My 36 months are up and now I have to return my MINI. What I did is an "Owners' Choice" which is equivalent to a lease but is supposed to have some tax advantages in Texas.

In the lease return pre-inspection, they told me I have a couple body panels that I should get buffed (one has more than three very small dings, due to someone carelessly banging my car when opening their door, the other a small ding and a minor scratch).

The questions is: does anyone have experience in returning the car as is and getting charged by MINI Financial? The dealership would charge $120-150 to do this before I return the car, but I'm always wary about them doing a bad job and making things worse. If the charge from MINI Financial is similar, I would rather pay them. But I'm concerned they may apply a big markup on any small repair.

 

If it were me, I'd get them fixed--you know what the charge is going to be vs. MINI financial who will determine a discount that you have no control over. For that amount per panel, you could also get a buffer and some compound and make a Saturday afternoon project out of it and save even more.

 

[QUOTE=T328I;4068984]My 36 months are up and now I have to return my MINI. What I did is an "Owners' Choice" which is equivalent to a lease but is supposed to have some tax advantages in Texas.

In the lease return pre-inspection, they told me I have a couple body panels that I should get buffed (one has more than three very small dings, due to someone carelessly banging my car when opening their door, the other a small ding and a minor scratch).

The questions is: does anyone have experience in returning the car as is and getting charged by MINI Financial? The dealership would charge $120-150 to do this before I return the car, but I'm always wary about them doing a bad job and making things worse. [QUOTE]

Yes, MINI Financial will not kid around and charge you for everything they can. Dealership has a lease return person that acts as a MINI Financial agent. If they did your pre-lease return inspection that told you that you will get charged - believe them !

Usually, you can repair the damage for much less via DIY, or even paying someone out of pocket for paintless ding repair.

There is always that chance.
Thus, fix everything before you return the car!

Pay particular attention to the tire thead.
If it's below or at 4/32nds, htey will charge you for a brand new set of RFT tires at full dealer markup and then some!

a

 

If the dealership you are returning it to says $120-150, why not just do that? If they make it worse as you're concerned they will do, that is for them to deal with MINI Financial, not you. If you or an independant shop make it worse, then it is your problem. Why not put the weight on the people you're returning it to, anyhow?

 

Total, or per ding or per panel? If that's the total, and they'll put it in writing, it sounds pretty decent to me. I'd also take the car to at least one PDR place and get an estimate from them. I don't imagine it would be much less than $120 total, but things might be that much cheaper there than I'm used to.

If you have the dealer do the work, it would be best to get the statement of work to say something like "panels buffed and dings removed to the satisfaction of MINI Financial"--so they can't just run a buffer over the thing, say "done!", and then MF still charge you...

 

Paintless dent repair would be a viable option in this situation, especially if they aren't that bad. That is where the money will be saved.

-Luccia