I understand what you are saying. But to me, it doesnt make sense that I am treated better than i thought existed at Ferrari of Washington, and i dont have a Ferrari, and may never had one. And they know it. They took me for a ride in a Lambo for fun. Why? I am not gonna buy it!? It is what Ferrari does... you better believe they are busy, they also service tons of race cars as well as customer cars and people have all kinds of things done. They are always super busy when I am there. It doesnt make sense for them to entertain me and service my crappy little Mini that costs about as much as an oil cahnge on a Ferrari
I dont expect Mini to be the same as Ferrari, i mean i am not retarted But my point is that dealerships with a certain attitude, treat everyone who walks through the door differently. MoS doesnt value people or reputation or future buyers, and the BMW side is the same way, i almost bought a 3 instead of a Mini, i evenn put down a deposit but then changed to a Mini that costs the same amount. I mean they are Mini/BMW.... thats just gay....

 

There are stories/threads where MINI salespersons don't care if you buy or not because they KNOW someone else will.

There are less than 80? MINI dealers in the country. There are probably 80 FORD dealerships in DC metro area alone!

You simply cannot compare the level of service due to backlogs with a popular car to American dealerships.

You don't want to buy a MINI ... someone else will!
You don't want to wait in line at MOS, try Towson, Try Richmond. But you really cannot blame them for being so busy. They are trying as hard as they can.

And the fact is, your not going to get the same service for a low-end car as a luxary car. True, Boxster owners might someday become 911 owners but you can't compare that to MINI owners becoming BMW owners (as Clarkson says, the only real reason to buy a Box or CS is that you cant afford a 911). If you read the BMW bashing here, many enthusiasts want nothing to do with BMW (except M3s). Many ppl get that first MC and struggle to do that. Apples and Oranges.

The best way to get better service, IMO, is to walk. Complaining will do little when they are at capacity. All MINI owners most likely knew they were 300 miles to the nearest dealer and knew the cars were popular. When your the only guy in town, how much can you do?

The DC area has MANY, MANY MINIs. I see them all the time ... no big deal. Yet if you read some threads here, ppl are amazed when they see 2 or 3 MINIs are so common around here its no big deal. Your lucky you have three MINI dealers within 50 miles? Many people have none within 300 miles. I chalk it up as the price of entrance. I knew the car would have quirks. I knew the dealer wasn't next door. I knew the car would be in the shop for lots of warranty issues ... so I can't complain much since I knew that all the other MINI owners at the same dealer waiting for the same warranty problems to be fixed. Its the cost of buying something like a MINI.

Yes, MOS is backlogged. Maybe they have an attitude. At the moment, that's life. Maybe it will change with their new building.

 

I havent had any warranty issues yet. What has happened to yours? I made sure not to get it the first model year though, so they can work out the kinks.Same with the Cayman, i am gonan wait a few years cause lots of ppl are having all kinds of things break on the new models. I dont want that to happen so I will wait. I feel lucky to live in NOVA, there is so much wealth and opportunity here. Coming from a small hick town, this is like heaven to me. I love it It costs so much to live here though, but at the same time, easy to get a job that pays more than the last. I make a lot of money and i didnt grad college and i am 23! Much love to NOVA! NOVA made it possible.

 

I love Jeremy Clarkson, and what he said is laregly true, MOST if not almost all Porsche owners are posers. Esp 911 owners. They are scared shitless of those cars and never rev about 4K RMS. They look good, are expensive and a status symbol. Porsche knows this, this is what they made the base 911 for. The 99S is different. My hubby is a very experienced driver and is lookng to go into racing. He drives the 911 like it was meant to be driven. He kills the tires and brakes because he drives it so hard Most 911 owners dont do this and garage it all the time. There are liek 5 year old cars with only 200 miles on them. This is common. I think its crazy because they only drive it to a party and back you know.
The Bosxter and Cayman are mid engined and feel very diff than the 911. They are totally differnt and if you liek the feel of a rear engined car (which i dont think too many ppl do) you wont like the Boxster or Cayman. Now i am talking stricly ppl who buy the cars to drive them, ppl who like performance. I dont liek the way a 911 drives, where as the Cayman feels natural. The balance and feel is what i want. Sure the 911 is cooler and sexier and i wish i liked it but i dont.
So for Most people, the vast population or posers, only buy a Bosxter if they cant afford the 911 because it is only a status symbol to show their friends. Thats cool though, it is their money. So Jeremy is correct in that, for most ppl they only buy the Boxster because they cant afford the real Porsche.

 

Cool

Warranty issues for me?

• Auxiliary gauges bounce all over the place. Turned out to be a chafed wire causing the bare wire to ground on every bump. How lame is that? They can't do the OEM wiring correct so it doesnt chafe?
• One of those plastic vent things in the dash, a ****, just fell off. MOS replaced the whole vent (I happened to be there doing other work)
• Back hatch wasn't always closing correctly. MOS did something to align it correctly. No biggie, it happens to a lot of cars.

One other issue was that I had the JCW suspension put on, one of the first retrofits done when the kit came out. One dealer could NOT get the car aligned properly. They were actually advising buying camber plates on my nichel. Right. I took it to MOS and they called in the Regional MINI rep and sorted it out. They went way out of the way for me. JCW part ... they were going to fix it.

 

The problem is that Mini of Sterling has a situaiton where they cannot promptly - to say nothing of REASOABLY promptly - take a car for even basic service.

If you are part a franchise offering a product and as part of that you ought to be able to support it. I drive 70 miles a day. I work long hours. I don't have time for excuses. I have owned a lot of different cars and just have never experienced anything remotely approaching the nonsense I got from Sterling.

I don't feel it's helpful to suggest that I "lighten up." I paid a lot of money for my car, and part of that went to an expectation that my free services would not be an enormous chore and bother.

And please, this is 2006, not 1976. I got obscure parts for my 40 year old Land Rover overnight. A giant global corporation has supply and production capacities that can handle just about anything - if implemented right.

"Insidious" diagnoses don't explain slow service and backlogs. If it takes "time" to fix our Minis - then they ought to have more staff. Period. There really isn't any other way to look at it. I don't expect to bring the car in and have them wave a magic wand over it. I do expect them to be able to reasonably accomodate a busted car upon which I rely for my livelihood.

Dave

 

When I was at MOS, they told me that they simply could not hire enough MINI techs. That might be one problem.

As to "accomodating" you ... when you bought the car, did you not check into where the local dealers where located? How many to service all the MINIs in the DC metro area? Did you just presume it was like buying a Ford? Chevy? I just dont see how anyone can not expect backlogs of work with so few dealers.

You do have a choice ... Walk away. Just don't give them your business. Try the other dealers (well maybe not Tate). You might find the difference the difference between night and day. Yeah, it might be a longer drive but you had to know that there were simply not enough dealerships around to handle all the work (and the car is not exactly known for being reliable).

Yeah, it stinks. I agree. Then again we all made the choice of buying a quirky car, a popular car, a car not known for its reliability, and should know that dealerships are few and far apart.

 

I understand and agree. I am sorry you are having issues with your Mini. And it would suck to have to take the car to another shop when Mini service is free, but maybe that would work better.

 

I naively assumed that the presence of a dealer reasonably close to me was enough. I guess next time I'll have to run some sort of calculation and figure out whether the ratio of techs to local vehicles supports my purchase

Let me put it this way: one of my previous cars was a BMW M6. First, you can count on your hands the number of local mechanics qualified to work on it. Second, you can guess how easy it was to find parts for it. And yet, that car was easier to service than the Mini.

 

And just to be clear - of my previous few cars - a hot-rodded M6 and a hot-rodded E36 325is - the Mini is more fun STOCK.

 

I am going to drive the Z4 coupe, I bet it wont be as fun as the Mini though... has anyone driven it?

 

Dave,
You're missing the point. MINI is small-time, therefore the dealer network is limited. Worse yet, it is hard to find technicians qualified to work on them, let alone willing to (most BMW techs who are qualified run like their hair is on fire). That said, it is my understanding that MoS is building a new building to better accomodate folks coming in.

Bottom line is this: there was enough info out there when you bought the car to know that there wasn't a very big infrastructure. Therefore, the potential for service/repair delays exsisted at that time. To complain about them now is pointless.

That said, the plan from MINI is to start building more dealers in 2007-2008 (so I have been told by the higher-ups at MINI), so help is coming. In the mean time, suck it up, and don't blast the dealersip for trying. It won't win you any favors with them (trust me, service personel DO remember folks...I sure do).

 

Okay, how many M6s were there brought into this country? Maybe 2,000 to 3,000 (including grey market cars). Now, given that there were FAR more BMW dealers than MINI dealers, it would stand to reason that servicing the M6 would have been EASIER. They aren't that complicated (okay, the cylinder head is...) Heck, I work on those at my house-they are easy. I'd rather work on an M6 than a MINI anyday-there is room to move around! Having owned multiple E30 M3s, I find it hard to believe this statement.

 

The bottom line is that Mini, and Mini of Sterling, run a business. This is a not a kit car club. The Mini is not an exotic sports car. Lengthy service delays are inexcusable. Consumers should not have to "figure out" whether a manufacturer infrastructure can handle basic service (that is provided FREE as part of the deal).

The only sucking around here is Sterling's service and planning and apparently Mini's strategic planning. I'm not going to grovel or "suck it up" while MOS figures out how to run a business and treat customers. I'm less worried about service personnel "remembering me" and more concerned about why it took something like 5-6 weeks to get a basic service appointment.

I don't understand why Mini and/or MOS is any different than any other business. They don't get a free ride just because we all love the cars and we're all one big happy family. If I was driving a Caterham maybe I'd be more inclined to agree with you.

Dave

 

There were something under 2000 M6s in the US IIRC. Not complicated per se but with the high-strung engine there is not much room for tuning mistakes. Anyway, the M6 was my daily driver then as is my Mini now. And I'm just stating my experience with both of them.

 

Picture this:

1. MINI Cooper is released. BMW has a certain sales projection, and bases the number and size of the MINI franchise dealerships based upon projections.
2. The MINI sales far exceed the projection and expectations, and continue to do so.
3. As more and more MINIs are sold... the need for service starts to grow (especially as they become 1, 2, 3 years old).
4. The dealerships were only originally anticipating a certain service level based upon sales projections. (NOTE: Sales results obviously vary widely by region - the DC area is one of the "hot" sales areas, Northern VA in particular due in part to its affluence... Fairfax County is the wealthiest county in the nation)

Now, in the case of MINI of Sterling, they have been trying to expand the size of their MINI service department for some time now. Their demand has increased astronomically because they are the only dealership in Northern VA, and sales here are way beyond original expectations. However, their attempts to expand services have been thwarted by factors beyond their control:

1. Mr. Moorehead (the dealership owner) bought land directly on the opposite size of Pacific Blvd... which was later re-zoned as residential, so he was not permitted to expand there.
2. MoS looked into expanding their service area into their parking lot, with a multi-level garage to retain parking space. Again, zoning & permits prevented this
3. Now, after the other two options have been messed up, they finally have been able to work on building a satellite service facility, which should be open in the next few months. This will allow them to go from their original 5 MINI techs (now 6), to at least 10.

All the while, sales continue to grow and the service department is simply unable to grow any larger due to lack of space... without sacrificing more BMW service bays... and if you think $25 MINI customers get upset, try $75K BMW customers...

I understand that MoS just recently started a 24-hour tech schedule, so that some techs work nights. I may be mistaken... but if true, that will at least help to alleviate the problem a little bit while we wait for the new service facility.

 

So how do you explain their horrendous SALES department?! Thats totally sperate from SERVICE. Assuming I can handle a busy service dept, how can you justify the sales people not gving a crap whether you buy or not...

Also, just because they are busy and understaffed why do they have to be azzholes? Busy is one thing, being a ***** is another....

 

I thought the basis of this entire discussion was service. I had a good sales experience in late 2004 & early 2005. I can't speak for now, I already own the car.

I'm sorry to hear that you've had bad experiences with the sales department, that's unfortunate. We've heard bad sales experiences with other MINI dealers too (Tate especially), although that certainly doesn't give MoS an excuse.

 

I purchased my car almost exactly a year ago and had a terrific experience with the sales department. Mike Arata helped out at one point and was great. My SA, Ahmed Shaker, just won two prestigious sales awards. One of those required him to have a customer satisfaction rating that was among the best in the nation. So, I'm not sure your description is fair.

 

Dave,
Allow me to apologize first for getting hot under the collar. I've worked in this business for too long taking shots across the bow, so when I read your post I immediately took the defensive. Anyways, after doing a bit of research I now understand why folks are frustrated.


I didn't realize that was the back-log. I'd be a bit torqued as well, I guess. But what edge stated is pretty much right on the money-BMW didn't anticipate how huge MINI would be here. Therefore, based on BMWs data, the dealer planned accordingly. The sales projections however, have been FAR exceeded & now dealerships are struggling to cope with the volume. Perhaps this is Tate MINIs way of stemming the flow & not being back-logged????

Anyhow, it sounds like MoS is trying to make things right by expanding, but I guess folks will have to deal in the meantime-what other options are there? Complaining to them would be like beating a dead horse-they know the problem exsists & are working to fix it.

BTW-why'd you get rid of your M6? I'm looking to buy one ('89) to replace my 3rd M3 (E30)...PM me so we don't waste space.

 

Jeff was my MA and I couldn't be more pleased. Very friendly, helpfull, and came in on his day off to deliver my MINI to me

 

We have bought 2 minis from jeff and have also been very pleased with the level of service we received.

On the service side, I made an apt. via the online form and had a call from Dave Rockwell the next day w/ a Sept. 4 apt (regular check up and I purposely tried to schedule well in advance) Well I got a call this afternoon from MOS (Carrie - super nice), saying they are going to 24-hr service and that I could bring my mini in tonight. I felt they are really trying to deal w/ their backlog. When we picked the second mini up a few weeks ago, we were told when the new facility opened they would have 10 techs.

 

I had my first experience this weekend with MINI of Sterling and I was very impressed. Although I absolutely LOVE my MC I wanted to see how the MCS drives. It was Saturday afternoon and the place was packed yet I was still greeted warmly by the lady at the front counter (I forgot her name...). She was very nice and found me an MCS to take out on my own. When I returned from my drive she told me about some options to make my Cooper a little more powerful. I also talked to Tony about some mods that I could do through MoS. It was the coolest thing ever to be talking to a salesman at a car dealership about doing mods! (although MINIs of course aren't your typical cars)

Everyone was very nice and their enthusiasm was great, they basically told me if I ever want to come drive a car or just hang out there I was welcome. So even though MoS is a little further than I'd like it to be, I was impressed by their friendliness. I bought my MC at Princeton MINI up in NJ and even though they were really great they didn't have the same enthusiasm for MINIs. I still haven't decided if I will use MoS for service because the wait will be a little long, so I may take it up to Princeton (but on the otherhand it doesn't take much to plan 4-6 weeks in advance and make an appointment...) but if I ever decide to trade in my MC for an MCS I'm definitely going to MoS!

 

Don't forget, there's always MINI of Towson (MD) that you could go to! They have a very good rep among DCMM, and they're (from what I understand) generally mod-friendly.

-Paul!

 

Two things that I see as clouding the situation some:
1. New MINI owners may not know who to ask at first when they have questions, they haven't fully made the distinction between sales & service yet.

2. Because Service is so backlogged, owners are approaching the sales team with service related questions and/or comments/complaints. The Sales team does their best to assist us with service problems even though they aren't really required to or aren't the best equipped for handling it.

I'll be glad when the new service bays are opened!!