Question, Are there any Mini Owners out there who have experience with getting warranty work done after you have have been doing all your own maintenance (oil changes) on your Mini.
This would only be for those Mini's still under the Mini Coopers factory warranty or extended Mini Cooper warranty.
In particular, have any of you who do your own oil changes had problems getting Mini Cooper to accept your records/reciepts of oilchanges/maintenance work you have performed yourself when warranty work was required?

 

I asked my dealer about this; they said.

" as long as you use a recommended oil and grade... And keep the receipt with the date/brand/rating on the receipt you are very much covered."

They then pointed me to the list in the owners guide.. I asked about other oils.. They said "if it's on the list, it's fine, if not then the brand would have to show proof of meeting the BMW specs.."

I then asked about filters "any models the are a proper fitting filter will be fine". "Proper" meaning its does not need some sort of modification to make it work..

I don't have a problem with that.. Seems fair enough.

 

Yes, I understand what the dealerships are telling us.
But my question is when in fact that warranty work is eventualy required in such cases, how has it worked out? Has there been any problems with the dealerships honoring those maintenance records and reciepts?
These cars have been out there for some time now and surely there are those who have been in this situation that can give us first hand experience?
Or does everyone have the Mini dealership do thier mantenance work while the car is under warranty?

 

The chances that they will try to link the warranty work to the oil are slim. I think as long as the part (fluids, plugs, pads, etc) are MINI OEM and appear to be installed correctly, the warranty work should be honored. I'm sure you are aware that in the warranty game they HAVE to be able to somehow link the failure to a mod or work that DIRECTLY links it to the failure/problem in order to refuse warranty coverage. If you have a faulty fuel pump, they cant refuse the warranty work blaming it on the fact that you changed your own oil.

 

I had some warranty work done right at 50k. The subject of maintenance and/or maintenance records never even came up.

I did use the MINI OEM oil for an oil change at 40k just in case. Dumped it shortly after getting out of warranty.

 

It hardly comes up these days, since even if you are doing your oil changes in-between factory intervals (as well you should, if you want to keep the car), you will still probably be taking the car to the dealer for free oil changes until 3 years / 36K miles pre-paid maintenance coverage runs out. In that case, everyone is happy and nothing more needs to be said or done.

For the delta between 3 years/36K pre-paid maintenance runs out and 4 years/50K warranty is still in effect, I have been doing my oil changes exclusively with 0W40 Mobile 1.

Right before 4 year clock ran out (at ~40K miles), I had a significant amount of warranty work done (timing chain replacement, sunroof cartridge, etc, etc). The question of who did oil maintenance recently never came up.

HTH,
a

 

This is exactly what I want to hear, that's great they did not question your maintenance when determining whether the warranty should apply.
My plan is exactly the same as yours has been, take advantage of the "free" maintenance for the 36 month period and then do my own for the remainder ( in my case it would be for 100k miles/six years for the warranty coverage).

 

Good plan, except the 3 years/36K mile services isn't "free", it is "pre-paid". Either you, or the original owner, pre-paid that service via MINI USA when you bought the car.

Don't let the dealer or anyone else tell you otherwise - you are getting the service you paid for.
It's not a favor!

You should demand and receive maximum amount of care and attention to your car for your money. If the first dealer is failing to deliver - take your business to another. They are getting paid for performing the service via MINI USA, and the smart ones will earn your business and money!

a