Pure speculation: It maybe that MINI saves some $$ by doing the "other minor maintenance" over longer periods. If those savings are greater than an additional oil change cost, it would make sense financially. On the other hand, it might just be some bureaucratic insanity.

 

That's why I asked my SA, and her response was that it may be a year before it's due by countdown. She gave as an example the case of one customer's car that is 3 years old but has only 7,000 on the odometer. (Talk about someone who doesn't get much out of MINIhood!)

The vast majority of us, I suspect, don't fall into that category. Which begs the question, why spend the money? Given time and materials, it has to cost MINI a good $50. After all, that tech COULD be working on a retail customer's car instead. And if MINI took the bottom door strip off later '07s to save ten bucks, you'd think the bean counters would tackle this instead.

Actually, Robin, the other mainenance was something about changing an air filter (engine? cabin? She said but I don't remember.) and some visual inspections.

 

Perhaps both?
http://www.outmotoring.com/mini-coop...8-maintenance/

 

Not sure what you're showing, but she said which one it was. My feeble brain just doesn't remember.

 

That was just so you could see the retail on both. It seems that after a year (or longer) both should be replaced. I wonder which one they don't replace?

 

Maybe they do both? Again, I'm old--don't remember what she said. I was still trying to wrap my brain around MINI bringing the car back in for another oil change.

 

Check you book. I have not had the time to do this.

Evidently if the service indicator comes on and it is for
a state inspection, there is a way that you can reset it
without going to the dealer.

The home method only applies to the inspection not any other
service light is my understanding.

The SA said how to do it is somewhere in the owner's manual.

 

I don't understand. If you mean state safety or pollution inspections, that's a little peculiar. In Texas, new cars don't require safety + pollution inspections (they are done at the same time) until the second year after delivery date. Then it's annually after that. I think most states are like that, aren't they? After all, how else would they work it? I'll bet most cars on the roads today don't have OBC countdowns, and the the BMW and MINI OBCs vary according to driver conditions.

I don't have my book, either, and it's pouring outside. If you think I'm gonna get wet over this, well...

 

The way it works in NC is the following.

The sticker is good for one year.
For 1996 or newer cars it is for a safety and emissions inspection.
After maybe 2 months overdue you start to get threatening
letters from the state. At some point (about 3 months) they send you
a fine, it is over $300.

It is not clear to me if they keep sending you fines or if that
is good enough for a year. (long story see below 1)

They will also bar you from the yearly registration if you don't pass inspection. So now, you have no tag too.

It is not clear if they come at night and take your license plate off.

But at some point you have no sticker, no registration.
I don't doubt they contact your insurance company you have
no registration (see other story below 2)

1) I was not able to get my CRX to pass a couple years ago (the 1996 or newer is a new thing). The guy that gives the waivers was evidently out running a real estate business full time while getting paid by the state full time or something close to it (always gone, would make appt, he's a no show, etc etc etc etc). So I call The Man, and say, well, how about I just pay the $300 fine and we call it even. The Man made it clear that paying the fine was not enough and they would be sending out as many fines as they so pleased.

2) The social security administration had me being born in 1970 not 1964 (obviously a long meth smoking lunch for somebody when they keyed it in).
So, I go to renew my driver license (that's when I found out about the BDay) and they won't do it because the new thing is all BDays must match.
So, I go to the SSA with passport, birth certificate, work ID, and driver license. They say they think they can fix it, most likely, but it will take a while. Withen 2 weeks I get a letter from my insurance company saying my license is not valid and if I can't provide a copy of a valid one within 2 weeks, my insurance will be cancelled.

So with that in mind I have no doubt you can get your insurance cancelled for not having a valid inspection sticker. Which (for normal employed people going to a day job) has endless ramifications.

 

Texas is different.

 

California is more like Texas. I just renewed my registration online. No inspection was required. My 1990 Integra needs an inspection every year, or every other year. I forget.

 

Wow--do you mean that you don't have to hook it up to an emissions computer and go through a "drive cycle" on a dyno-type machine, every year? For any car other than a classic? Our '64 Porsche is exempt, but every other car has to go through it, and the parameters vary according to build year. (I remember doing our '94 van last year--my jaw dropped that it passed.). Requirements are also dependent on the county of residence. I remember when ours, Montgomery, was less affected than Harris, which is Houston, but as the population moved north, we are now subject to the same laws.

The only exemption to the smog and safety inspections is for new cars, which gets 2 years.

The registration, on the other hand, is annual, and can be done by mail or in person at the county tax office. The only requirement is liability insurance. That's simply taxation for roads, etc.

 

California smog checks are every two years and do not require a dyno. The tester checks levels against engine RPMs, so actually turning the wheels isn't considered relevant.

 

You're talking about smog checks right? They are different through-out CA depending on where you live (as you probably already know). In Calaveras county for example there are no smog checks for any vehicles.

The CA laws are different depending on county. More smog in the county, the more strict the testing is. Some are run on rollers and other places just rev the engine in neutral while testing emissions.

 

I was going to start another thread but found this older one and seems to fit. My car had the 1 anniversary oil change as the other things they do on your first service did not indicate they needed service. They changed the oil July 2008 and did not reset the OBC. About 4,000 miles later the first service was due. Well over a year old and 18,000 miles total. They did this about 2,000 miles ago and the OBC keept saying 5,000 miles to next service. About two weeks ago I had 3,900 to next service and today it says nothing about miles to service just needs service. No problems, oil has been changed twice in 20,000 miles and the new oil has about 2,000 miles on it. No icons on, etc. Taking it in is such a pain for me right now. Any thoughts.

 

There's a reason they didn't reset the OBC if they changed the oil by dates--MINI says not to! Believe it or not, you'll have to bring your car back in when the counter says to. I questioned this, and they said that's true even if the counter runs out in the next month. It seems terribly cost-INeffective, as well as wasteful.

 

amazonracer,

Please don't ask the same question on two threads on the same bulletin board. No one wants to spend the time reading it twice and I doubt anyone will take the time to reply twice. Poor manners.

 

Hey corcoranwtnet, before you think I have "poor manners", maybe you should no the facts before saying something like this. As the post said, I researched the posts so I would have good manners so I wouldn't waste peoples time. I could have started a new post but I was trying to be somewhat thoughtful. When I did the second post, I thought my question was going to be buried as the last time someone replied was back in March. If I upset you, please forgive me and to anyone I offended. Now I can go back to bed. Its daylights savings today.

 

Maybe he's referencing this separate thread you started last night: post:https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=157330. Not sure how NAM works, but it may be possible to go in and delete it if it's a duplication of another thread or post, and is no longer needed.