence. Make 'em pay for that incompetence in a way that benefits you.

 

if you upgraded your wheels to the 17s be sure to ask for the standard wheels that come with the car....that way you can keep them for auto-xing!

 

Katana, see my comments on your thread back in MINI2.com

 

The issue likely stems from the fact that the car is an '04. It was a last minute decision by MINI to ship them to the dealer early. They were originally slated to hold the '04s until the first week of October. After some deliberation and discussion with the dealers, it was decided to go ahead and send them out to the dealers.

Of course that decision was likely not relayed to NJ to get the Certificates to the dealers.

The good news is that the car came in early, the bad news it that in your state you can't pick it up quite yet.

 

I also mentioned this on mini2......

I really want to pick up my car as early as possible because my dealer received a lot of cars (someone mentiond 82 cars) on Friday and Saturday. They only have one delivery bay in the show room, and if each delivery takes 1 hour, it would still take more than a week to delivery all those cars. Plus, more cars are coming in. I might not be able to schedule a time slot in once the C of O gets here, so my wait might be longer than a few days. I also don't want to be rushed while taking delivery, because the next customer is scheduled to take delivery in a few minutes.

I don't think MINI USA really thought through the consequences of their action....... Thanks to MINI USA, MINI of Peabody really have their work cut out for them. The fact that MA requires C of O is not news to BMW/MINI; they've been doing business in this state for decades. I have also never heard of this happening to other brands. Therefore, I place the blame on MINI USA. The dealership is as much a victim as us customers.

 

K-pilot,
I hear ya! I had to wait 5 days for my C.O. at Herb Chambers. Nothing can be done to expidite. MINI always ships the car before the CO. I used to sell boats...same BS .

 

>>I also mentioned this on mini2......
>>
>>I really want to pick up my car as early as possible because my dealer received a lot of cars (someone mentiond 82 cars) on Friday and Saturday. They only have one delivery bay in the show room, and if each delivery takes 1 hour, it would still take more than a week to delivery all those cars. Plus, more cars are coming in. I might not be able to schedule a time slot in once the C of O gets here, so my wait might be longer than a few days. I also don't want to be rushed while taking delivery, because the next customer is scheduled to take delivery in a few minutes.
>>
>>I don't think MINI USA really thought through the consequences of their action....... Thanks to MINI USA, MINI of Peabody really have their work cut out for them. The fact that MA requires C of O is not news to BMW/MINI; they've been doing business in this state for decades. I have also never heard of this happening to other brands. Therefore, I place the blame on MINI USA. The dealership is as much a victim as us customers.


I hear ya Katana, but this is something your dealer has to worry about, not you. If they have to deliver 20 or 30 cars the same day, it is their job to ensure that each one of those deliveries are done properly and a fair amount of time is granted per new owner. You paid good money for your car, so then it becomes the dealer's priority to find ways to accomodate you and all others that have purchased new cars there.

If the dealer only has 1 delivery bay for new cars, then they might consider expanding it to 2 or 3 more.

Let the dealer coordinate and take care of all those business decisions. In the mean time, hang in there...your car is almost in your driveway.

 

If it's any consolation, you're not the only person who has experienced this problem. I know that there was a post about it about a month ago, and I myself posted about this when it happened to me about a year and 2 weeks ago. My car sat around its dealership in NY (Long Island) for about a week awaiting the paper that was coming from about 50 miles up the road in NJ. Man, was I ticked off....

 

interesting...I wonder if any other brands are having the same trouble. I can see this being a big issue with any car dealer that has cars on order. If you buy a car that they have on the lot, the likelyhood is that they have the CO already.

It may only be the HOT cars that have this issue.

I will say this...BMW and MINI are very, very careful with the CO's. They are essentially titles to the car. It's very difficult, if not impossible to deliver at CO to the dealer until the computer system tells the manufacturer that the car is actually on the lot.

In most states this isn't a problem. I guess MA and NY have problems with it.

 

No solution, but an FYI:

I picked up my Cooper from Peabody in July. I live in New Hampshire, and still couldn't pick up my car until the C of O came in. My car was there on a thursday and I couldn't pick it up until tuesday. Not sure why you were told it would be different for NH residents - it wasn't for me.

Hang in there!

 

Quite simply, the Certificate of Origin is the precursor to a title. You need a title (obviously) to register a car. In states where there are no "temporary" plates, the car has to actually be registered in order to drive off the lot (legally).

MA has a bit of a wrinkle, only related to NY. For some reason, it's illegal to drive in MA with NY temporary plates. NY is the only state that seems to raise the ire of MA (i.e., you can drive in MA with paper plates from NH, etc....just not NY). My NY dealer would have gladly given me NY temporary plates and let me drive off w/o the Certificate of Origin...but they knew I was headed to MA. I was told that MA not only will confiscate cars with NY temp plates, but will also FINE THE ORIGINATING DEALER.

Somebody from NY must have really pi$$ed off someone at the MA Registry of Motor Vehicles one time. MA has created many laws based on even more flimsy excuses than that...

 

I'm with MINI USA. If you have still not taken delivery of your MINI, please call us at 866 ASK.MINI and please mention Reference # 1-107195417 so that we can help you more efficiently. We'll try to help.

 

Hello MINIdivision :smile:
Does this mean that MiniCooperOnline is in MINI/BMWs good books again now?

 

Oh yes, MINI Division,
I called you guys alright. All I got was I'm sorry, there was absolutely nothing we could do. There is no one you could talk to. We do not have information on where your C of O is. They do not give us that information.

We finally got our C of O because the general manager of the dealership could not wait anymore and decided to go down to New Jersey himself.

You will try to help, yeah right.
I have had my car for almost a week now. My dealer gets all fives; MINI Division gets a failing grade.