A tale of woe regarding production

[PARCODE]

On April 15 I placed my order for my IB MCS. I received a production date of 9/27. Ask-Mini told me my car was complete on 9/23/02. After checking many times there was no shipping information. I was then told that it was completed on 10/18/02. Still no information on shipping. On 11/15/02 I checked the WW sight and saw my car was booked for shipment on 11/17/02 on the Hual Triton for delivery to NY on 11/26. I was happy. This morning, my dealer calls and said the original car was totalled at the factory and that,now, a new order was issued for 12/6 production. I do not know what is going on. The original VIN seems to be on a boat, but do I want something that supposedly was totalled? Now I probably will not have my Mini until after Christmas.

[KenL]

Sounds to me like someone (dealer???) is telling porky pies !

[MGB Boy]

Indeed, if that car was totaled, I highly doubt it would be on a ship right now. That would mean either they are shipping a wreck (!) or they re-issued the VIN to another car. I think we can safely rule out the first option, and the second option also seems HIGHLY dubious, as it would create such production controls / book-keeping confusion...

-Ricardo

[PARCODE]

I am awaiting a reply from MINIUSA regarding what is on the ship coming next week. I will keep you posted.

[oldnell]

Quote:

Originally posted by KenL
Sounds to me like someone (dealer???) is telling porky pies !

Me too. Perhaps they had another customer willing to pay more to nick someone else's production slot and the spec of the "totalled" car was the right spec for the new customer.

[goldmbr]

My mom ordered a car once, it was damaged on the ship coming over. Not totalled, but damaged pretty good (from what we were told). Apparently when it was loaded they forgot to secure the car. Offered to fix it, order a new one, locate another one, or walk away... Walked away.

[NEMINI]

Its possible your car got totalled during shipping across the pond and they never offloaded it in the USA so it can make the return trip to the factory and should show unloaded when it gets there.

The damage during the trip on the Hual Trition is conceivable because when it first left port it hit a bad storm with 40 foot swells which delayed its entering NY by 2 days. How do I know this? I tracked that ship very closely as my baby was on it.

[PARCODE]

I just got off the phone with 866-ASK MINI and they told me that my original car is on the ship and it set up to be a company car. My replacement is scheduled for 12/20 production. I do not know what recourse I have. I probably will not get the car until January or February of 2003 now. A long wait from April 2002.

[tekdude]

What do you mean by 'set up as a company car'? To be used as a demo?? I didn't know the factory selected certain cars for that use, just thought it was the dealer's choice. Regardless, all demos are sold to the public eventually, aren't they? So why/how could certain cars be set up differently for this purpose?

[PARCODE]

You are right. The car is due to arrive at the port on 11/26. I will demand that the dealer show it to me and any documentation indicating that it was damaged at the factory.

[retroom]

I wouldn't want a damaged new car even if it was fixed.

I know you've been waiting too long now, but why settle for damaged goods.

retroom

[PARCODE]

I would not take a damaged car. Curiosity would drive me to find out what happened to it and just to make sure that it was not going to someone else that may have paid a premium to get it sooner.

[Grinder]

I have a feeling that someone offered a pretty penny to get your speced MINI, but the dealership isn't about to tell *you* that! Ask for the documentation proving that it was damaged, contact MINI USA, or whatever and if it wasn't really damaged either 1)make them give it to you 2) make them give it to you for less for trying to lie to you 3) accept the later date but just ask for a few extra options at their expense (if they're getting extra money from someone, they can afford to throw in a cheap option or two...).

I had an experience back in 2000 where we ordered an m5 and an s4. The s4 was set for a production week almost 5 weeks earlier than the m5. The m5 arrived 4 weeks earlier than the s4!! I'm convinced that the dealership sold the S4 to someone else, as it was a rare set of options that we ordered. It really frustrated me and i wish i'd done something about it now!