[cgoodman]

I had a rude suprise today.

My '02 MCS was approaching the second service (42,000 km). There were a few little nagging prolems that should be covered under warranty: crack in coolant resevoir, sunroof rattles, black exhaust tips, hesitation at low rpm in first gear, and a dash rattle.

My wife had borrowed the car last weekend and had backed into a concrete pillar, when backing out of a parking stall. The only thing that hit the concrete was the runung surface of the front left tire. I could feel a little difference in cornering and the steering wheel was no longer centered.

I called the service department at Winipeg Mini, where I had bought the car a year earlier, and scheduled the service a week in advance so that they would have a loaner car available.

Dropped car off at 8:00AM and was given the use of a demonstrator 530i.

They called at 10:30 saying that my car was ready! Said that some items had not been addressed but that parts had been ordered.

Managed to return to dealer at 15:30. I was told that only the scheduled maintenance was completed and that all other work was waiting on parts. Was asked to return in ten days when parts should be in and when a regional Mini rep would be in the city. The regional rep wanted to see the hesitation problem. That all seemed fair enough.

They then presented me with a bill for $377. (note 1$ CDN = $.70 US) That seemed rather high for an oil change so I asked what they had done. The initial scheduled service had cost about $150. They pulled out a book and showed me that the second service als included an ECU check, a visual inspection, and a serice of the CVT. Hmmmm, MCS has no CVT so the ECU check and visual inspection cost $220! They corrected me, showing that part of the total was $48 for looking at the damage to the front end. Wow, $48 provide an estimate for repairs. Yes but they would reduce the estimate of $1000 for front end repairs by the $48!

When I confronted Paul, the service manager, he said "These are fixed rates. They are not negotiable. You should be pleased that service intervals are so far apart." He had no reasonable explaination why the second service was so much more that the first. I asked how much the next service would be. The third is back to the same as the first but the fourth will probably be close to $900.

At no time in the sales process was the cost of each service explained.

Last winter I had a major accident and the Mini was in the body shop for over two months waiting for parts. Today I asked the reasonable question "Are the parts I require available and when will they be here at the dealer?". They checked the computer and said that they are all in stock in Toronto and will be delivered to the dealer in 3 to 4 days. I also aske dthe reasonable question "What parts do you stock at the dealer?" After trying to avoid answering the question, and after I asked it directly a third time Paul admitted that the dealer only stocks part required for scheduled maintenance: fulids, oil filter, micro filter, etc.

Had I been warned about the high cost of scheduled service, I would probably still have purchesed the Mini.

Had I been told that all parts were stocked in Toronto with 3 to 4 day delivery and that many of the parts are only shipped from Europe as required, then I would probably still have purchased the Mini.

Had I know of the arrogance of the staff at Winipeg Mini, I would have probably still have purchased the Mini.

my rant in done

Charlie Goodman
'02 MCS DS with Canadian flag on sunroof.

[Valdiri]

WOW! That is some story..

I appreciate your loyalty to MINI brand- but geez! Are they taking you for a ride?
Fixed prices?? By whom? Themselves?

Here is what both Montreal dealers charge for maintenance:

Oil Service 1 15,000 km $120 (all are tax extra)
Inspect 1 39,000 km $180
Oil Service 2 63,000 km $120
Inspection 2 87,000 km $325 - cooper $340 Cooper S

They 'fixed' the price so they wouldn't compete against each other I suppose..

By the way? Was anyone offered a maintenance package when they bought the car? If so, how much was it?

[HarryHBMCC]

No maint offered here, MINI Waterloo.

My first service was about $135 with tax. Second service is coming up soon (I'm at nearly 32K km and says about 4K km to go on the clock) so I'll report back after I have that done. I'm going to ask first what the cost is and what I'm getting.

So no brake fluid replaced at second service? Is that and coolant done at 4th service?

Harry

[vwmini]

assuming all is well with the car and it's just scheduled maintenence, is there a parts counter where we can just pick up parts and have your own mechanic work on the car?

I tend to go to the dealer if it's free service (BMW and formerly VW for 2 years). But once out of warantee, I tend to go to my own mechanic (usally a performance tuning shop)

I guess the main reason to go to a Mini dealer for service is to reset the service indicator light?

[needMINI]

with these prices, im awfully reluctant now

however, i just paid over $400 for regular maintenace (50K kms) on my focus.

[HarryHBMCC]

Another reason to go is so they can check for "improvement campaigns" which are recalls that don't get letters. Unless you go in or at least call them up and ask if your VIN is affected by any campaigns, you'll never know.

That and the service indicator reset.

Harry

[HarryHBMCC]

I was just quoted an expensive price for Inspection I from Waterloo MINI with 3.5 hours of labour along putting it over $300 but MINI Woodbridge just wants $167.76 and Ottawa wants $180. Hmm.

Harry

[HarryHBMCC]

Sounds like MINI Waterloo services the brakes and changes the fluid while the other places do not. Interesting... More expensive but getting more done. Anyone else know if their brakes were serviced (not just inspected but taken apart, calipers lubed and cleaned, etc.) and if the fluid was changed at inspection I?

Harry

[rotor]

Just wanted to comment on the cost of regular servicing. I have a 99' Subaru and just had the 96,000km service done. Total was 1300$ for full fluid service and timing belt(required on this year engine). After that slap in the face anything lower seems reasonable. Therefore my MCS is on order (arriving early April 04') and I just can't wait!!
Happy motoring.....

[markjenn]

All these prices seem completely in-line with what other dealers are charging and with what other makes/models are going to cost. And the parts stocking policy is also in line with other dealers and makes. IOW, I don't think you have a whole lot to complain about - everything is pretty much normal operating procedure. These prices may seem high, but keep in mind the costs of running a shop and doing things like providing customers wtih 530i loaners.

I can't address the "dealer arrogance" issue, as I don't know how they treated you. But your post sounds like there might have been arrogance going both ways.

As to the "why wasn't I warned about these things" complaint, if a customer is concerned about maintenance charges or what parts are stocked, that's entirely their responsibliity to check before purchase.

- Mark

[cevans]

Sorry Mark,

I really don't think its fair for a dealer do do so many things without contacting you. I don't know what experiences you've had, but if the charges become more than the basic maintenence, I've always recieved a phone call about it. Dealers should not just start tacking on expenses, you didn't know what was or wasn't done, maybe you are just getting taken for a ride. Goodman mentioned that they charged him for a CVT inspection, on a 6spd. Thats _NOT_ good buisness practice. I'm quite disheartened that you support the idea that the consumer has to know understand what they are going into. I agree that consumers should know what they are doing, but it is not their responsibility to check up on every little detail. I don't believe that someone's lack of knowledge makes it okay to screw them over. Some people do not know much about their cars and don't want to, they shouldn't be forced to become experts just so they get treated fairly. The customer is giving the dealer their buisness, the dealer should respect the customer, much like every other industry.

cevans

[Valdiri]

Sounds like Mark works in the car business in some capacity...

Mark, you didn't address the issue of 'These are fixed rates' ..

Is it arrogant to not take every word from a service advisor as god's law? Cevans makes a lot of sense.

[spadsept]

I think i'll buy a shop manual to do the job myself!

Anyway, after 2 years with the S, i'm only at 8000km... so i guess that at my first checkup, i'll be out of my 4 year waranty. Then will start all the fun upgrades

[electricmini]

In some ways I do agree with Mark, and I'll let you all know up front that I am in the car industry, currently as a sales person, and previously as a service advisor. I can tell you that required maintenance is set out by BMW/MINI and everything has a fixed rate. The inspection is X number of hours, and the oil service is Y number of hours etc. It should say in the warranty book how long each service is, then multiply that by the labour rate at the dealer, and add a few extraa$ for parts, shop supplies etc. I can completely understand the frustration of having a much bigger bill that you imagined, and good practice for a service advisor is to do what their name suggests: advise. "Mr Jones this service is approx. $$$ and this is what we will be performing on your vehicle today". Mini's are not the easiest cars to work on, I know a couple techs who tell me so, and they are also very advanced technically so it should come as no surprise that they may be a little more expensive to fix.
As far as parts at dealerships go, it depends on the dealer. Specifically space. For instance the BMW/MINI retailer in Oakville just build a brand new 70,000 s/f building in which the parts department more than trippled its size from the previous building. The majority of space is still dedicated to BMW parts because (1) there are simply more BMW's on the road than Mini;s here and (2) because there are simply more series of BMW's and years. It makes sense in a business world to follow the principle of supply and demand. The parts that dealers having in stock are going to be the ones that they use most often. Think about it...there are over 14,000 moving parts on today's cars, let alone all the parts that don't move. It would be nearly physically impossible for a dealer to have the space/$$$ to have EVERY part in stock ALL the time...
I've rambled...but that's my two cents worth

[paa100]

I know when I ran a BMW motorcyle the dealers had a computerised system. Centrally it analyses what parts move quickly and generates a list of what dealers should carry. They often dont even need to re-order as the parts as the computer puts in a request as items move out of the stores. The software dictates what parts which dealers stock. I suspect its the same for the MINI in Canada

[electricmini]

You're right paa100...depending on the operation system that dealers use (mostly Reynolds and Reynolds in Canada for BMW) the computer does tell the dealer which parts they should stock and prints them up on a stock order.