Hi, guys. I've been trolling for a while. I think I finally found my wife a MINI. It's an '04 with 12K miles. The only issue is that the warranty is only good for another year from this month. I would like the piece of mind of an extended warranty. Can I still obtain one from MINI? Do you guys know how much it will cost? Is it needed? Thanks.

 

I think you would need to be the original owner to buy any extended warranty.
Call your local MINI dealer and ask them

 

nope, you don't need to be the original owner to have the extended warranty transfer, i've checked. it goes by milage, i believe.

you can check through the dealer to see if they offer any warranty package you can buy. let me know how it goes, i'm in the same boat!!!

 

I'm in the same position. My 36k/3 year warrenty is up at the end of the month and i'm debating weather or not to purchase the 50k/5 year warrenty which in turn only means 2 more years or 14k more. I've been told it will cover my next oil change at 40k. I'm just curious if it's worth it. It's like insurance and Chris Rock said it best. You only pay for Insurance incase Sh*t happens. And I know my luck if I dont get the extended warrenty, it will be a christmas tree of lights on my dash.

 

I was originally going to buy an '05 and they said that the extended warrenty would cost $2000 to extend it another 20,000 miles, and another $500 for the extended maintence warrenty.

It probably varies from car to car based on the current mileage status and year. I ended up just buying new. It wasn't that much more than if I'd added the extended warrenty to the used car.

 

Ok, you guys are talking about 2 different things here. There is a 36000/3 year maintenance coverage with gives you free oil changes and wiper blades and brakes and other consumables. It can be extended but the general consensus seems to be that the extension is not worth it.
There is also the actual warrantee, which in the US is 4 years or 50000 miles (might be 48000). This warrantee covers defects in the car. It transfers at no cost with ownership of the car. It is extendable at MINI dealerships. As long as you are still covered, the extension is not outragously expensive. The day before my 4 years were up, I added another 4 years and 40,000 miles for about $1800. The pricing tables they use aren't based on current milage so much as the total the extension will take you to.

 

Very cool. You mean that if something goes wrong with like, the AC compressor, then it is covered for up to 4 years or 50K miles? That is what I'm looking for. The owner of the car told me the warranty was up in Feb of next year. It is an '04 with 12K miles. I guess he meant the maintenance coverage. Thanks, Agro.

 

Exactly.

 

Agro, did your extension go to 8 years, 80K? Is it a MINI warranty or one of those after-market companies? How thorough is the coverage?

 

I extended to 8 years, 75k miles. At 4 years minus a day, I was at 38000 miles almost exactly, so it seemed reasonable to double both years and milage. I got it at the dealership, but it is through an aftermarket company. The way it works is that I now take my car to a dealership as if it was still in factory warrantee. Assuming the defect would have been covered by the original warrantee, it's covered now, and the dealership deals with the warrantee company. The only new thing is that I now have a $100 deductible per warrantee visit.
I have not had to use it yet, but it won't take too big an item to recover the $1800 I paid for it. MINI bits are expensive!
As for the length and milage of the extension, there are tables listing the options. Adding 4 years was only about $150-200 more than adding 1 year, but the 5th extra year was VERY expensive. I guess a 9 year old car is expected to start having more expensive issues? My suggestion, if you're planning on keeping your MINI past the 4 year mark, go to your local dealership and ask your MA or the finance manager (who my MA took me to) about it. Supposedly, the FMs have up to about 10% leeway in pricing off "list" price on this, that was the discount I got.

 

I thought the warranty doesn't cover you if you've modded your car?

 

It depends on the dealership, but generally, as long as the mod didn't cause the failure, it should still be covered. In theory. My car is lightly modded (pully, intake, exhaust, ECU) and I never had anything warranteeable denied. On the other hand, I haven't had anything major go wrong with my car.

 

Hello, first time posting here.

Regarding the warranty issue. MINI has just launched "MINI NEXT", which is their certified pre-owned MINI program....it basically extends the warranty from 4/50k to 6/100k from original 'in service' date.

This program is only available through a MINI dealer of course, so you'll have to try to find a car you like at the dealership.

 

BUT.....will you be able to 'certify' a car you already own?

 

No, unless you sell it to the dealership, they certify it and sell it back to you...but I doubt that would make financial sense, and I'm not sure that would be permitted under the MINI NEXT program.

I've always looked at third party extended warranties as nothing more than a gamble. If you pay $1,200 for a 3 year/60k warranty, you're basically gambling that you will have more than $1,200 in repairs done on your car in the 3 years/60k period. If you look at the reliability history of the particular model in question you can get a good idea of what's in store. Also, if the drivetrain had a major defect during manufacture the previous owner would've experienced it because it's going to happen fairly quickly. I advise people to 'self insure' by putting the $1,200 in an interest bearing account in case you have anything go wrong. If nothing goes wrong you're $1,200 better off. This way, your gamble is reduced to something catastrophic going wrong, the odds of which, are much reduced, especially in a MINI....Besides, you can always tell by the cost of the warranty if the year/make/model has a poor repair history.

Just my personal opinion on third party extended warranties.