I hope MINI is reading these boards and will do something about the total disconnect with dealer locations.

I live near Allentown, PA which is a big town for car dealers and has a large BMW dealership. Doylestown also has a large BMW dealership.

But I have to drive 60 miles to get to my closest dealer, and I'm sure that's not nearly as bad as some people. Yet a mere 20 miles from Mini of the Mainline is another MINI dealer, Otto's. If you live on Long Island, NY there are three dealers, and two of them are 20 miles apart. But if you live in the upstate NY, you can count on a 200 mile drive to your nearest dealer.

What's wrong with this picture?

And since MINI is under BMW's umbrella, how hard would it be to put a tech, parts supply, or service dept for MINI's in a BMW dealer?

I see lot's of MINIs in my area, so it's not like they'd be starving for business. So don't keep a full stock of parts. Keep common ones. How much could it cost to keep a case of oil filters and a few gallons of oil to do yearly maintenance or simple repairs that any capable mechanic could do with their eyes closed.

Sure, MINI wants to have a certain degree of exclusivity, but to put owners through torture is ludicrous.

And please don't tell me it just gives me a chance to motor more. If that were the case then put dealerships in the middle of nowhere, so the drive might be enjoyable.

Consider this thread a petition to correct this problem, and maybe NAM can forward it to someone at BMW when it fills up.

 

I guess I'm pretty lucky. My dealer is less than a five minute drive away, and I don't live in a major city.

 

two hours each way

 

87 miles.

Monterey Peninsula, home of Laguna Seca Raceway, Concours d'Elegance, and an excellent demographic for MINIs -- no MINI dealer.

 

I have not taken delivery yet but the dealer closest to me is 160 miles away!

 

25 miles... but with LA traffic -___-

 

My nearest dealer is 3 hours away. I agree, they need better coverage. For instance, there isn't even a dealer in the state capitol of PA.

 

Approx. 150 miles to the two closest service stations. I pray she never gets hurt.

 

Two blocks.

 

One hour if no traffic - and 30 min if early in the morning going and 30 min at 5pm coming back....

 

Habberstad Mini is probably 10 miles from me.

 

About an hour dependent on traffic. Not too bad, although I'd love having one a block away like some of you.

 

220 miles, which takes about 4 hours, and crossing a time zone! (Mini of Nashville). That's where I've had all my service done, as it's where I bought the car, but there's another dealer in Cincinnati, which is only 180 miles and 3 hours away.

 

Two hundred miles and nearly three hours to Portland, unless the rush hour in Durham slows things down.

 

My MINI dealer is 94 miles away - and I have to go through city traffic the last 25 miles! I have a BMW dealer 5 minutes from where I work, but they aren't a MINI dealer.

TopGunner

 

2 hours away and it sucks.

 

9 miles

 

The closest dealer is 280 miles away but I bought my MINI at Knauz because of a much better deal. They're 410 miles away so I don't get to take advantage of free oil changes or maintenance; bummer!

 

You guys don't know how lucky you are. It's cheaper for me to do my own oil change than get a FREE one from the dealer (but if I don't get the FREE maintenance, my warranty is voided).

You may have to to keep your warranty intact. You can get the maintenance done at any MINI dealer. It doesn't have to be where you got the car (AFAIK)

 

I'm going to be using MINI of San Antonio, TX... I'll be stationed in Laredo, so my drive will be around 175 miles. Yuck.

 

About 125 miles....2 hours of drive time.

 

I'm VERY lucky--I'm north of Houston, and so is one of the MINI dealers. Maybe a 20 minute drive.

I am TOTALLY in agreement with you, Jascooper! I've never understood the reason BMW dealers don't have at least minimal capability to service these cars. It would be so easy, and would absolutely be beneficial to sales of these cars. People DO think about the location of their nearest dealer when they make buying decisions, and a tech trained in both MINI and BMW service would make so much sense. Lots more sense, financially, than having to open an entirely new dealership if the sales end doesn't look feasable. IMO, of course, but I think it's valid.

Now, who's got a link to the head honchos at BMW?

 

This has some appeal but also has a number of problems which would keep MINI from changing their stand.

Number one is the issue of exclusivity, and MINI has pushed this policy more and more since day one. They do not want MINIs being sold or serviced out of BMW dealers and they want existing dealers to further seperate sales and service from BMW until they are 100% exclusive.

Number two is training... BMW techs don't have the training to work on MINIs. Sure they can change the oil and so some basic maintenance, but there is only so much they can do. It would be a lot of work to set up BMW dealers able to service MINIs only for them to be able to do oil changes and simple stuff, and I can't see BMW-only dealers paying to train their techs to do more advanced work on MINIs.

Number three is the huge negative response that BMW/MINI would get from the MINI dealer network. They've been told for years that MINIs can only be sold and serviced at MINI dealers. To let BMW dealers start doing service, even if only the most basic stuff, is going to hurt MINI dealers and they'll put up a big fight since they've all made major financial investments to have the rights to work on MINIs.

I know this is not the stuff that those of you living far from your dealer want to hear, but these are the facts.

What can be done about it? MINI currently has just over 80 dealers (82?) and they have plans over the next 5 years to expand that number by 10-20 extra dealers, from what I've heard. I've also heard that most of the new dealers will be in areas that currently don't have MINI dealers, not additional dealers in areas that already have MINI dealers. This should make things easier for many of you, depending on where they end up building them.

 

Dealership placement is an issue of 1- Owners wanted to buy in and 2- MINI USA's desire to serve a market. If the BMW dealers in your area don't want to put up the money then MINI USA isn't in the business of finding a business partner, acquiring land, building facilities etc, etc.

We have done the "Why can't we get service at a BMW dealer" thing before and personally I want MINI trained Techs only rather than BMW/MINI techs. Enough goes wrong in repairs sometimes when the guys are MINI specialists to make me think that having the average BMW tech work on a MINI is a recipe for disaster.

I can get to my dealer in NJ in about 20 minutes and if on Long Island I can get to most of them in about the same time.

 

4 miles.... I am lucky.