Well, I must say my first experience buying from MINI has been VERY disappointing, and I am wondering if anyone else had a similar situation. I purchased a 2009 NFR Clubman. I ordered the car and waited 8 long weeks for her to arrive. She had issues right away. The “mood lighting” wasn’t working properly, the passenger side mirror only moved up and down, not left and right, and the Tachometer was scratched. Needless to say, we were disappointed, and had to bring the car back in within a week for repairs. Little did we know this would be the least of our worries.

My husband talked me into purchasing the car in manual, even though I really wanted an automatic. After driving it for about a month, I decided I hated the manual (I live in DC and am constantly in stop and go traffic). I took it back to the dealer to see what they would give me for it to trade it for an automatic. I didn’t know how serious I was about actually doing it, it was more of a curiosity. When they gave me a price 5,000 dollars less than we paid, I decided to take it to Carmax to see what they would offer. Well, they offered almost 10,000 less and told me that the driver’s side door and quarter panel had been REPAINTED! I told them it was impossible, that this is a brand new car. The guy certified in writing that it had been repainted, and this affected the value of the car. I was MAD to say the least. I called the dealer and they told me that a similar situation happened, and I should take it to another body shop and get another letter and raise hell to MINI USA. So I did. The body shop certified the same thing, and went as far to say that he thought the hood had been repainted too.

I contacted MINI USA over TWO WEEKS ago, and I still have no resolution to the issue. I have also been working through the dealer to get this resolved. According to MD law, they have to disclose any damage/repainting BEFORE the purchase of the car. I brought the car to the dealership and they did their own inspection and also found it had been repainted. MINI USA says there is no record of damage or repainting annotated in my file, which means to me, it was damaged at some point in the process, and someone tried to cover it, and not notate it anywhere. Now for 2 weeks, they say they are “researching” the issue, but I still have no resolution. Bottom line, my husband and I don’t want the car, because the repainting of it depreciated the value significantly. We want them to trade the car at no cost to us, since they essentially broke the law. At this point, since they are taking so long to resolve the issue, I am going to complain to the BBB, the MD Attorney Generals office, etc. to see if that will push them to do something about this.

I can’t say that I would ever recommend to anyone to buy one of these cars. What a disappointing experience…Anyone else go through anything similar?!

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I would be mad as hell also.

Sounds like the problem might have happened in shipping as it came over the ocean. The car might have been damaged somehow and it was fixed/painted at the VDC (Vehicle Distribution Center) on our shores.
I am not sure about this, but there is some clause that if the damage was a certain % of the vehicles value, they don't have to disclose it?!?!?! Don't hold me to this as I just read about something like this before on NAM.
Also supposedly, the VDC is to fix the car to "as new" condition to factory standards.
Either way, its sounds more than a minor repair in this case and cause for alarm and pursuing to find the truth.

 

It is common for MINIs (and other cars for that matter) to sustain damage during shipping. When the vehicles arrive to the VDC/Port they are inspected for damage, and if so, they are repaired on the VDC to "factory standards". However, it is no secret that aftermarket body and paint work will never be the same as the factory assembly line and this includes the factory sanctioned VDC (Vehicle Processing Center).

If you do research here and at MINI2.com there have been cases of MINI owners finding out about paint/body work when they are ready to trade in or sell their vehicles. A paint thickness gauge is often a give away indicator that the car has received a respray after the fact, thus lowering resale value. Repainted cars always, always have lower resale values vs vehicles with OEM paint jobs, no matter what bodyshops and insurance companies may tell you tot he contrary.

However, if the damage goes above a certain dollar amount, the MINI dealer must disclose this to the customer. I believe the threshold is around $500 or more.

I would get back to the dealer's sales manager and go up the command chain as necessary. If the car had damage above a certain amount and the dealer failed to disclose this so you would not walk away from the sale, you may have legal recourse.

At this point I would recommend talking to a lawyer and have him sent a "friendly" letter to the dealer and MINIUSA signaling your intentions if the situation is not resolved amicably.

I have owned 4 new MINIs since 2002 and all of them have been custom ordered to the factory fortunately with no shipping damage or or any other incident(s) of that nature.

Good luck.

 

If they re-paint it before its ever officially "produced" or delivered, I don't think they have to tell you anything. Is it really "re-painted" if the car was never "finished" in the first place?

You know what I mean? If all of this happens before the car is technically released to a dealer, then its all part of the manufacturing IMHO.

Bottom line, you had no idea it was repainted until you wanted out of it. You loved the car enough to sign on the dotted line.

 

Sorry to disagree, but her damage does not sound like a minor repair. Sounds like the car was t-boned by some idiot during shipping.!

 

When I buy a brand new car, I expect to get a new car

Customers should not be forced to bring in a paint thickness gauge or a bodyshop foreman to confirm the car has OEM paint all over at time of delivery (Maybe the should after all, right?)

The vast majority of people have no idea of what to look for when it comes to things like this

When i take delivery of a new car I always do so during the day time and I pretty much know what to look for. I run my fingers alongside the painted edges of panels to detect and roughness which is often an indicator of a respray. "Orange peel" effect or unusual waviness of the paint/sheet metal are also obvious clues to a covered defect.

Bottom line: The OP was deceived, period MINIUSA and the dealer are fully responsible to ensure delivery of a vehicle in perfect condition. If not, they need to disclose damage sustained by it during shipping. If they fail in both counts they are liable for damages.

If I want to buy a repainted car, I'll buy used or a savage title car. They were sold misrepresented car as "brand new" but it wasn't. Yet they were charged full price! They did not get a $5K discount for the "factory like" repairs, did they?

 

I would go hire a lawyer to write a letter to MINI and put him on retainer. It won't cost you much, but it will grab their attention and get some results quick!

 

When cars come into the PDC there is a certain amount of damage that can happen to a car that they will repair with out notification. It happens more than you think. I dont know the % of damage off the top of my head. But It does happen. I have worked on my fair share of cars that have been repainted. I usually dont tell the owners. I know it would be heart breaking. I woulda been pissed too.

Sorry to hear about your troubles

 

Thread hijack: Nice photo man!

 

Most states have laws on what must be disclosed and when. But as far as i can find Maryland's laws only covers USED cars.

Any new car that is brought in to this country or produced in this country is very probably not considered to be finished until it is delivered for the first time and titled. Then the laws com into affect.

Brand New, is still brand new until it is delivered for the first time and titled.

Also to those of you who think all cars are perfect when delivered. There is not a single car that is delivered that is exactly the same as it came off the production line. All cars no mater what make have had something done to them that can be classified as REPAIRED.

But i do agree that if you are upset about the problem and MINI is not responding then you need to take the complaint up the line. Just be ware there are others here who have gone the lawyer route and have had bad luck in doing so.

 

If the OP can prove that he or she were deceived then I am sure they have legal recourse.

A repainted car = Accident/wrecked car

In turn that equals = Diminished value.

I think I am going to buy a paint thickness gauge....

 

The car was new. Was it ever titled or driven by anyone?

So paint done in England is different than paint done at VDC? I believe MINI would argue that paint done in any of their facilities is "factory."

 

I don't understand how this doesn't get through to you. It wasn't repainted. It was never delivered!!!

 

But if there is not disclosure needed by law then they do not have a leg to stand on.

Not necessarily it could have just had a long key scratch. That would cause ANY body shop to repaint the whole panel

Go ahead. then check your car you will even find on yours that there are differences in paint thickness even if it was not repainted.

 

No my friend, you don't get it...

Hammer this into your head......

The vehicle's paint thickness on the repainted panels is different from the rest of the car, that is, areas with OEM paint.

You can never emulate OEM paint at the VDC or any bodyshop, no matter how good you are at it or the kind of equipment you have. It ain't gonna happen.

The car sustained damaged and the damage was severe enough to require repainting the whole side of the vehicle.

The differences in paint thickness suggest the vehicle was repaired prior to final customer delivery. We are not talking about whether the car is titled or not. The fact is the car was sold as "New merchandise" to the ultimate customer (The OP).

The car clearly suffered more than $500 worth of damage. It should have been disclosed to them in anticipation to delivery . If the OP knowingly accepts the car and signs on the dotted line, then yes, the car becomes his problem. He has zero recourse. You bought damaged goods and you still accepted the vehicle as-is.

But in this case, the OP was never informed at any stage of the delivery process that the car had required a paint re-spray after it left the Oxford plant. He or she were lied to and deceived

Now, if they ever want to sell or trade the car, the car, because of the paint re-spray job, has lost between $5K-$10K market value in comparison to the same unmolested vehicle with OEM paint all around.

I can understand a broken headlight, broken glass, a burnt radio. But a paint re-spray after the fact will KILL the resale value no matter what

 

If some of you would be in the same predicament as the OP, I am sure you would be pissed too!

So don't downplay the problem just because it didn't happen to you!

 

I would be very upset with the original poster, if this was my car.

Her car may have been damaged during shipping, or even worse her car may have been one of the unlucky cars that was damaged/keyed at the factory. Depending on her build date, it sounds like her car may have been sitting in England during the February job cuts.

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/412...s_attack_cars/

 

First of all, you are speculating on the $500 threshold for disclosing damage done on the voyage. Someone needs to find out exactly what it is.

And go out and buy a paint thickness gauge. Your car as well as mine have differences in paint thickness.

What the OP needs to find out is if the car has been "officially" repainted, like in a Carfax report verified by VIN number. I wouldn't exactly trust a car inspector at CarMax to tell me my car is severely undervalued because he claims it has been repainted but yet cannot provide VIN evidence that this has happened.

What exactly CAN be proved? Even if he goes back to his dealer, the dealer can say that the OP wrecked and repainted it. I mean who knows. MINI USA can claim he is lying and he repainted it in his garage one weekend.

The OP claims he had it "about a month" well I really don't think MINI will do jack crap for a car you drove a month for and noticed nothing wrong with paintwise.

But you are dead wrong on the "new merchandise" idea. It is a new car. Period. New. The VDC is just as much a part of the production process as the factory in England. That car is not un-new until it gets to a dealer and they wreck it or mess something up on their own.

 

To the OP...

These situations sadly can occur when buying anything, I had an horror story when I bought a Ducati motorcycle 2 years ago, yet i was able to put it aside and still appreciate the motorcycle afterwards.

I know you're pissed off and with good reasons to be, but you were stuck in this and I am sure the dealer / MINI USA will somehow find a way to make things right. I mean, the proofs are on your side, they will have to make up for all this.

Just dont judge MINI upon this one situation... Bad salesman, bad service, bad dealers, exist within all manufacturers... The product itself is still amazing, the idea is to bring your business elsewhere, where more professionnal people will take great care of you and ensure your full satisfaction. After all of this, i'm sure you'll fall in love with the car...

I am lucky, my dealer gives an outstanding sales and service quality, makes me fully appreciate my MINI experience.

Honestly i wish you a quick and happy ending to this

 

that was an eye opener!!

 

Yep, there were cars damaged at the factory during the job cuts at Oxford. Keyed paintwork, smashed windows and even broken dashboards.

 

Well to answer some of the questions that came up with my post:

1) The car was supposed to be brand new, and was never titled. MD law states:
In the case of body-related damage involving vehicle repainting on a car that has never been titled, the dealer shall disclose the area repainted and any parts replaced (hood, fender, truck lid, quarter panel, etc.) in writing to the prospective purchaser.

In this case, the entire left quarter panel and door was repainted, and therefore is subject to disclosure under Maryland law. It does not specifiy an AMOUNT of money, it specifies car parts. [/FONT]

2) I got TWO independent people to look at this car, one being carmax, and yes I agree they could lie, which is why I went to a COLLISION center for a second assessment, and he told me the same exact thing and put it in writing. He even said he thought the hood was repainted but wouldnt put it in writing because he wasn't 100 percent. [/FONT]

3) HAD I known that the value would be affected, I would NEVER have signed on the dotted line to begin with, that is the whole point of why I am upset. Even if I didn't want the automatic, I would still want another car since I have no clue what happened to this one.

4) No one documented what happened to the car, so who knows what kind of damage occurred. I understand damage can happen, but I should have had to option to walk away from that car, and MINI did not provide that to me. [/FONT]

Bottom line is I filed complaints against MINI USA with BBB, and the attorney generals office, and am contacting a lawyer to see what recourse we have!

 

There is definitely a %/$$ threshold up to which the dealer is not obliged to disclose the damage. A canny search on NAM will show plenty of other instances where this has happened. It's unfortunate but not unprecedented.

The difference here is the treatment that your dealership is giving you. You're trying to trade in on another MINI from the SAME dealership and they're trying to screw you without the youknowwhat! They're the same people that had no problems warranting your vehicle in "as new" condition yet they're not prepared to take it back in the same condition they sold it to you. Your job now is to find out if it really was damaged in/before transit and then proceed accordingly. If MINI maintains there was no damage and the repairs were never undertaken in Oxford, at the VDC or at the dealership then you're out of luck I'd say.

Hope you get a good resolution...

 

where did I say that it was a minor repair?

 

this could very well be the issue as well ... I had this very same thing on my ole MC, where the hood and entire left side had to be repainted because of major scratches