I'm considering purchasing a new MINI.

Does all repair work need to be done at the dealer during the warranty period?

I mean....does it void the warranty if the work is done closer to home. One of the "cons" to buying a MINI for me...is trips all the way up to the dealership.

Thanks!

(I tried to do a search, as I assume this question has been asked before, but couldn't find any answer...then again...I suppose a quick call to the dealership would work too )

 

The maintainance work is included for the first 3 years, so its only the 4th year you have to worry about.

I don't know what the warranty says, but it also may depend on where you live (which you don't have in your profile), I'm pretty sure California has a law which doesn't allow exclusions like that.

 

Doing maintenance away from the dealership does not void the warranty but you should probably keep documentation of what you do in case it is needed.

I live about two hours from the nearest dealer so I have done almost all of the maintenance on my car, saved a lot of money and know the car much better.

 

That would be awesome.

I live in San Diego, and from reading I know other people have to go even FARTHER to their dealership....but an hour ride up to Escondido, just for maintenance seems kinda nuts.

So having work done closer to home would be GREAT!

 

Just wanted to update this thread.

I went to Brecht MINI this past weekend for a test drive and when I asked if repair work had to be done at the dealer I was told yes.

Sounds like others have to go/drive farther, but an hour or so just seems a bit much (to me).

On a side note....I had a lot of fun on the test drive. IF I were to get a MINI it would likely be an "S" model...but the only manual cars they had on the lot were "justacooper"....so I took one of those out. Went with a buddy of mine (who is 6'4" or 6'5" and his wife - who doesn't think I should get one)....needless to say....even the base models in manual form have decent get up and go...I was impressed.

In the end, the cars are LOTS of fun (like I'm sure everyone here knows), I just don't know if I can bring myself to drive so far for maintenance. I know that most modern cars won't leave ya stranded....but I'm expecting little "nuances/rattles"...which is fine...but driving an HOUR or more to have them fixed....oy!

 

What did you expect them to say?
However whoever you talked to is wrong. The law allows for maint to be done by anyone as long is it is consistent with the factory requirements. In theory they can only deny warranty work if they can prove what you did caused the failure (doing your own work).
However, if you ever get in a dispute with MINI you will have a he11 of a time fighting them on this. Also, your dealer will have a very big impact on this.

I can go to two different dealers and they are very different on how they deal with customers. One is very by the book and looks at almost all mods as a reason to void warranty. The other ignores mods unless they are directly related to the warranty issue.

 

Expect? Well...I guess I expected exactly what I heard.

Now...what did I HOPE to hear? totally different answer

I guess I'm slightly curious why there aren't more places that are authorized to do the work. I mean...MINI has a relatively small dealer network. I think I'm partially surprised that more shops, or even BMW dealers aren't allowed to do "authorized MINI work"

I guess thinking about more....since MINIs (to this point) are not a large volume car (at least not that I know of)....that it doesn't make financial sense for most shops to go thru whatever cert. process is necessary since not THAT many people own MINIs when compared to Honda, Toyota...etc.

 

I think you may be missing something here. You CAN do your own oil changes and such without voiding the Mini warranty. (if your Mini dealer gives you a hard time call 1.866.ASK.MINI for some help clarifying that point with your dealer.)
If you want something else fixed that would be considered warranty work, then you'll need to go back to the dealer. The number of times you'll need to do that is slim, and you could probably work it out so you get an oil change and have that loose screw fixed at the same time.
My dealer is about 45 minutes from here and I've had to go there once in the last 17 months. And that was by choice so I could go test drive a couple cars while they changed the oil...

 

This post makes me happy thx!

 

My dealership told me when I bought the car that if i did an oil change on my own (and they found out about it) it would void my warranty.

 

well..

thats total BS