The story goes, my MINI with 34,000 miles on it developed a problem since January. The emissions light was on and I ignored it for 2 weeks, eventually it turned itself off and I noticed that my MPG had risen rapidly once the light was off. 3 days later I was driving on the motorway and noticed that I had a power loss, so much so I could not accelerate from 60 to 70 without being in 4th gear and having my foot through the floor.

I took the car to an Edinburgh MINI dealer who diagnosed my problem as a faulty O2 Sensor, which was replaced at the hefty sum of £282. I had numerous problems with the dealership and it took 3 days to get my car back.

Anyway, the hesitation the car had developed had been rectified, but it still wouldn't do cruising speeds.

I then took the car to a local garage, Bosch Approved, which I always used when I had my Clio last year. There was no diagnostic fault, but upon driving the car they found there to be a block within the exhaust system. Which was causing exhaust gases to trap and suffocate the engine.

The problem was found to be the Catalytic Converter - a £300 + VAT part. When this was replaced the Post CAT O2 sensor was replaced and the total bill from this whole repair was £732! Unfortunately over £1000 spent on the car.

When the Cat was replaced I was shown the old part which was shooken in front of me and the whole honeycomb was loose on the inside and the bonding had gone. For such a low mileage car, barely 4 years old - I find this completely unacceptable.

I phoned up MINI UK customer services who were very rude to me telling me that I had to take up my problem with a dealer. Since losing faith in the MINI dealer I was using previously, I phoned up another. I was spoken to shockingly, the man told me I should have brought it to them, to diagnose so they could apply for a goodwill gesture from BMW. The way I was spoken to was totally out of order by both dealer and customer services - I now have no idea what to do.

I'm £1000 out of pocket, money I could do with right now - are there any other routes I could take to getting money from MINI as a goodwill gesture? :(

That must be very annoying, unfortunately MINI are right and wrong. Unless they find and fix the fault then they can't offer any goodwill payment. however in my experience they rarely find a more complex fault first time. Which means you have to go back and effectively challenge the competence of the work done, not always easy or accepted. As you are out of warranty I can see why you would want the problem fixed by a competent mechanic and the impact of leaving it could be very dangerous on the open road. If you have the parts get a report written up by your garage and aak to see an area MINI service manager, you may not get a result but can at least register you dissatisfaction which may be useful for you and other customers in the future.

Hi, sorry to hear of your trouble. I went through a similar experience and had a semi-satisfactory end result. You may be interested in my story.

Here is the initial complaint:

http://www.mini2.com/forum/mini-clubman/190379-update-photos-clubman-clutch-despair-waterpump-seal-deal.html

And - using persistence, patience and politeness - the eventual end result:

http://www.mini2.com/forum/dealership-feedback/191680-mini-customer-service-positive-but-long-story.html#post3823804

I was initially refused a "goodwill", but after a polite and well-documented letter, in the end BMW/Mini did provide me with a partial reimbursement on parts only.

Good luck!



The story goes, my MINI with 34,000 miles on it developed a problem since January. The emissions light was on and I ignored it for 2 weeks, eventually it turned itself off and I noticed that my MPG had risen rapidly once the light was off. 3 days later I was driving on the motorway and noticed that I had a power loss, so much so I could not accelerate from 60 to 70 without being in 4th gear and having my foot through the floor.

I took the car to an Edinburgh MINI dealer who diagnosed my problem as a faulty O2 Sensor, which was replaced at the hefty sum of £282. I had numerous problems with the dealership and it took 3 days to get my car back.

Anyway, the hesitation the car had developed had been rectified, but it still wouldn't do cruising speeds.

I then took the car to a local garage, Bosch Approved, which I always used when I had my Clio last year. There was no diagnostic fault, but upon driving the car they found there to be a block within the exhaust system. Which was causing exhaust gases to trap and suffocate the engine.

The problem was found to be the Catalytic Converter - a £300 + VAT part. When this was replaced the Post CAT O2 sensor was replaced and the total bill from this whole repair was £732! Unfortunately over £1000 spent on the car.

When the Cat was replaced I was shown the old part which was shooken in front of me and the whole honeycomb was loose on the inside and the bonding had gone. For such a low mileage car, barely 4 years old - I find this completely unacceptable.

I phoned up MINI UK customer services who were very rude to me telling me that I had to take up my problem with a dealer. Since losing faith in the MINI dealer I was using previously, I phoned up another. I was spoken to shockingly, the man told me I should have brought it to them, to diagnose so they could apply for a goodwill gesture from BMW. The way I was spoken to was totally out of order by both dealer and customer services - I now have no idea what to do.

I'm £1000 out of pocket, money I could do with right now - are there any other routes I could take to getting money from MINI as a goodwill gesture? :(

I was spoken to shockingly, the man told me I should have brought it to them, to diagnose so they could apply for a goodwill gesture from BMW.

I know it doesn't get your £1,000 back, and there's no excuse for rudeness, but I'd say the above is correct...

I've had a few things fixed by MINI, either warranty stuff when out of warranty, or non-warranty stuff while still under warranty, and they've all been done as "goodwill gestures" from BMW (with very little persuasion necessary).

The emissions light was on and I ignored it for 2 weeks

there was the start of your problem as you say you ignored it,hence knackered cat..

to me it sounds like the monolith inside the cat has melted due to getting too hot..

do's & dont's for cat convertors..

Catalytic Converter Exhaust | Catalytic Converter Repair | Aftermarket Catalytic Converter (http://www.cats2u.co.uk/information.php?info_id=4)

I have the exact same issue with mine - only done 30k :( mini refuse to accept any responsabilty as its an aftermarket exhaust from the cat backwards, sounds like I'm in for a big bill too :(