Not long ago, my wife bought a used 2013 Mini Countryman All4 with manual transmission. About a week into owning, she called from the road with what sounded very much like a bad clutch. Surprising after only 30,000 miles, but not so surprisingly after reading the "smelly clutch" thread.

Because the car is under warranty, she called Mini Roadside Assistance which apparently is subcontracted to Allstate Roadside Assistance. I arrive and wait for the tow truck driver. He arrives in a standard wrecker rather than a roll-back truck.

I mention this to the tow truck operator who promptly tells me his wrecker is great. It must be since it contained his daughter and granddaughter (a first grader).

In a less-than-shocking turn of events, the vehicle arrives with drive train AND body damage. The dealer says its the fourth time some idiot with a tow truck has damaged an all-wheel drive Mini. It turns out that Allstate Roadside Services is insured by Allstate who believes they have ZERO responsibility.

The tow truck driver's insurance (Progressive) doesn't want to honor the claim. So, according to the brain trust at Allstate we can file a claim with our insurance company OR they will help us file a claim against Progressive. Of course, we'll have to pay the full cost of repairs out-of-pocket and hope we recovery the money eventually.

Here's my suggestion: Don't call Mini Roadside Assistance. Call AAA or put a roadside assistance rider on your auto policy. At least then, the company will have some vested interest in your vehicle being safely towed rather than being thrown to the wolves by MiniUSA (via the shell game of subcontractors to subcontractors).

Here's my MiniUSA recap: Strike One: Offering to pay only part of the clutch repair cost despite premature clutch failure being a well-documented issue. Strike Two: Using a third-party firm who uses another third-party firm to provide roadside assistance. That's an impressive "at bat" for two weeks of vehicle ownership.

 

Contact MINIUSA 866-ASK-MINI (866-275-6464). They should be covering the clutch under the used car warranty and/or the remainder of the powertrain warranty.

Also, you may want to contact your insurance company for the damage to your car from towing. They will go after the other insurance companies for payment. You will probably have to pay your deductible up front and get reimbursed later.

Let us know how things get resolved.

 

While all countryman clutches are not so great, the ones installed before mid-2012 have a different part number and are subject to the free replacement. A 2013 would not qualify.

 

That's a useful bit of information, but disappointing nonetheless. I understand it's possible to ruin a clutch in 30,000 miles of driving... but it takes some effort on the part of a lousy driver. Given the number of failures, it seems clearly a design flaw. Hopefully, there will be some aftermarket clutches that are more robust but what I've seen thus far are more performance clutches than daily drivers.

We're going to continue to haggle with MiniUSA over the clutch and we're going to escalate the roadside assistance debacle to them as well. The vehicle will get fixed. How much of a beating we take will influence whether or not we dump the Mini.

 

from my 02



I wonder why they changed . . . .

 

I'm not privy to the inner working of MiniUSA, but I'm guessing they found someone to do it cheaper, i.e., Allstate Roadside. On a somewhat related note, my mother-in-law decided to add my wife to her AAA membership for few dollars more. I didn't realize this, but my mother-in-law's membership is affiliated with the Florida "club." Not particularly helpful since we don't live in Florida.

I wrote a long email to MiniUSA. My wife should be talking with them today about 1) the clutch; 2) the drive train damage done by their subcontractor's subcontractor. Our insurance has agreed to cover the towing-related damages but will likely go after Progressive, the tow truck driver's insurance.

 

We went to pick up the Countryman and "boom!" First thing we saw was damage to a fender. The dealer said it came in that way. We had no reason not to believe the dealer and fortunately, my wife had taken photos of the car as it was towed away (improperly). One of the photos clearly shows the fender undamaged.

I wanted to update this thread with a simple suggestion. In addition to hiring a competent tow operator with a roll-back truck, photograph the vehicle with time/date stamps before it pulls away. At least it gives you a fighting chance with the insurance.

 

I would bet that Allstate had a lower tow fee.