[Mini_Joe]

Hi all, this is kind of a long story, sorry about the length. I was just curious if anyone else has experienced what I'm going through.

I ordered my car March 13th, 2003. I was told it would take 8 weeks, not bad compared to some of the stories I've heard. I tracked through the owner's lounge, and shipping thru the help of this site. It came over on the Jingu Maru and landed in America on April 10th. My estimated delivery date on the owner's lounge changed to April 16th. I was excited that it was coming so fast. On April 15th, I called my MA, and asked if there was anything I should do regarding insurance, since my car was so close, and he told me what to do. Well, the 16th came and went, and on the 19th my estimated delivery date changed to the 20th, and on the 20th my estimated delivery date changed to the 19th, and my status changed to at the dealer. This gets me even more excited. I start talking to other people on the owner's lounge whose car came on the same boat from the same dealer. I try calling my MA on Monday, the 21st, and he didn't call me back. He called back and left a message on my home machine on Tuesday (even though my message said to call me at work if it was before 5 pm), and he said 'I know it says your car is here, but it's not'. So I call him back that night, and left another message on his voicemail. He was off on Wednesday, so I called him when I got home from work on Thursday night. He said it's still not there, that his info says it's loaded on the truck since Tuesday, and that if it didn't show up the next day (Friday), he would call the VPC to see what's up. I tried getting ahold of him on Saturday with no luck, so I have no idea what is going on. Now, the 2 people I was talking to in the owner's lounge have already had their car since Wednesday, and mine's still not there yet. I just hope there wasn't some sort of problem that he's not telling me about. I just don't understand what could be the hold up. My experience with the owner's lounge was that it was way behind in every step, how could it be more than a week ahead when it comes to my car being at the dealer? Sorry if this didn't make much sense, I'm really upset about all this.

[KTC]

Hi
I understand completely! My car sat in Newark for more than three weeks. I was ready to go get it myself! The dealer explained it that they only get shipments every two weeks and they basically send them to the dealers in the order they were received at the port. My dealer pushed mine along a bit because I was taking the train in from out-of-state to pick it up so I really needed to make sure it was ready. Even still it was more than a month later than the anticipated arrival date given on MINIUSA. It seems like a really inefficient system, particularly for those dealships near the ports, but it seems to be just the way it is. I don't know if this helps, but don't worry that it's a problem. Good luck!

[dco43054]

Is the OL anywhere near correct? Not always. My car landed on 24Feb03 or so, and had an EDD of 01March. Didn't happen. I had planned on picking it up on 15Mar, and I think it arrived at the dealer on 11Mar.

Some people off my boat had theirs arrive at the dealer, and some with Indiana and Kansas dealers, within days of docking. Just takes a while to move a couple hundred or so cars through the VPC.

And for weeks afterward, the OL said it was en route.

Call 866-ASK-MINI and they can at least tell you if it has been loaded. It is the same source the dealer has.

The good news it that it will be there in the near future and you will be enjoying it soon.

Dave