Hi. I was wondering if some of you could recommend a good/fair dealership in SoCal to service our Mini?

Several months ago we bought a used 2003 with 18k miles on it. A few weeks ago, some of the dash lights went out and we took it to Nick Alexander Mini thinking it would be a simple job and would be covered under warranty. We were shocked when we were told it would cost $9000 to replace the wiring harness. At first they blamed the after market temp/oil guages and told us it would be $1700 to remove them and fix the problem, then later they told us it wasn't the guages, and accused us of "spilling liquid" on the driver side floorboard which caused corrosion in the wiring harness and the $9000 job wouldn't be covered under warranty.

We later found out from the previous owner that the heater core had ruptured and leaked coolant, which soaked the entire driver floorboard area. That was fixed under warranty by an out of state dealer. We once again confirmed with the service manager that the our issue was due to "liquid being in the floorboard". He told us there was no doubt, and liquid in that area couldn't have been caused by any failure in the car. We produced the documentation regarding the previous issue with heater core/coolant leak, and insisted this new issue should be covered under warranty as well. At first they reluctantly agreed, then a few days later, changed their story again, back to the after-market temp gauge refusing to do any work under warranty.

"Nicholas Alexander", the service manager actually told me; "this is your fault for buying a used car", and "you should take it back to the dealership where it was bought from"!

Obviously deeply offended by his comments and their attitude towards us (I guess they don't like it when you prove them wrong), we decided not to have them do anything further with the car and had them put it back together. We're now trying to find a reputable service department that won't treat us like crap because we bought it used and not from them.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

I had good interactions with Southbay Mini's service. Speak to Jay he seems pretty good. He helped me out when I went in for my JCW install. As for Nick Alexander, I don't know how they stay in businees. I hear nothing but complaints from them.

There prices are outrageous and thier customer service is less than acceptable.

 

Ive gone to Bob Smith. They might be a little far from you but they've been superb to me. if you do call them, ask for Jamie. She is amazing (cute too )

 

While I cannot comment on Jamie's "cuteness" I can say she has really been great to work with at Bob Smith. They have been very helpful to me and have treated me like a buyer each and everytime I've been in. I purchased my car in New York and have suffered the wrath of other dealers in the area (Brecht and Crevier) for not buying from them and was wary of going to another. Bob Smith is 2 hours from my home, but I'll drive there everytime something needs to be done.

I've also heard good things about South Bay, yet I am not sure how they treat outside of their network buyers.

Good luck with yoru problem. It definitely would be worth talking to MINIUSA about. They have a hands off approach with their dealers but soemthing should be done about the scum managing Nick Alexander and Assael.

 

I've done service at both South Bay and Bob Smith, but I typically go to Bob Smith for all of my warranty service issues, as their service techs do a great job every time.

I had my entire clutch replaced by South Bay MINI under warranty due to an issue I had with noise, that just wasn't going away. As an aside, I had told Bob Smith about this issue on at least two seperate occasions, but they did not replace the clutch.

South Bay took about a week to do the work, gave me a loaner and did a great job with the clutch. However, a week later, while looking under the hood at a pulley party Randy Webb noticed that my ECU was broken in half. I told Randy the nature of the work that South Bay had just performed, and he knew that they would have had to remove the ECU and some other nearby components in the procedure; therefore South Bay probably broke my ECU. More damning, was a little broken plastic ECU piece that was, placed in a seperate part of the engine compartment that after some time would have been blown or washed away.

I brought my car to South Bay the next week, and told my service advisor what had happened, and he told me he'd hold onto my car and look into it. When I went to pick up the car he told me that he had asked the tech who worked on my car, and the tech acted like he didn't do anything wrong so South Bay would not replace the broken ECU...end of story. I still have the broken part. As a bonus, I saw the porter make a nice dent on my roof near the spoiler when he opened up the boot door, and jammed my XM antennae on the roof.

I have a close friend who had South Bay do an oil change for him, and they didn't tighten the oilpan nut, and he lost all of his oil on the road.

Here's my take on South Bay...overall I think they have pretty good customer service, and even have some good techs...but the lower grade techs and employees are not up to par, or are not managed well otherwise some of the more basic service items would not have given me, or my friend, any problems. My clutch has been trouble free since they did the install, so they definitely have people there that know what they are doing...but you have to hope and pray that they are the ones that are performing the work on your car.

 

Does anyone know if Bob Smith gives out loaners to either their customers or to people that purchased elsewhere? At the time, I had to make my purchase at ASSael and I don't think I'll ever want to go back to that dealership ever again! Is there another good MINI dealership with a good service department in the LA area, preferably closer to the Walnut/Diamond Bar/Pomona area?

 

No loaners from Bob Smith.

 

It's too bad that these dealers think so lowly of us Cooper owners. Make sure you let them know (good or bad) by completing the survey MINIUSA sends out (either by mail or phone) because these service advisors live and die by their TSI scores (surveys). Of course, these aren't announymous, so if you're pissed off with them, make sure you have another dealer you can go to. I wish MINIUSA would get a dealer closer to the IE, because it's ridiculous to travel an hour to get service work done on my car.....plus I am none too pleased with that particular dealer (no names, but they're in Monrovia ). I think a drive to North Hills is worth it from now on.....

 

We ended up taking it to South Bay Mini... and it essentially looks like we've been blacklisted, Nick Alexander had put in the DCS notes that the wiring harness would not be covered under warranty, so SB won't even look at it, and said no dealership likely will, so we can't even get a second opinion.

I can understand SB's position. Nick Alexander really screwed us... they told us "go to another dealership" knowing we would get no help.

We tried the Mini CSR route, but they are worthless. All they do is call up the service manager and get their statement, there is no advocacy on their part and they've admitted as much. The FSE process is a joke as well, he came in, talked to the service manager and glanced at it... also taking their word, never even looked at our documentation regarding the previous heater core rupture and coolant leak... he was in and out in less than 15 minutes.

We bought this car for $18k and loved it dearly, now 5 months later we have a $9,000 repair bill. Now all I want to do is drive the thing into a wall.

 

can you take it back to the out of state dealer that did the initial work. pain in the butt, but might be worth it. or maybe check out a junk yard and find a good AAA approved mechanic?

 

try irvine mini...i recently took my car in and the service was exquisite....friendly staff and they really did go out of their way to make sure my needs were met....for me, it was a good deal!

 

So I take it this was a private party sale? Did you sign a document stating this was an "as is" purchase? If not, I would sue the person you purchased the mini from. If it was not an "as is" purchase and he/she did not reveal the prior damage, they should be responsible for the repairs.

 

Yes, we bought it through a private sale "as is", however the owner did tell use the only issue he had with the car was the heater core rupture which was repaired under warranty. We even spoke to the dealership that did the repair work (in Texas) and they confirmed that coolant had leaked into the drivers side floorboard and could be the cause of the corrision in the wiring harness. They even faxed us their documentation stating so.

However the Mini FSE wants to put the blame on the grommit hole, which the wires for aftermarket guages run-through and claim the water somehow got through there, which is rubbish. We even had an insurance adjuster out today who inspected it quite thoroughly (its currently apart at South Bay Mini). When he was shown the grommit "source", he came to the same conclusion, that it would be very unlikely that water could have leaked through it and somehow made its way to the wiring harness. I didn't mention the coolant leak to him as of yet.


Jay at South Bay has been pretty cool with us, however his hands are tied because of the FSE's statements.

At this point we're really not sure what to do. Any suggestions/advice from any of you would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

I hate to say it because I believe with live in a too litigious society, but I would threaten civil legal action against the dealer or the person you purchased the vehicle from.

I feel for you. That sucks.

 

Crevier is now 3-3 in my book.

I had to get a motor damper replaced after it spooged oil in my garage.

I had asked for a MINI loaner and got one in spades, an 06 PW Convertible with auto tranny and HK sound system! I enjoyed it an awful lot, I "froze" in the morning on the way to work and got sunburned on the way back. A perfect drive. If I had spent more time in a convertible, I may have bought one. Of course the charge for the repair was $0.00.

Kyle and the loaner people did great again.