MINI has agreed finally to replace my car. I have an 02 MC. At first they offered me $500 to go away. They offered to replace it for $1,234 for 7500 miles on it. I am not sure how they figured that total on miles. It first had problems at 3,900 miles and 7500 is about where my lawyer contacted them about it. I want to upgrade to the MCS and pay the difference. They told me over $3,000 to upgrade where the retail price difference between mine and the MCS equipped that way is under $1500. I had assumed it would be $2,700 for the upgrade and the miles which I shouldn't have to pay for all of them. My only other choice is to take it to court and see what happens there. Let me know what you think. It would be great if someone that has been through this let me know what they think.

Thanks,
Dan

 

In FL the law for miles is the original selling price times the miles divided by 120,000. You do the math. Not sure about Cali.

 

Do they normally charge for the miles when they replace the car? I had a 95 Mitsubishi Eclipse bought back and they didn't charge anything for miles when they bought it back. I did pay $2500 to upgrade it. But the retail upgrade on the same car was $3300.

 

For the 04 MCS, is that $3K out the door, includiing tax, registration, etc.?

If so, I think it's a reasonable offer.

 

They automatically have to pay tax and registration on a replacement under California Lemon Lae.

 

" They automatically have to pay tax and registration on a replacement under California Lemon Lae."

That's good to know...

Are they obligated to pay you for your legal expenses also?

 

Yes they will pay all of my lawyers fees.

 

I went thru this myself. They can charge you for the miles up to your first problem, 3,900 in your case. Just get them to give you the rest of the money in $ value and order another one from any of the dealers with no wait time and MSRP (Classic, Roadshow, Hamptons) That's what I did. Hell my payments are lower on my S than my Cooper where. I have had much fewer problems with my S.

 

So you had them pay you back and you paid tax and registration yourself? I think it would be less expensive to have them replace it.

 

I've reconsidered my earlier position!

I think if they had voluntarily offered to buy the car back, the $3K cost would have been reasonable.

But they behaved like jerks, forcing you to spend time, energy and money on a legal process before they agreed to buy it back. Because of that, I would press for an 04 MC replacement at no additional cost to you. Let them absorb the absurd amount ($1234) as compensation for hassling you.

I would leave the MCS out of the settlement -- it just gives them an excuse to justify some arbitrary dollar amount.

You can either keep the MC or maybe "trade it in" at the dealership for an MCS before taking possession of it.

Hope it works out for you...

 

ocho9,

I am starting the process with BMW. I would seriously consider negotiating with them to buy back your vehicle. Leave the replacement off the table. After you have negotiated the buyback and get your money, then go and order a new cooper. The problem that you are running into is the same that you often encounter when purchasing a car and trading in your old one. You often get a better deal just purchasing the car out right and selling the old one separately.

I am negotiating a buyback under the Magnuson-Moss Act and not the state Lemon Law. I am intending the negotiate the following:

Pay off the lien
Full payment of all monies that I used as down payment and loan payments made.
Deduction of $0.24 a mile for every mile up to the first time the problem was reported.

Not sure how much I will get, but I hope to get close. I am definitely not loosing money on this deal. I hope to break even and then just purchase a new one separately.

 

If you do an internet search regarding Lemon Laws, it will usually suggest that you take a monetary settlement. If you want the MCS, take the money and order a new one and pay the difference.

You guys are pretty lucky as Hawaii Lemon Law refers to the mileage at the 3rd attempt to repair the defect and not the mileage when the defect first occurred. At 7500 miles, it amounts to a few hundred dollars, so that isn't too bad.

 

The first problem occured at 3900 miles. I have no idea how they came up with 7500. If I take the money back I lose registration costs and tax which is a few thousand dollars. To me it makes sense to pay a little more if that is what happens and have them pay the tax and registration. I would love to take the money back but I will have lost thousands of dollars and have to go find one or wait for one to be ordered while I have no car at all. I just wish they were easier to deal with and I kind of regret the lawyer being imbetween MINI and I. I would like to talk to them directly and make the deal. The lawyer is suggesting I take it because he knows what a pain in the *** BMW is.

 

If you have them buy it back you paid tax and reg on your first car they buy back. THen you will go and pay tax and reg on the second car again? That really isn't fair.

 

Wait! Isn't the buyback price the TOTAL price paid for your car including tax, license, doc fees...? I believe it should be. At least in Hawaii it is calculated on the TOTAL price paid by the consumer.

 

No,
They don't pay tax and reg unless they are replacing the car. They are not required to by law in California.

 

I think I forgot to mention that I bought this car used with 1700 miles on it also. So for them to give me cash i would be 2,000 below what a new one would cost to start out not including tax and reg.

 

That makes a BIG difference! If they are only asking for only $1200 for a new MC, I would take it. If they want $3k for a MCS, I would think that would be a good deal too. After all, you bought a used vehicle, that had depreciated when you purchased it.

_________________

 

"The lawyer is suggesting I take it because he knows what a pain in the *** BMW is."

In addition to your legal expenses, BMW should compensate you for the time you spent shuttling back and forth to the dealer, finding a lawyer, interacting with the lawyer, etc.

I wish there was a way to assess punitive damages for deliberately hassling you, for disrupting your life, and for needlessly inflicting mental anguish. Clearly, none of this was necessary if they were willing to buy the car back after some legal pressure was applied.

Instead of gaining goodwill by voluntarily, quickly, and generously resolving the, most likely, very few lemon law cases, BMW is just further antagonizing its customers.

OTOH, if there are so many lemon law cases that BMW has to be hard nosed about them, then they're really in trouble.

 

I believe there are a lot more Lemon cars out there according to this article. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/20...rrepairs_x.htm If the manufacturer buys back a vehicle prior to it being declared a Lemon, it cannot be labeled a Lemon. Instead, it can be resold as a used car without any disclosures. The consumer would not know any better due to the confidentiality agreements signed with the manufacturer. I guess the only way to prevent this when buying a used car from the dealer is to request a service summary on the vehicle.

 

>>I believe there are a lot more Lemon cars out there according to this article. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/20...rrepairs_x.htm If the manufacturer buys back a vehicle prior to it being declared a Lemon, it cannot be labeled a Lemon. Instead, it can be resold as a used car without any disclosures. The consumer would not know any better due to the confidentiality agreements signed with the manufacturer. I guess the only way to prevent this when buying a used car from the dealer is to request a service summary on the vehicle.

I have heard that if they can make an agreement before it goes to court they don't have to have the sticker in the window when the resale the car saying buy back. So they can make up most of their loss very easily.

 

Did you request a service summary on your vehicle? If not, call your Service Advisor and request one. The summary will show all service on your vehicle since it was put into service. Ask a Motoring Advisor for a summary of your car while at the VPC. This will also show you defects that were fixed at the VPC.

Hopefully, your car wasn't in for service for a large amount of days and was a buyback that was never labeled a Lemon.

 

My car was not a buy back. I know that the companies do that though. My car was only in service while I had it. I contacted the previous owner. I had it in for 35 days in the first 5 months.

 

"I have heard that if they can make an agreement before it goes to court they don't have to have the sticker in the window when the resale the car saying buy back. So they can make up most of their loss very easily. "

All the more reason to insist that they give you an 04 MC at no additional cost. If they agree to this without going to court, they can resell it. Otherwise, they'll end up eating the entire amount.

Of course, you might have ethical issues about allowing this car to be resold to some unsuspecting innocent bystander...

 

Has anyone had their car bought back by MINI and had it replaced?