Hi,

I'm new to the forum, have lurked for a couple months. I'm about 90% ready to take the plunge and order a 2005 MCS, but I'm wondering where my car can be serviced being that I'm in Santa Barbara and the nearest dealer is 1.5+ hours away around LA.

I'm not about to buy a car and have to deal with horrid LA traffic to get it serviced, so I'm curious as to whether a BMW dealer can service a mini.

Thanks, and look forward to hopefully meeting some of you if I decide to go the mini route (really wavering on the service issue at this point).

 

Welcome to NAM.

Only authorized MINI dealerships are authorized to service your MINI. BMW dealerships without MINI dealerships will not be able to do regular servicing or warranty work on your MINI because MINIUSA will only reimburse MINI dealerships. That was part of the deal to help protect the limited number of MINI dealerships at launch.

 

Thanks for the reply.

How then do people who don't live close to dealers handle this situation?

Drive hundreds of miles to the dealer for service? Do dealers offer free pickup/delivery of the cars within _____ miles?

I see many Minis in/around Santa Barbara, CA and can't believe every one of them is driving 160 miles round trip for service (but I guess that's a possibility, unfortunately one that will have me purchasing a different car)

 

Aloha and welcome to NAM.
Unless your MINI dealer has made special arrangements, you are responsible for bringing in your MINI to an authorized MINI service center for any warranty work. This can mean driving many 100s of miles for some owners in places where there are no MINI dealerships/service centers.

In my state if you buy a MINI in Honolulu but you live on the big island of Hawaii you will need to get your MINI to Honolulu by barge to so warranty servicing. This is a two week trip and expensive.

If you have other non warranty servicing done like changing oil early- you can take your car (keep receipts) to any good garage or shop.

 

Welcome to NAM, Aviators! Yes, people buy MINIs and then drive hundreds of miles to have them serviced. I have several friends in the Florida Panhandle area that have to drive to Baton Rouge, LA for MINI servicing at Brian Harris MINI (450-500 miles, round-trip).

For the first 36 months/36,000 miles, you have Roadside Assistance (or has it been bumped to 48/48?), which means that if anything happens to your MINI, it will be flatbedded to the nearest MINI dealership. And for Santa Barbara, that would be Bob Smith MINI in Calabasas, which is just south of the Ventura County line.

Hope that gives you some reassurance.


Clover

 

Here is some clearity....

Every MINI will come with the 3year/ 36k miles Maintance Program, which means that MINI will take care of all of your schedualed Maintance in the first 3years or 36k miles.

You will also have a 4year/50k miles New Car Passenger Warranty- that will also come with 4year/50k miles of Roadside Assistance.

The reason that people buy MINI's even if there isn't a dealer close is because of MINI's long service intervals. You will service the MINI every 10-15k miles depending on how you drive. Every MINI has a service countdown, so your service will be based on how your driving the car.

I have a ton of customers from FAR away- all of them are usually in Indy at least once a year! (for Service or not)

 

On a related note, the MINI is a reliable modern car that doesn't require frequent dealer visits for service (10k then at 15k intervals thereafter) so if all goes well we're talking one or maybe two trips per year.

I and many other owners prefer more frequent oil and filter changes, so we do them ourselves. It is really quite simple and inexpensive, nearly anyone with a few handtools can do it, do a search on NAM and you'll turn up several threads on the subject.

I would not rule out a MINI simply because the nearest dealer is a 2 - 3 hour trip.

 

Service has not been an issue for me. My dealer is in Santa Ana and I drive from Lakeside, which is further from Santa Barbara to Calabasas, and I pass two other dealers on the way.

What I do is make a day out of it. There are no Shakey Pizza Parlors in San Diego any more so I go up, drop off my car, talk to everyone I know at the dealership (both on the MINI and BMW side), go get a loaner from the MINI side, go get pizza, and come back and my car is ready.

Crevier MINI in Santa Ana is open Tue thru Fri and 1/2 a day on Sat. I don't know if Bob Smith MINI is open on Sat or not. You really only need to go there for warranty work.

Oil changes is something you can do (or like in my case a friend can do) some evening leaving your Sat open for motoring.

earl

 

Thanks for the help!

Couple more questions:

1) With the "mini flatbedded to nearest dealership" response- does it get flatbedded back to me? (Not a big deal, but I am curious).

2) Will all Mini dealerships give me a loaner car if I need to drop it off for service? If they will, this sweetens the deal immensely, if not and I'm going to have to rent a car I can't say I'll be thrilled.

With regards to doing your own work on the car, I've wrenched on every car I own, and am quite capable in that area. My main concern is that odd issue/problem that develops and I need to be without my car for a few days at a dealer who won't provide a loaner and is an hour away.

 

Yup - 230 miles round trip for service. It just gives you an excuse to take a long drive!

The question of loaner cars is governed by individual dealer policy.

 

MINI dealerships in SoCal generally only provide loaners (and then only when asked) to customers that purchased their MINIs at that dealership.

That differs quite a bit from Colorado where I was asked if I needed a loaner and they knew I purchased my car out of state.

Also, the flatbed comment was regarding roadside assistance and taking your MINI to a dealership when it has been made immobile, not for service visits. I haven't heard of any dealerships doing flatbed pickup/dropoff anywhere in the country.

 

OK i am out of my warrenty period now. Although I've had decent service at 2 differnet MINI dealers, they are a 2+ hour drive for me to either dealership. I have a well established BMW dealer 10min from my home. Can they perform basic oil changes, brake service jobs, and reset the service light etc..? They should have the basic tools, right? Any experiences?

 

They probably could, but A) they'd charge you an arm and a leg, and B) they may not WANT to.

Go find a local indie shop that works on European cars

 

Actually, here in the Vancouver BC area, I see a lot of BMW's getting serviced at one of the MINI dealers.

I would think reseting the computer on your MINI requires the same tool as for resetting BMW chips. So probably a BMW dealer could change your oil.

 

i think you can reset the compy your self.

search for "ecu reset"

 

Anyone with the proper tools and knowledge can service your MINI. You can even do it yourself. Just document the service so that, in the event of a warranty issue, you can prove that the recomended services were performed as required. If you want MINI to pay for your service, then you will need to take it to a MINI dealer. If your time is worth more than the service will cost, get it done wherever it is convenient and pay for it out of your own pocket.
Hope that helps,

 

As people have just said, BMW cant service your mini. For me being only 16 and living on the south side of toledo, ohio. I have to take mine to Motor City Mini (on the north side of detroit so about 1-2 hrs). I have not been to this dealer ship yet because i cant go on weekends cause they are closed and week days i have school. But luckly my mom works up in michigan so she takes it there for me.
But about the BMW servicing mini, My mom owned a BMW and a service guy at the bmw dealership owned a mini and what he did was order the parts to his bmw place and work on his cooper himself. I dont know what the deal is but i would say if you have to drive a long distance i would try to find a service guy at a bmw place and see if they can work on yours.

 

Service? You mean MINIs need service? Well I have only had mine 16 months so it has not been back to the dealer yet except for the open house night they invited us to. It is 20 miles to the dealer. I did call the service manager twice about little issues, but solved them by phone.

My oil change and software update will probably get done with in the next 30 days...

I guess when you take public transit to work, you have a different perspective on car service.

Happy motoring
John

 

No matter what anyone says, Minis have more that average mechanical problems right out of the factory, so it is essential that you have close access to an honest and reliable dealer because only authorized dealers can do warranty work. Unfortunately, that leaves prospective buyers in the north half of L.A. County and all of Ventura County out in the cold. Both the N. Hollywood and Calabasas dealerships leave a lot to be desired. Judging by my own experience with Bob Smith, and reports by other contributors to this site, if you're not close to one of the Nick Alexander facilities in downtown L.A. you should seriously look for another brand of car. If I had it to do over again, I would be looking at a Civic S Coupe or a jazzed up Scion Tc. With minimum upgrades, either can be made to perform almost as good as a Mini.
AND excellent dealerships and independent mechanics can be found almost anywhere.

 

I am sorry you are unhappy with your MINI but there are good and bad examples of all brands.
You will hear many stories like mine on NAM, 3 years & 50,000 miles with minimal issues, and you will hear horror stories. But owning a MINI is not just about reliable transportation. For me it is the fun of the car.

 

+1
162,000 miles on my O4 MCS.
Only warranty items were a broken dipstick and a bad wheel speed sensor. Total down time, about 1 hour.
135,000 miles on original clutch.
Supercharger and water pump still going strong.

Please, go buy that Honda or Scion.

Jim