My wife was leaving her friends house yesterday, as she was going down the driveway the MINI (2006 S) almost stalled, then she heard a loud "pop" from the front of the car and a small puff of smoke came out from under the passenger side of the bonnet and the car shut down with the SES light on. Oh yeah, the car just passed 2000 miles, we got it last month. When I got there the car started right up, no smell, no smoke, just the SES light. We had a roadtrip to Deleware planned for today through Monday. Due to the reservations we made, we are still going, sans MINI. The service manager said we couldn't be promissed a loaner car. That's unacceptable to me. The car is being towed this morning and hopefully I'll have an update from the service department later today. So hopefully when I get back Monday I'll be able to post a happy ending to this.

 

well loaners are a scarce commodity at the service center. they are usually booked in advance. I have to wait nearly 3 weeks to bring my car in (with 4050 miles) due to manufacturing defects and imperfections just so they can give me a loaner. my dealer is 30 miles away so a drop off without a way back is not an option for me.. good luck. at least you had the problem before the road trip...

 

I've since done some reading and realize loaners are scarce. It's still unaceptable to me, you dump $20K+ (that's a lot to me) on a car, you expect some customer service. Our preivious car was (still is, havn't sold it yet) a SAAB, that we bought at a used car dealer, we took it to a SAAB delearship three times for service (under waranty) and every time we got a loaner. We didn't even buy the car from them. I guess I'm just used to that. I think MINI is dropping the ball here. Lucky for my wife and me, we have other cars we can use, but what if we didn't? OK, rant over...on to the state of Deleware for some horse racing!

 

It's really difficult when stuff like this happens (and I know it's probably easier said than done) but I wouldn't let a dealer get you all worked up. Try talking to the service manager in person and calmly explain your situation: "I bought this Mini about a month ago and i've already had a problem, I really need a car to get around, blah blah blah". I've always found that being calm, friendly, and sincere with the service department (mainly with VW/Audi) really goes a long well in not only building a good relationship for subsequent visits, but they might also be a lot more receptive to finding you a loaner car in the meantime...

 

What you are experiencing is typical BMW/MINI service.

They only give loaners to those who purchased at that specific dealership. They also favor those who can drop off during the week as opposed to the weekend when its their busiest.
They also require a multiweek wait on appointments as they are usually overbooked until then for loaners.

I agree with what you are saying however, ive lived thorugh this with my e46 m3 to know this first hand. Dealerships do vary however. I had a syncro problem in my M3 and my local dealership told me to come in 2 weeks. I took it to a dealership in the next state whom I've had good relations with and they took my car in on the spot. eventually changed my transmission entirely without much of a hassle. (mind you it was on the last month of my 3 year warranty too)

Loaner was not an option but like you, i have several cars at home. I just needed to ring a friend to drive with me to the dealership.

Enjoy your weekend. dont let this event dampen your spirits. What's done is done.

 

This does not apply everywhere. It seems like your local experience. I have, literally, drove my car in at 3 PM and they worked on it immediately ... no appointments necessary (and they told me that when I bought it). If the service takes more than one hour, then the loaner is free (yes, where you bought it).

So you can't just go by what might be local in your area because that might not be typical of the rest of the US.

 

Ummm. I don't think I would agree with that statement. If it is typical for you, you might want to consider an alternative dealer. (And I do know that sometimes that is easier said than done, what with the limited population of MINI dealers.)

Fortunately, that has not been my experience. The decision criteria for loaners for me has been the amount of time the car was going to be in the shop. And, whether I bought the car at the dealer (I didn't) that was servicing it was not a loaner decision critieria.

 

My dealer, Lauderdale MINI in Ft Lauderdale, FL has been fantastic in terms of service and the always have loaners available. They have a fleet of brand new MINIs and if they are out of them, they'll hook you up with a free Enterprise rental, which is not a MINI, but at least they don't leave you stranded.

I agree with Chows. Your "Local experience" does not necessarily apply to other regions of the country. I have found huge disparities in quality of customer service and loaner car philosophies among MINI dealers here in South Florida (We have 5 of them) which are practically next door to each other.

MINI dealers, for the most part, are indepently owned franchises and the fact that you get loaners or not is pretty much left (unfortunately) to the owner and management of said dealership.

 

Last time I brought our car down to the Mini dealer, they gave us a loaner from ENTERPRISE rent a car. They didn't have a mini/bmw loaner on the lot and they drove me down to the rent a car place about a mile away.

The real question here is "what's really wrong with your car"?