In week 4 of this saga, long story short, June 9, at freeway speed, in the middle lane of 3, with no cars within 30', and a wide median strip between the two directions of the highway, 85 degrees, windows fully up, A/C on, my drivers side window blew out, showering me with glass, and scratching the paint on the door, and trashing the inner door panel.
The State Police looked the car over and could find no evidence of foreign object damage, the body shop manager at MINI of Pittsburgh concurred and felt it was likely a factory error where the track or window mechanism was tweaked and put the window under stress.. The dealership refused to cover it under warranty, the Service Manager didn't even have the courtesy to call and tell me this, I waited a week for an answer and finally called them. I ended up going through my insurance company, and because of the back and forth, (Including MINIUSA stating it was a warranty issue, then flipping and stating it was up to the dealer to decide, and the body shop manager flipping and denying saying it was a window failure.)
I have been without a car a month, I have missed 1 day of work, and will be out $250 for a deductible, all for something that is not my fault except for ordering the wrong MINI..
Let this serve as a warning to potential MINI buyers and service customers of MINI of Pittsburgh (the sales staff are great people, better than great, extraordinary, and I would consider continuing to recommend purchasing a MINI, if there were only somewhere else to get it serviced) as well, sometimes they're very accomodating service-wise, but don't count on that being the case every time, when they can screw you, they will..

Jim
DS/B MCS (I think, it's been a while since I've seen it)

 

I find that if you make enough noise, most companies will give up and help you. Call the local news, call MINIusa again, call the dealer, put signs in front of the dealer, picket the dealer, eventually someone will give.

 

if the manager said he concurred that it looked like an error from factory at first, then how the hell did he go back on what he said?

note to self: in warranty issues like this, i will get them to say it in writing.

i'm really sorry to hear about that. i hope you dont get any more crap from them about warranty stuff.

 

I know that sometimes when I open my window it won't crack down like its supposed to, so it'll be hard to shut the door. I've actually been able to shut the door with the window on the outside of the gutter, maybe this happened to you? and perhaps it could only take the stress for so long. I wouldn't think it likely, but you never know.

 

WWW.MINI-Pooper.com. E-mail the webmaster and have them add your story.

 

Returned an error when I tried to contact them...
Thanks for all the suggestions, I will be monitoring the sites for more cases of this happening so I can provide my insurance company with some ammo as well, they don't like wasting money any more than I do...
I did have the window fail to retract once when I closed the door, but I never had it happen again, so I dismissed it and didn't contact the dealer as I never figured it would be a problem..

 

One of the things that you learn as you get older is the real cost of things. When you are young, they charge you a lot for insurance because you have no skill as a driver. As you age, and demonstrate that you do not run into things periodically, they charge you a lot less. But none of this has to do with the comprehensive section of your auto insurance. I ALWAYS cover glass and damage from mother nature with a zero deductible. You would be very surprised at how little extra it costs. My daughter just blew out a windshield on her car, and they came and fixed it at my office during the day. It cost me zero dollars. Comprehensive claims do not count against you because they are not your fault, and your insurance does not go up. Auto glass can be expensive - I've had two windshields replaced on cars in the last 4 years. It would have cost at least $700 and I assure you I paid less than that in insurance.But the real value is peace of mind. No arguing with people, no dealing with service departments. Just get it fixed. I highly reccommend it.

 

My insurance company, Geico, does not offer such coverage for glass. Who do you have?

 

I recently had the windshield replaced in my wife's 02 CR-V. Cost me $50.00.

I'm insured with Erie and thats the lowest deductible they offer.

 

I'm with Allstate. I have zero deductible comprehensive on all 5 registered cars.

 

Unfortunately, Allstate is expensive for me and I have had no claims, tickets, etc. for many, many years.

 

I contacted the owner and info@mini-pooper.com has been fixed.

 

Failed delivery, says it cannot resolve the domain [size=2]

minipooper.com

Seeing as I had not had one claim for damage in 14 years of driving and through 5 cars, that was not due to someone else hitting me or me totalling the car, I felt pretty safe saving the extra cash and putting it towards the tort option, I have State Farm by the way, silly me I guess, it eventually catches up with you..

Thanks again,
Jim
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http://www.mini-pooper.com/

is the correct address

 

I was still using the addy that was on the site the other day (had it saved without the dash).
Thanks again,
Jim

 

You're welcome. Glad you were able to access the website. Interesting story. I just hope it doesn't happen to us!

 

I'm not surprised. MINI of Pittsburgh strikes again. Went through this with my windshield. I think it's how they approach glass repair in general

Paul

 

If you look at the very bottom of both front doors, you'll see a couple of big screws. These screws allow side-to-side adjustment of the front windows and should never be adjusted unless the glass is not sealing properly against the rubber weatherstripping when the door is closed, or there are problems with air/water leaks.


I suspect your driver's side glass adjustment was incorrect and probably there was too much pressure/stress being applied to the glass whent shut close against the door rubber gaskets, thus causing it to suddenly shatter.

Make absolutely sure than when the dealer replaces the glass inside the door frame, to re-check the adjustment of these screws because otherwise it might happen again.

Also it seems to me the dealer should give you a brand new door panel casing as this is obviously a warranty covered repair.

Good luck.

 

Well, I guess this should answer my question about whether MINI of PGH is mod friendly or not. If they make up an excuse not to fix an obvious warranty problem, what happens when they have an excuse available?

 

even call you back to tell you you're screwed, you'd have to call yourself and be lucky enough to find someone who knew something..
If you are lucky enough to avoid that waste of time, and find one of the service techs who dislikes the SM as much as I do, then you could be lucky, there ARE enthusiasts who work there and are supportive, but I imagine anything I do there from now on will subject to a fine tooth comb since I've had the audacity to complain about being screwed (along with my insurance company) to the tune of $1103.

To add insult to injury, when I picked the car up, I had a flat tire and the nuts were missing from the hood scoop, both of which the fixed, (dont get excited, they just put air in the tire) but why did they happen in the first place? And why were they not caught during all the work they did?


MINIUSA, if you're listening, another dealership that is just qualified to perform service within 30-40 miles would be great, (Sewickley or 3 Rivers would be ideal, I've had great dealings with their service departments with past BMW's even though I didn't buy them there)...

Let me say again, that the sales personnel are incredible, Bill especially, is a rare gem in the world of auto sales, extremely nice and passionate about the cars he sells, but once the car is sold, you are at the mercy of a few BMW service folk to whom you are a second class citizen..

 

One time my window would not jump down when I opened the door,got the door closed with the window outside the weather stripping.It turned out the window was not ALL the way up after the last time I put it up.The toggle makes a slight noise,like a faint click when all the way up I have found.
One more reason for auto -up windows.

 

Window got stuck DOWN yesterday in the rain! (well, it moved 2" then stopped with a thunk) Wow, their $1103 fix lasted a whole 4 days of use, maybe three times opening and shutting the window. I had to stop under an overpass and mess with it for 20 min.... I'm not putting it down again till I go to drop it off....