Delivery Spreadsheet - Let's Track These Inbound SEs

On the spreadsheet, by "received build number" did you mean the date we get the production number from the dealer? On tracking my car via mini garage, it's at the "scheduled for production" stage. My guess is "production begins" is the next stage..

 

Instead of (or in addition to) the Deposit Date, shouldn't we also track the date the order was placed from the dealer to the factory? For some people (including me), the actual order was placed a couple days later.

Also, since my dealer wasn't proactive in communicating build number assignment to me, I don't have an exact date for the transition to "Production Begins". I added comments to those cells for my row to explain the wonky dates.

 

My SE went from "at port" to "in transit" back to "at port" once it arrived at the US port, so I added two more columns for arrival port and in transit to dealer.

 

I believed I had ordered my SE last October, but to do the spreadsheet I dug up my deposit receipt and it was dated September 20th. So it will be a real race to see if I get the car within a year after placing my deposit. Then, after my lost MINI finally shows up at a dealer I've never visited 40 miles away (my dealer is closing soon), I'll have to wait a few more days for my body shop to perform an expensive hood-scoopectomy because MINI ignored my offer to pay $1,500 extra to get the less-expensive base-MINI hood.

 

That's going to be some party when it finally arrives! I would think by now Mini would be offering you a free hood-scoopectomy, given how long you've been waiting. That would be great customer service.

 

This spreadsheet is a great idea!

 

I have a production number!!

 

Awesome! Mine moved to the production begins stage (and was assigned a VIN number) and I'm sure yours did too.
You can track your production here https://mygarage.miniusa.com/

 

More helpful information and guidance for tracking your MINI order here: North American Motoring : How to Track your MINI.

 

Oh no, my SE arrived at port over two weeks ago, I don't like reading this:

The activities at the VDC can take as little as 48 hours to over a week if your poor MINI was damaged in some way during transport.​

 

Keep in mind that guidance was written during pre-COVID times. These days, it's also possible that understaffing and other COVID-related problems may cause delays. It's also possible that the tracking info is not entirely current.

FWIW, mine has been sitting on "Production Begins" since at least last Monday (when I finally got Production Number & VIN from my dealership). According to 1-866-ASK-MINI, the estimated build completion date is this Friday, July 31. Those two data points don't seem to add up, so I'll have to wait and see which one is incorrect.

 

For those of you who are not yet booked on a ship or are on the informationless K-Line boats, you still have some hope. You can pull up the shipping schedules for both WW and K-Line off of their websites to determine the next boats leaving Southampton and try to guess which boat you’ll be on.

After a few weeks, you get to know these schedules pretty well. AT THE PORT is a veritable black hole because at that stage all the information is below the event horizon. Today I sent a letter to MINI USA VP Mike Peyton. He ignored my previous letter two months ago, so I'm sure he'll respond this time.

 

"EXTERIOR BODY ASSEMBLY BEGINS". It's my turn!!!

 

I think yours would probably enter the next stage tomorrow. Once that happens, they only needs a couple of days to complete the build. We'll see..

 

Have you tried calling 1-866-ASK-MINI (1-866-275-6464) to talk to a customer service representative? (It's an automated system, but you can get to a real person 9am-9pm Eastern.) Maybe they could help advise or escalate, especially since you have evidence that cars built after yours have shipped?

You called it! The status moved forward to "Exterior Assembly Begins" when I checked this morning. Woohoo!