Originally Posted by ucbrother

I went through a similar (slightly worse) experience, but my damage was a scratch on the paint during shipment that had to be repaired. Like you, I didn't really like the idea of accepting a car that wasn't perfect from the factory, but after a little research, I found that Mini has fully capable manufacturing facilities on or near the ports that the vehicles arrive to the U.S., and were perfectly capable of restoring the car to factory standards. After thinking about it I decided to accept the car after seeing it and realizing it could have just as easily been scratched in the factory after the original paint job. My dealer was up front about the problem, and was very accommodating in the form of throwing in quite a few freebies that I was going to buy anyway, so it worked out. I say all this to say that you might want to hold off on flat-out rejecting the car over a piece of plastic, especially since you've probably gone through the anguish of tracking your Mini across the pond.

Originally Posted by rhawth99

I think you should wait and see the car in person BEFORE you reject it. It's a plastic piece, not a metal body part.