Considering how you conduct your business, can't say I'd blame the dealer for being suspicious that you may have contributed/caused the problem you were complaining about.

 

Are you telling that I am unethical? If a dealer tries to charge a customer $500 per tire for two tires when the customer needs the car, what is the customer supposed to do? Have you ever heard of the term "hostage".
And, by the way, what did I do to let him think that I fiddled with a broken windshield wiper on a brand new car? Get a grip!

 

The correct word is "predatory." Buyer beware.

"Pirelli Run Flat tires are covered for Road Hazard damage under the Pirelli Original Equipment and Replacement Limited Warranty

"The following change has been made to the PIRELLI ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT AND REPLACEMENT LIMITED WARRANTY...

"If a Run Flat tire becomes unserviceable due to workmanship or materials condition or road hazard injury during the initial warranty period, which is one year from the date of original retail purchase of the vehicle or purchase of replacement tires (purchase receipt required) or, within the first 2/32” of the original tread, whichever occurs first, the tire will be replaced to the owner at no charge for the tire."


 

Sir,
Either you work for someone that practices these tactics or you just don't get it.

 

2014 mini service & warranty information

Tire warranty statement
Original equipment tires on MINI vehicles are warranted by their respective manufacturer as detailed in the applicable tire manufacturer's warranty statement.

The CD ROM MINI provides in the vehicle's documents portfolio contains the warranty statements for the following original equipment tire manufacturers (as applicable to your vehicle):

Bridgestone/Firestone
Continental
Goodyear/Dunlop
Hankook
Michelin
Pirelli

Pirelli is the only one that warrants runflats against road hazards.

 

1. Thank you everyone for the helpful dealership recommendations; I think I will check out the Pleasanton dealership as I have heard much better things about them.

2. My tires are size 205/40R/18 and the model is Pzero Mini XL BW. The printout my advisor gave me shows a price of $374.78 before any of the fees or taxes.

3. I can't believe I misspelled steal. Thanks Chazman for pointing that out :-)

4. If you are one of the people who is complaining that I should have known better, or shouldn't have expected the dealership to do anything about this, then you need to step back and get a grip. The car was almost 35k and is less than 2 months old and had a defect that was no fault of my own.

5. The welts were on two different sides of the car for the person who was wondering.

6. I called two other local dealers and they both said they knew the tires were under warranty (one even repeated the warranty back to me), and told me they would have replaced them free of charge as long as my tread wear was not worn too far.

7. This post wasn't necessarily to call out the dealer, but more to inform others that may have this issue. If it saves one person from having to purchase a new tire, then I feel it was worth it.

 

This is not an inexpensive tire. It's $333 at Discount Tire (typically one of the best chain store's price wise). $382 out the door, mounted, taxes, etc. So $374 at the dealer, $500 out the door is not highway robbery -- it's an auto dealership price with their overhead structure. [And to those comments earlier that said "a new tire should be no more than $150 to $200, $500 is insane", well next time don't assume facts not in evidence].

The dealer has zero responsibility tire warranty wise. Matters not that the car was 35K. The fact that some dealer (called on the phone, which is easy to say "yeah, it's covered") is nice, but has no bearing on the legitimacy of your displeasure with this dealer.

I'll help others too: the most expensive place to get something fixed on your Mini that is not covered by the Mini warranty is typically going to be the Mini dealer. Be cautious my friends, choose wisely.

 

A Mini dealer that sells tires is well aware of the tire warranties of the tires that they sell.

 

I disagree....yes, it is absolutely true that tires come with their own warranty and that information is provided with the packet of new owner information. Dealers should be expected to KNOW the product and the terms under which they're selling it.

$500+ per tire is robbery and I for one would certainly escalate this issue; first to dealership management to provide them the opportunity to address it but failing a satisfactory (to you) response, certainly to Mini Customer Service.

As was stated above, you have the information and Pirelli's warranty info.

 

Moral of the story and no disrespect to the original op and anyone else, if you have Pirelli tires on your MINI go to an authorized Pirelli tire shop and they should take care of you under the warranty terms provided.

 

I say that would be wasting time.
If I don't like the selling price, I go somewhere else.

 

Absolutely. My MA never informed me about the tires on my cars, warranty, nothing. They may have mentioned a tire warranty I could buy. What if you insiseted on them including the expensive Pirelli tires that have a warranty on your new car? I bet they'd be surprised. The point is the OP got 2 bad tires that were sold to him by the dealer (not Pirelli, not Discount Tire) that had a warranty. And the dealer told him he damaged them, there was no warranty, and asked him to pay $1000 for 2 new tires. Avoid that dealer is what I'd say.

 

No big surprise here. In my experience, it is SOP for dealerships to see if they can get you to pay for something, first, and then will re-evaluate if you press the matter. Probably 90% of the people who take their car to a dealership for tires (or batteries, etc) have a lot of anxiety about anything "under the hood", so will pay whatever the dealer asks in order to not have to worry about it. My mother in law still goes to the dealership for tires on her Lexus even though she could get a much better deal at Discount, etc. Put yourself in the head of the average Mini owner. Not saying it's right or what you should or shouldn't do, just the way it goes most of the time.

 

Yes indeed and GREAT ADVICE!


Sadly, I don't expect dealer personnel to know all that much ... especially something like this. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard a Motoring Advisor or Service person give out bogus information. When it only revolves around the sale and the numbers, the least amount of info/knowledge, the better. This is how it has been in the car business forever. MINI has tried to do things differently, but ultimately it relies on the practices of the individual dealer group and its owners and how they choose to conduct business.


Couldn't disagree with this more. I investigated it a bit more to find that indeed Pirelli is rare having this coverage for new tires and new owners. Having already called 2 MINI dealers here in SoCal, I called the other 11 MINI dealers in my market as well as a few other non-MINI brands that I knew put Pirellis on their vehicles and I have to report that NONE of the dealers I talked with had ever heard of such coverage. 2 of the MINI dealers and 2 other brand dealers suggested that I call a tire center that carried Pirelli - at least they offered that as a suggestion. I only mentioned that I had a MINI that was 4 months old with 18" Pirellis and had a tire bubble.



My local dealer explained that this particular tire was rarer (as far as what is available) and that it was $335.18 for the tire itself and had to be ordered (2 days). Out the door (weights, labor, balancing, stems, taxes and the 2 CA fees) it came to $404.59. He knew nothing about the tire coverage from Pirelli, but did say that if the vehicle was just purchased there that they would look at the tire and see if it was something they could cover.



And the MINI community thanks you VERY VERY much for doing that!

 

I have to say that I have my cars serviced at two dealerships and have had great, honest service. I have an Audi A7 and my Mini R56s. I just have no tolerance for unscrupulous dealers, franchised or independent. I have been screwed over by both.
When they back you into a wall, you feel very vulnerable to their line of con.
As you age you kind of toughen up and recognize the con. Sorry, if this spoils someone's perception of life, but it's just the way it is.