UPDATE:

Monday March 9, 2009 1 p.m. EST

The dealer and I spoke this morning and I explained how I felt their warranty denial was not correct. They contacted a Mini USA rep and agreed to do a one-time goodwill warranty replacement of the battery and labor, which I believe is the right thing to do.
So all apparently is ending well.
Their one condition is that my aunt buy and use a battery tender trickle charger to keep the battery healthier because the car is not driven too much. I said that was fine.
Thank you, MINI, for doing the right thing and taking care of this.



Hi all,
I'm writing to ask for your thoughts about my aunt's 2006 Mini. She bought it brand new in August 2006 from Orlando Mini in Florida. She uses it daily, for trips around the neighborhood and at least once a week on the highway, but it has only 8,000 miles on the car.
Last week, it wouldn't start. It would crank over ever so slowly, but wouldn't start.
In to the dealership it went after a jumpstart. The dealer said it needed a new battery and that it wouldn't warranty it because my aunt doesn't drive the car enough. They told her she needs to drive it a minimum of 800 miles a month and that it says that in the warranty.
HOGWASH I say.
She has never had any starting problems before this incident and has been driving the car the same way since she has owned it.
I believe that with all the millions of batteries that are made, the OEM battery in the car obviously was defective and should have been replaced under warranty. The car has a 4 year/50K mile warranty!
The dealer told her that it says in the "fine print" that driving the car as little as she drives it caused the problem and wouldn't be covered under warranty.
I have worked in car and motorcycle dealerships before and believe me, that's the most ridiculous thing I've heard. If this had happened within a month or two of her buying the car, then happened on other occasions since, it would be at least possible, in my opinion. But for this to happen now and never have happened before, they are just trying to get out of replacing the car under warranty.
Orlando Mini charged her $322 for a new battery and labor.
Ridiculous.
They'll be hearing from me in the morning.
And they'll be apologizing to her by the afternoon.
What do you think?
Have you had similar problems with your dealer or battery?
Thanks for listening to my venting.
Yours,
Trwhouse

 

Lead-acid batteries really, really need to be used on a regular basis to maintain their health. Too much sittling causes them to both discharge (bad) and sulphate (very bad). The act of discharging/charging the batteries helps keep them healthy. Sitting for long periods causes a build-up on the lead plates akin to iron rusting that is not good for the battery.
Some kind of battery maintainer (a smart charger) is useful in making the battery last.

 

I'm with AM on this one.
Just starting the car discharges the battery and taking short trips may not be enough to charge the battery fully.
Though I'd agree that $300+ for a new battery (even with a 'diagnosis') is ridiculous.

 

The R50 has a perfectly normal size battery and you can get a replacement at just about any parts store. I paid 70 dollars for my replacement.The dealers are too expensive on a lot of parts. Ancient Mariner is correct about not driving a car enough to keep the battery charged. If you do not keep a battery properly charged 2 years seems to be the expected life of a battery.
You should volunteer to keep your aunts car exercised.

 

Unfortunately the money in cars is in service, not sales. Dealers make less on the sale of many vehicles than thay do on a single major service. Their mechanics are trained and make above average wages; many parts are proprietary (required by the manufacturers to maintain warranty status).

The result is the perfect storm of bad news for the owner and the consequence is high hourly rates, diagnostic charges and expensive parts. Your only option is to go aftermarket as suggested here.

Buy your Aunt a Battery Tender Jr. http://www.batterytender.com/default.php?cPath=11_3
They cost less than 30 bucks on line (closer to 40 at a retail store like a Harley dealer). One setup for it is a plug that goes in the cigar lighter outlet. Have her plug it in each time after she drives the car, or if she doesnt keep the car indoors, a couple or 3 times a month overnight.

It will extend the life of the battery, because the guys who posted here are correct about battery life.

 

Go in and try to tell the dealer that she went by the manual for limited use to care for the battery. Turn it back on them but by no mean start to yell go in calm for fear of the black list!

 

Good advice. I would go in and ask to see the manager,don't argue with the service advisors. Go dressed nicely, be polite and if he refuses, ask for the name address and phone of the regional manager or the next in line to make an appeal.

Remind him that your Aunt has scheduled maintanance and was never advised that she was not living up to her end of the warranty.

Regardless of what he says, be polite and thank him for his time but at the same time be firm and don't back down.

 

My 4 year old MCS still has the original factory battery. Here in FL batteries don't last much because the heat kills them before their time. However, since in the 1st gen MINIs the batteries ride out in the back, away from the engine's heat I think they tend to last a lot more.

I also drive my car a lot, so I guess that helps.

 

I also think the dealer was correct .....if not "right" about this, however, it sounds like they stepped up to the plate and gave you good advice about how to keep from having it happen again. Sounds like a solid no-BS dealer, even if their prices are a tad on the high side....

I find it interesting how attitudes have changed in this country, nowadays it seems like if something goes wrong, no matter what it is, it's somebody else's fault, and "I" got screwed........

 

I have to confirm when I get a chance to look at electrical diagrams, but I believe that the MINI's cigarette lighter is completely disconnected when the car is off. Therefore trickle charging through the lighter won't work and you would have to use some other connection to the battery.

 

Hogwash is correct. I drive my Jeep once every 2/3 weeks & it always starts at 75K. Same with my Mini but drive it maybe once a month in the winter & it always starts(7300).

 

Sounds like the service adviser was trying to pad his commission check and got called out on it. There is no way that a car that is driven every day needs to be kept on a trickle charger and how would they know if you were or not.More poor service from your friendly neighborhood Mini dealer.

 

Some cars have battery drain from the systems when they are idle. My Corvette is like that, if I don't have a trickle charger on it or disconnect the battery (I only drive it a about 2K a year) it will go dead in a few weeks. I got the Battery Tender Jr for it because that last battery only lasted 2+ years when I let it sit idle and not drive it much.

I have had more than one car to drive for years and frequenty one of them will go weeks without being used (my Colorado Pickup only has about 3K on it in over a year) and starts first time after sitting. I can't speak to the MINI's charging/discharging or use requirements, but if they have the 800 mile/month waranty requirement, I would suspect that it is draining fast when it is sitting idle.

 

I have to second the battery tender idea. They normally come with a pig tail that can be mounted so all she has to do is plug it together when she gets home. Can be routed out the wheel well or just out the front grill so she doesn't even have to open the hood.

However care must be taken so she does not forget to unplug it. Normally done by hanging the wire coming from the tender over the Drivers side mirror so it is noticed when going to enter the car.