This is the estimate the mini dealer came up with after I brought my 03 cooper s in for some help after being rear ended.

The only issues I am concerned with are the 2 parts leaking oil and the powersteering seep and the 2 suspension bits. The tires and brake fluid and coolant are all A ok to me.

Any help in tackling these things cheaply or on my own? I have about $1000 I can sink into this car but not much more.

 

Are you mechanically inclined or have friends that are. Most of this can be done yourself and you can save a lot on shopping the parts out. All the parts minus the tires can be had for way under $1000.00 if you can do the work yourself.

 

Yeah agreed kind of shocked they want so much for the upper strut mounts...took me about 2.5 hours for both sides I changed out the struts too while I was in there.

Power steering hose leaking is more of a can you get your hands up there..with that many dollars looks like they are planning on dropping the sub frame that being said you have to do that to do the Lower control arm anyhow...so I would challenge that cost as part of the larger package.

Leaking oil..you can avoid this IF it isn't too bad and you are willing to carry oil and also check your oil constantly.

 

this sounds like what we had to do with our MINI when the dealer opened up locally and i had the check it inside and out. luckily it was all covered under our extended warranty otherwise it would have been expensive.

i can tell you that after having the dealer do that we havent had a single problem since and are on 40k+ miles since that work.

 

WOW!! 1200 for mount and balance new tires! What are the tires made out of? Gold? I knew dealership prices were crazy high but seriously!

 

Many things on the list are very easy to do....
A brake flush will take you maybe 20 minutes and maybe $15-30 in dot4 fluid max...
A drain and fill or even a flush of the radiator willcost you about $30 in coolant...take you about an hour or two depending on how fast you work....
Oil pan gasket and add to this the CRANK POSTION SENSOR o-ring...a leak from one makes the other looks bad...the cps is a $1 oring....can make the oil pan look bad...would carry oil, check it often....save up some $$, do it later unless it is gushing...
Valve cover gasket...might be a good diy....
Strut top mounts..depending on mushrooming, not sure WHY the quote is so CRAZY.
TIRES and alighnment...shop around...do them AFTER THE STRUT TOP REPAIR AND control arm bushings....price there seems kinda high....wonder if they are learning on you car, so are padding the rate?
Ever look around at other shops? Sometimes an "iffy" part is ok...lets face it, on an older car, sometimes you do triage...fixing thr most important stuff asap, limping along stuff that is good enough....

 

Thanks for the responses everyone!

I know the dealer pricing is ridiculous and they will never ever get my money. This was just due to the accident that the insurance company sent me here to get quotes on repairs for issues I thought were accident related.

It sounds like what I need to do since I am not handy is to find a NAM member who is willing to come out and do the work. I would buy them dinner, pay for their gas plus a very generous amount of money to do the work once I order all the parts online.

I don't have any shops in Cincinnati who work on minis that don't charge $110-$150 per hour labor. Independent shops won't touch it unless I pay them for their marked up parts.

 

It better be someone with a van because they're going to have to bring all their tools. Replacing the control arm bushings means dropping the sub frame where things can get dicey. I've had to drill out then tap and rethread when a bolt snapped off removing an innner ball joint. What a PITA!

Yes, the dealer shamelessly overcharges but control arm bushings and oil pan gaskets aren't trivial to replace. I'm a good enough shade tree mechanic and it would take me every bit of a couple days to do the work on your list. No doubt, somebody could do it faster but nobody is going to just zip through it.