I swung by the local dealer this morning. I've been in Iraq these past six months, and the wife has dutifully been firing up the R53 every so often. Lately, though, it's been doing a worse and worse job at holding a change, from barely a week when I left, to just a couple of days now. Should be covered under warranty.

Interesting comment from the service dept guy. You need to average 10 miles a day per year to keep the warranty in play; average less than that, and you're not using the car enough for the warranty to apply. He said that once they plug the car into the HAL9000, it checks this while checking everything else.

This was a first heard for me. Anyone else run into this? Like I said, I think I should average out OK -- I put a few thousand on it last summer, zipping around, before shipping it to HI.

 

That seems kinda rediculous to me.
Especially because your a serviceman.
My feelings on that is, they should let you slide even if its a rule.
just because of what your doing for them and their freedom
By the way. thanks I appreciate it.

 

sounds like BS to me.
Ask him what page of the warranty book that is stated.

 

NO warranty for you! Goodbye! Holy MINI-****-service-tech-of-horribleness. That is THE MOSE ricockulous thing I have ever heard!

Can you imagine you buy a MINI and you use it mainly to drive to work and back (you live maybe 3 miles away) and now you have to take the long route to work every day, circle around the block a few times, miss your road and do a u turn, take a spontaneous road trip, drive to the Starbucks on the OTHER side of the city... JUST to keep your warranty?

Bahahahahaha.

I think the tech pulled that one out of his exhaust hole.

 

Wow, that's absurd. Ask for a copy of where that's written in the warranty or at the least for them to put that in writing so that you can file it. I always ask nicely, but when they can't show you that... I think they'll realize they owe you.

 

I would LOVE to have them try that crap with me. Seriously. Not when I was on 2 weeks of R&R... but sometime.... I would go nuclear on them.

 

I'd ask to speak to the Service Manager and demand that HE/SHE/IT points out exactly where in the Warranty does it say that.

 

Its probably in writing somewhere but itd take a real a**h*** to actually enforce it, especially given the circumstances. Either way there is a time limit on the warranty (along w mileage) so nobody is getting more by not driving it

 

Exactly.... even if there *is* some fine print somewhere, given how out-of-kilter this is with the *spirit* of the warranty and the manner in which the warranties are described in the company's marketing, I'm betting that you could take them to the cleaners in court if it ever got that far.

 

Ok.... now don't go crazy on me but......

I was also in the service 7yrs and did my 16 month Tour In Iraq too. not that it makes a difference but I had my father driving my MINI while I was out for just that reason. and putting it on the trickle charger from time to time. if not driving. My battery lasted me 6 yrs.

But if YOU are not out driving the vehicle enough to charge the Battery I dont see why its the dealerships fault?? The battery was good until YOU didnt charge it. Soooo if youre not driving it enough to charge it, then yeah its your fault, sorry.

If your tires start to Dry-Rot and/or Flat spot after sitting over time and not using them do you return them to the factory??? No, its not their fault you didnt drive the car. You buy new tires.. Whats the differnece?

 

Um... read the first post again. Wife has been firing it up periodically. It wasn't holding a charge well *before* he went to Iraq... so I'd say it wasn't "good until YOU didn't charge it"...

Nobody has said that dry rotted/flat spotted tires should be covered under warranty. At least not in this thread...

 

I think I found where this guy pulled the number from...

Warranty Section titled "Battery Care"

Note that it does not state that this voids the warranty by any means, but it probably does give them the right, at their discretion, to deny a claim such as "The battery stopped working" since firing it up is not the same as driving for ten miles.

I also highly doubt this information is stored on the key fob. Only mileage and OBD/CBS info as far as I know.

 

Yes, take care of the battery by other means but one shouldn't need to drive 10 miles per day to keep the warranty valid.

I was away for 6 months once and disconnected the batteries on both of my cars. The tires were on max pressure, fuel stabilizer in the tank, fresh oil in the crankcase, fresh brake fluid as well. Batteries were fine and engines fired right up upon return.

 

Um... think about it. Cars don't charge just by firing them up and letting them sit there at idle. they need to be driven.

 

EXACTLY. I think some people are missing the point of the OP. We aren't saying if you don't drive the car you should get a new battery. The original post seemed like the tech inferred that if you don't drive a minimum of ten miles per day you void your warranty. That is simply not true.

If you don't drive a miniumum of 10 miles per day you are not allowed to get a new battery under warranty? Maybe. I get that. But you know what? I'd still ask to see that in writing. I would understand though... it does make sense...

But the 10 miles a day thing? There is no way that is true. If it was I would ask: After how many days of not driving 10 miles per day does my warranty become void? What if every 7th day I drove 30 miles to make up for the days where I only drove 7 or 8? What if I was in the hospital? What if I was backpacking in Europe? (yah I think you get the point now)

Enforcing something like that would be a nightmare. There is no way they could do that to someone.

 

I agree, the battery warranty is probably void due to the 10 mile rule. That makes sense as not driving the vehicle on a regular bases does indeed shorten the life the battery. Proper storage/use would result in the battery lasting for many years. I suspect the tech was referring to the battery warranty, NOT the full vehicle warranty.

At least batteries are easy to replace. Go to a local auto parts store, get a battery and replace it (just requires simple tools and a few minutes to make the swap). Then buy a battery maintainer that's designed to connect to the battery while in the car and keep it charged. It should then last a very long time.

 

Ok, slow down everyone. Take a deep breath.

I am confident that they will find a way to cover this under warranty. They seemed very understanding, that the car was sitting more than normal while I was gone.

The car has always had problems holding a charge. Always. Shipping it from Germany to Baltimore killed it, too, when others rolled right off the boat and drove away. So, I've always had my doubts about the pieces and parts in the charging / battery of this car in particular.

I'd just never heard the whole "10 miles a day" piece of it. wbarnhill, thanks for digging out the exact language - interesting to know.

We'll see. They'll surely call this afternoon, about a pick up time for tomorrow, and I am sure that $ won't be involved. They also offered to do just about every other service they could think of, just to pamper the car while I had it in -- wipers on down the line.

And then, off to see more of the island, for sure!

 

And FYI, they just called. Electrical checked out, but as a courtesy, they're replacing the battery. Under warranty, of course.

 

But I wanted something to fight about today.