I'm kind of new to this so if your already thought of it, forgive me.

Years ago, in a time and place far, far away, I belonged to another automakers car club. From time to time, the club would get use of a local dealers service bay for some number of hours (like four hours in the morning), on an off-day ... say Sunday, when they are closed to the public.

A knowledgeable member would be like the "teacher" and tell everyone how to do some DIY thing. For the MINI, that could a huge list ...like an AUX plug install, or something mechanical like changing brake pads.

The one-time I went to one of these things the theme was "changing your plugs" (don't laugh, this was before plugs lasted like a hundred million miles).

Just a thought as I have no idea if the local dealers would be amenable nor if anyone would care. Further, who knows these days about insurances, accidents and the like ... It might be legally impossible.

 

Good idea.. DCMM definitly needs more tech days..

 

since we always seem to get lost on our runs. :-)

 

As for opening a garage for DIY work, none of the dealers or Glenelg is willing to do that for insurance reasons. It's been asked repeatedly and shot down quickly by every dealer as well as Glenelg without thought.

The instuctional Tech Days are on hold until the fall. John Behe who owns Glenelg Service Center and graciously hosts and teaches our tech days is extremely busy over the summer, but he expects to have another tech day in the fall...

We go to Glenelg for 3 reasons. First, because John Behe is a MINI owner and a DCMM member. Second, outside of a dealership John is probably the most knowledgable person you'll ever meet when it comes to MINIs and Minis, and third because John is a heckofa nice guy...