Posted By: MeanRedSpider
MINI nightmare - 05/06/2020 18:44
Mrs MRS was back at work last summer following a year or two off as a carer for Eve and Eve needed a car for her new jobs as Billy Monger’s PA and PR assistant at Carlin - so I caved and let them buy a MINI Cooper convertible auto. There aren’t many autos about and eventually we asked a private dealership down the road from my brother that he’d bought from and recommended.
They found us the ideal car the same day and sent pictures saying, if it was what we wanted, they’d get it in and we could decide on it. We did and placed the order. Instead of the 2 weeks it was supposed to take, it was nearer 4 weeks and I persuaded them to drive it down to us. Unfortunately, I was away in Asia for 3 weeks when this happened. Mrs MRS inspected the car and accepted it.
Eve, being a bit more practical, found a few things she wasn’t impressed with, not least of all that it was properly filthy in the places they hadn’t cleaned. It was only 3 years old. When I got back, I was slightly dismayed but decided just to keep my fingers crossed. I did find a wing mirror chipped and a new tyre fitted in the wrong direction. To be fair, they sorted both.
Anyhow, a few months ago, the centre console started constantly rebooting. The Web said a common software fault but £130 to fix. Also the tyre pressure sensor constantly falsely indicates a problem. I contacted the dealer who didn’t reply for two weeks with multiple messages. They then said it wasn’t their problem. I posted a Google review and they changed their minds. This was the beginning of lockdown so it’s been on hold.
It finally stopped raining about the same time and Mrs MRS tried putting the roof down. It refused to lock. Nothing to be done but wait.
On Thursday, it went to the local MINI dealer to look at the problems, have a service and MOT.
They come back to say, indeed, the console was software and sorted but the horn doesn’t work and requires a new wheel (£525) and that the hood is bent. There’s an error code to say it was operated at speed. They blame this. I asked what mileage/time it was recorded. It turns out that it was only 50 miles after the seller had MOT’d it - so before it was delivered.
I argued that, despite it being the seller’s issue, the car shouldn’t let the hood move at speed. The MINI service people (who are fab) said they would raise a goodwill case with MINI.
Today they called me to say that MINI asked them to do some other checks and they’ve discovered that that the rear quarter panel has been repaired at some point. Where the tyre pressure sticker should be on the B-pillar, there’s the seller’s dealership sticker. They said MINI won’t consider a goodwill repair if the car has been crashed. Ironically, the seller says they bought it from a BMW sale.
Finally, in all of this, I went back to the pictures of the car that the seller sent me that we agreed to buy - and it’s a different car (reg plate).
The seller is going to collect the car and get it checked with his local BMW dealership. I’ve told him I don’t want it back.
They found us the ideal car the same day and sent pictures saying, if it was what we wanted, they’d get it in and we could decide on it. We did and placed the order. Instead of the 2 weeks it was supposed to take, it was nearer 4 weeks and I persuaded them to drive it down to us. Unfortunately, I was away in Asia for 3 weeks when this happened. Mrs MRS inspected the car and accepted it.
Eve, being a bit more practical, found a few things she wasn’t impressed with, not least of all that it was properly filthy in the places they hadn’t cleaned. It was only 3 years old. When I got back, I was slightly dismayed but decided just to keep my fingers crossed. I did find a wing mirror chipped and a new tyre fitted in the wrong direction. To be fair, they sorted both.
Anyhow, a few months ago, the centre console started constantly rebooting. The Web said a common software fault but £130 to fix. Also the tyre pressure sensor constantly falsely indicates a problem. I contacted the dealer who didn’t reply for two weeks with multiple messages. They then said it wasn’t their problem. I posted a Google review and they changed their minds. This was the beginning of lockdown so it’s been on hold.
It finally stopped raining about the same time and Mrs MRS tried putting the roof down. It refused to lock. Nothing to be done but wait.
On Thursday, it went to the local MINI dealer to look at the problems, have a service and MOT.
They come back to say, indeed, the console was software and sorted but the horn doesn’t work and requires a new wheel (£525) and that the hood is bent. There’s an error code to say it was operated at speed. They blame this. I asked what mileage/time it was recorded. It turns out that it was only 50 miles after the seller had MOT’d it - so before it was delivered.
I argued that, despite it being the seller’s issue, the car shouldn’t let the hood move at speed. The MINI service people (who are fab) said they would raise a goodwill case with MINI.
Today they called me to say that MINI asked them to do some other checks and they’ve discovered that that the rear quarter panel has been repaired at some point. Where the tyre pressure sticker should be on the B-pillar, there’s the seller’s dealership sticker. They said MINI won’t consider a goodwill repair if the car has been crashed. Ironically, the seller says they bought it from a BMW sale.
Finally, in all of this, I went back to the pictures of the car that the seller sent me that we agreed to buy - and it’s a different car (reg plate).
The seller is going to collect the car and get it checked with his local BMW dealership. I’ve told him I don’t want it back.
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