In all of my readings here on the forums, I've not encountered this before. Came across it last night at the dealership - interestingly, the sales folks pleaded ignorance to it, said that it was always covered by the finance folks when it came time to do the paperwork. That's why they couldn't tell me the most important part of the discussion, $$$.



But I'm surprised that I've not seen it previously discussed here. Even if it's hated, someone would've created a thread on it. Or are my searching skills simply lacking?

Curious.

For the tires and wheels: I looked into this for a while really learning towards getting it. I finally decided that if it was a good deal for us to buy it they wouldn't be selling it. (statistically) But, if you do end up going for it, I have heard that the price is quite negotiable. I think my dealer wanted around $900 for it which seemed quite high. Also, don't consider the cost of towing because already have the free mini towing service.

The sales people are correct, it's part of the financing dept. Having said that, my sales guy told the finance guy to add it to my contract without telling me. As I was walking into the finance office he told me he had done it. I was going to tell the finance guy to take if off but he talked me into keeping it based on the price of new runflats. What he didn't say, was the price he was tell me for new runflats was based on the dealership price which is almost twice what you can get them for elsewhere. (the price of the tire/wheel insurance was $750)

After I got home and ran the numbers, I figured out I would have to replace at least 3 tires before I would break even on the deal. I've never had to replace 3 tires on any one car. Fortunately there was a 30 day cancellation period and after jumping through some hoops, including calling MINI USA, I was able to get it cancelled.

I am all for it... I hit a Md pot hole that was pretty much an unavoidable slab of pavement which had lost the cover that was placed over it. Bent my right rim and blew the run flat... total repair cost $7xx, out of pocket cost $0! Also had one nail in a tire... same deal

Good coverage...

How much did it cost you over how long a time period?

And have you left the factory tires on, or have you swapped? If you swapped, will they replace with what you've put on?

1k for 5 yrs... only covers OEM equipment, when i purchase aftermarket wheels the warranty will not apply but for my oe stuff it remains. Great stuff though. nothing but good things to say about it because i have already had 2 incidents and i am a cautious driver when it comes to hazards, and i had slip ups.

Exactly. Comprehensive insurance would cover a wheels/tires getting destroyed.

They will try to sell you all kinds of things, becuase it's huge proifit to them.

I do however opt for the road hazard from Discount Tire, a few bucks a tire and already paid for itself with a replacement Michelin on the MINI - nail in sidewall could not be repaired - just a couple weeks after ditching the runflats. Even though I have only claimed road hazard twice in 40 years of driving, so even that has not paid for itself overall.

Claiming road hazards through most policies is actually documented as an at fault accident with a road hazard

I spoke to the Mini dealership extensively trying to figure out what the policy did and did not cover. They said the policy covers both OEM and aftermarket wheels/tires, which is good since I have both. The caveat is that you are only covered up to the cost of replacing the OEM wheels/tires. So, I am covered, and can have my equipment replaced, but will need to pay the difference in cost. At least I recover some $$ if something happens.

I bought (not financed) my brand new MC S yesterday!!! I was blindsided by the Tire 'N Wheel Protection option - $1649 for 5 year coverage (unlimited miles) of tires and rims.

The very nice lady in Finance said 80% of their customers get it, apparently one sales guy even demands his customers not leave without it. Yesterday was supposedly the only day I had the option to buy the plan, but I could cancel later, so I went for it.

I am not knowledgeable about these things at all (this is my first car, etc). Is the solution to keep the plan and feel a sense of comfort, cancel the plan, or cancel the plan and swap out my runflats for regular tires? So confused.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

EDIT: JUST REALIZED I'M POSTING IN COUNTRYMAN THREAD. SORRY.

I bought a Countryman 2 days back and got the 5 yr tire/wheel protection for 700 $. Since you purchase is within the 30 day window, you may have an option to cancel the existing one and re purchase from another dealer. You may want to shop around.

Best

Sorry, but that price is just insane. Did they try to sell you the clearcoat or undercoating package?


You'd be much better off putting that $1500 in a money market fund and using that as your own insurance policy.

Any what are the odds of destroying 4 tires and wheels in 5 years? That's probably the cost of 4 Mini wheels and tires (much less if aftermarket).


Here's a tip, when a salesman 'demands' that you buy something optional, walk out and never return. Nothing worse than salespeople who try to strong-arm customers; the auto business is full of them.

NO NO NO. The last flat I had was 10 years ago. Never had a problem on my 2005 R53 MCS. This is a huge profit center for dealers.

I did buy a compact spare, slim, and a compressor (total less than $200). The spare only gets taken on trips to remote areas.

$1600 is an awful lot, sadly :( However we got it with our CM4 and so far have had two tires replaced, both times because there was a bubble in the sidewall. Lots of potholes here

We paid about $900 I think for the 5 year plan and it's almost paid for itself!

Dealer offered to come down to $500 on this, and pushed it hard. It's some of the most overpriced insurance I've ever heard of. If the replacement cost of the wheels and tires is $2k, even at $500, you're paying 25% of replacement value. A more typical claim would be for one tire because you ran over a nail, which you could easily replace for less than $250.

So far over my life, I'm averaging one blown tire every 17 years. Even if you negotiate the price down, there is no way you can expect this coverage to pay off.

Remember too, that tires come with warranties. The dealership won't mention that, they will just say that the CAR warranty won't cover the tires.

I got the wheel & tire plan, and extended the warranties as far as they would allow. I've only had the car 5 days...I'm considering calling back and opting also for the paint sealant (Clearguard or Clearguard 3M - what's the difference?), and the Lojack protection. I'll probably spend too much, but my peace of mind is pretty valuable to me.

Wow, you must be rich.

Not rich. Foolish, perhaps.

I had to get this warranty because of one main reason...WIFE!

Wife went through three tires in less than a year and MINI covered it...

I don't think mine even offered it to me... Just a windshield protection plan, extended maintenance, and then a extended parts and labor plan... I had it on my Z4 Coupe and never ended up using it. I thought for sure with those low profile runflats costing about 250 each, the sports suspension, and the 19 inch wheels that I would end up needing it at some point.... Not one catastrophe. Now that I don't have it, I'll prolly end up hitting a pothole a month and having my ex girlfriend slash my tires every other week.

purchased the tire wheel protection with my car at finance, just had 2 nails through front tire.
does anyone know how the process works?
the dealer sent us home with a loaner and said we have to wait for the insurance to take photos?
are they pretty quick about approvals? not to happy about being in an altima.

For this kind of money you can get 4 tires and wheels.

It was offered for $800 to me when I bought mine. I declined.

I've already spent $850 repairing one cracked rim and I've only had the car since Aug '12. Would've been worth it for me :(

i have driven 4-wheelers 1,000,000+ miles and another 500,000+ miles on motorcycles

i have never had a flat or destroyed a wheel

i have on several occasions found a nail or other object in the tread, but never an air loss because of the puncture, had the tire repaired in all cases for less than $30, which included dismounting, installing a tubeless tire plug/patch on the inside of the tire, remounting and rebalancing

image of plug/patch, the only manufacturer approved repair for tubeless tires, they are installed from the inside of the tire



i do check tire pressure weekly on cars, daily on motorcycles and inspect the tread for foreign objects at the same time

so i passed on the tire/wheel insurance

scott