2007 MINI Cooper HT

Pros

Great Fun Car, Peppy, Holds the road with magnetic grip

Cons

Really bad service.

This February I purchased my second mini cooper and a friend of mine promptly crashed it into a Toyota Avalon. As my car was only a week old I thought it to be prudent to have it repaired at the mini dealership. It is the only authorized Mini repair facility within 100 mile of my home here in San Diego. (Not that it is actually in San Diego, they decided that people like to have their cars serviced 30 miles away from the center of the seventh largest city in the United States, but that is a separate complaint.)

I get the estimate for a 7 mph collision. $7500.00, The bumper on the mini is obviously just for show. The bumper, hood and quarter panel all needed to be replaced. But hey that is what insurance is for right... well not really. The local Mini dealership informed me that they do not accept the quotes from Farmers Insurance. Their quote is $750.00 more than the insurance companies... I get to foot the difference. At this point I am a little bit stuck as the car was only 1 week old and I wanted it repaired correctly. So I let the had the mini dealership fix my car.

I went to check up on my car 7 weeks later to find it sitting in the parking lot of the Mini authorized repair facility, collecting dust. I was informed by the service manager that they had been waiting for the repair parts to come in. They had finally arrived, but now they needed a special jig to put my car back together. It would be about 1 more month.

As of right now I am a proud owner of a 2007 mini, and a driver of 73 Datsun beater pickup truck. I have learned from this experience that you don't only by a material object when you buy a car, but also you buy into the serviceability of the car you are buying. This is the last Mini or BMW product I will own. I highly recommend purchasing from a company that will assist you after the sale.

My complaints about Mini:
1. Bad logistics. The repair parts needed are common and would need to be replaced for nearly any head on collision of this car. 7 weeks seems a long time in this day in age to provide needed replacement parts.
2. Bad service. I wrote to Mini in an effort to get things moving faster and was sent an email back that said they were sorry I fealt negatively about my service experience. Hey guys at least get it right. I feel negatively about my LACK of service experience. Don’t just send me an email with canned responses, do something.
3. The closing statement of their canned service response email was “Let’s Motor.” I would love to “motor” but I wouldn’t call driving to work in a truck that I bought to haul brush to the dump “motoring.” I would call is more of “sputtering” but at least it is moving which is more than I can say for my mini.