I broke down on Friday night and the Mini went off to Cooper Croydon to be fixed. The BMW Assist bloke thought that the gearbox was dead (as per my previous post) but after stripping the car they have found it's the clutch not the gearbox.
Basically I pulled away from a junction, went to change gear and it stuck in first, then died.
Cooper claim the clutch is excessivly worn and refuse to repair under warrenty, as do BMW. I'm trying to argue that a clutch should last longer than 34k and it must have been defective, thay claim it's how it's driven. I drive fast on motorways but am pretty sensible on other roads, living inside the M25 means I don't get much of a chance to have fun in it.
Has anyone got any suggestions on how I should tackle this with BMW? they've leant me a rubbish ford fiesta in the meantime but i need to sort this out and get my Mini back soon as poss.
Help!
How old is the car, still within warranty I take it judging by your username!
I would ask for a second opinion, and a senor engineer to look at the car, have you contact MINI uk?
This is not an uncommon fault, BMW have had various ways of dealing with it. Sometimes they pay the parts, you the labour or vice versa... However it is discresionary (good will) as under a normal warantee clutches are classed as a wearable item and so are not technically covered. Being inside the M25 will count against you as usually its traffic/town driving that wears clutches fast, not vigourous open road driving or speed. Think about how often you push the clutch down to change gear on the open road or motorway compared to the times you need to change gear or balance the car on the clutch in traffic or town driving.
£1k sounds quite good for a BMW price inc labour and VAT... better than i was quoted recently.
BMW wont' budge on the price, they say it's wear and tear and wont even make a good will gesture, the garage offerred a £200 discount, but it;s still a lot of money.
The really annoying thing is my hands are tied because the car is in bits at BMW so can't be moved without being reparied.
I'm so damn angry about this, I'll be swapping the mini for an Audi as soon as I can.
Thanks for the messages, I spoke to the bloke at CooperBMW and told him to get a better price, that was 2 hours ago and no word, I don't want to chase incase thats the game they're playing but hopefully can sort this out soon and get back in a decent car.
What tactis do people use when dealing with BMW? how can there be such a difference in what BMW are prepared to pay for and in my case, not.?
= my Reg is LV06, a Red Seven living in Bromley.
Thanks again.
Rob
They took another £50 off, so the clutch is costing me £750. I hope to try and claim this off BMW, especially as I had planned to buy a 3series touring (baby on way) does anyone have any ideas on how I should go about this?
Thanks again
Rob
OMG i'm so sorry yo uhave this issue. I have exactly the same problem. Mine is a 55reg Mini One and I pulled away today and from every junction I skidded and got stuck. I also think the power steering has gone. I've only done 39k. Its been a problem for a few weeks now and initially when i got it looked at they said it was the fly mast wheel (?) which is in front of the clutch to make it run smoother but actually it seems it may be the full clutch. I tried approaching bmw but they said i'd have to pay for the work then they'd write to Mini to see if they might treat my case as 'special circumstance...' i'm not prepared to pay only to find they don't pay me back so now i'm stuck.
Get it done at an independant. You can aquire LUK clutch (they make the BMW units) for about £200-250 or so I believe from a spares centre or possibly direct. Then you only have a few hours labour by a garage at £50 or so pounds... so like Dave at ThinkMINI said your looking at £400-450 maybe depending on other issues a little over the £500 mark with VAT ... defo well below £1k! The reason its 1k from them is that BMW hourly rate is nearly double a normal garage and also they work to a set time scale and charge you for the job not for the actual hours it takes is my understanding!
Having work done outside the dealer network can't affect any warrantees for other parts as that is illegal for dealers to say this.
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