Has anyone used their warranty?
If so what did you have to do?

I have some rust forming on my hatch where it meets the handle/light piece.
Local dealer tells me to call Mini USA. Mini USA says call local dealer.
They are the only dealer nearby.
Wondering if maybe I'm missing something. Or if my local dealer is just buttholes.

 

Sounds like a crappy dealer. Did you talk to service manager? General manager or just a service advisor?

"All new MINI Passenger Cars come with a 4-year/50,000 mile Passenger Car Limited Warranty and a 12-year/unlimited-mileage warranty against rust perforation. The 12-year/unlimited-mileage warranty against rust applies to 2004 models and newer. Earlier models have a 6-year/unlimited-mileage warranty against rust perforation. Refer to the Service and Warranty Information booklet or visit an authorized MINI Dealer for terms, conditions and limitations"

 

Get something in writing from MINI USA to take to the dealer.

 

No clue. Just called in and the first lady that picked up said I needed to go to the dealer I bought from. When I said that was in Chicago she transferred me - to service. That lady said she would look into it and call me back.
Gonna give her like 2-3 days before calling back in for a manager.
I'll call Mini USA too and see if they can e-mail me something.

 

Do you know if the warranty is transferable? I bought a used 06 and it's rusted under the tail light. My local dealer is closed now so I can't call them and ask them

 

Rust warranty info here, 7/2004 was the big change over in the warranty.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-warranty.html

 

I have helped numerous local CDN's get theirs done.

I did one of mine last year. You can see the pics here:

2 quarter panels, boot, 2 doors + respray. $9300CDN all under the warranty.


I will be doing the second one later this summer.


Process:

Car has to be built after January 1, 2004.... 12 year warranty... so do the math on your build date and make sure you're within the 12 years - I'd even say 11.5 years to be even safer.

Then call your dealer and make a "Warranty inspection appointment for submission to MINI Corporate under the 12 year rust perforation warranty". It's a 10 min job that the guy zips around your ride and takes photos. YOU should instruct him where there are little bits so he gets photos of it all and doesn't miss any.

The dealer then submits their photos along with the mileage and VIN paperwork and you wait 2-3 weeks for "approval". If approved, you give them your car and their preferred autobody shop (or their own collision shop) will do the work over the next 3 weeks.

Now here's the sticky bits:
You're not guaranteed to have it covered. Under the actual warranty paperwork, it does specify that the car needed to be inspected every so often (2 years I think it was?). So if anyone want's to be a ***** about it, they can claim that it wasn't inspected often enough and wash their hands of it. Also, they may claim that chips on the bonnet are "wear and tear" and may not do the work on it. I don't know if it specified about ownership, I'm not the original owner on either of my cars.

This is one of the cases where a good relationship with your dealer is helpful so they may go to bat for you as you're a good customer.

 

The guy customer service guy from mini USA said the exact thing you said except he said it was 12 years after the first purchase date. Also he didn't say anything about the warranty not transferring to any owner so I believe that as long as the car is less than 12 yrs old it's eligible.

 

MINI Canada told me it was the build date when I spoke with them during my researching stage years ago.

Look up your build date at the BMW VIN Decoder:
http://www.bmwarchive.org/


Whatever the case... I wish you all luck with the process!

 

Ahhhh gottcha I'm in Michigan so it could be different in the US. But either way we shall see what the dealer says Saturday. Mines rusted thru the body on the passenger side under the tail light and a few spots starting to bubble. The original owner must not have known about the warranty

 

Does this warranty cover the undercarriage as well?

 

Yea, except the sub frame and parts not directly part of the body. So painted body color parts.

 

Rust through on body panels only.

 

Gotcha.

 

Production date is on the driver's side door sticker....
And mini will not fix/repair previously fix by a body/collision shop parts....so if the part was previously worked to to a crash, YPU are out of luck unless mini did the work....
The warrenty should be transferrable to any subsequent owners....had read of many 2nd and 3rd+ owners getting rust fixed by MINI.

 

Funny thing is too... after they replace the driver side door panel... the sticker doesn't come with it. So make sure to get a photo of yours before you give your car to them.

 

It in the door jamb by the strike plate on the car side...not the door side or the skin....pretty hard to "loose" unless some major structural parts are changed, like the pillar...but info can be found using the vin# ,so no loss if it gets removed/defaced.

 

Good point... I really didn't think about it. I wonder why they removed the stickers on mine and the ones I've seen.

Couldn't they just mask out the sticker for the respray?

Anyone else have the work done and have the door sticker removed?

 

Mines an 06. So I'm still in the time frame. Never had any work done on the hatch. Im going to call in on Monday and see when the car can be seen.
We shall see how it goes.

 

Had the hatch don't, rear tail lights, left quarter panel lower, near has cap and door sills.
Not that anything was rusted through, but under warranty. 05R53.
I'd start with the door sill TSB and throw in another area.
If you live in MI, (I'm in WI), rust can eat a car up quick with salt, so start with the door sills...
GL

 

*done

 

Had the passenger door and hatch replaced.

 

Ok, I'm freaking out a little now - I will be going over mine with a fine tooth comb. What should I be looking for and are there areas I should be looking at closer than others?

 

Look at door sills, hatch, under the tail lights. Those are the major ones.

 

door sills: pull the rubber seal up from the frame at the bottom of the door opening .... it is not glued and you can easily press back into place .... there was an issue with spots not getting painted at all in this area and made an ideal spot for rust to form. The seal held water in, and it was out of sight.

I found this early on my 02 but never made a claim as I treated the area with POR-15 b4 any damage occurred.