I read the above on the MINI Owners' Lounge pages. Has anyone used any of these services? Sounds very cool, but I don't see any mention of "free." Do they charge for these services?

Has anyone had any call to use their towing or locking (don't they mean un-locking?) service?

I'm especially interested at this point (with a 2500 mile maiden voyage from Classic MINI in Cleveland to Sacramento, CA in the near future) in the "computerized trip routing service." I guess I should just give them a call and see how it works.

 

I used their towing service once (free). The good thing about the people that got sent out was they had towed quite a few MINIs, so they knew to send a flatbed.

 

I have used them only once, when the wife's '02 Cooper experience 2 flat tires at the same time (On the right side of the car) as her MINI has regular 15" radials, not runflats.

Service was extremely prompt and courteous. They usually "outsource" their roadside assistance to AAA so you get the same level of service as someone that pays up a yearly AAA membership.

This was late on a sunday afternoon and within 20 minutes of placing the call, the AAA pickup truck was there and the person was able to repair both tires on the spot. No out of pocket charges, just signed the receipt and drove away.

Now days most car companies offer free 24/7 roadside assistance that lasts for the length of the warranty.

Chevrolet also offers it and it is as good as MINI's. I have also used Acura's and it is the same.

Ironically popular brands such as Toyota and Honda do not offer roadside assistance to their owners, a big drawback in my opinion (They force you to go to Lexus or Acura to get it and better warranty coverage too).

MINI's roadside assistance is good in the Continental US, Alasks, Hawaii, all of Canada and Puerto Rico.

 

MINI's map trip routing service is nice, but you can do the same by loggin into www.Mapquest.com.

They send you a "personalized" trip route map free of charge. It seems to me that almost no one requests this service because the last time I called to request a free map (Planning a trip from Miami to Williamsburg, VA) they didn't know what I was talking about. I was transferred at at least 2 phone extensions before I got a hold of a person that knew what I was talking about.

 

LombardStreet,

As a side note, I'm note sure a 2500 miles trip is the best way to break in your engine properly (eventhought it would be fun). You should check out a few threads on that subject before you decide to do it.
I also bought my car out of state, but decided to have it shipped in order to do a proper engine break in. I paid $1100 with Intercity Lines for a door to door service from Kansas City to San Luis Obispo (California). Of course this was a fully enclosed ride, and my car was in good company, a Ferrari 250GT and a 1932 Packard were along for the ride...

Just a thought...

 

LombardStreet...


GREAT question. Here is how MINI Roadside works (anyone chime in if I am wrong with this).

You get towing for free to the closest dealership (if the closest dealer is 400 miles away, then you're covered.) They will deliver up to 5 gal. of gas no charge. Lockout and jumpstarts are also covered. Flat tire changes , including air(not for S of course) covered as well as extractions. AAA has the contract for MINI Roadside and they will send out the nearest contracted provider to you... typically within 60mins depending on the area. ALL MINI TOWS SHOULD BE FLATBEDDED OR DOLLY TOW. Alot of folks think it NEEDS a flatbed, but dollies will work and probably safer than the FB type tow.

Good news is in 2003 only 8500 MINI roadside calls went to AAA. I used to work for AAA roadservice so towing/dispatching is my cuppa tea! If you have anyother questoins let me know.

OH yeah, MINI Roadside also offers trip interuption... more than 100 miles from home you will be reimbursted for lodging, car rental, food up to $1,000. MINI Roadside is similar to AAA Plus. One more thing with roadside... the policy is "one tow per incident," but depending on your roadservice rep they can work things out for you. FYI, MINI roadside covers more than GM roadside (AAA use to have that contact as well.)

Hope that helps!!! Again, any questions please ask!

 

I'm not sure its possible to lock yourself out of a MINI... or at least to lock the keys in the MINI. Of course I haven't tried very hard... this is my first remote entry car, and it's just such a nice change that I use the remote entry/lock practically every chance I get! But seriously, I think you'd have to work awfully hard to lock the keys in the car. And if you do, it looks like it would be a bear for the locksmiths to open!

Has anyone locked their keys in their MINI?

 

For the calls that I handled for MINI Roadside... NO lockouts. Mostly tows with no problem listed.... so it could have been flat tire on S or some major problem. I don't think that its possible for a lockout unless you have something aftermarket on the MINI. My alarm for example, it has a function that it will lock the doors automaticlly after the ignition is started... so if you were to have that function programmed, start the car and close the door... you're keys would be locked inside with the vehicle running... of course I have that disabled... I have never locked my keys in any vehicle, but I dont want to help myself start!

 

Pop the hatch
shut both front doors
lock the car with the hatch up
walk around back
throw your key in the car
shut the hatch

let me know what happens

 

Are you speaking from experience? Too many late night photo shoots without enough coffee???

 

DiD:

Oh-oh. Now that will be forever in my subconscious, waiting to strike in a moment of inattention...

And I don't think the ol' "use a wire hanger to force the bra strap through the insulation and use it to pull up the door lock" trick will work with this car!

 

My one call to roadside assistance was for a frozen door latch. Kept turning the interior light on all night killing the battery. Roadside assistance showed up in under 1/2 hour and the dealer had the part replaced the same day.

 

in first year of ownership, I came out one Sat. morning ,started the car and could NOT get it out of first gear (that I had left it in the night before).Called road side assistance ,who came really fast .Since I had backed into my parking space the night before,I was able to drive the car onto the flat bed.You guessed it,by the time the car got to the dealer ,the problem had gone away .the service mgr replaced all the shift cables and used some kind of super grease on them(to this day I can't figure out why they would have done this if there was "no problem" ),but anyway, problem has never happened again.

 

My Dodge Caravan has door locks that automatically lock when the car goes over 10 mph. But due to the design of the sliding doors (the electrical contacts are in the door pillars) the locks don't lock until all the doors are closed.

One day, as I was leaving for work, I noticed a light on my dash indicating that one of my doors was ajar. I had just put some stuff in the middle seat, so I figured it was the sliding door on the driver's side. I pulled over to the side of the road and hopped out. Since I was on a busy road, I closed the driver's door. Then I opened and closed the sliding door behind me. *Ka-thunk!* The doors locked!

Since I had gone above 10 mph, the door lock circuits had energized, but since one of them was ajar, they didn't actually lock... until I closed the door!

So there I was, locked outside of my car with the engine running! Fortunately, I was less than a quarter of a mile from home, so I just ran home and got the spare key. (Oh, and did I mention that I have a keypad for my garage door? Good thing - my house key was also locked inside the van!)

When my MA asked me what programming options I wanted, I told her "no" on the auto door locks!

 

Just a side note, my wife's car (not a MINI) needed to towed. She was on the side of the road with an inoperable car. She called AAA and asked for a flatbed. Up on the flatbed it went and to the dealer they were off.

After the repair was done, my wife took the car and went to work. On the highway, the car was pulling like crazy to the right.

Upon further investigation by the dealer, one of the lower control arms for the rear wheel was bent. My wife recalled the towtruck operator was fiddling with a j hook in that vicinity to pull the car onto the flat bed. Boy was she mad when she got the bill for this new repair.

The local AAA rep was not very helpful and demanded to see the damaged parts, which we did have. My wife would have gladly shoved them down his throat, because of his attitude "Well, we here at AAA are not responsible!".

Moral of the story, get a dolly truck if you can.

 

Well, I haven't locked my keys in the car, but I did realize the potential when unloading groceries. I got out shut my drivers door, opened the hatch, and locked the car with the hatch open. Then I picked up my groceries and shut the hatch. The car is now locked. That's a great thing. I like it that way, but if you get side tracked and set your keys down to fiddle with something, then you could still very well lock your keys in the car. (again, I haven't).

This reminds me of that axiom that if you attempt to idiot proof something they'll design a better idiot.

 

Go in through the passenger door and hit the lock button then shut the door. Car is now locked up tight and the factory alarm (if you so happen to have it) will NOT arm itself.

Just a trick I learned if you forgot to lock up your car at night and don't have the keys readily avail. or if you don't want to set your alarm up and lock the car.

 

Good Point. Dollies are often the safest way to tow a vehicle despite what people think. As for AAA paying for the damage... that would be done with the contracted provider (tow company). They have insurance for those sort of things... they do happen too... Drivers are human and make mistakes... however they do have a "towing manual" which states the way every car can be towed... proper and inproper ways of towing. I'm sorry to hear about this experience. AAA usually backs up the members when it comes to damage reports. If this was a recent thing, I would call back to the Emergency Roadservice call center and ask to speak with a Team Leader or Supervisor to have the damage report filled out and a field support person to follow up with it.

 

My only experience with MINI roadside was when I had a run-flat go bad when I was on a road-trip working.

They offered to tow the car 150 miles to the nearest dealer...but getting the car back? That would be up to me

How about a tow to the nearest tire shop I asked?

No dice. Tows to MINI dealers only...no matter how far and inconvenient.

So I drove the 5 miles to the local tire shop on the blown out runflat

 

Just tried that. When you shut the back hatch it DOES lock. As someone else mentioned you might be unloading something and set the key down then shut the trunk.

I solved all this by using a hide-a-key.

 

If you can't pay attention,carry the plastic key in your wallet

 

Another good point!

 

In my last car, I was leaving home during a snow storm. I did the usual, start it up so the engine could start warming, then back outside to clear off all the snow. Except as I was exiting the car, I hit the LOCK instead of unlock button, and closed the door. The car was idling. Of course my apartment keys were locked in the car. I had to start ringing doorbells to find someone who would let me use their phone. I called roadside svc, they said they were too busy because of the huge storm. Called 911, the cops came, and could not slimjim the door open. (This is a focus, and I tried that before, it can't be done without a caddy tool) Finally called for a locksmith, who was in bed, and came out and did it. The car was idling for 2.5 HOURS, in a snowstorm, during all this...and I was outside freezing!

I never have to worry about that with my MINI thanks to their wonderful wallet key. And that's exactly where I keep it.

 

If this had been me in this story, I would have been going back inside to get my wallet.

 

I cut the "key" part out of the wallet key and put it in a hide-a-key magnet thingie. Sine my wife and I share driving the MINI we couldn't decide on who should carry it. Hide-a-keys do present their own security problems, I know, but I live in a small town.