Getting the Mini serviced tomorrow and I'm dreading it. My Mini dealer sucks, every time we take it in for an oil change - even with an appointment - they take between two to three hours to do it.

I have to drive across town and wait for the car. Last time I was in I asked the service manager for an oil filter and told him I would prefer to pay to have someone else do it rather than get it done for free by them. He told me he would have to charge me for the filter if they didn't change the oil.

I wish like hell Pep Boys carried Mini filters.

My appointment is at 9 am tomorrow, I'll be lucky to be back at work by lunch time.

Tom Bush Mini is the worst....

 

HAhahahah, that's hillarious. I haven't reached 10k miles yet so I haven't had to get my oil changed at the dealer. However, I got it changed at some other place and they had to figure out how to change the oil on the MINI and it only took like 1 hour.

Nice garage by the way. When you say Holden Monaro, do you mean Pontiac GTO?

 

when i do oil changes myself, i let the car drain and drip at least an hour.

but i guess the dealer is just letting you wait for their 15min oil change...

 

I'm amazed you're getting that kind of service at TB MINI, there are only 3 techs so sometimes there is a line but I was in out and done in 1 1/2 hours w/ 2 cars ahead of me last oil service and was just there last week with very similar service

 

Side note: while I was there another MINI was in for oil, 45 min. total time there, he was ahead of me b/c I had to deal with an insurance company while getting the service done.
Also check MyMINI in south florida, lots of links availible on sunshine minis, I know they carry MINI oil filters, buy a case and you're set for a year or two
Hope things turn out better this time

 

I don't think I would wait 3 hours for a FREE oil change. . . . especially since it is such a quick and easy job to do myself. Although I do wait a while for the oil to drain as completely as possible, I probably spend less than 15 minutes actually "working" at it. . .

 

Who was your SA? I know that they've had some bad ones but seem to have things in order now.

 

Pep Boys in my area carries MINI oil filters made by Purolator. someone in another thread reported that the Purolator was inferior because it had collapsed. However, my oil filter canister has the middle support cage built into it so it works fine for me. I purchased MINI filters from the dealer and they were of the same construction as the Purolator (no support cage in the middle). The Purolator and MINI filter are about the same price, though.

retroom

 

[quote=joecooool]Getting the Mini serviced tomorrow and I'm dreading it. My Mini dealer sucks, every time we take it in for an oil change - even with an appointment - they take between two to three hours to do it.

I have to drive across town and wait for the car.[/quote=joecooool]


Hmmmmm. The most telling line is the "I have to drive across town".....

I have to drive across the state! Three hours oil change is short for many of us in California! I don't complain because they have a mall nearby, and a driver service to take you there and pick you up when you want to return. It's the 2 hour drive through LA traffic that I hate.

I recommend buying a few filters and making friends with a local mechanic. It doesn't seem it would be all that difficult to get someone else to do the job.

 

is excessive no one here even mentions the other stuff they check out(that can't be done by a non mini dealer) during the service time. Now why is that? You sound like a bunch of little old ladies complaining about the way the local supermarket bags your groceries.

A case of filters ought to last you more than a year or two.

 

No 3 hour oil changes up here unless you dont make an appointment and then they fit you in.

 

I don't go in there to have them check anything out, I go in there to get my oil changed - period. If I want something else done, I'll make an appointment for that.

Its my car, I determine what gets serviced and when.

They were better today, only took an hour and twenty minutes.

 

I've had to deal with them since we bought her first Mini in 2002. In all the times I have ever used their service its always been a problem.

My favorite was when they told us the stalling problem (which thousands of Mini owners have complained about) was because we used Sam's gas.

An hour and twenty minutes is still excessive for an oil change, but its an improvement over the last few times.

 

In Canada we pay for our oil changes. They had my MCS for the whole day but only charged for about 1/2 hour of labor. I also get one of their MINIs to drive while they have my car so not a big deal.

3 hours to change oil is pretty good for a car dealership. The last time I brought my other car (a Buick) to a GM dealer was for a recall to change out a headlight bulb. The earliest they could book me in was two weeks later and they had my car for 3 hours. I could have popped in a new bulb in 5 minutes. Considering that they sent me a big red card telling me to bring my car in right away, it thought that was pretty shabby.

We MINI owners have it pretty good.

 

ps.... oil filters are $9 for you DIY folks out there!
(or if you want a OEM one to take with you to your shop of choice)

 

I manhandle the new MINIS and BMWs and ALL the used ones on the Lot too

If they want me to leave .... They just need to service my car ASAP ....LOL