So the dealer has basically voided my warranty because the previous owner missed an oil change. After owning this thing for about 3 weeks, I noticed a noise coming from the engine on startup first thing in the morning. Got info from here about the timing chain issues and called the local to me dealer. They are in ATL and I'm in Chattanooga. Not to bad for a little drive there, but now, I have car there with parts taken off to see what is going on. I have a guide that is broken and a chain that is stretched and basically everything needs to be replaced.
I contacted MINI USA and they have sided with the dealer and have taken away the warranty on this issue. The service manager stated that he has spoken to the field rep and they are cutting me a deal on the $2300 job down to $1489. I think this is a setup. I have called the service manager to get the name and number to the field rep and my question to this guy would be, if he is helping me out on this deal, then he would be helping me and not this dealer. My thought is to go get it, take to another dealer and let them make money on me instead this dealer.
As you could imagine, I'm not happy. MINI USA basically sent me to a manager over customer service and she said that is the bottom line. No payment on a known issue that has a service bulletin and could happen whether the oil is changed properly or not.
At this point, I'm weighing options. Let me know if there are any because I am at a loss.
Sorry for the long post, just venting a little.
HEEP

 

Just a quick update. Warranty has officially expired on our MINI. Talked with Customer support management and they stated that the warranty is no longer due to the oil change intervals not being correct. So, the dealer that I bought is from, is going to split the cost with me on this situation. Not sure I'm loving this Cooper at this point.
HEEP

 

So they're voiding the *entire* warranty?? What if you have a problem that's not oil-related in the least (for instance, what if the headlights stop working)?

 

I'm trying to get clarification on it. the verbage from Kari, manager of customer support was that the warranty is void. I'm hoping that it is just the oil related issues. However, I've only got about 7K left on mileage. At this point, I'm just going to find a good mechanic that can work on these things from now on. It's not really worth driving the couple of hours to get the free oil change. I can do that myself.
HEEP

 

big question here is what year is the car and what is the mileage. if the car is a 2007 and was delivered before August 2007 ?

 

I want to know what you're getting at with asking this question? I fit that bill.

 

Looking at the OPs posts in this and other threads, it appears that he has a 2008 with 43k miles on it, so he probably would have run out of miles on the factory warranty before running out of time.

 

Scott, you are correct. 2008 / 43K. I'll be out in a couple of months. Haven't had time to get n answer on the voiding or not.
HEEP

 

If you live in the Chattanooga area I would just go to the Nashville Mini dealer and see what they have to say.