I bought my first new Mini one month after being reintroduced to the US way back in 2002. No S was available at launch. All the Mini Advisors were brought in from the UK. I could not resist the impulse to buy one. It was truly a sight. Old guys would follow my wife to tell her they used to race the old rally mini's back in the day. It was also interesting to simply park outside a restaurant or Starbucks and watch from the inside as groups of onlookers gathered around the Mini to see what that Mini car was all about. Funny that I needed special insurance from underwriters since my national auto insurance company never heard of the Mini and said they could not cover it since it was not in their system. It was simply too new and risky being so small. I am looking forward to the arrival my new JCW (scheduled to arrive in Port of Baltimore on Friday). Any other old timer stories?

 

It seems that times in the insurance business have changed. My Roadster costs me $1.14 more than my VW CC did.

 

I definitely agree that times have certainly changed! I just bought my MCS about 2 weeks ago, and my insurance is actually much lower than the Acura TSX I had before. I thought that was interesting, considering the Acura is a more reliable car with what seems like, more safety options that the Mini. Either way, it was a win for me! Got a car I loved AND I get to save on insurance!

Even if the vehicle had just been introduced to the US, still seems weird that they denied you coverage ..

 

In 2002 Mini was only in the US for about two months and for some reason since it was not listed in their database they needed to somehow send it to their underwriters which did not know what button to push to make it work. The small size was something of a big concern for them even though I told them BMW owned them. Plus it was a new brand an new model they never heard of. Luckily, another company was able to underwrite it as a custom made auto.