Greetings Everyone,
I have a 2007 MINI Cooper S with approx 35k miles and a 6 speed manual tranny (I am third owner & have owned the car for 4 months). I put about 350 miles per week (approx 300 is hiway mileage over a mountian, the rest is around town). Recently I noticed an oil leak. The dealer said that it was the supply line for the turbocharger and replaced it under the existing warranty. No leaks since then.
My existing warranty will expire in late Sept this year. I am considering purchasing the extended warranty for approx $2k.
Question I have is; is it money well spent?
Obviously nobody can predict the future, so it is a pretty loaded question!
But, I am wondering what problems members have had once their cars reach 40k miles? 50k miles? 60k miles? 70k miles?......etc.
Hopefully your valuable input will help me reach the decision that is best for me and my MINI!
Thanks
Lee

 

It depends on the terms of the extended warranty but generally the ones sold by the dealer appear to be good. 46k miles is a lot. More out of warranty problems can be expected. My car went out or warranty feb 2011 and since than have paid to have timing chain and tensioner replaced, an auxillary water pump, carbon cleaning, two burnt exhaust valves and of course the cost of an extended warranty after the fact for 2200.00. All this added to 7800.00 and would have been more without the assistance of Mini USA. On your 2007, was the dealer carbon cleaning ever done? If not you can expect to pay 600.00 at the dealer for the service and warranty will not cover it as it is a maintenance item. You can also expect to replace the timing chain and tensioner which will run about 2k if MINI does not help you. So BUY THE WARRANTY FOR PEACE OF MIND ALONE. These are totally unreliable cars in my opinion.

 

I forgot to mention the turbo oil line failed as well which was part of this horrific cost.

 

miniemee-did you get the MINI warranty or a different one? My dealership offers one that is cheaper than the MINI one and I'm very tempted to buy it. Has anyone had some experience with extended warranties outside of the MINI one? My credit union also offers one that is even cheaper but doesn't seem to cover everything.

surfin'02-what warranty are you considering?

 

I just bought an '08 MCS with 45,400 miles on the clock. After dealing with expensive repairs on my '02 MC I decided this time to buy an extended warranty. I went with Warranty Direct and paid $1900 with $200 deductible.

The coverage is bumper to bumper (not wear and tear obviously) but it covers a lot (the same as the original warranty thru MINI) and my MINI mechanic actually recommended them. The great thing is you don't have to go to the dealership for repairs and you can use it anywhere in the country (great for road trips!)

I bought mine because I really wanted peace of mind. I may never need to use it.......but we ARE talking about MINI's here so I'm guessing it will be used a lot!!!

Hope that helps!

 

chowjusky, why did you choose Warranty Direct over other extended warranty providers?

My Mini warranty will expire in July 2012 and if my mileage exceeds 50k before that, it will expire even sooner. I have been researching extended warranties, and buying one may be even scarier than owning a Mini without a warranty

When I Google Warranty Direct, there is a long, long list of unhappy customers. If I am going to spend $2k or more on a warranty, I want to be able to have some assurance that if I have a problem, they are going to respond positively.

Can you tell me why you chose Warranty Direct over other companies?

I'd also appreciate it if others would post their decision making process and, even better, Mini owners who have had a good result(s) when using an extended warranty.

Thanks, Greg

 

Hi Greg,

The reason I went with Warranty Direct is purely based on my mechanics recommendation. I trust them implicitly. There are so many options out there for extended warranties it can get a little crazy. I called and asked them which ones they liked and they gave me a list of companies who they've never had a problem filing claims with.

They also recommended Mercury (who carry my insurance but they wanted over $4000!!!!) and GE, but I couldn't find any information about their warranties. Every time I googled them it always led me to a third-party site. Annoying!!!!

Hope that helps! Good Luck!

 

I have a 03 Cooper stick with 51,000 miles on it. My SF Bay area mechanic told me to get an after market extended warranty, but refuses to recommend anyone specific, which I find very annoying. I would think that he would at least recommend a few that he knows have come through. Needless to say, I am looking for some recommendations for a company that people have had good experience with. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

At 30 months and 30,000 miles, I have a while to go before I decide so I will watch this string. But these questions always get me to wondering about the future of my MINI. I have, for the past 25 years, owned a variety of Hondas and never once have I worried about an extended warranty. I once purchased a Civic with 234,000 miles and a clean - no major work - repair history, and I never thought about problems. Hondas just seem to run forever as long as you change the oil and perform basic maintenance.

Apparently the same cannot be said for MINIs, although so far I have had no problems - except for replacing the timing chain tensioner and a few minor things.

The one thing I miss - that you have with Hondas - is a maintenance schedule. I do not like relying on the OBC to tell me when to do what.

I love my MINI, and I wish I could feel confident that it will be trouble free for a long time like a Honda. But I think that might be a pipe dream. On the other hand maybe I am worried for nothing.