I'v driven by recently. Actually was there on Saturday 7/12 and the picketers were out in force. I have seen no news articles about the status of negotiations. Such is the state of the newspapers today. They can't afford field reporters because they don't have the ad income anymore. (My economic rant of the day )

 

Yep, the large inflated rat with red eyes (12 to 15 feet tall?) is pretty easy to spot driving by.

 

Thanks for the update. Really terrible for the workers.

 

Just talked to someone in the finance department today, they're still on strike.

 

I've had a Mini since late Sept 02. the latest was I needed a T-MAP sensor. When I stopped by, the tech said they didn't stock parts for cars that old. Didn't even know the very same part is still used on the MCSC! (Or was till very recently....)

At the Clubman launch, the wife and I talked to them about an order. Wouldn't budge on the mark-up (even for second Mini purchasers) and stated that all bay area Mini dealers had mark-ups when this wasn't the case...

Sad truth is that there is still so much money in Silicon Valley that they can sell all the cars they get to those that value convinience over the $1k-$2.5k markups they charge...

Long ago, I needed a windshield. Got one there.... $613 They left the $200+ paperwork from the subcontractor in the car..... So much for "factory" quality for dealer install... Just $400 in thier pocket to farm out the work. At least that one was paid for by a repair crew due to problems with work on 280 (didn't clean up debris before opening lanes....)

Not all my experiences were bad, to be fair, but more than I'd care for... At least now I do pretty much all of my own work, and I'm so far out of warranty that I'm happy to go to non-dealer people for the jobs I can't handle....

Matt

Matt

 

Hope service dept makes well, when they settle. If I was there I'd be right there beside them. Silicon Valley is one of the most unaffordable places in the nation.

"Hasta La Victoria"

 

Driving Machine in Cupertino is looking better than ever -- besides being close to where I live. My BMW friends like 'em, and they're Tire Rack affiliates. That's where I'll be going (September?) for the first oil change and some other things.

Driving Machine
10100 Bubb Road
Cupertino, CA 95014
408-446-9727

 

How does the 3 yrs/36K mi service warrantee work in that case, when you don't go to the dealer for service? Sorry, I don't know that much about it. I would really love to go to MtView of MINI for service, but I'm not getting a good feeling off of all of this. Their lot was empty for a bit last couple of weeks too. If I go to EB MINI of Concord for service, I practically have to recoordinate my life schedule (kid, ride, wait, never been to Concord yet...but I don't exactly have a MINI yet either...) oh well. It's ok.

 

I really like East Bay MINI, and found that going to East Bay instead of MoMV was actually *less* of a disruption to my life, since EB actually has Saturday service hours, unlike MoMV.

In any case, you probably won't be going to the dealer for routine maintenance very often. I just hit 36,000 miles on my MINI yesterday, and have had a grand total of *two* scheduled services come due since I bought the car new.

 

Saturday Service is the best! Thanks for the tip!

 

Good news, the strike is over. The dealership will be back to work on August 4th. The only bad part is that they are keeping some of the interim workers, none of whom are MINI trained. I would recommend asking the service advisor, when you take in your MINI, to make sure that you have a MINI certified technician working on your car. And I think MOMV will have Saturday hours in the near future, Auto Nation was trying to force the issue on the employees right before the union negotiations started. The employees (most of them) there are really very customer service oriented-just sometimes beaurocracy and politics get in the way! With luck, there will now be smooth sailing. Peter and Andrew will be back August 4th, hopefully Chris C. will follow shortly. I will post if I hear more about Saturday hours, feel free to email me if you need more info!

 

Thanks for the update! Saturday service hours are not a big deal for me. I hope the same SA's and techs are back again. All the ones I've dealt with have been very nice.

 

Walked in. No one around but a service scheduler on the phone..... Wait. Wait. Wait. Someone comes in and sits at a desk in the back. I'm there with my three year old at the receptionist desk, that had no one there. Wait, wait, wait..... finally figure that the receptionist is dead or taking a reaaaaaaly long dump. Go ask the paper pusher for some help, parts guy comes in to tell me that they don't carry tranny fluid in anything less than gallon sizes (or something rediculous) at $400 a pop!

Mark up on JCWs is now $3500......

I've been a Mini owner since Sept 2002. Peter Smee is ghastly (told me that an OBC being over 30% off actual was "within spec"), Jen was better but not perfect. The parts guys are helpful, the schedulars and appointment people are useless. Sure they can give you a time to drop off a car, but they know so little (like not knowing how to use a phone to ask on of the service guys) about the cars they have no clue how long work will take... Making me really wonder about what the heck the drop off appointment is for!

I'm glad that others have had good experiences with them. I haven't been so lucky. My guess is that if you own for long enough, you'll learn the hard way. They only got the covered work and recalls from me, after I found the windshield invoice in the car.

Seems to me that they only reason they do as well as they do is they are near lots of money, the cars almost sell them selves, and there aren't a lot of other choices for those with little time.

Matt

 

I don't want to take my MINI to MINI SF even though they are about three miles from where I live.

Based on your comments, and others, I plan on taking my MINI to East Bay MINI. I am assuming they can do warranty work on any MINI from any where. They sound like really good people there.

I noted that the Pleasanton BART station is a block from the place, so I can drop my car off and take BART if necessary.

Oh, my MINI does not need anything and its scheduled maintenance is not for another 3000 miles, just planning ahead. Of course, if my MINI breaks down in town, I'll have to take it to MINI San Francisco.

 

You guys are making me really LOVE Niello Mini in Sacramento. They're just so GOOD is every department.