Most everyone knows this already. You want a MINI. You want to pick it up at the factory, cruise around the UK or Europe for a spell, load it on a boat and bring it home. Think again. However MSNBC has some fresh info on the idea of MINI UK delivery (for those located outside Britain) and how it relates to what other manufacturers are doing.
>For American drivers, “it’s a challenge to drive on the right-hand side even with a right-hand side drive car,” says Andrew Cutler of Mini USA. With a car designed for American roads, which would be left-hand drive “it’s kooky-crazy. The last thing we would want is for somebody to come pick up their brand new baby” … here, Cutler pauses, letting images of dented, crumpled Minis slouch through the imagination. The possibility of owner injury is too great a horror to contemplate.
If it makes you feel any better, Jaguar and Rover don’t offer an UK pick-up either. I would guess it is because of the same reasons listed above.
For those of you left-side drivers that have not had the chance to motor ‘on the wrong side of the road’ (driving a US Postal Service Jeep doesn’t count) I can tell you, at least from the passengers point of view, that it is a very different experience. Everything is literally turned around backwards from what you are used to.
This is something that I would not be interested in myself. It’s bad enough that I have to wait until my car arrives, but to drive it for a week or 2 then have to wait another month to pick it up? That would drive me, my friends and my family absolutely crazy with anticipation!
What about you?
[ European Delivery ] MSNBC.com
I’d love to have the option of delivery in England. Tour the factory & pick up your new MINI, then tour for a week or so. How great would that be? I for one would be willing to take the risk & would happily sign a waiver.
i’ll take a spartanburg delivery complete with driving school. as naive as i am that sounds easy enough to make happen…
I would love Eropean delivery — and would sign up in a heartbeat.
I have driven in England (granted it was in a right-hand drive car which may be easier).
But it would be great to tour the facility when picking up the car — and you can limit the “wrong side of the road” driving by hopping over to France — driving around the Normandy coast is amazing (and only a few hours from Paris, although I wouldn’t subject a spanking new car to the crazy Parissian driving experience — that’s just asking for a heart attack).
Plus you could always head down to Nurburgring during those 2 weeks.
A European delivery program would be awesome and I for one would definitely sign-on to purchase my next Mini this way.
You could fly into the UK, take the tour of the Oxford factory and then jet or train over to Germany to pick up your Mini.
They could offer the option of picking your Mini up in Germany, taking a tour of the BMW factory and then touring Europe for a week or two.
It seems to me MINI is more concerned by the possibility of lawsuits brought about an inept American driver in UK roads…
Whatever…..
If this is such a big concern, then why not offer MINI Euro delivery in Munich at the BMW centre? If the owner of the vehicle wants to drive it into the UK that will be their prerrogative. England is not that far away from Germany.
My dream is to buy my next MINI this way. But the BMW lawyers are the ones spoiling it for the rest of us.
Besides… Drving in Europe is an implied risk and let’s face…Driver’s there can’t be any more dangerous and crazy than the fine crop we have here.
-Nigel
>My dream is to buy my next MINI this way. But the BMW lawyers are the ones spoiling it for the rest of us.
It has little to do with BMW lawyers and a lot to do with backwards US liability and personal injury laws.
So then why BMW offers euro delivery for BMW vehicles? I can go into my nearest BMW dealer an order a new 3 series for delivery in Munich. I might add, a new BMW bought under EU delivery is 20% cheaper than the same car bought off the dealer lot in the US.
If BMW is so afraid of an American customer having a mishap in UK roads, then why not setup EU delivery in a LHD country like Germany?
If they want to drive into the UK, then they are free to do so. American BMW customers that take delivery of their cars in Germany are equally free to enter the UK and drop off their vehicles there if they so desire.
Seems to me like a bunch of excuses. I for one would not mind taking delivery of my new MINI, whether is in the UK, Germany or Turkey.
>So then why BMW offers euro delivery for BMW vehicles? I can go into my nearest BMW dealer an order a new 3 series for delivery in Munich. I might add, a new BMW bought under EU delivery is 20% cheaper than the same car bought off the dealer lot in the US.
Frank – I’m not talking about Euro delivery – just UK. Why doesn’t MINI allow for German pick-up? I think they believe the take would be very low and not worth the additional cost and logistics. Remember the margins on MINIs are razor thin as compared with BMWs.
Again it certainly has nothing to do with lawyers.
I think a more likely option might be a S.C. delivery when the new cross-over starts production.
Volvo’s OSD program has to be the class act for Over Seas Delievery. The total program takes care of alot of the major issues such as: legal ‘temp’ registration/plates, insurance, tour destination packages (optional), delivery and turn in, OSD point of delivery(factory) ‘Mods’ and accessories, repair of damage incured during the future owners use period, euro disk for nav systems, Local tax issues for a export car ‘used’ before export but not taxed in the country of origin, some limited responsibility for the actions of ‘non-residence’ drivers from any country in which Mini’s are sold – while ‘borrowing’ the unsold export product, and the list goes on. The overhead and liability for such a OSD program must be huge, especially when OSD buyers expect a big discount on the car too. My point? At the production volume and cost point of the Mini the program may not be able to justify the cost and infrastructure.
I personally would love a UK delivery, but sadly I can see their point of view. In order to do it there would need to be a waiver of some type, this however isn’t as big of a issue as I believe they are making it out. Every year an imense numbers of Americans visit the British Isles, and a large number of those do drive once they are there. I have never looked at the accident reports but I know my Insurance company has no special British Isles waivers, and if it where an issue they would gladly charge for the occurance.
I personally would love a UK delivery, but sadly I can see their point of view. In order to do it there would need to be a waiver of some type, this however isn’t as big of a issue as I believe they are making it out. Every year an imense numbers of Americans visit the British Isles, and a large number of those do drive once they are there. I have never looked at the accident reports but I know my Insurance company has no special British Isles waivers, and if it where an issue they would gladly charge for the visit.
I agree with them personally. I’ve driven in both countries, and maybe I’m just slow, but driving on the left side of the road freaks me out to no end, especially when it comes to navigating in and out of roundabouts. Germany on the other hand is just like home for me, so it was not an issue at all.
I can understand MINI’s argument. The first time I was overseas, I was about to cross a busy street, I looked and stepped off the curb only to have a stranger grab the back of my shirt and pull me back on the curb just as a truck rounded the corner from the other side.
It takes a bit of getting used to…at least the first time. I was just crossing the street as a pedestrian. I could imagine myself talking to somebody (not on the cell phone!!!)while buckling up my seatbelt and then pulling out of a parking space and into oncoming traffic when my attention was not 100%+ on my driving.
I’m with db in that it would break my heart to drive the car for two weeks, and then wait for it to be shipped down south. The only plus is that we drive on the right side of the road here…
I have been complaining to MINI about this since Fall of 2001. What a lame excuse! Most people would certainly venture to the Mainland of Europe if not comfortable with GB. Those not comfortable would probably not opt for this option of picking up a car.
Interesting enough VOLVO offers pick-up of its LF hand drive cars in London.
I purchased a used MINI waiting for MINI to offer Euro Pick-up, since that time I have pick up a Volvo and Porsche in Europe and sold my MINI to make room for them!
I can’t tell you how great it is to drive the secondary roads of Europe. I always find myself saying that a MINI would be great driving them especially through the small villages!
Thanks MINI for protecting me from myself, I thank you by not buying a MINI.
I would sign-up in a heartbeat. If not UK, then Munich delivery would suffice but the whole idea of picking up your new car and driving it around Europe is a great experience. Seems from the responses that there are quite a few people who would jump on the opportunity. Perhaps MINI will read this and reevaluate.
<blockquote>I think a more likely option might be a S.C. delivery when the new cross-over starts production</blockquote>
When? Not if? Interesting …
And vis-a-vie for us here in RHD markets. In New Zealand we occasionally get a tourist from a LHD country that has an accident due to driving on the wrong side of the road. When we go to Europe and USA we have a problem as well. Some years ago an NZ BMW Motorcycle dealer was killed on a Cruiser when he pulled into on coming traffic.
Its bad enough when you have to change seats to drive a car let alone cope with the road driving position.
Also when you try and reverse the car your head and neck find it hard to turn the opposite way.
However, every minute of every day there are millions of tourists in all countries driving rental cars in situations like this. If they tried to stop people the rental car companies would go broke.
To my knowledge you can take delivery of your car wherever you want on the tourist delivery scheme as with the Military scheme on tour of duty.
I’m based in the UK, but I have a US MINI and a UK MINI. I’ve spent alot of time in both of them in the past few months, at the Dragon, and driving between Atlanta and Boston in the US, and driving between the London and Zandvoort for MINI United, and London and Paris for work… I didn’t enjoy driving my UK MINI around the Zandvoort Track… I would have preferred having my US MINI there… I also won’t take my UK MINI through central Paris, but I’ve been close…
I can understand why MINI USA isn’t allowing a UK delivery program from Oxford, based on the comments in the article… I feel comfortable driving my RHD UK MINI on UK roads, but when I take it to Continental Europe, I’m not as comfortable with it… I can imagine it would be the same to drive a LHD MINI in the UK… It wouldn’t be very enjoyable, even though getting to the Channel Tunnel is mostly highway…
Also, the licensing process is something I haven’t read about in these comments… I would expect you’d need to get it registered in the UK, and pay road tax before driving it in the UK, and get UK Insurance…
I think a UK delivery program is an interesting idea, but I think there’s more to it than people realise… Also, for the new owner, it will be frustrating to leave it behind and wait for it to get to the US… I think a delivery program from South Carolina would be a better idea… But, it depends on where you live, and how many miles you want on the car right away…
Gary
I would like to see a Spartenburg delivery option, would be interesting if MiniUSA could craft something similar to the BMW delivery option currently. Wonder if they did this just how many new orders would be delivered around the time for the Dragon each year lol.
European delivery requires an adventurous spirit and that is the reason why such option does not fit well everyone. I agree 100% with cj’s comments and find MINI’s position in regards to EU delivery very dissapointing. People that are afraid to get out of the good ole’ USA and sample the world, should continue to take delivery of their MINIs at their local dealerships or “Spartanburg”.
For the rest of us, that are not afraid to learn to drive on the “wrong side of the road” and refuse to accept excuses crafted by lawyers and beancounters, we ask MINI to give us the opportinity to take delivery and experience your product right in your own backyard. Seeing Europe by car is an experience not to be missed, but then again, something that many people for whatever reason do not feel comfortable with.
If you can take delivery of a brand new LHD Volvo in the heart of London, MINI has zero argument against not doing so in the heart of Cowley (Err Oxford).
End of rant.
I think it’s very short-sighted. I’ve got a LHD MINI in my garage parked next to my RHD classic Mini. I’ve driven thousands and thousand of miles of miles in a RHD car in the US, and also thousands and thousands of miles in the UK in a RHD car. My brain did not explode. I think I could handle a LHD MINI in the UK with no problems.
Actually, what I’d really like is for BMW to make a RHD MINI available in US-spec. Why? Why not? It would make a fun car even more fun and a nice complement to the other RHD Mini I own.