So, I am about to make my first appointment for a warranty work on my 2012 mini that I bought used with 10k miles on it. Is a loaner car part of the mini warranty or a special perk that some dealers might only offer to original owners? If like to know in advance if I should be upset if they tell me I need to pay for a rental.

 

It depends on each dealer but my smaller sized dealership has 6 different cars for anyone who requests on and is having over 2hrs worth of work done. If you need a loaner and they are all out they will rent you a car from enterprise.

 

I would recommend you call the service department and confirm with the Service Agent. Its depending on a particular SA and how nice and thorough they are. Here is a good example... most of the time I get a loaner when it is available when I schedule the service. But one day I had an issue with turbo oil line leaking and I stopped by the dealer. My SA was not available and another SA wrote up the order then told me I have to pay for the rental car even though I have warranty service done there as my home dealership.

One day I had to have my car towed into another dealership because it went into limp mode (Carbon issue, misfired) and I was far away from home. The service department did not have any loaner but they offered rental car service as part of the warranty service.

If you need a loaner I would schedule it and confirm they have a loaner available for you.

 

Tell them you need one well enough before you arrive so they can reserve it. It's gonna depend on how many they have, how many other loaners they have given out.

 

Since I didn't buy new from this dealer, I was told no dice, but if they needed the car for more than a day they would take care of alternative transportation.

 

that's how my local dealer in tampa,fl was, i didn't buy my mini there so they didn't give me a loaner mini, but they did get me an enterprise rental, they covered everything but the optional insurance. Sounds like what you'll get as well.

 

That's strange... I isn't buy from mini of Orlando, but carmax rather, and, if my repairs take longer than a day, I get a loaner. I've even had them take me to restaurants for lunch and pick me up when the cars done!

Guess not all mini dealers are the same :(