Thank's for the info! my car is similar to molly2 but in eclipse grey! I hope it arrives soon..

 

*hoping my mini makes it on a boat by monday*

 

Does anyone know how to track the countrymans?

 

w00! Gizmo is here!

Taking Delivery Saturday...so I can get the Motortober bonus

 

anyone know WHEN the MA will know if we're loaded on a K Line ship? Im holding out hope that my car made it aboard the Florida Highway that was scheduled to leave on the 7th but not sure when to let go of that hope. LOL

 

If you don't stay on top of it and continually ask your MA for information you may not hear anything at all. They don't have to tell you much of anything until the car is ready to be picked up.

 

I have to say that I have been VERY unimpressed with the customer service of the two dealerships I've dealt with and I'm talking basic stuff like answering emails and phone messages. My MA also ordered my ar wrong which will likely cost me two extra weeks of waiting since the right one will probably miss the ship tomorrow, buit the wrong one will be on it. BMW may be the parent company but Mini is definitely the poor stepchild when it comes to customer service quality. I just sold my 2008 335i boiught from the BMW dealer right noext door to the Mini dealership and owned by the same guy and the customer service is like night and day.

 

Tell the owner of the company.

 

I hate to say it but I'm starting to agree. I was hoping it would be different but it seems my MA is living up to the stereotype. Not horrible but lacking for sure. I test drove a Coupe and went back a few days later to order. He was hopping for me like a serf but now that the car has been ordered it's tough to get an email reply. When I called him with the fact that my car was showing up incorrect in the OL he explained that it would change and pretty much told me he had to go. It was close to closing time but come on!

 

While playing around on the iPhone I discovered the above site offering a free android and iPhone app to track ships...Little confusing as i just want the free info but the easiest way I found to use it:

1. Instal App
2. press the button 'ships'
3. type in ship name then search
4. a list of ships appears select your ship
5. a 3 tab section appears choose last tab..... 'position'
6. there is the ship...

right now it shows the Figaro course 253 at 18.4 kn ..eta 12/5 baltimore...
50.25.7151 n 1.30.22980 W last report 21:12 9:12[/QUOTE]

http://www.vtexplorer.com

 

According to the original post the ASKMINI folks should be able to tell me a start and end date for production but all they've been able to tell me is when the car began. Also, I've read people getting info such as "in the paint shop", etc. Maybe I'm getting the wrong rep on the phone but I've only ever been able to get the basics out of them. Not a huge deal I suppose but as we all know, this process brings out the OCD in us.

 

I was in the same situation about two weeks ago. I was in the in production status for about 3 weeks. Once things started really moving was when they were able to tell me where in the process my mini was. It also seemed to me they were one to two days behind the actual process. They also gave me a scheduled to be completed date three different times. They do what they can but it was frustrating not having solid dates and times to go with..Mine is on the Figaro should be in Baltimore on 12/5. (Ordered 10/22 and hope to have her by 12/8.......

 

6 Weeks give or take? Not bad at all. I understand the difficulties in tracking things with so many moving parts (no pun intended) and in some ways I'm surprised they do it as well as they do. According to the ASKMINI rep my Coupe started production on the 25th. Moving right along now.

The OL website has been wrong from day one and is always far from reality in my case. I called the 866 number and got the automated voice the other day to track the car. I used the partial VIN instead of my PON to track it just to see if they were on the same page. The voice told me my Mini was "in transit" LOL! I wish!

 

My MA has been great. I could not find the transport ship because it was the K line and she confirmed the ship, date and time of departing and arrival in port. The interesting thing is that she said it is coming into Brunswick, Ga on a K line however this site listed here states that K line does not dock in Brunswick Ga. Any thoughts? She also said that it is trucked from POC directly to the dealership and does not stop at the VDC here in Greer, SC.....

 

"Painting and drying typically take up Day 7 and your final quality check at the plant is completed on Day 8."

Just curious but isn't the car painted before assembly? I figured Painting took place after the body shop but before the engine, wheels, interior, etc. were assembled.

 

Yup. Pre-order and post-order is like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde (or should I say HIDE). But you know what? In the end the car is going to get here when it gets here and the MA has no influence over that at all. I guess that's easy for me to say now because mine rolled off the ship in CA today and I might have it as early as Sunday. I keep saying that one day we're all going to look back on this process and laugh (mostly at ourselves).

 

Painting does take place after the body shop, but before final assembly. I learnt that on the factory tour.

 

Thanks for the reply! Another question you might be able to shed some light on. The initial post in this thread makes it sound as if the first 5 days of production are staging days with the final 3 days (it states approx. 8 days total) being body shop, paint shop, and a single day for assembly and testing. I ask because while tracking my Coupe via automated phone system as well as speaking with a customer service rep I was told it was in the paint shop with an estimated completion date of today (12/5/11). That was 3-4 days back and as of a few hours ago it's still in that status.

Thanks in advance for any insight you folks might have.

 

The info in the original post is awesome but I found the cargo ship tracking site referenced wasn't that great. A much better site I found was:

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/

I found the sailwx site to be very innacurate (or the ship broadcasting the position wasn't doing a good job).

Note that on both sites, they only track coastal traffic so once your baby gets into the middle of the Atlantic, you're on hold until your ship approaches the east coast of North or South America. Still, it was fun to track the ship and I had more up to date info than my MA did about arrival and docking at the destination.

Erik

 

Whoa! That website is great. Thanks for the heads up.

 

where do you get the status codes? I have seen them listed, but I do not see them in th OL. Can you get them when you call askmini?

 

Disregard

Thanks

 

how often do you check the OL, call AskMINI or contact you MA?

does anyone have any idea how often things are updated? I know OL is behind, but is it only updated once a day ie I shouldnt check again until tom.

I call ASKmini once a day, but havent spoken live yet, my MA emails me new info when he gets it, but I'm not going to call him everyday

 

I called the automated number as well as talked live every few days. The OL is all over the place and usually falls way behind reality. The automated system was usually, at most, a day behind and talking to a live person was usually spot on to maybe a day behind. My MA is out of the loop in my eyes. He usually responds to my texts/calls 3-4 days after I leave a message for him. I don't even bother with him anymore and if I need to call the dealership I talk to the sales manager. I deal with my MA when the car arrives.

 

I got lucky with my MA. I tracked our MINI as best I could on the ship (the site I listed above: http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/ is great but can only track based on coastal tracking stations). 10 minutes after I saw my ship come into the port in NJ (yes, the site is that good!), my MA emailed me to tell me.

Once it's at the VDC, things kinda went dark since there was no way to track it from there.