First, thanks to fellow member dave for the photo from the BMW CA VPC (vehicle processing center). He just posted his fascinating experience at the VPC. I just had to post this and get the opinion from other fellow Mini owners. This new Mini's roof was crushed during transport and is being replaced at the VPC. Don't know about the rest of you, but when I pay for a new car I expect it not to have been in an accident. Could you imagine. You custom order your MC/MCS and is delayed at the VPC because of this? How would you know? If I found out my car had gone through this before I took delivery I would never accept it and demand a replacement. I would be furious. It seems very unethical to me as a business practice to even do this. I thought they would discount these vehicles to BMW employees so the public never purchased them.

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2004 MCS - Pepper White/ Black

 

I agree.
I am concerned about this picture and the outcome of this vehicle once repaired.
I would hope that it would not be sent on to the person that ordered it.

I am going to ask Mark our NAM founder to ask MINIUSA what happens to MINIs like this one and how we as owners are protected from getting MINIs that are less than new, maybe damaged then repaired, or otherwise flawed. :evil:

 

Wow, that's total crap! I'd absolutely refuse to take delivery of that car. I mean, it's one thing if the paint gets scratched and a body panel gets replaced, pr glass gets replaced, but the roof is a structural component that has now been compromised.

How common is this sort of practice?

I ordered my MINI with the chrome-accented bumpers, but when I took delivery, I had the chrome in the front, but not the back. I can't prove it, but I definitely suspect that the rear bumper was replaced for some reason.
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"Meine dispatcher says there is something wrong with deine cable"

 

I bet DiD never gets invited back to tour the VPC again!

Excuse me sir, no cameras allowed. . . .

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SE Regional, BAMA Club Moderator: PM me

 

VPC?
Maybe the VDC had not intended DiD to take those photos but they do not seem to be concealing the facts of what may get done there-which is nice that they are so open.

Seems the VDC is more trying to promote BMW and MINI through PR of their facility.

It is a bit like the Navy allowing civilians aboard their naval vessels at Pearl Harbor. In one incident as the crew was showing off an attack submarine it surfaced and crashed into a Japanese ship which resulted in the ship sinking and lost of life. Big mistake which cost the sub's captain his command and career.

 

Understandably, it's a bit creepy to think that this sort of significant (yet repairable) body damage occurs in the manufacturing and delivery process...and is repaired. But try to look at this in the slightly bigger picture...the fact of the matter is that that damage - to a greater or lesser extent - DOES occur. Customers just don't usually see it. This sort of shipping damage has to be disclosed (as DiD points out in the orignal thread); but what about other, less graphic, "mistakes" made earlier in the manufacturing process? You KNOW that such things must happen...everything from improperly mounted parts, over-torqued bolts, scratches, dings, broken interior/body/glass pieces, whatever. I mean, you make several hundred thousand very complicated machines each year, and mistakes are bound to occur regularly. Point is, these things happen - reasonably likely to OUR cars - the factory fixes them and we end up with the car NONE THE WISER. Assuming that the company stands behind the fix, it seems to me like this is simply part of the process.

I guess what I'm saying is that our cars are simply machines (not "babies" in any literal sense). They're created through a mechanical process which is bound to have errors. Part of the point of buying a car from an established, reputable, company (which presumably BMW is) is that they will address these issues - make them right - and stand behind the fix. For me, I assume that this is all part of the deal. Over time, if the customers decide that the company's policies/procedures for "making it right" are not sufficient (i.e. quality control is poor and the individual products suffer), then we can choose to buy succeding cars elsewhere. I, for one, am not at that point re. BMW since I feel that quality on most any other car (that I could afford and/or want to drive) is less than or equal to what I've found with the MINI.

Of course, maybe mine wasn't crushed on the transporter...

 

it'll be unfortunate for the person who gets that vehicle, but you never
know. If it arrive at the dealer with scuff marks on the doors, etc from
the transporter your car will be painted and repaired to 'original specs.'
Dealers fix cars all the time and sell as new.

i had a protege5 at one time and even though it was brand new
I noticed that the sidemolding paint was not factory paint. You can't
tell by just looking at it unless you're a paint professional (which im not),
but when I was polishing the car I knew right away that it was not factory
paint. I didn't really make a fuss about it, but that was my first time real
experience with dealers fixing the car before they sell.

 

MINI is legally obliged to disclose any damage whatsoever that may have happened to your car during shipping.
My MCS's passenger door got dinged during shipment, and they disclosed it, and told me they spent XX dollars to repair it, etc.
When you have that information, you totally have the right to decline delivery of the car.

But rest assured, they are legally required to tell you.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about that car. I work for a major OEM and this type of practice is common, HOWEVER these vehicles are not sold to the general public. There is too much damage to sell it as a new vehicle, so typically these vehicles are sold to employees at large discount. All damage is disclosed.

As for buying a used MINI, buyer beware. You would never know unless you knew what you were looking for. A vehicle like this hasn't even been titled before the damage, so it would never have a salvaged title. I'm really surprised the VDC allowed this picture to be taken. That would be a no no at my company.

 

So if your MINI sails through the VDC I guess its relatively safe to assume all is well. But if you're tracking your MINI and it gets held up for some reason at the VDC, can/should one start asking questions??? Does this "legally-required report" follow the car to is final destination or are owners notified by the VDC via your MA or MINIUSA?

 

my car was in the VPC for three weeks ,so i knew something was wrong,, they finaly admitted that it had a scratch that was being repaired,, but you have no way of knowing how bad the damage was,, , after talking to a friend that workes in the paint shop at a new car plant, he said if the damage goes down to bare metal there is no way to get back the origional factory corrison protection,, when these cars are built the first thing they do is to put the car into a tank and electro plate the entire body with a zink, nickle, magnese, mixture,, then they are taken to another tank where they are electro coated with a process called E-KOTE,, then they are baked and sent on to the paint shop,, after talking to a couple different body shops that had seen some factory repairs where they should of removed the window to do the repaint , instead they just masked it off leaving a hard line after the tape was taken off,,, i don't doubt that BMW does a good job repairing there cars, ,,, however i would hate to buy a new car and then 6 or 7 years down the road have it start rusting where the repair was done, in the state of indiana they have a law that states if the damage is over 4% they must disclose it,,, my dealer told me that if it is over 3% BMW would not sell it, but send it back to the factory,,, this all sounds good but how are they figuring the cost,, one body shop told me that just the cost of the paint for corner pannel was $250,, i finaly declined my car and am now waiting on another one

 

harts- I'm no pro at paints, but wouldn't the new coat of paint on the outside
be sufficient to withstand corrosion if prepped correctly? Most of the time
corrosion that dealers warranty are rust that starts inside the panels and I
believe that's where those electro-plating comes in real handy. Paint corrosion
on fenders and and outside are sometimes not covered as some dealers claim it is
the consumer negligence that the car was not washed and properly mantained
within reason. I don't know about MINI's response on corrosion on the outside
paint, but the cars that ive purchased in the past the corrosion is only covered
if it started on the inside.

 

I was at the VDC tour and spoke to them about this car. It will not be delivered to a customer. Any car with more than 3% body damage doesn't go to the dealer or the customer. It's repaired, then transferred to BMW for corporate use. At the end its sold as a used car. Apparently there are a number of small body problems that come through the center, mostly wheel damage that is either repaired or replaced. BMW isn't that stupid to invite major lawsuits (again) for repairable damage. Fact is, I was impressed with the care and attention to delivering cars without any blemishes that other makers would just pass on. I came away from the tour with more respect for BMW's concern for customer satisfaction .

 

>>I was at the VDC tour and spoke to them about this car. It will not be delivered to a customer. Any car with more than 3% body damage doesn't go to the dealer or the customer.

plugot,
Thanks for the info. That makes sense and also accounts for why VDC is open and up front about the damage and repairs done. Nothing to hide. Inconvenient and troublesome to the owners of damaged cars though- a small percentage of the total.

Heck in Hawaii we get most of our goods by container and all too often in a storm the ship looses "a few" overboard.
Other ships find them floating around in the pacific. I hope they don't contain many exotic cars but you never know.
Brings new meaning to the phrase- Lost at sea!
Container facts

 

i am no pro eather, but i did talk to a few, from what they said if it was just a scratch and did not dent or push in any seams or crack the E-koat where corrsion could get started, which would allso mean on the back side of the panel, where you wouldn't see it,,,, then the repair would probably be allmost as good as new, but since i didn't get to see the damage and they didn't call me,, i had to call them and demand to know what was going on,, i just had no way of knowing or finding out if it was just a scratch or something much worse,, as far as the paint itself, the factory hooks up 90,000 volts to the car while the paint is being sprayed, this lets them put a heavy coat on without worring about any runs, and then the clear coat is put on while the color is still a little wet, then it is baked in an oven, ,,, this kind of painting just can't be done in you local body shop,, and i am not saying that the repair people don't do good jobs, i think some of them are very good,, but i would like to be able to take my new mini to a car show without some judge telling me that it didn't have factory paint on the rear fender

 

>> Fact is, I was impressed with the care and attention to delivering cars without any blemishes that other makers would just pass on. I came away from the tour with more respect for BMW's concern for customer satisfaction .

That's great news...thanks!!

 

minihune, I read a very interesting (nerdy) article about how stuff that falls overboard from ships all kinda drifts to the same area of the pacific. Pretty weird. You're in the middle of nowhere, and a pair of SHAQ shoes floats by

 

>>I was at the VDC tour and spoke to them about this car. It will not be delivered to a customer. Any car with more than 3% body damage doesn't go to the dealer or the customer. It's repaired, then transferred to BMW for corporate use. At the end its sold as a used car. Apparently there are a number of small body problems that come through the center, mostly wheel damage that is either repaired or replaced. BMW isn't that stupid to invite major lawsuits (again) for repairable damage. Fact is, I was impressed with the care and attention to delivering cars without any blemishes that other makers would just pass on. I came away from the tour with more respect for BMW's concern for customer satisfaction .

That is good to hear. I would not think any major auto manufacturer would resell this vehicle to the public. The Mini photo shows rear hatch, windshield, both rear side windows were removed to torch cut the roof off and weld the new roof on.