Just an FYI for anyone looking at purchasing a Cooper and having it serviced by the dealer. This is the only car I have ever bought an extended warranty for and am extremely thankful for it. I took my wife's 2009 cabrio in to have the oil leaks and top fixed. Got a call last week with the grand total of $9633.88 to repair everything. Of that $5,283.44 is to replace the top. The aftermarket warranty will not cover the fabric top so that is not going to be replaced at this time. Here is the list of parts to be replaced with prices from my local mini dealer:
Coolant fan assembly: parts $506.71 labor $119.88 m/l/s $17.98 tax $59.62 Total $704.19
A/C service, low on freon: parts $6.08 labor $139.95 m/l/s $20.99 tax $15.45 Total $182.47
Engine rear main seal: parts $65.61 labor $1,798.88 m/l/s $49.95 tax $177.09 Total $2,091.53
Engine oil pan re-seal: parts $27.05 labor $319.88 m/l/s $47.98 tax $36.53 Total $431.44
Valve cover gasket: parts $66.60 labor $249.88 m/l/s $37.48 tax $32.74 Total $386.70
Drive belt: parts $24.46 labor $119.88 m/l/s $17.98 tax $15.01 (not covered) Total $177.33

Along with the above items the radio, water pump, and thermostat have been replaced. We purchased the car 3 years ago with 62,000 miles on it.

Other items/services they wanted to do not included in above total cost. These are all things they wanted to do because the car has 103,000 miles. They did not ask if these items had been changed. Nor did they bother to check their records to see they changed the anti-freeze last year when they changed the water pump.
Brake fluid change: parts $49.23 labor $100.72 m/l/s $15.11 tax $15.27 Total $180.33
Basic oil change: parts $65.57 labor $24.03 m/l/s $3.60 tax $8.62 Total $101.82
Coolant fluid exchange: parts $25.10 labor $100.41 m/l/s $15.06 tax $15.34 Total $181.15
Fuel system cleaning, fuel tank additive: parts $29.16 labor $120.00 m/l/s $18.00 tax $15.47 Total $182.63
Cabin air filter: parts $40.79 labor $59.88 m/l/s $8.98 tax $10.14 Total $119.79

To do all the work it would have cost $10,399.60 on a car that is worth around $6,500. Moral of the story, either buy an extended warranty or get rid of the car before the factory warranty runs out.

 

I know this doesn't help you.....but doing the math real quick in my head....the parts to do all of this is like $400-500 (not counting AC recharge). Buy a Bentley manual and do the work yourself or find a friend that can help.

No need to spend that much. Half of these items are very simple to do.

$380 for a valve cover r/r? You got to be kidding me. The stealerships rape people. Stay away.
Or go to another shop that can work MINIs.

 

@timski -- unfortuantely, that's $330 rate for a new valve cover (link).

@mrbug -- that is a good warning for new buyers. If you don't have an extended warranty, doing the work yourself, or finding a local shop that specializes in MINIs is critical. In my experience between 60l and 100k is when most of the repairs come into play.

 

I do all of the work on my other vehicles (Cayenne S, Cherokee, Sport Trac, VW Squareback). I purchased an extended warranty with this car because I expected to have problems. That is why I am letting the dealership do the work. I thought the $2100 and 14.4 hours for the rear main seal was a bit steep. I am assuming they are going to pull the engine or at least the tranny for that job. The purpose of this was to give others an idea of what repair costs can be.

 

That was $386.70 to replace the GASKET only, not the entire valve cover! They are estimating 2 hours ($249.88) to replace it.

 

Right. $386 wouldn't cover replacing the entire cover with gasket. I assumed it was gasket only.
The gasket can be replaced in 30-40 mins and that's taking your time and work being done by someone who has changed them dozens of them? Rip off.

I didn't buy the extended warranty because there was no way I'm spending $4000 in parts in 4 years unless the engine blows up. But if that happens I'm beefing it up during the rebuild. Do all the work myself. Did the rear main seal as well while I had the engine out. Not difficult (part costs $20 or under)but time consuming yes. And that's what kills people and drives up the cost - labor.

I would agree with many people on this forum that it helps a lot if you work on your own MINI.
Or else it can end up costing way too much.
But not everyone can or wants to spend hours or days working on them. Anyway, point is if your warranty is up stay away from the dealer. Yet people still take their cars there.

 

Those prices are high for sure but dealers have lots of employees to pay.

My biggest issue is the mls or miscellaneous charges as these are total crap and should never be charged. And then they say it's for oil disposal. Well you don't do anything with oil for replacing the fan, drive belt, or valve cover gasket so why the charge you crooks.

 

I agree wholeheartedly. The miscellaneous charges are just another way to grab a few more bucks from you. In my business overhead is covered by the hourly rate. Here in Tennessee the oil disposal fee is paid for when you purchase the oil, the same thing goes for tires. I had one shop tell me it was for supplies to do the job, ie shop towels. I forgot to mention that they (Mini) charge $125.00 diagnostic fee whether you have the service done or not.

 

I don't like paying it, but why would you expect them to pay employees, use their space, equipment and knowledge without getting paid. When you go to the doctor he gets paid to diagnose your issues even if he doesn't treat you.

MINI charged me $99 to diagnose my fuel pump issue but did not charge it when the extended warranty kicked it. Seems fair.

 

I'm sorry, but this one is outrageous for just the gasket!
If we are just talking about the plastic cylinder head cover, it was $328.00 from two weeks ago, ( I just replaced mine) and it includes the gasket! The gasket is around $40.00.
If it takes an experienced mechanic more than 1/2 hour to replace it, something else has to be wrong. It took me a 1/2 an hour in my garage. For $386, you could have a new cylinder head cover and gasket, and more than enough to buy the high temp RTV for the corners of the cylinder head cover.

As for some of the other estimates;
The cabin air filter takes 2 or 3 minutes to replace.
The drive belt cost actually isn't too bad, but it doesn't take long to do one. For the cost you listed, you can buy the tool(s), the belt, and small consumables and do it yourself.
The oil change is just ridiculous.

I think the real moral is to be able to do as many routine maintenance job yourself and leave the big jobs for the dealer, or specialty shop. I would consider these tasks, from your list to be routine maintenance. They would be applicable to just about any car.

Brake fluid change.
Basic oil change.
Coolant fluid exchange.
Cabin air filter.
Valve cover gasket.
A/C service, low on freon.

Extended warranties can be a good thing if they're needed, but man it seems to me that whomever is doing the work for you is trying to really search for work that is covered by the warranty, and charge the book for it, for all it's worth. I'm glad you're not paying.

 

I don't have a problem paying them a diagnostic fee if no work is completed but if service is rendered I consider that a cost of doing business. That is how I run my business.

 

Yeah, they told me upfront that if the warranty covered the repair then the diagnostic fee would not be charged to me. Maybe your shop isn't on the same wavelength as Portland Mini.