I posted this elsewhere but no responses--so I'll try a new thread. I really don't want my passenger door to fall off.

I finally took my 2002 MC in for a rusty passenger side door hinge. I didn't notice it for a long time, because I so rarely use that door. The rust covers half the hinge closest to the door attachment. It is bare steel. The driver's side hinge has no rust.

Well, you know what they said?? Not covered because it is not a painted part .

Anybody up on the rust warranty for 2002s? Does it really exclude anything without paint? I mean, a rust warranty is a rust warranty and should cover everything. Obviously, the seal on the passenger door isn't as good as the one on the other side, or I'd have rust on both door hinges.

Now, the doors on 2005s (and 2004s, I think) have a completely different, painted hinge. Why would they retool and make a different hinge if the old ones weren't faulty? And why should I have to pay to have it fixed?

The service advisor also said "We're not responsible for rust coming from the outside of the car--only from the inside." Huh??

Ideas on what to say to the service department to get this fixed would be swell. Thanks so much.

 

Contact MINI and pull them in and also.. go get your owners info and read the warranty carefully. Education is your best defense.. the hard copy written warranty will be your best back up.

Good luck...

Craig

 

1. Read your warranty info carefully. The educated consumer is less likely to be taken for a ride by the dealership. If you feel you are covered then I would bring the specific passages to the Service Manager's attn.

2. If the Service Manager is then resistant I would ask him if he would be able to schedule a MINI Rep to come look at the vehicle and if he refuses then ask him if he is sure that he wants to refuse before you go straight to MINI.

3. If the above does not work then get in touch with MINI and tell them what you have tried and ask them to direct you to the next level since you are not having success with the delership.

 

Have you tried a different dealership? That sometimes works, as some dealers seem to offer more help than others that just sell cars and don't wont to fix them. I wouldn't want to wait too long. If it's bare non-finished metal, it doesn't take long for it to rust. Wait even longer and then you really have a bad issue.
Good luck.
Cheers,

 

Unlike the rest of you that have the luxury of driving to another dealership, Hawaii has only 1 MINI dealership. If a car is sold and shipped to the outer islands, they must ship it back to Honolulu for service unless they live on Maui which has a service center.

 

I live in Hawaii, and there's only one.... Great dealer, inferior service. And we just lost our second good MINI service advisor. Sigh.

 

Well then, the only thing left to do is either file a complaint with MINI against the dealership if the 'MINI law' is in your favour, or have it fixed yourself. I don't know much about warranties and such. But I DO know that when it comes to bare unfinished metal, it doesn't take a lot of moisture or a lot of time to cause rust. It's like instant. Unfortunately it's only going to get worse in a short amount of time. That's real weird that they wouldn't see that as a warranty issue. After all, it's a problem with the car that's not your fault. Having a bad dealership to deal with never seems to make a car ownership experience a good one. That's too bad that there's only 1 dealer there.
Cheers,

 

Hinges should be painted with the rest of the car body during assembly. An unpainted hinge suggests that this is a replacement part. Did you buy the car used or was it delivered by the dealer this way? If you can prove it was delivered by the dealer, they should be responsible for fixing the hinge.