So I'm on my way to pick up my dead Mini at Mini of SF because I refuse to pay over $650 to get my battery replaced. Yes, you read that right - $650.

Why don't I do it myself you ask? Well, my SA recommended that I bring it in as installing an aftermarket battery can void my warranty. She made it sound like it would be covered if it was defective or died prematurely. I honestly thought this was the case.

So...they run the energy diagnostics and basically come to the conclusion that I'm at fault for opening my doors or locking my car too often while the engine was off. Apparently they can get this information from the car. Unbelievable.

I admit, I might be a little OCD and click my lock more than once, but by no means should that be appropriate grounds to void my warranty and charge me $650. And even if I did sit there for hours and 'play' with my key fob, that shouldn't completely destroy a battery. I've never heard of such a thing anyway.

I literally just got the car. Maybe have had it for a month and this is already the second time I've been to the dealership. I can't catch a break. Car only has 22k on it and the dealer is already trying to get more money out of me for a measly battery replacement.

I've reached out to customer relations. Maybe I'll share my story with additional outlets. I'm so bummed and upset right now.

sigh.

 

Are you a first time car owner? A battery is a battery. A little more information would be helpful too such as MINI type and year. Generally speaking, any big box auto parts store will sell you a battery, they run a little more than $100.00 nowadays, and they'll install it gratis. There is no such thing as an 'aftermarket' battery. They're all aftermarket. Go back in there like you own the place and tell them you don't by their mythology. Also, how you use your locking and unlocking thingie is none of their bidness, is it? Actually, locking the car when not in use reduces battery drain by turning off certain electronic devices. One caveat, if yours is a much later model, there may be need to be a reset but they shouldn't ding you for that as it is part of the process and needs to be done anyway.

PS: I went back thru my service file and found the invoice for a new battery from O'Reilly auto parts two years ago. The battery was $149.99 plus tax...period.

 

hey fly - it's a 2011 S. I'm not a first time car owner but I am new to this whole dealership/warranty situation.

I'm more than capable of replacing the battery myself. would take me 10mins and less than $200. I just figured I would take advantage of my warranty and avoid the risk of the dealership saying my warranty is void due to, say, an AutoZone battery.

 

I just figured I would take advantage of my warranty

what warranty? .... the battery is a wear item ... it might have been covered under maintenance, but not warranty.

 

Capt - I made sure to ask if the battery was covered before having it towed and here's what my SA said:

Your battery is covered as long as it did not fail due to the lights being left on, radio in use for extended time with engine off or constant wake up without starting engine. We would have to run an energy diagnostic on it to determine the cause of failure. If it is due to manufacturuer defect or premature failure it would be covered. You can bring the vehicle in on an emergency drop off and I will try to get to it as soon as possible.
Thank you!

 

Kevin,

Are you sure you need a new battery?
I get it that yours got drained and can't start the car at the present time, but have you tried jump starting it and driving around to recharge it?

I would not trust any diagnostics from a dealer who charges $650 for a generic lead acid battery. That's about 3x more expensive then you would expect to pay at a dealership, 6x at an independent.

I would jump start it (join AAA, call their tow service, or ask a friend), drive for 60+ minutes, and see if it holds charge. It is entirely possible that one of the cell got shorted and the battery is junk, but

Other data points to keep in mind:
1). battery warranty is not the generic 4-year/50K miles. If forgot exactly what it is, but it's shorter.
2). Your SA lied to you about voiding warranty when using non-OEM aftermarket battery. Unless said aftermarket part can be proven to be the cause of some other failure that you attempt to repair under warranty (e.g.: cheap aftermarket shocks fail and damage camber plates, etc), it is a perfectly legitimate replacement item. The item itself will no longer be covered by MINI warranty, but you already knew that.
3). You need to find a new dealership to use for warranty work, and an independent shop for everything else.

Good luck,

a

 

Head to the local auto parts store and ask them to check your battery once you get it jump started. If it is good they can charge it for free. If it is bad, as the others have said, buy one of their batteries. Here in Arizona we are lucky if we get two years out of one due to the heat. I would tell the dealer they are nuts about voiding the warranty if you use someone else's and that you will not be back for any service if they don't make it right. I just took my R53 in for the power steering pump failure and when the SA called me he of course had a laundry list of repairs totaling over $4,000. He said that the P/S had to currently be failing for them to replace it but if I have them make all the repairs on the list he will let it slide and get it repaired even though it was working when I pulled in. I told him absolutely not on the other repairs and that the P/S is a recall item working or not at the present time and that the repair was to be made under the recall because it had already failed and then came back.

 

Hey Afadeev,

I'm pretty sure I need a new battery. I've jumped it several times and drove from point A to point B, but nothing close to 60+ minutes. Who knows, maybe you're right? Thanks for the insight.

I just got back home from the dealership. Here's the official statement from the energy diagnostics:

"Customer states vehicle will not start. Please check and report.

Connect battery charger and ISID to vehicle. Performed vehicle test. Found several control unit with low battery voltage. Performed energy diagnosis. Found unfavorable user behavior. Vehicle use when stationary. Cause battery to go weak. Recommend battery. Not warranty battery."

From the actual energy diagnostic test

"Unfavorable user behavior. Vehicle use when stationary. The vehicle was frequently woken up at the following kilometer reading: XXXXXkm

Operation by the customer or work carried out in the workshop can cause frequent wake-ups ane the vehicle is woken too often in succession without being moved: for example, frequent opening and closing of the vehicle doors, tailgate or hood."

And there's more, but you get the idea. Basically I'm at fault because I opened the doors too much while the engine is off. So...pretty much speechless at this point.

 

What would be the reason for 'playing' with your key fob for hours?

 

There isn't a reason and I never did that.

 

Much of this is troubling... Can they provide a service bulletin from MINI that lays out how many door cycles are Too Many?... If not, who decided at this dealership that you reached an unacceptable threshold?
Two, if you are NOT opening doors, or playing with a remote/fob constantly,
then what DID cause the vehicle to store , if it in fact did, all those ECU 'Sleep" cycle interuptions.... THAT to me is the single most important issue, since putting a new battery into your car will not change what is claimed to be found by the dealer's service dept. Either they are 'fixing' you, or they need to fix the car.
That last part was taught to me by BMW NA corporate in the '90s, you are either fixing the customer if they are using the product in a manner not acceptable by BMW for warranty cost purposes, or, there is a problem with the product that must be addressed and documented to prevent the same issue from happening again.
Oh and $650 for a battery in a 2011 MINI seems way, way out of line too.....

 

Check your battery cables (once you open the battery compartment) to see if one of them has a complicated gizmo on it. If so, your car has the "Intelligent Battery System" and it might wind up being necessary for the car to have the battery registered to it. That could account for at least part of the charge.

If that turns out to be necessary, talk to an independent mechanic who has the proper computer setup to be able to do that.

 

Did you get the car warning message "increased battery discharge"? I got that message on my 2012 CMS and took it to my dealer, East Bay MINI, and they replaced my battery under warranty. Battery never went dead.

 

http://www.miniofmarin.com/

No regrets!

 

If you had accidentally drained your battery (happened to all of us at one time or another), driving it for a few minutes is not enough to fully recharge it. You can buy a trickle charger, or drive around for 1+ hours to give it a chance to fully recharge.

Sorry, I haven't read anything that says battery is damaged and needs replacing. Only that it was discharged.

Reading between the lines, MINI SF wasn't sure if MINI USA will OK warranty replacement of the battery, or figured that they can bill you for way more than the amount that MINI USA will reimburse them for the job. So they decided to get lucky on your dime.

Step 1: Try to fully recharge the battery, and see if it holds charge. You can also stop by an independent shop, Autozone, or PepBoys and they will likely run battery tests for your for free. The last two will also sell you and install a replacement battery for under $150.
Step 2: Replace it if necessary with an aftermarket battery. Note, BMW/MINI do not make batteries, they just re-sell them to you at a markup (BMW used to OEM Douglas years ago, not sure about now. Not sure about MINI's battery OEM).

MINI will claim that you need to reinitialize computers that control in-car charging, but everyone who just replaced batteries reported that everything works perfectly well without subsidizing the dealer for 1 hour "reinitialization" service charge.

a

 

Hey red. You nailed it, man. I tried asking for a threshold, but instead got "On the average it would have to be over a period of several hours and not allow the vehicle to "sleep". Normally that is an interval of 15 minutes."

It has an annoying red plastic cover on the pos terminal - could that be it?

I'm not sure to be honest. I don't think so.

Really? Maybe I'll drive the extra few miles and go there next time.

Thanks again, afadeev. Maybe I'll try the "full" recharge this weekend.

Still waiting to her back from MINI USA. Hopefully they make things right.

 

Just got a call back from MINI USA.

And all they could do was offer a 10% discount off the $650 battery replacement. That's insulting.

Unbelievable. Is this the kind of customer service I should expect from MINI USA?

 

Yes, this is what you should do. Don't give the dealer the positive reinforcement
of getting $650 for a $150 -$200 battery and an hour of labour tops to install it and
register the battery to the vehicle's electronics.

 

Well guys, I put a good 60+ minutes of driving on the bad battery today and once I killed the engine, that was it. It's definitely bad. It still baffles me that locking or opening my hatch X amount of times while the engine was off caused the battery to die and voiding replacment. At least this is what Mini of SF has concluded...

I ended up installing a Duralast battery from AutoZone. Can the average user register the battery to the car or will I need a shop to do it? And what is the rationale for registering the battery?

I'm likely going to file a claim with the BBB about the whole battery fiasco. We'll see how that goes. Then, share my terrible dealership experience on Yelp, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Mini owners I know, etc. I'm really not the type to complain all over the internet. In fact, I've never done it before with a business, but I honesty feel it's necessary for others to hear about this mess. Unfortunately I'm not as excited as I once was about my new MINI due to the actions and customer service from MINI of SF and MINI USA.

Really disheartening :\

 

The BBB itself is a fiasco: http://business.time.com/2013/03/19/...f-a-bad-grade/

 

Sorry to hear of all your trouble. Thank you for making us aware. There is a reason dealerships are sometimes referred to as stealerships.

 

Don't go to Mini for anything another shop or yourself can do. They will rape you! I'm in the east bay and the Concord dealership was ridiculous. I think in other parts of the country it isn't as bad but here in the San Francisco area they assume every Mini owner doesn't know squat about cars and will pay Ferrari repair prices for what essentially should be a higher end economy car.

 

When I lived in SF I was about 2 miles from the dealership. Back in 2001 when I found out they would be awarded a MINI dealership I went in to find out about getting on a waiting list. The "attitude" of the salesperson I talked to so put me off that I never went back.

I bought my 2002 MCS from East Bay MINI and took it there if I had problems, even though it was an 80 mile round trip.

 

Yes. It's obvious why the term was coined.

Trust me. I don't want to take it to the stealership, but the freaking car is still under warranty...I shouldn't have to pay for this type of issue.


Yeah, I'm considering another location, but Marin and East Bay are so far from me :(.

 

Get a battery with the same AH and CCA rating, install it, no programming needed.
The programming is done to calibrate the alternators output to the battery capacity.

They can't void warranty for that.
Read the Magnusson Moss Warranty act.