Hello,

I am a newbie here and very close to pulling the trigger on a 2012 Mini Cooper S with 28,000 miles. The price is very tempting and the car drives fantastic.

However in the carfax report I noticed that the oil change service was not done from 0 to 28,000 miles. The dealer is saying the previous owner did do the necessary oil changes but they are unable to locate the service records.

Isnt the recommended oil change interview on R56 15k miles? If the previous owner had not done the oil change for such long I was wondering if any damage may have occurred?

Since the price is tempting I am inclined to go with it but wanted to hear your thoughts.

Also for such low miles do you think a pre-purchase inspection ( like Carchex ) is really needed? I did a look over and checked all functions and they seem to work and the transmission shifts pretty good. I love the exhaust pop on downshifts

 

The oil change interval is now at 10,000 miles now. Still too long on this car in my opinion.

If there is no record of the oil changes being done up to 28,000 miles I wouldn't touch the car. It could run fine but if the old owner did only one change at 15,000 miles, you're guaranteed to have quite a bit of sludge in the engine.

 

If you open the oil cap and look inside you should be able to see how clean the valve train is and determine if the oil has been changed on a regular basis. Mine has 28k miles on it and it still looks new under the oil cap. I've only had the dealer do 1 oil change, but I've done the rest at 5k mile intervals.

 

Have the dealer give you the previous owner's contact info and give him a call to find out exactly when he performed oil changes and what type of oil was used. I think if the dealer is honest and wants to sell the car, he will gladly put you in contact with the previous owner.

 

Thanks everyone for the quick responses. I appreciate your input. I will try to get in touch with previous owner and maybe try calling the Mini Dealer where the car was purchased.

As the price of this car seems to be $3k less than everywhere I am wondering what is the worst case scenario. Will the engine maybe sieze beyond like 150k miles and I may need to replace Engine? If I do a rebuilt or used engine the repair could be done under 3k ( I went through this for my other car some time back )

Also do you guys think a pre-purchase inspection like Carchex may help in this case? Based on the reviews it appears these inspections may be superfical and may not help unless it is a very old card above 100k miles.

 

Also the Dealer seems to be not as motivated to sell the car as they claim they are losing money already. He is saying that they may get more money if they Auction the car and in the next few days it would be sent to Auction. I can see that he is trying to force me to buy the car quick and not planning to budge, but I really like the car and would hate to lose it :(

 

Get an in depth inspection from an independent MINI shop. Tell them your concerns and find out the cost to check it out.

If you can get the keyfob to MINI dealership they can tell you what work a MINI dealership has done.

It is hard to believe that someone wouldn't take advantage of free oil changes under warranty.

 

I do oil changes every 5k miles, and Carfax won't know about any of them. People that live and die by Carfax will miss out on a really well maintained car should they pass mine by when I eventually sell it. I think Carfax (and Mini a close 2nd) are completely shutting down the DYI community. ^@$% them both.

 

You are probably right Robert as the previous owner claims to have done this but given his long ride to the dealership I am guessing he did it himself. I am trying to get his contact info to verify.

I spoke to the nearest MINI dealership and they mentioned it should be fine as long as we do a oil change asap.

The car runs really great with no sign that it was neglected. I am tempted to take the plunge..

 

Have the dealer you're buying it from do an oil change as part of the sale conditions?

 

The used car dealer I am getting it from said all fluids have been replaced along with some 120 point inspection etc...

So I am guess any evidence if any has already been cleaned out...

Maybe I am being too paranoid.

 

If they've already done a fluid change with the right oil for the car, Just check under the oil cap as previously recommended for any signs of burnt sludgy oil. If everything in there is clean, there are no noise issues or other concerns, don't worry to much and make sure once it's YOUR car, you take care of it as needed.

 

Thanks, that is my plan now.