Has anyone had to pay for repairs to their Mini yet? I am sure someone out there is past the warranty period.

If so, how much is it to get the Mini repaired? Fuel Pump, Water Pump, Radiator, Clutch, Etc..

 

Nothing yet here. I'm supposed to bring it in according to my mileage reminder thing. I called and it will cost me roughly $400 or $600, depending on what they need to do! Since I'm past the service warranty, I'll be passing and changing the oil myself.

 

My MSA wants to charge me $120 labor and $66 parts to change the right rear wheel well shroud... (the thin piece of plastic that surrounds the tire area and protects all the internal parts from dirt spray from the tires). The part cost is not that bad, but the labor is outrageous! I'll bet I can do it myself in a lot less time.

Anyone have experience with this? I think I saw a post somewhere that detailed taking the bumpers and mouldings off for customization which involved removing the shrouds. By those indications it should be a 5 min. fix.

 

$120 labor huh - I'll do it for half that and a roll of clear duct tape!

 

Hey guys, most things can be done yourself. You'd be surprised bigtime at how simple most things especially the fender moldings that are held to the car with rivets that can be popped out without use of any tools. Search around all MINI related sites and you'll find steps to do ANYTHING you want yourself. You might even find someone close willing to help out.:smile:

 

when i bought my '02 MCS it was missing the plastic wheel well lining on the right rear. took all of five minutes to replace including opening the first beer...for them to even suggest charging for the fix is

 

your right about that termite. When our 02 got it's first washing, I noticed that it was missing all the rivets that hold the side runners to the car. The dealership orderd all 11 rivets, then pulled ME into their garage to show them where the rivets go.

 

After warranty service is going to be expensive. You're going to get hit with dealer rates of anywhere between $85 and $150 an hour for labor. If I remember past reading on here, people are quoting about $2500 for a clutch job and $1000 for the water pump.

You can bet when the free service and warranty expire, so does my relationship with my dealer. The only thing I can't take care of myself is if something goes ga-ga in the electronics.

 

Well, I'll put in a plug for your local aftermarket tuning shop. Most of us charge way below the dealer and have access to both oem parts and better aftermarket replacement parts. Just a friendly reminder that you don't always have to go to a "stealership".

 

I fully intend to write my own how-to on this topic so these idiots don't make a penny. I've already had most of the dash apart and I'm well on my way to modifiying my gauge LEDs thus disassembling even more. I'm only waiting until the warranty runs out in 2500 mi and then it's time to start getting down and dirty!

I'd definitely take the car to a local shop before I would take it to a dealer... no "service advisor" to screw up the whole process.

 

I won't own this car past the limits of the warranty. $100/hour is too much to spend on head-scratching.
--Jeff

 

well im at 78,000 miles and i have had to replace the steering pump and stuff on my own,
price of the part is ...miniscule compaired to the cost of labor, our bmw dealer is $99 flat rate per man hour, so i said screw that, they never did a competent job anyway,


the hood latch froze up on mine since i clean mine daily, it was washed so many times in the engine bay the cords sized inside where water got traped, they said 5 hour job minimum since they had to rip apart the whole front to get back their, so i said no and bought the cable for 19 bucks and went home, they advised again that they do it since im not licenced and dont know how crazy of a job it was, but i figured ill take my chanses,

well got home and pulled the cord out tied a string to one end and pulled it thru, then took the new one tied the string to it and pulled the string. it came thrue, fixed bothe in under an hour and perfect i might add saved 500 bucks, also the 3 to four hour job of replacing the steering pump i did in an hour and thats with no practice so one thing i found out is that everything on the car is acually pretty easy to get to and fix your self

and parts are not all that bad. some are worse than others

 

[QUOTE=Moorlockx]After warranty service is going to be expensive. You're going to get hit with dealer rates of anywhere between $85 and $150 an hour for labor.
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That's probably within the ballpark, depending on regional costs. SF Bay area is probably highest. In the meantime, let's hope that there will be MINI spin- off mechanics who go solo and charge lower rates. Unfortunately, they'll need the proper equipment to service the MINI, so don't look for bargain mechanics.

The first level of PM (that's preventive maintenance) should definitely be our responsibility after expiration of warranty.

 

thats why we have detroit tuned her in the metro detroit area who specialize in minis their a great help to us, who dont car for the dealer pluse they mod are cars wich is nice to have a mini modder so close to home!!!!!!!!

 

jebernauer,

Removing and replacing the plastic inner fenders is simple; just a few little plastic screw things hold them in place (take it easy with them, though, they seem a bit fragile). I took out all of my fender liners when I first got my new '04 MC so that I could spray some additional undercoating in the fender area and the underbody (they salt the roads like crazy here in the midwest). Just make sure that you get all of the correct fasteners with the fender liner.

 

Thanks for the info bradman! What part of the midwest? I grew up in Pittsburgh so I know all about the perils of road salting!

 

Dayton, OH area. They're nuts over road salt here. I'm from CO originally, and there they are crazy over sanding the roads. Except its often more like pea gravel! The noses of cars in CO take a beating with rock chips. Take your choice, rust from salt or paint and windshield damage from gravel!