[dechien]

Dear All:

After 13 months of uncertainty, I received the best news from Newport European. I have a Vin Number with an In Port Date of November 23, 2004. I am hopeful that it will not take four weeks for Customs to clear this vehicle so I can have a wonderful Christmas. Regardless of weather, I will have the top down.

This is to give anyone interested a sense of timing at NE:
Initial Deposit - October 2003. Was told #32 on The List.
Faxed in specs - March 2004. Was told #29 on The List.
In Port Date - November 23, 2004.
Arctic Silver, Red Interior, Hard Top, Touring Package, and probably Star Shield.

Cheers,
- dechien

 

[Sownman]

What are you paying ? I called NE a month before you did and was told no MSRP deals. I thought the list was in the 60's then as well, but I may be confusing them with Symbolic regarding list length. Congrats on getting closer.

Steve

 

[Dean K]

Looks like Newport European was the best choice for So Cal Elise buyers.
Considering most of us in the frst 20 at Symbolic still have no idea what the status is of our cars!

Do you believe that I was told at the LA Auto Show in Jan 2003 that NE would be out of business within a year...

Congrats Dechien

 

[Vantage]

I'm #18 at Symbolic and have both a VIN and expected port date. Know people with build dates two months after mine that are with Symbolic. Don't know why some people have info and some don't. For example, my VIN did not come in until very recently...

 

[jml1952]

I thought that Newport had an automatic $2500 premium?

 

[clrodrick]

I believe every car NE sells has a $2500 dealer fee attached to the final selling price.

 

[mikester]

Well whatever, congrats !!!! :clap:

 

[ChrisB]

What are you paying ? I called NE a month before you did and was told no MSRP deals. I thought the list was in the 60's then as well, but I may be confusing them with Symbolic regarding list length. Congrats on getting closer.

Steve

I put a deposit down at NE on Oct 15, 2003 and was in the mid 20s on the list (never had an actual number). I passed on the March order window and ordered in the September batch. I have a December build date.

lm deposit that they intended to sell the car to me at MSRP. When it came time to place the order in March, they insisted on the $2500 markup...which is why I passed on the March order batch.

In the end, I wound up paying the $2500 anyway, but the delay did save me some. I had planned on ordering the hardtop, but after the March order date found out the process involved in removing/replacing the hardtop and determined that once I removed it, I would never put it back on. I was also planning on ordering the Touring package because the base seats at the LA show looked terrible. After seeing the production seats, I was quite happy with them. As a result, I ended up ordering the car without those two options.

 

[gjpbsp]

Vin Number at Newport European
Dear All:

After 13 months of uncertainty, I received the best news from Newport European. I have a Vin Number with an In Port Date of November 23, 2004. I am hopeful that it will not take four weeks for Customs to clear this vehicle so I can have a wonderful Christmas. Regardless of weather, I will have the top down.

This is to give anyone interested a sense of timing at NE:
Initial Deposit - October 2003. Was told #32 on The List.
Faxed in specs - March 2004. Was told #29 on The List.
In Port Date - November 23, 2004.
Arctic Silver, Red Interior, Hard Top, Touring Package, and probably Star Shield.

Cheers,
- dechien

Good luck.
I paid my deposit to NE in August 2003, and was #16. Told that the car is on a ship that docked on September 23, 2004, Doug has no word on when the car will be available, and the dock strike is apparentlly a significant part of the delay. I just don't think that you ought to be thinking of driving that Artic Silver Elise around the North Pole on Christmas day. Baa Humbug.

Tired and frustrated,
GJPBSP

 

[APOGEE]

Vin # at Newport European

dechien....... I'll skip my lunch brake when I see her, you should
be drivin that night. Elise PDI is snap even under my tough inspection, mechanical build quality has been very good on the cars. All The Best. Don

 

[dechien]

Dock Strike?

GJPBSP:
Sorry, and quite surprised to hear that your car has been docked since late September. That is just unacceptable! Did it come in through the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro or San Diego?
Andrew informs me that my car will be coming through San Diego, and I'm unsure as to whether the strike situation affects ALL the ports, etc. Is this an indefinite strike where they're working out some union deals that may take forever? Is there any alternative shipping routes to perhaps go through other ports like San Francisco?
- dechien

 

[dechien]

Don:
Are you somehow affiliated or involved in the Customs clearing process? It has come to my attention that getting ou cars out of the port is yet another inexact science also.
- dechien

 

[Ground Loop]

Re: Dock Strike?

GJPBSP:
Sorry, and quite surprised to hear that your car has been docked since late September. That is just unacceptable! Did it come in through the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro or San Diego?
Andrew informs me that my car will be coming through San Diego, and I'm unsure as to whether the strike situation affects ALL the ports, etc. Is this an indefinite strike where they're working out some union deals that may take forever? Is there any alternative shipping routes to perhaps go through other ports like San Francisco?
- dechien

Other posts have detailed the process, but in short.. all westcoast cars come in containers to Long Beach, where they float around the bay for weeks on end until the dockworkers can be motivated by pay raises and overtime to unload the rotting fruit and our cars.

Then the containers sit for a while until a suitable truck and driver can be found to get under it and cart it down to San Diego.

In San Diego, Pasha Group opens the container, does inspection on each car, applies starshield, and parks them in a lot or warehouse.

Then they sit for a few weeks while a transport truck can be located that has some available slots. I've seen "Reliable" orange closed-truck transport used for the first delivery, but I don't know if they're all sent that way. Once the car is on the truck, the dealer is invoiced. This will be the second time they hear about the car, and have the VIN for sure by now, if they didn't already.

From San Diego, the truck takes a scenic tour of California, unloading a car or two like Santa Clause. It might have Volvos or Audis in there as well.

Throughout this whole process the car might as well be stolen for all we know. There is no tracking available to the dealers or the customers. The cargo ship companies, Pasha Group, and most transport trucks pride themselves in real-time satellite 007 microwave-band tracking technology, but that information is never to leave Lotus HQ.

Can you tell where my car is? Neither can I.

 

[APOGEE]

Vin number at Newport...
Sorry dechinen.. I can't work any magic with customs or dock
workers, I will expedite your PDI when your elise arrives at Newport European as I am the factory trained Lotus Tech there.
All The Best, Don Paul

 

[ROCKCENTER]

dechien, your car will be in excellent hands @ Newport European. Don is fantastic.