Hi Newbie here looking for advice. I have a 2007 Mini cooper which recently started to make a tapping noise in the engine. The BMW garage have diagnosed that there was very low oil. They said they removed the engine to check and that it needs a new engine and have quoted 10k for a new one. Its a huge amount and the car is only worth about 16k so not worth it. We decided to try and buy a reconditioned engine and have a local garage fit it as BMW have refused to install anything but a new engine. So we collected the car and drove it home. The thing is the car runs just fine other than this tapping noise.... no loss of power or performance. We tried asking the garage what the actual problem is but they just said "needs a new engine". We will go ahead and have it replaced but the local garage is saying they are too busy right now to do it....

So my question is, given it seems to be running just fine, am I doing any damage by continuing to drive it? The noise isn't getting worse, and the oil level is now topped up.

Although BMW said they removed the engine to check it, I very much doubt they actually did as there doesn't seem to be any evidence that the engine bolts or anything were undone..... based on lack of finger marks, dust, etc....

And they only charged 250 to remove and diagnose, which seems a very low figure.......

So appreciate thoughts and advice.

Depends what damage running the engine with hardly any oil in it has done, why did it get so low? oil leaks or not bothering with weekly checks? due to laziness? dont know how to? a costly mistake.
The tapping noise might/could be big ends, little ends or main bearings, hydraulic tappets, and they could have gone into the engine from the sump underneath, removed that and a few bearing caps to check the bearing for damage?
If the bearings have started to go it would not affect the performance directly but if it has run the bearings and damaged them and they is now slight play, this is the knock, in them this will now give you also low oil pressure so the engine wont last long if you use the performance as it will eventually knock itself apart.
I would have thought 10 grand for a new engine is a bit steep, Ive heard it mentioned around 5 grand for a new factory engine, but then theres fitting and labour I suppose to add to this.

The tapping noise may be caused by the upper part of the engine, like the valve tappets. But it won't get any better. Noises from inside an engine are never a sign of a long life. But if you choose to continue driving it. Just be aware that it may fail sooner or later. I'd limit it to in town and not take any long trips with it.