I bought my mini from them and had the best experience. The best part was my salesman used to drive and mod a mini so he was very knowledgeable and helpful and still if i have a question i just call him up and he's more than happy to answer.

 

I had a pretty good experience buying my JCW. They were actually very patient with me, I waited probably 8 months before buying it...basically to save for a large downpayment. My Sales rep, Mags, was awesome. She answered every question, she didn't pressure me, she let me test drive a JCW even though I was just learning stick. The Services guys have been very helpful over the last 3+ years as well. I'll send e-mail asking stupid questions, but they come back with full responses and always take care of me. I've only dealt with them for 3 years, but I haven't had any real issues, I don't see myself going back to the dealer for maintenance work, but they made the first 3 years a pretty good experience. Hopefully this doesn't backfire on me...

Every dealer is different, it's hit or miss with the person(s) involved and the issue at hand.

 

Honestly everyone experience will vary based on the salesperson they get. My salesman was the absolute worst and the managers were just as bad. If my salesperson did his job my experience would have been different. I have no experience with the service department. I went to Prestige and my salesman was great. He encouraged me to build but I was impatient and I took one off the lot. I have had my car for a month and decided I should build. I called my salesman he got the manager involved I built one which should be hear in a month and I took a 10% hit but he gave me the build at invoice. And it was painless with no arguing. Any dealer can smile and treat you good when they are taking your money but I know from experience. With morristown I was FORCED to dispute my deposit on the credit card because when I cancelled the sale nobody including the managers would take the time to refund my deposit until I really made a stink. Not to mention Morristown tried to steal my trade and prestige gave me exactly what the books said I should have gotten.

 

My coworker just got a quote from Mini of Morristown for 275 dollars a tire for 16 inch run flats. She asked if she could use non-run flat tires and they told her no...that she would have to change the whole wheel to do that.

 

BS on changing the wheel. They have to sell the runflats do to the liability because most MINI's don't have a spare tire. But if she changes to non runlfats she should change them all IMO.

 

Yeah she can change to non run flats, no problem. I sold my run flats within the first year of buying my car.

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Our more recent experiences with them were not bad, but not perfect either.

We bought a 2012 Countryman from mini of monmouth because we were able to save nearly $1500 versus their best price.

We had electrical problems with the car, and it had to be towed in three times. Each time the car broke down, the closest dealer was Morristown. And that's where mini had it towed. They treated us no differently then if we had bought the car from them, and they gave us a loaner car each time we requested it.

They were unable to fix the car, and after mini saw that we were filing a lemon law claim, they replaced it with a 2013 through the morristown dealer. Again, during the replacement process, the dealer treated us no differently then they would have if we had bought the car from them.

When we picked up the new car six weeks ago mini made us sign a legal release form with respect to the old car. They promised to send us a copy, but even though we have asked for it four times since then, we still don't have it. Not good, we are tired of asking for it, and it is certainly going to affect how we rate them on the questionnaire.

 

They absolutely know that the wheels don’t have to be changed. Trust me they know.

Is it possible they said in order to change that tire to a non-run flat they had to change the rest of the tires as well?

Just ask’in.

///Rich

 

No - she was going to replace them all. When she told me I told her they were bsing her about the wheels and pointed her to Tire Rack.

She said that when she got the quote of 275 per wheel she questioned it. They told her they were so expensive because they were runflats, so she inquired about using non-runflat tires. They said - "if you do that you have to change the whole wheel"

I think all dealers are pretty much the same - you have good guys and a-holes....just like everywhere else in life.

I ran into the same thing buying VW's - back when I was in high school (1988) I ended up buying a 16V GTI from Douglas because Bernardsville was so rude...again in 2000 when I got another GTI I had the same experience and ended up purchasing from Douglas - 8 years later I had the opposite experience and ended up buying from Bernardsville...most recently I ended up going to Union - when both Douglas and Bernardsville disappointed.

 

I get mine serviced at morristown (bought it used and it had been serviced there previously) no real issues to report, they are courteous and quick. However when i inquired about purchasing oil from them and doing the oil changes myself and asked if they would have problems with warranty they said that unless i took it to some sort of shop and had an invoice for the work, they wouldnt be able to prove that the oil change had actually been done. I didnt want issues with my warranty so i just got the oil change done at the dealership. However they are honest, my front brakes were making a scraping noise and I wanted them to check them out. At first they insisted that I need to pay for some 'vehicle inspection' it order for them to even remove the wheels and look at them, but after I insisted that they at least inspect them visually they agreed (they were checking out the TPMS system anyway). It turned out that the rotors were warped but instead of telling me i need to replace them right away, my advisor recommended that some hard braking might make the problem go away. Seems to have worked..

 

You have to buy the oil so there is a receipt for that. But as long as there is oil in your crankcase, and they did an oil analysis to show your oil was depleted and in there over 15,000 miles, warranty should be no issue.

Really? Hard braking on warped rotors will only make them more warped. Your pads could have been glazed or there could have been a bit of rust on your rotors, but warped, no way. That never goes away. Did your pedal pulse or did it only make a scraping sound?

They may be honest but if they said that hard braking will straighten warped rotors, whomever said that is plain stupid.

///Rich

 

Some facts and myths of warped rotors. http://www.stoptech.com/technical-su...nd-other-myths

 

I'm thinking of New Palumbo's in Millburn. I'm not too far from Motown, but I've always had better luck w/ an independent. I just moved up from NC, and am looking for a good mechanic.

 

I had a similar experience where Morristown tried to short me more than a few grand on my trade, Prestige gave me a much better deal. I'm sure they made money anyway, but at least I didn't feel robbed.

 

Even though I've heard about the bad experiences at Morristown Mini I decided to take my Mini to them since it's the closest Mini dealer around my area. I took my Mini in knowing that my the oil pressure switch had gone bad thinking that they would just replace the switch and get me on my way. I had already looked at the price for a new oil pressure switch and I knew it was only $26 dollars shipped to my house. Due to lack of time to do it myself, I took a chance with Morristown Mini. What a waste of time and $150 dollars for a diagnostic that was. After checking my Mini they said I would need a new oil pressure switch, a new wire harness and a new computer. With labor it would cost me $3100 dollars. What a rip off! The next day I ordered the new oil pressure switch online($26) and bought a can of CRC wire cleaner($5) for a total of $31. A week later I took a day of work, disconected the battery, disconected, unscrewed and replaced the oil pressure switch and sprayed the harness allowing it to dry and my problem was fixed. It took me about 2 hours and $31 dollars to fix my Mini and Morristown Mini wanted $3100. Need I say more?

 

That is absolutely awful. Thank you so much for warning us.

Mini of Morristown is owned by a company called Ryan automotive group, and your experience is right out of their playbook. They own about a dozen different car dealerships in New Jersey including the BMW dealerships in Morristown, Newton, Roxbury, and Edison, and some of their other dealerships trade under the name Open Road. They are completely dishonest, and I suspect they offer their service people commissions for successfully selling parts and service that you never needed.

I had a similar experience with my BMW X5 at their Morristown location. The exhaust system had some minor damage, and I took it to them just to get a price. They told me that the entire exhaust system needed to be replaced at a cost of $3700. When I told them they were out of their minds, they would not give me my truck back until I paid a so-called $120 diagnostic fee, when all they did was put my truck up on the lift for two minutes and look up the cost of the parts in their computer. The local Midas franchisee fixed the truck using genuine BMW parts for under $400, And I never had any more trouble with the exhaust system.

The same thing happened with my Honda accord at their dealership in Edison several years ago. At the time I did not realize it was the same company. The car was recalled because of a transmission issue, and they told me the car also needed a new engine computer that would cost me $900 including labor. I never had it fixed, and it has been several years and I've had no problems whatsoever.

You can find a list of their dealerships on their website, and my recommendation would be to avoid these people at all costs.

 

I must say that the problem is that this appears to be the way they conduct business ans a good experience is a rarity not the norm. I purchased a prestige after my headache there and I'm very happy. These cars are paid for by our hard earned dollars why gamble when it's unnecessary. Your money yo u r choice but I like good treatment for my money. I go to prestige. Also a little fyi during my time there a salesman pulled me to the side and told me to get the best price I could because the service dept was terrible so go elsewhere for service.

 

I personally have had the best car buying experience and service from mini of Monmouth. They have a great group of guys there and I always feel like I'm the only customer that matters when I go in. I haven't been to another mini dealer to compare though but from buying plenty of new cars over the years they have been the best.

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We bought our first CM at Monmouth. Got more than $2000 off msrp and the purchase experience was absolutely painless.

 

We've bought four of our MINIs from Morristown...Just recently just bought a Roadster...service is going through changes but they've been real good to me.

They talked my wife out of getting a maintenance plan on her CM that she wouldn't use (wife trades her car in around the 60K). You have to find a reputable mechanic to get your MINI taken care of. It doesn't make sense to take it to the dealership. I take mine to:

Frank DaSilva, Owner
ECP Auto Service
12 Somme St, Newark, NJ
973-589-5871

Frank is a MINI Owner also and knows. Frank specializes in European Cars.
My oil changes has never been over $75 and he uses MINI genuine products and European Spec Synthetic Oil. My R52 mods; one ball mod & brace was done by him. My CM exhaust tips were done there and will be serviced here.

Frank will be doing mods on my roadster; exhaust and suspension.