Hello all:

We're the new excited owners of an '05 MCSC (pictures to come soon enough). Bought it with 32K miles and we're now nearing 35K ... time to make a quick decision on extending the factory maintenance contract.

We live near Santa Cruz. I see plenty of new MINIs here in the Cruz ... where are you all getting them serviced? Nearest dealer seems to be MINI of Mountain View, where we're taking the car on Thursday for a "last check before the warranty expires" with our list of minor annoyances (frequent Service Engine light, squeaky breaks, light wear marks on roof, etc.)

But then what? Extend the factory maintenance? Go to a better local service shop and just pay what it costs?

What do you locals recommend?

Thanks in advance for all suggestions!

 

Hi Marco,
I do my own work (not much to do on a newer car) so haven't sought out an independent BMW mechanic here in Santa Cruz yet. Will be curious to see what people say though.
Personally I'd forego the factory maintenance and find a local independent. Besides not having to drop off the car over the hill, you'll likely save a bit of money as well. I have been happy with the (free) service from MoMV though. When you go in, be sure to talk to Jennifer - she's great!

 

Welcome to the cult! I still go to MoMV too. I haven't heard of any independent Mini service in Santa Cruz Area. There is a guy in Salinas-Mick Brown Auto Repair that owns and works on Minis. Check the sponsers list on NorCal Mini site. There are are shops in Campbell and Los Gatos that do Mini work. Good Luck and Good Motoring!

 

If you are willing to drive, I have had great experience with eastbay mini in plesanton.

 

Just to put a bit of closure on my inquiry (for the benefit of others searching and all...), we've been doing our service work with MINI of Mountain View and are very happy with the service.

Most important to me, beyond having the car serviced properly, is a service facility that my wife is comfortable with. She's the primary driver of the car, and while she's an excellent nurse, her knowlege is more in the area of human systems than automotive systems.

We made an appointment for a 35,900 mile checkup to take care of our laundry list of "is this OK" questions. These included frequent Service Engine Soon lights, squeaky breaks, light wear spots on our convertible roof, alignment (we recently replaced the tires)...fun stuff like that.

First off, major kudos for Service Advisor Pete. He gets five stars for making the customer feel important, clearly explaining the work and issues, and all. A quality doctor for our little MINI.

On our "complimentary service inspection" they caught (early) a leaking motor mount. We had not noticed this. Fixed it under warranty, adjusted the brakes, and gave us a fair-enough "coupon price" to check and adjust the alignment. Checked the Service Engine codes and ended up replacing the 02 sensors, also under warranty. (I think that's what they did...that damned light isn't coming on any more!) The only thing they couldn't do on our first visit was offer an expert opinion on our cabrio roof wear ... this needed to be done by someone from corporate. So an appointment was made to return the car when the corporate guy was going to be there.

While we had one little negative when we learned, upon showing up for our followup appointment, that the corporate guy wouldn't be in until the NEXT day (grrrrr), Peter and team were suitably apologetic and offered a loaner if we wanted to leave the car there. Yeah, sucked that they got the day wrong, but mistakes happen and they were very good in accomodating for it.

We returned the next day and left the car for the corporate guy to inspect, and got a call a few hours later saying "you're getting a new roof." More props to MINI and MINI of Mountain View on this one ... while our wear was minor (but getting worse), I might have written it off as just what happens to a 3-year old convertible. I really appreciate that MINI goes the extra mile to fix this early design flaw. I don't know if Peter had to press them to "do right" by our roof, but we'll happily accept the replacement.

As I type, the car is back at the shop, waiting to be picked up with its new roof. MoMV did another "courtesy inspection" and discovered a loud power steering fan, which they are also replacing under warranty. And when we pointed out a little piece of rubber seal that had come loose, they offered to fix that for us as well.

While MoMV is a good 45-minute drive from our home in Santa Cruz, it's not that inconvenient as my wife works nights in San Jose. Every time we've had the car in (for the "free" maintenance) they give us a loaner (from Enterprise ... either a Prius or a Camry) ... I've heard that some dealers won't do that if you didn't buy the car there.

Since we really couldn't find a good Santa Cruz-based MINI shop, and my wife's answer to "is this somewhere you're comfortable taking your car" is a resounding "YES!", we gave serious thought to the extended maintenance plan. After quoting us the list price of $1795, MoMV was willing to match the $1395 I was offered by an East Coast dealer. Seeing that it also includes clutch replacement, and as I currently lack the skills and space to maintain the car myself effectively, we bought the extended maintenance.

So it looks like MINI of Mountain View will be doing our service/maintenance for the next few years. So far, all our experiences with them have been excellent. Thank you to Peter and the MINI of Mountain View service team for keeping us motoring!

 

Glad to hear MoMV is working for you. Motor on!

 

Good to hear about your experience with Mini of Mountain View. I will be picking up my car from them in a few weeks.

 

I have nothing but good things to say about MoMV. Peter and Jennifer are top notch.