Any experiences good or bad at this dealership? Any rip-off dealer prep or doc fees? Recommended MA? Thanks for any input.:smile:

 

I bought mine in Atlanta, but Greenville is closer so I have been there for 10K service and the emissions recall on '03 MCS. All very professional. Also went through them to get a bumped hood fixed. They use a Ford dealer down the street for all body work - even on their BMWs. I was amazed how well they matched the paint, and I'm very picky and have seen a lot of paint work.

All in all, I've not heard any bad remarks and my experiences have been excellent.

 

I moved to the Greenville SC area last June from South Florida. Century is about 10 miles away (lucky for me) so they are the dealer that I go to for anything MINI. Here are my service visits so far:

I was there for the emissions recall last November and they went ahead and did the brake fluid change at the same time, since I was near the 2 year mark anyway. They updated my software as well to v38 I think, and the car ran like a new tranny was put in it (I have the CVT). It cruises at lower rpm's and isn't revving up all the time at 50-60 mph. A huge improvement! I went in last month for a "low mileage" oil change, and assumed that they would change the a/c microfilter under the glovebox because it was still original. WRONG! Because I didn't have 25,000 miles on the car yet and wasn't due for inspection 1, they wouldn't change the filter until then. The filter was disgustingly dirty, so I went ahead and changed the thing on my own. There was no way it would have lasted until 25,000 miles. My wallet was $51.00 lighter (BringMyWallet) but that is the only expense out of pocket for maintenance so far. They did replace the front wiper blade inserts and put in a new air filter at no cost!

The parts department has been very helpful to me in ordering things I want (and need). I think you get a 10% discount with them if you are a member of the Carolina Mini Motoring Club, but I am not (M2C2?)

All in all I have received the service I expect, and I will continue to go to them even after the 3/36,000 free maintenance expires. Hope this helps.

 

I purchased my MINI from Century over a year and a half ago. Deal with Henk Vandyk. I highly recommend him as an MA. Both the service people and the parts people are great, and once they get to know you, will go out of their way to help you. M2C2 members get 10% off of parts and labor. FlMiniMan, you should consider joining the club just for that.
They do have a dealer prep fee, but it can be negotiated down. It does include floor mats and a few other extras.

 

Well I have a little different take, I was lookin to purchase my MCS middle october and they were the first place I called seeing as how they were a little closer than Flow. I called and left three messages with three different MA's and if you are like me you want somebody to return your call promptly but it didnt happen and it was more like I called them on Monday and Tuesday with no luck so I called Flow Wednesday and Joe Yoder tracked down exactly what I wanted in hours and called me back to inform me what financial details they was offering and after another day of persuading I went up on Friday to leave a deposit so they could pick it up and what do you know on my way home that evening I was called by Century telling me they were returning my call and I politely told the guy he was 4 days late and I had just bought from Flow, Even funnier somebody else from Century called me the next day to RETURN MY CALL! My first impression from no returned calls was they didnt need my buisness.

 

I bought mine from Century and they were great!

They do have a $500 processing fee but you can get them to take that off....if the MA doesn't want to agree just tell them you want to speak to Max and have him agree since he has done it for others.... my MA was Henk (not misspelled, he's Dutch)

 

I am pretty sure the people at Century MINI hate me with a passion. I seem to have a bit of a problem with leaving things along with a stock car.

Shortly after I purchased the car I stripped the entire interior and removed the passenger seat for a bit of drag racing. After removing the driver seat the air bag light was on. Oh no... what did I do.

I didn't want to drive all the way to the dealer so I just delt with the light.

A few months after that I had gotten fed up with that stupid light and decided that I would remove the air bag control module. Well removed it and the light was still on. Then put it back in.

Since I knew that if the light was on the system was deactivated, I decided to remove the driver side air bag in the steering wheel to lighten the wheel for an upcoming autocross.

Shortly after that I reinstalled the bag and decided to finally have the light reset. I thought a simple computer hook up and code reset was all that was going to take place... Boy was I wrong.

They ended up having to replace the driver side airbag and some other pieces. I thought for sure I was up the creek and was looking at the least a thousand something dollar bill.

However they had promised me the car back in two days. They also told me that I would be able to rent a car over the phone. When I dropped the car off and asked about a rental they informed me that an 18 year old cannot rent a car. Oh was I upset.

Well after two days I called and they said that they had to order several parts and it would not be ready for a few more days. Hmm... Big problem. I was going to the beach in a few days and would not have my car. I wasn't even going to consider taking mom's SUV down to the beach. So after a few hours of hell raising . They said the car would be ready tomorow. I believe they took parts off another car.

Next day went to pick up the car and the bill. To my suprise I was not charged for anything. I almost shat my self. Oh how I was relieved. They did put the steering wheel on sideways though...

 

I like Century MINI. Henk and Max are my MA's and have been very helpful. I was a little surprized when I found that a $500. dealer prep fee had been added. I said, "NO" and they completely removed the fee and Max still gave me the floor mats. Very resonable people.

In the service department I have but one word of advice. JIM. Just start with JIM. #1 service writer I've had the pleasure to deal with ever!!! Absolutely no BS.