Upon visiting a Mini dealership, the salesperson stated that it is better to lease these cars. He told me that after the 3 year free service is up the maintenance costs are very high. For example, he stated that new brakes which usually require new rotors as well cost about $900, oil changes are $125. Since BMW has redone the Mini, are the BMW parts also driving up the cost of having it serviced? I live in an apartment so I am at the mercy of the dealer or local independent for service. What has been your experience so far?

Thank you.

 

Dealer service is never cheap, certainly not for BMW/MINI. Whether buying or leasing is right for you depends on several factors. If you're going to sell the car in 3-4 years anyway, leasing might make sense. If you keep cars for a long time, buying is the better financial strategy, in spite of repair costs.
Given that recommended oil changes are every ~15K miles, its not like $125 a year is going to break you. You can get new brakes installed by an independent for less than the dealer $900 quote.
My '04 hasn't required anything other than regular maintenance (knock wood), the warranty expires this October.

 

My MA told me last week that BMW/MINI has just rolled out a program which allows one to buy extended maintenance, which kicks in after the "free" maintenance program expires. You might want to check it out...

 

Correct, I've heard their are two packages, one to extend the warranty and maintenance for another year (I think this package runs about $400) and then they have another package which will extend it out to 10 yrs/100,000 miles (this one runs something like $1800 - $2000). I'll be going with the second option on both our MCSa's. Their are several service intervals in-between the 36,000 to 100,000 mile point which if not covered, would cost much more than the 2,000 for the extended warranty/service.

 

are you guys aware that geico insurance offers bumper to bumper insurance for and extra $5-$7 a month. this is for 7 years or 100,000 miles (whichever one come first). you can take the car wherever you like to get repairs) mini dealer or corner shop). if you figure 7 years at $7 a month you end up paying $588 total, why would anybody pay $2000 is beyond me.

 

That doesn't sound all that bad cost wise for an extended warranty that goes out that far. I would like to know if it could be added on later after the initial warranty runs out, as well as exactly what it covers. It might be worth it.

 

From what I've heard, granted I haven't seen it in writing, it is the exact same coverage as the original warranty including the preventative service, but I think you need to purchase it while it is still covered under warranty. It suppose to cover the major service points as well, such as what would normally need to performed at 60,000 and 90,000 miles. I would need to pull out the owners manual to see the exact mileage and what is supposed to be performed but those mileage points should be fairly close (I think). In my opinion, if you plan on keeping your Mini for a while after the original warranty would have expired, it is a must have.

 

Here is a link to an article that talks about the 1 year warranty extension, I'm trying to find something on the web about the longer extension.

http://www.motoringfile.com/2003/08/...anceOnYourMINI

 

Hmm...according to this link (post #52) http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ef22f7e it looks like it is two seperate extensions for the 10 yr warranty, one to cover mechanical and one to cover maintenance. My wife's '05 is due for an oil change within a month so I'll ask my dealership about it when I take it in. That way I get the official details on the plans/costs.

 

Having done the paperwork on my wife's R56 this past weekend, we were told that the option for the extra 1 year or 14,000 miles was no longer being offered by BMW/MINI. I bought this one when I bought my 05.

As mentioned, they do offer 2 additional types of extended programs. 1 is to extend the warranty period from the 3 years/36,000 miles to 6 years/100,000 miles. The other is to extend the maintenance period from the 3 years/36,000 miles to 6 years/100,000 miles.

What we were told was that you can wait to purchase either of the 2 extended programs, however you will pay what the current rate is at the time you wish to extend it. And as evidenced to the rise in the cost of these, when I purchased my 05 back in May 2005, the cost of them were right around $1600 - $1700, before any price haggling on them.

The price quoted to my wife was in the $2300 - $2500 range, so no telling what they would be when/if someone decided to wait and purchase it later down the road.

Not sure whether all dealers work this way and will let you lock in a price at the time of purchase, but my understanding is that these are the BMW guidelines that the dealerships are going with.

Whichever route you decide to take (lease or purchase), you are going to get a fantastic vehicle and will enjoy many miles of motoring.

 

That article was from 2003, and quite abit has changed since then.

 

Thanks for more updated information! I've only gotten it third hand from older posts on the net. Was the 2300-2500 for both extensions or just the mechanical?

 

did you even see what i wrote? its $588 total for geico, why not even try and give them a call. giving the dealer $2000 is like throwing it down the toilet.

 

That price was the range for EACH one. So, to extend the warranty it was something like $24xx.00 and to extend the maintenance it was something like $23xx.00.

Kinda pricey, but in some cases 1 or both of them might be nice insurance to have.

When I purchased my 05, I did buy the one that was offered that extended it from 3 years/36,000 miles to 4 years/50,000 miles and opted not to get either of the more expensive ones, in a way I threw money out the window by going the cheaper route because my MCS is barely 2 years old, and I am already at 41,000 miles. I was at 36k long before it was ever 2 years old.

It really boils down to whether someone wants to pay the cost for piece of mind with the extended warranty / extended maintenance.

 

Thanks for the clarification MINIGolfer1, tis much appreciated!

 

Not to sound like a bit of skeptic, but I wonder if there's more benefit to the salesperson or dealership with sale of a lease vs. sale of the car outright.

Also, I've never heard of having to replace rotors unless one waited too long to replace the brake pads. Actually, I'm pretty sure our cars tell us when brake pad replacement is due, thus, if we adhere to the indicators there should never be a need for rotor replacement.

 

Of course the prices that the MA at the dealership that you visited is going to tell you what the costs would be to have that work done at the dealership.

One of the first things I did after getting mine, was I took the stock brake pads off and replaced them with EBC Green Pads (much less dust and they seemed to stop better). Depending on which brake pads you replace the stock ones with, you can get them fairly cheap. Stock rotors aren't going to cost all that much, so parts wise for a brake job you are looking at around $300 - $400, and if you do it yourself, or even have a reputable shop do it besides the dealer (you are out of the warranty period so no need to pay their high labor rates), you are probably only looking at $500 or so for a brake job.

They aren't that hard to do, and as was mentioned earlier, the car will let you know when it's time to replace the pads, and if you do so at that time, there won't be any need to replace the rotors.

 

Sure is. It's called repeat business in 2 or 3 years.

 

In May, my MA told me that at least the 1-yr maintenance extension makes a lot of sense, because it covers that expensive brake replacement which usually hits right around then anyway. Pays for itself, in a sense.

And I'm wary about taking my '07 MCS to the corner grease monkey shop. Maybe if it was a '76 Chevy, well then it wouldn't matter. But I doubt these guys are trained in the latest Mini Cooper know-how.

There is a specialty import auto shop near my Mini dealership with all sorts of fancy Euro cars parked out front, but that place smells just as $$$ as just using the dealership...

 

Yes, I did see what you wrote, but I'm looking at all of my options. Thank you for pointing out a third party option , I will look into them as well.

 

Unfortunately, Geico's MBI (Mechanical Breakdown Insurance) must be purchased before the vehicle is 15 months old or has 15,000 miles on it (it has a $250 per incident deductible). It may be an adequate substitue for the mechanical extension if its purchased in time.

EDIT: You must also be the first title holder so you can't purchase it if you got your car used.

EDIT #2: And you must have Geico as your auto insurance carrier as it is an addition to your normal policy. With this in mind, I won't be going with Geico. I'd have a higher insurance premium with them that over the course of the 7 years would make the mechanical extension cost less than the difference in insurance premiums plus their MBI coverage. If you already have Geico and are happy with them and their rates, yes, this would be a good addition.