Good questions.

Once a VIN has been issued it's too late to change your car's configuration.


Thanks for the quick reply. If I decide I reeeeally want one, is it possible to order an armrest and have it installed (or do it myself)? TIA.

Zip

Thanks for the quick reply. If I decide I reeeeally want one, is it possible to order an armrest and have it installed (or do it myself)? TIA.

Zip

My MA told me she could have them install one once my car arrives at the dealership since I failed to order it initially. (I think it's cashier since they won't do if for free) :(
I have seen aftermarket ones that didn't look too hard to install but I can't speak for the OEM version.
Since the insides are one of the last things to be done and it's not frame related, are you sure you can't call in that change? If not, your dealer would love to install one for you, trust me. (at the better part of 100.00 an hour, they SHOULD love you...) :D
Good luck.

Unfortunately, once the VIN has been declared (and probably some time before that) no further changes (or additions) can be made to an order.

In terms of the 'official' arm rest that became available beginning with March production - at this point it's only available as an option on a new car. A retrofit kit has not been announced, but there will likely be a demand so I'd expect this to become available in the near future. The factory installed price for the armrest is $200, but will probably be more than that if the dealer has to perform the installation. At this point no one has seen this option so it's unknown if it can be installed by the owner.

There are several aftermarket armrests that can be owner installed. I had one with a small storage compartment in my '02 MCS and was pleased with it. Some of the aftermarket ones block the rear cup holder, which may or may not be an issue. The installation is generally relatively straightforward.

Thanks for the quick reply. If I decide I reeeeally want one, is it possible to order an armrest and have it installed (or do it myself)? TIA.

Zip
As others have said, there are aftermarket arm rests made by various vendors for the MINI. There is also an "offiicial" aftermarket armrest, if that makes any sense, it's the dealer-installed OEM armrest, as opposed to the new "factory" OEM arm rest. You can install it, or the dealer can.

You can see the factory installed armrest (available as of 3/1) here:

http://www.motoringfile.com/2005/02/09/the_official_mini_armrest_revealed

Here's a link to a review of the dealer-installed OEM arm rest:

http://www.motoringfile.com/2004/10/22/official_mini_armrest_reviewed

Both good choices. :)

Now, Motoringfile says that the one I'm calling the "dealer-installed OEM arm rest" has been removed from the market, yet that's the one (insofar as I know) that the dealer is going to install when my car arrives (when I ordered the car, that was what was shown as available, and even today when you go through the MINI configurator, that's the armrest they show as a dealer option). So I don't know if MINI actually recalled the units of this type, as Motoringfile seems to be implying, or whether I'll be getting the new one, just installed at the dealer instead of at the factory. I guess I'll find out in a month or so when my car is (finally!) at the dealer and I pick it up. :confused:

My car was completed March 11, and has been "awaiting transport" since a couple of days later. When I type the VIN into the auto tracking page at WW, it has no tracking information available.

However, when I called ASK-MINI this morning, it now says my car is "in transit"! That's great news, of course, and makes sense (there was a ship leaving for the west coast port yesterday)-- but I wonder why I can't get any tracking info out of WW?

Do you use the full VIN, or just the last 7 digits now? And am I correct that the page below is where I type it in?

http://schedule.2wglobal.com/AppTracking/searchCargo.do


Thanks!

DC

.......

Do you use the full VIN, or just the last 7 digits now? And am I correct that the page below is where I type it in?

http://schedule.2wglobal.com/AppTracking/searchCargo.do


Thanks!

DC

You enter the full VIN, but the link you entered seems not to be functional, but it should forward to the correct page. If not, the appropriate page is here (http://www.2wglobal.com/www/wep/index.jsp) .

Since your car doesn't show up on the WW site It may be being transported by K-Line. Please see a few posts above where I included instructions on how to check with that shipper. Good luck.

Thanks, Taz, Pam, and rsin, for your terrific info and links. I suppose that now I can drive Obie (the name just popped ito my head when I was building the car at the website) for a while and see if I really want/need the armrest, and then if I want one, buy it at the dealership, or aftermarket.

Zip

Since your car doesn't show up on the WW site It may be being transported by K-Line. Please see a few posts above where I included instructions on how to check with that shipper. Good luck.

Thanks, I found those instructions, and I'll contact my MA and see what info I can get from K-line tomorrow!

Denny

My car was completed March 11, and has been "awaiting transport" since a couple of days later. When I type the VIN into the auto tracking page at WW, it has no tracking information available.

However, when I called ASK-MINI this morning, it now says my car is "in transit"! That's great news, of course, and makes sense (there was a ship leaving for the west coast port yesterday)-- but I wonder why I can't get any tracking info out of WW?

Do you use the full VIN, or just the last 7 digits now? And am I correct that the page below is where I type it in?

http://schedule.2wglobal.com/AppTracking/searchCargo.do


Thanks!

DC


Hey DC, I'm in the same boat (If not on the same boat... Sorry, couldn't help myself!) as you: My MCS Convertible, "Murray" was built Wednesday March 16. I followed it to Southampton via ASK-MINI, and yesterday (The 19th, when we know the TORRENS was scheduled to sail, heading for Port "What-me-worry"*, Cali) ASK-MINI told me Murray was "In Transit".

All great, except that my VIN has not been acknowledged by W&W. I'm wondering if Murray actually did make it onto the Torrens, but it hasn't showed up on their tracking page yet, because it was a last-minute load.

Thanks to Pamlico (I've already clicked on the little R icon, to boost your reputation - Cheers!) I checked the Southampton shipping "In Port" link he provided, and now know that Torrens is leaving from there today (Sunday), along with La Surprise, Autotransporter (Wow, talk about imaginative flights of fancy in ship-naming!), Cassiopeia Leader, Undine, Grand Phoenix, Setubal, and Grand Europa are all scheduled to sail today, and Velasquez, Hual Transporter, and Asian Breeze sailed saturday. Now if only I could figure out if any of these babies are headed to Port Hueneme*...

* Hueneme = "why -knee-me?" (As a recent transplant, I'm clueless, but my wife, born and raised here, says this is the correct pronounciation. :confused:

Fun.

_Dave_

All exactly the same for me. I wonder if Black Jack is aboard the Torrens? My VIN won't show up either . . .

Hey DC, I'm in the same boat (If not on the same boat... Sorry, couldn't help myself!) as you: My MCS Convertible, "Murray" was built Wednesday March 16. I followed it to Southampton via ASK-MINI, and yesterday (The 19th, when we know the TORRENS was scheduled to sail, heading for Port "What-me-worry"*, Cali) ASK-MINI told me Murray was "In Transit".

All great, except that my VIN has not been acknowledged by W&W. I'm wondering if Murray actually did make it onto the Torrens, but it hasn't showed up on their tracking page yet, because it was a last-minute load.

Thanks to Pamlico (I've already clicked on the little R icon, to boost your reputation - Cheers!) I checked the Southampton shipping "In Port" link he provided, and now know that Torrens is leaving from there today (Sunday), along with La Surprise, Autotransporter (Wow, talk about imaginative flights of fancy in ship-naming!), Cassiopeia Leader, Undine, Grand Phoenix, Setubal, and Grand Europa are all scheduled to sail today, and Velasquez, Hual Transporter, and Asian Breeze sailed saturday. Now if only I could figure out if any of these babies are headed to Port Hueneme*...

* Hueneme = "why -knee-me?" (As a recent transplant, I'm clueless, but my wife, born and raised here, says this is the correct pronounciation. :confused:

Fun.

_Dave_

I believe my car is aboard the Torrens, but my VIN won't show up (I'll try to follow your K-Line instructions). At any rate, I did finally find a pic of her! She's a beaut!

Tazminia - If you're really obsessed, once you know which ship, you can search for a picture of it. One site to start is http://www.shipphotos.co.uk/ . If you can't find the picture here there are a number of other sites that are dedicated to ship pictures. It took me a while, but eventually I was able to find a picture of the car transporter that my car is booked on.
(http://www.shipphotos.co.uk/)

About 6 months after my '02 MCS made the trip over, there was an incident involving one of the WW vessels. Just to make you all a little nervous take a look at this site. (http://www.geocities.com/uksteve.geo/tricolor.html)

Holy crap, those cars sure look mangled up pretty bad...

Hope mine makes it across ok!

http://www.tricolorsalvage.com/pages/home.asp

These are big ships!

Baltimore's not all that far from here... does your MINI need anything for its voyage I could drive up there for it? some Dramamine, perhaps, or a good novel to read? Or maybe just a nice keg of a quality beverage to enjoy on the cruise? :)

I think waiting for a MINI here in the States is bad - I can't even imagine having to wait the extra month for a ship to snake its way down under!

Cheers,
Ben


Thanks for the offer Ben... I don't want to have to clean out the mess when it gets here! :eek:

Three months have passed since placing the order so I'm pretty much used to it now.. We had a club meeting yesterday with about 40 or so mini's present and it was a bittersweet experience meeting up with all the nuts. http://www.mini2.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1453346&postcount=196

A MINI exec was present and I asked him why we don't get the MINI lounge feature for tracking through the factory and he said it's a resources issue... He seemed to think it was a bit weird wanting to track your vehicle.. :( :( If so there's a lot of weirdos on this site! ;)

What's the latest on your car?

ASK MINI has my completion date as March 21, so I'm hoping for Madame Butterfly. I expect to be on the Jingu Maru though.

A MINI exec was present and I asked him why we don't get the MINI lounge feature for tracking through the factory and he said it's a resources issue... He seemed to think it was a bit weird wanting to track your vehicle.. :( :( If so there's a lot of weirdos on this site! ;)

I actually thought that I was weird and somewhat of a fanatic until I came to this site. I happy to see that there are other weirdos like me! Then again, maybe we're the normal ones...and everyone else is weird! :)

dpacker, you can find out what other MINIs will be making the trip with yours once a Booking Number appears on the WW site. Note the booking number and then look on the right side of the WW page and click on "Booking number" under "TRACK BY". Enter the booking number on the subsequent page and click 'Track'. You'll then be presented with a page listing the VINs of all the MINIs booked on that trip. Right now there are a total of 105 MINIs booked for Tuesday's departure.

That's pretty cool - thanks for the info. I was so excited with all of the other info the other day that I didn't even realize that I could do that!

On another note, I think I'm having withdrawals. For the past week and a half, I've been tracking my car about 5 - 10 times per day (or more). I had a work event to participate in today, so I knew it was going to be rough. I tracked it about 7 am this morning, and it's now 10pm my time - it's been 15 hours since I've tracked my MINI! :)

Anyone booked yet for any of the boats leaving this week that are headed to Charleston, SC? I just checked my VIN and still nothing yet. I've always thought of myself as a patient person, but this whole waiting thing is making me realize that's not the case. ;)

Good night everyone! I'm off to dream about my MINI. - Debbie

That's pretty cool - thanks for the info. I was so excited with all of the other info the other day that I didn't even realize that I could do that!

On another note, I think I'm having withdrawals. For the past week and a half, I've been tracking my car about 5 - 10 times per day (or more). I had a work event to participate in today, so I knew it was going to be rough. I tracked it about 7 am this morning, and it's now 10pm my time - it's been 15 hours since I've tracked my MINI! :)

Anyone booked yet for any of the boats leaving this week that are headed to Charleston, SC? I just checked my VIN and still nothing yet. I've always thought of myself as a patient person, but this whole waiting thing is making me realize that's not the case. ;)

Good night everyone! I'm off to dream about my MINI. - Debbie

I only hope that ASKMINI doesn't track how many times you've called. I'd be SO embarassed if up on my screen next to my MINI's specs it lists the numbers of times I call. :eek:

That's pretty cool - thanks for the info. I was so excited with all of the other info the other day that I didn't even realize that I could do that!

On another note, I think I'm having withdrawals. For the past week and a half, I've been tracking my car about 5 - 10 times per day (or more). I had a work event to participate in today, so I knew it was going to be rough. I tracked it about 7 am this morning, and it's now 10pm my time - it's been 15 hours since I've tracked my MINI! :)

Anyone booked yet for any of the boats leaving this week that are headed to Charleston, SC? I just checked my VIN and still nothing yet. I've always thought of myself as a patient person, but this whole waiting thing is making me realize that's not the case. ;)

Good night everyone! I'm off to dream about my MINI. - Debbie

Well, just to let you know-you don't have to feel like the Lone Ranger on that Deb. I too have been calling about every few hours (like 4 or 5) to see if our Mini has been assigned a ship and as of a few minutes ago :( it's not assigned yet. (do they work 7 days a week there or did I just waste my time this weekend?)
I'm calling my MA tomorrow to see if she can tell me whether our Mini is on the K-Line vessels or not. That would make me resume normal breathing anyways.
Ken, if they keep track (I don't imagine why they would) then I bet they can set their watches by my calls at 7AM, Noon and 5PM calls! I've also been checking a couple of times in the evening after supper. I guess we should just be darned glad the number is Toll Free, eh?? :D
Good idea about hittin' the sack. Let me just make one lil' call here first...

You guys crack me up!! :D

I can relate to worrying about them tracking how often we call! (and even our dealerships being able to see such info) ;)

Thankfully, I haven't quite gotten to the stage some of you are at...but, still felt like I was calling awfully regularly to see if my car had gone into 150 status yet or not. (felt like AGES before that happened)

Can only guess what it will be like when it's completed & I, like you all, am trying to figure out what ship it's getting on.

Btw, can I ask? (feel free to ignore) ;-)
My Cooper is supposed to be completed March 25. (hard to believe, since it wasn't even in the paint shop yet on Friday)
Anyway, the odds are really bad aren't they that it would be able to make the boat that leaves 3 days later for California, right? Has anyone confirmed that THEIR car made such a tight connection?? (saw a convertible here might have, but it wasn't confirmed yet) If so, I can cling to that unlikely hope for now. :)

It was days ago I saw info here that said there was a boat on March 28 to Calif. From that, it looked like it might be another whole 2 weeks until another one. Am I missing something here? That seems awfully infrequent.
Am I missing a whole line of boats? (perhaps that was only WW & not K-line ships?)
Not sure now....

Gosh...this is nerve-wracking & exciting all at the same time! :rolleyes:
I've had to wait sooo long for my car even to be built, that I just wish it could somehow sneak onto a boat leaving only a couple of days later. Guess I'll keep dreamin' for now, eh? Thanks for any info you might share...

My last car was completed on May 17 and on a boat on May 20, so it can be done. :) Don't worry about not being in the paint shop yet, I'm due to complete today March 21 and spent the weekend in the paint shop according to ASK MINI. :)

I call once a day, around 8 am. Sometimes again in the afternoon too. But I'm going to step that up now that I'm due to complete today. :)

<snip>
I'm calling my MA tomorrow to see if she can tell me whether our Mini is on the K-Line vessels or not.,.

Remember your MA does not know if your car is on a K-Line vessel.

You need to request the bill of lading from the MA and then call K-Line at the number previously posted. Choose 'Auto Cargo' option and give them the Bill of Lading #. They should be able to tell you if that B of L is on one of their ships.

Anyway, the odds are really bad aren't they that it would be able to make the boat that leaves 3 days later for California, right? Has anyone confirmed that THEIR car made such a tight connection?? (saw a convertible here might have, but it wasn't confirmed yet) If so, I can cling to that unlikely hope for now. :)

It was days ago I saw info here that said there was a boat on March 28 to Calif. From that, it looked like it might be another whole 2 weeks until another one. Am I missing something here? That seems awfully infrequent.
Am I missing a whole line of boats? (perhaps that was only WW & not K-line ships?)
Not sure now.... .
You need to understand that MINI is no longer using W-W for the US West Coast, they're using K-line or NYK. So trying to figure out when your car might leave Southhampton by looking at the posted W-W schedule is meaningless. NYK has 7 ships a month heading to Port Hueneme from Southampton, or about twice a week. So your car won't collect too much dust before it ships. :) My car was listed as "At port awaiting a ship" on 3/11, and "In transit" on 3/15. According to my MA, it'll be at the VDC on 4/3. Once you're on a ship, figure 22 days for transit to Port Hueneme (don't know if that includes loading / unloading time), then the VDC time (could be 3 days, could be 3 weeks, depends on if your car was damaged in transit and other factors) then trucking time to your dealer, then dealer prep'. . . . Sigh -- I want my car now!

;)

Remember your MA does not know if your car is on a K-Line vessel.

You need to request the bill of lading from the MA and then call K-Line at the number previously posted. Choose 'Auto Cargo' option and give them the Bill of Lading #. They should be able to tell you if that B of L is on one of their ships.

Sorry, bad wording on my part. It should have read "I'm calling my MA tomorrow to see if she can tell me (...the B of L to so I can tell...) whether our Mini is on the K-Line vessels or not.

I kinda sorta knew what I meant to say but shortened it too much. But thanks for pointing that out to me. :D :D

Mea culpa,
Randy

Sorry, bad wording on my part. It should have read "I'm calling my MA tomorrow to see if she can tell me (...the B of L to so I can tell...) whether our Mini is on the K-Line vessels or not.

I kinda sorta knew what I meant to say but shortened it too much. But thanks for pointing that out to me. :D :D

Mea culpa,
Randy


Forgiven .............. this one time only.:)

So my cooper s is supposed to be done on the 23rd i know the Jingu Maru leaves on the 25th right? Im guessing thats my first opportunity to hop the pond but when is the next one coming to the east coast? I just want my mini :(

Well, just to let you know-you don't have to feel like the Lone Ranger on that Deb. I too have been calling about every few hours (like 4 or 5) to see if our Mini has been assigned a ship and as of a few minutes ago :( it's not assigned yet. (do they work 7 days a week there or did I just waste my time this weekend?)

I think I read that they work three shifts during the period of the day with a non-stop line. It was at that point that I realized that I could call at all hours of the day to check the status. :D And, I forget who said that it was a good thing that the number is toll-free, but I couldn't agree more. If it were one of those $1.99 per minute numbers, I could be in big trouble!

One question for you ship experts. Last week my car immediately showed up on a WW liner when it finished production and was bumped. There is a vessel that is leaving tomorrow, but I still don't show as booked on anything. If your MINI travels by one of those K-Line vessels (or that other one that I can't remember), should your status still change at 866-ASK-MINI? I hadn't called for my B of L number yet because I was expecting to see it booked for the WW vessel leaving tomorrow.

One question for you ship experts. Last week my car immediately showed up on a WW liner when it finished production and was bumped. There is a vessel that is leaving tomorrow, but I still don't show as booked on anything. If your MINI travels by one of those K-Line vessels (or that other one that I can't remember), should your status still change at 866-ASK-MINI? I hadn't called for my B of L number yet because I was expecting to see it booked for the WW vessel leaving tomorrow.
The only way your status will change is that it will report "in transit", the only way you can tell if your on a W-W ship is if you're in transit and you're showing up on their website. If you're in transit and not listed on W-W, then either you're on NYK or K-line, or your MINI has gotten tired of waiting and is driving itself across the pond on the sea bottom. :D

The only way your status will change is that it will report "in transit", the only way you can tell if your on a W-W ship is if you're in transit and you're showing up on their website. If you're in transit and not listed on W-W, then either you're on NYK or K-line, or your MINI has gotten tired of waiting and is driving itself across the pond on the sea bottom. :D

Won't that play hell with the rust-through warranty? :D :D