This is my first service experience with a Mini Dealer and was wondering. Wanted to get my oil changed and was shocked the earliest appointment I could get was April 15. Is it pretty normal for Mini dealers to be so booked up that it takes nearly two weeks to get a simple oil change done??

 

Yep...It's Normal!!

 

Early oil change? DIY !

 

I used to on all my vehicles. But then I became a old fart with bad knees. Just cannot do it anymore.

 

I have Molly into the Dealership every 6mo. for Oil Changes and what ever else I find needs to be done, since she is a Garage Queen some Oil Changes won't even be 3,000mi., but so what, she is taken care of and that is all that matters!!

 

and don't your dealer love you!!!!

as my dealer told me when we were in a meeting about what they might do to support a MINI club:

I don't make anything selling cars.

Everything I make comes from the service department.

 

I certainly don't think that seeing the Dealership twice a year is keeping them Open...who knows I could be wrong!!

 

You don’t want my opinion on our Mini dealership (which is yours) On my last and 3rd mini, I bought it brand new. Part of the deal was that I would get a certain type of wheel/tire combo on the car.

I got a call and they told me the wheels and tires were in. I called the dealership excitedly and they told me it would be 3 weeks to make an appt just to swap out a set of wheels and tires. (no dismounts, just swapping entire wheels and tires)

My bodyshop does all the Acura work in town and since they are basically on the same property, I drove up there, used one of their lifts and swapped out the wheels/tires myself.

They only have 4 techs and currently are building a new dealership next to where they are so they can have more space.

My suggestion is to get done what you can get done yourself. I’ve had horror story after horror story dealing with my dealership.

I think the last fiasco (about 3 weeks ago) disrupted the entire dealership, I understand they have instilled new rules.

One of my complaints is they NEVER call back. If they do, they wait until 5:58pm to tell you your car is ready.

After my last disaster, they started a MUST CALL return list before the end of the day.... so maybe something good came of it.


Mark

PS. I have to change the oil in my car this week. If you want to come by my bodyshop, I’ll do yours at the same time.

 

I think it depends on the dealer....

I called my local dealer to ask for an alignment appointment, they had me in the next morning, and out in just over an hour.