Can anyone recommend a good dealership and service advisor that I can bring my '02 MINI in for service.

Also, does you know the service/maintainance schedule in terms of milage intervals?

Thanks

 

I only know of 1 MINI dealer in Northern VA, MINI of Sterling. My car hasn't come in yet, so I don't know how their service is.

 

hmmm, i thought there would be more than just 1 dealership. i'm not from VA so that's why i'm asking. thanks.

 

There may be, but I don't know of one. Actually, in many areas, MINI dealers are very few and far between. Just ask some of our Southwestern friends.

 

Like he said, the only dealership in NoVA is MINI of Sterling, but there are also dealerships in Towson and Annapolis, MD.

Take a look in the DC Metro MINIs section for some opinions on these places.

 

Hi Suprtran, I have only been a MINI owner since December, but can tell you I have been very positively impressed by MINI of Sterling so far. They are a Dinan authorized dealer on top of everything else and I recently had them install the Dinan suspension in my 06 MCS. It was honestly some of the best service I've ever had from a dealer, the work had to take over a weekend to be done, but they put me in a MINI loaner no problem, called with updates and took care of some other little details I asked about.

I don't have experience with the other DC area dealerships, but have no problem recommending MINI of Sterling for service or other work.

 

For Northern VA your best bet is to take a ride up to MINI of Towson. Steerling seems to always have a huge wait for an appointment and check in the DCMM forums for the Tate horror stories.

 

Thank you all for your inputs. I will try Sterling soley because it is the closest dealership to me.

 

Granted, Ive only had my MINI in for service once so far but I too was impressed with MoSterling. Im sure they all have dissatisfied customers at some point but Im not one of them yet.

 

MINI of Sterling has had their ups and downs over the years. Despite some of their past difficulties, I have been a loyal customer of theirs ever since I took delivery of my MINI there on 03/01/05.

Their service department has been fantastic recently, IMO. I believe the main reason for that is due to (the return of) Chuck Joffe, who is in charge of the entire service department (BMW too, I think). He used to run the shop at MoS, then he left for MINI of Towson (they "stole" him away), and now MoS has managed to get him back.

Since he returned, they have completely caught up on their former multi-week backlog, and have started running night shifts as well as the usual day shifts. As a result, they can often get you in with little or no notice, and I have found that they complete the work very efficiently.

If MINI of Sterling is the closest, I absolutely recommend you give them a chance. I'm not saying they're perfect (nobody is), but most of their past issues with the quality of their service are gone. I can't speak to price though, since I haven't done comparison shopping for their hourly rate, etc.

MINI of Towson still maintains a good reputation as well, but it's right near Baltimore, MD - very different geographically. Tate MINI in Annapolis, MD is your next dealership choice, but there have been a number of horror stories from there, many of them recent.

Other than that, your next closest dealership is probably Crown MINI in Richmond, VA.

Be wary of MoS's parts & accessories department though... they've started marking up the prices way too high. Case in point: MSRP price on the new MINI Motoring gloves that are in the new catalog: $40. MoS' quoted price: $46 and change. 15% markup. Members of DC Metro MINIs get a 10% discount, but that won't even bring it back to MSRP!

 

thanks Edge

 

+1

+1 for them as well since I go there.

 

As some of you may know, I have been pretty definite in my dislike for Mini of Sterling's service. Well, I am happy to report it's a new place now. I still didn't get a Mini loaner, but i did get a decent loaner car from Enterprise. They held my car over to actually try to find the rattle and did find and fix it! I hope this wasn't an aberation.

 

Wanted to pass on a very positive service experience with MINI of Sterling. My wife and I brought our 2006 MCSa this week following an intermittent electrical problem with our gas gauge and door locks. The folks at Sterling were fantastic - from the moment we were greeted at the service bay, to our service writer Deborah Stack, to the rep at Enterprise for our loaner, and the technicians who worked on our buggy - all were top notch. One of their service techs also noticed a leak under our car and checked it out - replacing the thermostat and water pump - all under warranty.

Sterling was able to isolate and fix our problem with the gas gauge but unfortunately couldn't replicate the door lock problem. Aside from that A+ to the entire service crew at Sterling - job well done.

 

For what its worth, I too have been happy with MoS. Only one glitch in 5 years of ownership, which they made right when I brought it to their attention. But you do have to comparison shop. Once these cars are out of warranty they can get expensive to maintain, and you really need to at least explore the independent service facilities, such as Mach V, Funktion, etc.

 

Good advice - MoS noted we're getting close to needing brake work done. We're past the magic 36K mileage mark so this will be on my dime. MoS quoted $600.00 for the work. Any recommendations for alternative shops for brake work in Northern Virginia?

 

I'll weigh in with another positive report on MoSterling. I own an '06 MCS and have to say I wasn't very impressed at first, but my last few visits have been very satisfying. They went out of their way to fit me into their schedule and I was pleased with the results. Yolanda is fantastic to deal with and she even seems to remember you when you call in. All in all I'm very pleased to have them close by.

 

I just purchased a high mileage electric blue '03 MCS with 177k miles and went over to MoSterling yesterday to find that my car had been serviced with them since it was purchased new in 02. With a quick search by one of their service managers I discovered a few items in que to be replaced on my car. Namely the front control arm bushings which they quoted $816 to replace!

Funny thing is that I can get it done for less than $100 with new aftermarket bushings, installed. If anyone in NOVA needs bushings or any work done to their cars I've got your hook-up. For example a full suspension install(springs, dampers and sways) on just about any car is $150 flat.