Hey Everyone,

Background
My vehicle had been running rough for a few months and it had been in to one dealer who had changed the alternator and belt so hence why I spoke to Emergency Assistance it had got worse and was starting to have an adverse effect on the engine tick over.

The Experience
Thought I should air my views on Mondial Assistance / MINI Emergency. Well where to start you ring a call centre that are very helpful and the engineer who came out was reasonably helpful. Lacking somewhat in technically speak I would say though using words like 'lumpy' I felt could have been picked up at any beginners engineering course.

The engineer agreed that there was a fault on the vehicle and it needed looking at as soon as possible (but the vehicle was drivable). He then said I would hear from Avis in a matter of 30 minutes this was certainly the case. Avis called within 30 minutes but this is where the fun began Avis' policy is that on a top of the range Mini Cooper S which was not even 12 months old that they would old rent out a vehicle of B grade which was a Ford Fiesta / Toyota Yaris or similar. Obviously this instantly got my back-up and I asked Avis to explain which it would be such a small and frankly inadequate car. They said this was group policy and nothing could be done.

After several calls with Mondial Assistance / MINI Emergency it seemed no one really wanted to help so from this end I would never recommend anyone speak to them unless you really need to! In the end I spoke to Stratstone of Harrogate who gave me great service and the vehicle is now sorted please see my other thread 'Stratstone Harrogate' for more information.

Glad you got it sorted. However, I find it hard to believe that you are complaing on the type of car they gave you. Be happy that you got a car as you are lucky to even get one in some countries. The idea of a loaner is to give you four wheels to get you from point a to point b. You own a MINI and you are complaing that a Yaris or Fiesta is too small?

Anyway, at least you are sorted.

Glad you got it sorted. However, I find it hard to believe that you are complaing on the type of car they gave you. Be happy that you got a car as you are lucky to even get one in some countries. The idea of a loaner is to give you four wheels to get you from point a to point b. You own a MINI and you are complaing that a Yaris or Fiesta is too small?

Anyway, at least you are sorted.

The main reason for the complaint regarding the car was that after speaking to a good friend of mine within BMW they advised me that hire companies working for BMW should always offer BMW Group vehicles, all about marketing apparently. Also Emergency Assistance never once spoke to dealer to see what they had available. I do apologise if I have caused offence in anyway.

No offense at all. As I said, I am glad that you got your MINI sorted. MINI is tied to BMWbut they still don't follow all the rules under that umbrella. In Germany I had to complain to get a loaner and that was a dealership owned by BMW Munich! It sounds to me like they helped you out and got it all sorted which is the main point. ;)

Whilst I would agree with DaFlake about just getting a set of wheels to keep you mobile, I must admit that when my car had to be recovered last year, my loan car was arranged via Mini Emergency Service through Europcar who had just taken delivery of a number of BMWs so that customers of the BMW group (or equivalent "prestige" type brand) could be provided with a similar type of loan car. From past experience, Mercedes also have this policy.

In fact some of the brands (BMW and Porsche spring to mind) have taken to lending you a superior car to the one you own, presumably in the hope of enticing you to spend more money! When my MCS was in for a new rear bumper after someone rear-ended me, I got a 3-series M-Sport as my courtesy car:). Either way, good car or piece of crap, I'm not too fussed as I'm usually just glad to be back in my Mini at the end of the day!!