I just discovered that my local BMW dealership carries basic maintenance items for my wife's '09 Mini! I bought 5 quarts of Mini oil and an oil filter for about 45 bucks. The fact that the BMW dealer is about 30 miles closer to us than the Mini dealer is a big plus.

Hopefully this info will be useful to some of you and is not redundant.

 

You might want to check with your MINI dealership before doing any work at a non authorized BMW dealership even if you bought parts or supplies from them.

In my area we are required to have warranty service done at an authorized MINI dealership.

General maintenance when documented with receipts could be done at any automotive shop.

You can buy oil filters from internet vendors and Mobil 1 fully synthetic oil for the MINI from Costco or Walmart usually at good prices.

I usually bypass the BMW dealership labor rates and take my MINI to a local Goodyear Gemini with a coupon good for oil change for $19.95. I bring the Oil I want and my oil filter and they do the labor for $14.95 under the coupon and charge me $4 for oil deposit recycle.

 

He is just buying parts there. I highly doubt they will do any labor being that the mechanic has to be MINI qualified. Maybe you might get super lucky and there is one there that made the switch to the dark side but I doubt it. But if they have filters and other small maintence items go for it.

 

Our BMW dealer is right next to the MINI dealer, they even turned us away for just wheel/tire work. The Chevy Truck dealer turns away warranty work for GMC Trucks, even though they are identicle underneath. I think it's more about policy and stealership/OEM bureaucracy than ability.