I bought my first Mini S last Tuesday - a 2009 Sparkling Silver with Black top.
I love it.

I purchased the extended 3 year/ 100K maintenance contract for $1,695.00.
Later I decided I did not do a smart thing and assumed I had 3 days to cancel. Isn't that true with any contracts?

I emailed my sale rep on Thanksgiving day (which would be less than 48 hours since I purchased it). I knew he would not be there, but I wanted to show something in writing. I called the next morning, got his answering machine and told him to call me if there was a problem with me getting a refund.

I received an email from him on Saturday saying that he does not have anything to do with it - I would have to talk to the financial manager who sold it to me. He also said that he didn't think there was anything I could do about it though.

Now it is past 72 hours, but I do have proof that I attempted to cancel it.
Anyone have any knowledge about this?

 

You do have proof that you want it canceled, but I don't think it qualifies for the 3 day rule.
I believe that in all states it only applies when the transaction take place away from sellers regular place of business. IE door to door salesman, you met in a hotel lobby ect. I would check you state laws just in case.

So because you went to a dealership and signed the papers, it does not qualify. They do not have to refund you anything. Hopefully the comptroller at the dealership is in a good mood and the paperwork as not been filed yet. If they have received your financing and the paperwork has been sent to MINI then you might be out of luck.

Why would you want to cancel this anyway? If you are planning on keeping the car to for the a majority of the extra 3 years or 100,000 miles then it is a great deal. If you are not then I can understand why you don't want to pay $1,695 for someone else to get maintenance.

 

It'd help to know where you're located, I'd expect this to vary by state. I got a note (in CA) with the papers that there was no right to cancel as it was signed on their premises. That was for the main contract, not specifically the maintainance.

And why would you want to anyway, it seems like a bargin to me. Even if we don't use the entire 100k, I expect we're only going to be at 32k after 4 years.

 

I live in Chicago - the contract was fully paid on my credit card.

It might turn out to be okay, but from what I have researched since then - I could get maintenance for a lot less at regular service places. Plus I do not put a lot of miles on my car - only about 3,000 last year (hard to believe, I know). I do plan on driving this car a lot more though. I seldom use the car during the week - I take the subway to work in downtown Chicago. I had a gas guzzler too. I'll be taking this car out for drives just to drive it.

This may turn out to be worthwhile, but it seems to me that I would either break even or end up losing money. Other than the brakes, it basically covers oil changes and other items that are not so expensive, right? (unless it is done at a Mini location). I read somewhere that Mini locations charge $500 for an oil change. Don't know if that is true though.

I live 17 miles from my closest dealer so taking it there isn't real convenient.

I thought that a 3 day cancellation was standard for just about everything, but sounds like that isn't true. Well, if that is the case, I'll keep it and make sure I stay up to date on all of my maintenance.

Thanks for the reply.

 

MINI charges about $250 for an oil service which includes changing the micro-filter and any other fluid that may need to be changed or topped off. The extended service also covers the entire clutch assembly, you Inspection I and Inspection II which run $500-700 and $1,100 - $1,300 respectively. Basically if you look in manual and service schedule that you should have received with you MINI, it covers everything that is on the schedule.

It may not be worth it if you don't drive that much. It is a better deal for people who drive there cars more often and more spirited.

 

These service contracts are almost always poor values in that you seldom get the money back out. That being said, if you're the type of owner who is going to keep the car for six years and actually drive 100K miles and if (big if) the contract doesn't have too many restrictions, then you might do pretty well with it.

Whether the contract is cancelable is really a state law issue and state consumer laws are arcane. I'd ask and see how far you get, but you may be SOL.

As a general rule, you just want to say NO in the finance manangers office to all the crap they push on you (e.g., credit life insurance, wheel/tire insurance, extended maintenance plans, extended warranties, fabric protection packages, paint protection packages, etc.) . These are the high-profit, low-consumer-benefit items that they push on you for "only a few more dollars a month" at the last second when your defenses are down and you just want to take your new car and go home. If they are selling something that is a good value, it almost certainly can be bought later and at a fraction of the offered cost.

- Mark

 

If you don't drive that much, it is something you can sell on, if we sold the MINI after 4 years and 32k miles it'd be attractive to someone who does drive a lot. They'd get 68k miles of free service with it.

Even if you don't sell it, I like the extra 3 years of no scheduled costs. The maintainance running out was part of what prompted us to sell the first 2 MINIs. I did a little thinking over in another thread we'd get at least:
3 oil changes
2 brake fluid flushes

at 8k a year we'd probably get these, but at 3k you might not get to them:

2 front brake jobs
1, maybe 2 rear brake jobs
1, maybe 2 inspections

At 3k a year, it probably doesn't make sense unless you're planning to sell the MINI later.

 

This may be an obvious question, but did you read the contract?

The cancellation terms, if any, will be spelled out in the contract.

Unless a refund is specifically prohibited by language in the contract, you should demand a full refund. If they balk, contact your credit card company and tell them you're disputing the charge.

 

The contract does not say anything one way or another - no mention is made of cancellation.

In regard to my driving - I am guessing that I will probably drive between 6k - 8k in the next year. My other car was OLD (1990 LIncoln Mark VII -although it only had 44,000 miles on it). In the last couple of years, I did not trust it to drive anywhere other than locally. A few times I rented a car to drive out of town a few hundred miles. I finally donated it to charity and bought the Mini - my first new car in around 20 years (or maybe longer - can't remember).

After reading some of these posts, I'm thinking that I the extended maintenance might be a good idea as long as I take it in when scheduled. I would be more motivated to stay up to date with maintenance and not let things slide.

 

We opted for the extended maintenance plan at time of purchase. It was my wife's car and she had all intentions of keeping it. Well needless to say she wanted something with more room so after 10 months @ 18000 miles we traded it. I contacted the selling dealer about getting a pro rated portion back since we never used it, I was told no money back and it stays with the car. I sent an email to Mini asking for their thoughts.

 

OUch! First off, I'm guessing that there's no grace period as noted in previous posts. You signed a legal contract for services and agreed to pay a certain amount for them. The part that really hurts to me is the cost....A few cars ago, I had a 2003 E46 M3 which came from BMW with 4 years/50K miles of maintenance. As I approached the mileage limit, I decided to check into the extended plan. Got bids from two dealers and ended up paying $850 for two more years/up to 100K. M3 costs and consumables are MUCH higher than any MINI, just one extra inspection or brake job would have paid for it. As is often the case though, I ended up selling the car just a short time later, asked if there was any rebate and told no. The new owner got a good perk though.

 

If the contract said it was transferrable - many extended maintenance contracts don't allow it.

- Mark

 

This legal advice is worth what you paid for it. Consumer protection laws are all over the map from state to state and refundability is seldom assumed when the contract does not specifically talk about it. As any good lawyer will tell you, it depends....

- Mark

 

I'm pretty sure the MINI plan is fully transferable.

 

BIG plus which means you can get some value out of the plan when you sell, at least to a private owner. I doubt many dealer would bump their offer much on a trade in though.

- Mark

 

This is an extension of the "free" maintenance of the BMW, sold by BMW. It stays with the car. I would assume that MINI's is the same. Mine was not a third party warranty extension which as you say, are not likely transferable.

 

The ext. maintenence contract states clearly on the 2nd page at the top that a refund will only be granted if the vehicle is deemed a total loss within the first 3yrs/36k miles. Canceling the extended maitnenence agreement is going to depend on the dealers internal policies and most likely it will come down to wether or not they have transmitted the data to MINI electronically to apply the extension to this particular vehicle.

Certain states used to have a "cool-off" period which was usually 3 days from the date you signed the contract to change your mind. If memory serves me I think this was done away with. I could be mistaken.

 

can the extended warranty bought at any time? or does it have to be bought when buying the car?

 

iloveminis: I believe you can but at an increased rate.

 

I don't believe Mini offers a branded extended warranty (the thread has been talking about extended maintenance up to now which is different). I'd avoid any third-party extended warranties like the plague.

For car companies that do provide factory extended warranties, you can typically buy them from any dealer for a fairly long grace period after the sale, at least a year or two. Some require an inspection of the car if the car is getting near the end of the regular warranty.

- Mark

 

sorry I meant Maintenance not warranty.

 

MINI does offer an extended warranty in addition to extended maintenance; you can buy it from the time you purchase to the time the original one expires, so 3 years 36K miles. It then takes you up to 100K or 72 months. You just call up the dealership and talk to a Finance Manager and they are happy to take your money. Usually about $2,000 I think, not positive on price, anyone get one and can provide exact price?

 

I have heard these are 3rd party warranties and that MiniUSA doesn't have their own, but I don't know for sure.

- Mark

 

FWIW, Mini's reply,

Hi , thanks for writing MINI.

The dealer is correct. The extended maintenance plan becomes part of the value
of the vehicle once it is activated.

Unfortunately, it can only be cancelled if it is totaled under an insurance
claim. The vehicle would also still have to be under the ownership of the
extended maintenance plan contract holder at the time of said claim.

Let us know if you have any more questions and have a great weekend motoring!

LET'S MOTOR.

MINI Customer Relations and Services