Hey guys! I'm new here (and not very mechanically minded) so please be nice :D
So here's my not-so-mini adventure!
I bought a 'cherished' 2008 Dooper in October 2010 on a hire-purchase agreement through MINI Finance. It had 43,000 miles on the clock and since then I've done a lot of motorway miles in it and it's now at 83,000 miles. This is within the 19,000 miles/year agreed in my contract.
In that time I took it to my local BMW garage a few times for minor work under warranty and they always messed something or other up requiring return trips and there was only a courtesy car on one of the five or six occasions. The other BMW dealers within 50 miles didn't have a great reputation amoungst my mini-owning friends either so I decided to take her to a trusted old & new Mini specialist for the rest of her services and maintenance. She has been well looked after and was faithful, reliable and awesome fun until...
on the way home from work the other week I noticed a loss in power on acceleration and whirring noises and ended up getting towed home. The tow-truck guy said "best-case a loose air-inlet pipe, worst-case it's the turbo on it's way out". The BMW dealer/garage diagnosed her with a dead turbo (think they said sheared bearings??) and additional damage caused by oil leaking from it. They are recommending a new turbo, new exhaust system, new filters etc and a strip and clean of the inlet manifold. They originally quoted over £6000 for this :aargh: but several conversations with customer services reduced it to £2300.
It is my understanding of UK law that anything leased out to someone should be of sufficient quality to survive the term of the lease. Knowing this and not being happy with the extensive repairs needed, I called MINI Finance, who long story short have said they wont do anything becuase A. the car has nearly doubled it's milage since I bought it and B. I haven't serviced it at BMW.
Point A I think is ridiculous as the contract agreed that I could do 19k miles/yr - they leased me the car on this basis! It should be able to withstand those sorts of miles without almost terminal mechanical failures.
Point B - all I know is IF it was under warranty they couldn't use that against me for a warranty claim - it's not even legal for them to try. So how can it be a valid point here?
I leased a BMW Mini on the basis that I was doing a lot of miles and wanted a reliable car that I would only have to service/maintain and do the an occasional minor repair. The BMW brand embodies this and I happliy paid a premium for it. I wasn't expecting anything like this on a 4.5 year old car even with 83,000 miles on it. Without the goodwill £6k worth of repairs would probably be a financial write off and I'm only half-way through my lease :angry: The whole thing has caused me a lot of worry and stress, and I've been car-less for 3 weeks now.
So I guess what I want to know from the MINI2 community is;
How often do Dooper Garrett turbo's fail and at what milage?
Would having an non-BMW air/oil filter have any effect on this (she has only had service parts, the DPF tank and tyres replaced by the non-BMW garage)?
Has anyone else experienced anything like this?
Is it unreasonable to expect the car to have been quality of this car?
And any other opinions are welcome too - I appreciate your time and your thoughts to help me make sense of this.
Thanks,
T :)
So here's my not-so-mini adventure!
I bought a 'cherished' 2008 Dooper in October 2010 on a hire-purchase agreement through MINI Finance. It had 43,000 miles on the clock and since then I've done a lot of motorway miles in it and it's now at 83,000 miles. This is within the 19,000 miles/year agreed in my contract.
In that time I took it to my local BMW garage a few times for minor work under warranty and they always messed something or other up requiring return trips and there was only a courtesy car on one of the five or six occasions. The other BMW dealers within 50 miles didn't have a great reputation amoungst my mini-owning friends either so I decided to take her to a trusted old & new Mini specialist for the rest of her services and maintenance. She has been well looked after and was faithful, reliable and awesome fun until...
on the way home from work the other week I noticed a loss in power on acceleration and whirring noises and ended up getting towed home. The tow-truck guy said "best-case a loose air-inlet pipe, worst-case it's the turbo on it's way out". The BMW dealer/garage diagnosed her with a dead turbo (think they said sheared bearings??) and additional damage caused by oil leaking from it. They are recommending a new turbo, new exhaust system, new filters etc and a strip and clean of the inlet manifold. They originally quoted over £6000 for this :aargh: but several conversations with customer services reduced it to £2300.
It is my understanding of UK law that anything leased out to someone should be of sufficient quality to survive the term of the lease. Knowing this and not being happy with the extensive repairs needed, I called MINI Finance, who long story short have said they wont do anything becuase A. the car has nearly doubled it's milage since I bought it and B. I haven't serviced it at BMW.
Point A I think is ridiculous as the contract agreed that I could do 19k miles/yr - they leased me the car on this basis! It should be able to withstand those sorts of miles without almost terminal mechanical failures.
Point B - all I know is IF it was under warranty they couldn't use that against me for a warranty claim - it's not even legal for them to try. So how can it be a valid point here?
I leased a BMW Mini on the basis that I was doing a lot of miles and wanted a reliable car that I would only have to service/maintain and do the an occasional minor repair. The BMW brand embodies this and I happliy paid a premium for it. I wasn't expecting anything like this on a 4.5 year old car even with 83,000 miles on it. Without the goodwill £6k worth of repairs would probably be a financial write off and I'm only half-way through my lease :angry: The whole thing has caused me a lot of worry and stress, and I've been car-less for 3 weeks now.
So I guess what I want to know from the MINI2 community is;
How often do Dooper Garrett turbo's fail and at what milage?
Would having an non-BMW air/oil filter have any effect on this (she has only had service parts, the DPF tank and tyres replaced by the non-BMW garage)?
Has anyone else experienced anything like this?
Is it unreasonable to expect the car to have been quality of this car?
And any other opinions are welcome too - I appreciate your time and your thoughts to help me make sense of this.
Thanks,
T :)