Just curious who's had the rust recall done and how long you had to wait. Brought the car in at the beginning of October and just got the call it was ready for paint. Paint will take 2 weeks apparently. Are They painting the whole car? The wait is killing me. What was your experience?

 

My car was in the shop about 2 months for the rust repair.

 

Mine took a while because they were very busy and it has to get approval from MINI before repair first, MINI wants pics and everything from the dealer. The more parts they paint the longer it takes. Once it's done its awesome. Because it's like a new MINI and all clean. Here some spots to check over.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...tailights.html

 

My dealer told me exactly what they were doing, took less than a week for a new hatch and door. It took forever to get the approval though.

 

Theres a recall for rust? My 05 has bad rust bubbles below the rear window on the hatch.

 

Better get to your dealer it's 12 years I believe.

 

Dang. The nearest mini dealer to me is a 4 hour drive.

 

Brought mine in back in September, still waiting for the rep to come and look at it

 

I bet mine will get rust after he warranty is out haha typical for my kind of luck

 

Report it as soon as you see it. Check under the doors and under the trunk grip ahead of time. Removing the trunk grip early and peeking behind catches it earlier.

 

What do u mean by trunk grip can u post a pic?

 

the trunk grip has the license plate lights in it - it rusts behind there. it is removed by two torx bolts if i remember correctly and you can check behind

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ght-cover.html

^^ here

 

I've had 2 MCS' with rust warranty repair. MINI has a 12-yr rust warranty that transfers regardless of owner. I was the 4th owner of my current 06 JCW and the rust was covered without any issues.

You'll need to have the rust documented at the dealership. They'll take pics and submit them to BMW for approval. It won't be covered if the area rusting has been modded in any way. Rust has to be coming from the interior areas, not from surface rock chips or scratches. While waiting for approval, your dealership will ask you to get two quotes and may direct you to a "preferred" shop. The dealership will tell you which shop was approved to complete the repair, if approved by BMW.

My first MINI took 6 weeks to get approval from BMW, the second took less than two weeks. The first MINI had both rear quarter panels and the hatch replaced. The second had the passenger door and quarter replaced.

Make sure the shop quoting the repair is reputable MINI/import repair shop. They should quote to REPLACE the affected panels. Do not submit a quote where the shop is doing a partial replacement or a "clean up" of the rust areas. The rust will return in 2-5 yrs and you'll be stuck paying the next bill.

Once your car is in for repair, have the shop look for additional rust (head/tail light bezels, door/hatch seams, etc.). They'll be able to look in panels and remove lights to find rusting areas. New areas will typically be covered but will need to be documented and approved.

Hope this helps.

 

My dealer handled it a bit differently. They took care of everything. I left my car at the dealership, they gave me a loaner. I didn't have to look for a body shop or do anything else except wait for the work to be completed.

 

rwkeating, that sounds so much easier than my experience. From what I heard at my dealership, there wasn't enough money to be made in doing it internally. Warranty issues rarely are.

 

Just to be clear, the dealership didn't do the body work "in house". They had an outside shop that they worked with perform the repairs. Either way, once it was out of my hands I didn't have to do anything

 

Does anyone have the original warranty booklet that spells out what is covered? On a couple other threads it sounds like some got denied because they weren't the original owner and didn't have the car checked regularly. I'd love to know how it really reads.

I'm looking at buying a tired old '06 with rust problems but not before I make sure I have some ground to stand on regarding the rust.

Thanks

 

Mine was in for a week - but I think I'm going to be taking it back and asking them to redo it, because there is still some there.

 

I didn't have an issue with being the original owner or having it checked regularly, if that helps. Took some persistence on my end however.

 

Ya, I didn't have a problem with my '05 and I'm not the original owner nor did my car ever go to the dealer after the warranty ran out. Plus I'd already attempted a repair on it a couple years before (replaced the hatch handle, ground down the rust and repainted very poorly). But another person went to my same dealer shortly after me and got denied.

It must be pretty obvious what's covered in the warranty book. Mine is long since gone unfortunately.

 

Ha...as soon as I say that I stumbled on it in the garage filed under some junk.

Perfectly clear that you need regular check ups...at 'Inspection 1 or 2 or at least every 2 years'. And that you're responsible for repairing any paint chips or missing undercoating. Of course, it seems like with the rear taillights and hatch it comes from inside so not sure what maintenance you could do.

It does say that some states don't allow exclusions or limitations. Maybe that's how some people get it paid for and others get denied (although in my case it was the same dealer in NH that did mine and denied the other persons).