I noticed my mini had a bit of a lazy eye the other day, the xenon bulb in the headlight housing was not pointing straight ahead.

after disassembling the headlight housing I find that the bulb holder is held in place with three ball and socket type joints and one of the ***** has broken off (yes it is a terrible thing)

unfortunately, this is not a replaceable part for the headlight. The piece does not show on realoem. My dealer wants almost $750 for the whole headlight assembly, which includes the $200 bulb, a $200 ignitor and a $300+ housing. (I know the numbers do not add up right)

The car has never been wrecked and I can not imagine what would cause this part to break other than a hard jolt of some sort. The rims are not bent and I have not damaged a tire hitting any bumps

So my question is
Has anyone else experienced this problem?
Does anyone know if this piece comes with either the bulb (the ball end of the joints screw to the headlight mounting ring)

I like the car, but a less than 30K mile car with 4 fuel pumps, two batteries, timing chain replaced and now I have to spend hundreds of dollars for a little plastic part in a headlight? My 60 year old British car has been more reliable, and I can fix it myself.