[bazMCS]

hi to anyone reading this post - i am a new member but i have been on MINI2 a lot recently - its a great resource

bought a DS/B MCS 05 plate for my other half. looks amazing and done average miles for its age. i am picking it up soon. now - i paid the price it was advertised at in mini dealer. the dealer would not even budge 100 pounds. i doubt i will get a full tank and he will only give 6 months road tax. is this the general trend with mini dealers? its too late to change my mind now as i have signed and transfered money but are discounts with used stock a reality with mini dealers?

the car is nice - but has had just one oil service and nil else so far - should the dealers have done another quick service considering its changing owners? i know this is silly - but just a oil change etc?

female owners out there - have any of u modified your car to avoid blokes driving your car? please give me ur thoughts - i dont want her brothers to drive the car. i am really trying to think of a crafty way to stop them from taking off with the keys considering they havent even helped her buy the thing

cheers - look forward to hearing from you all. and dont worry - i have had experience of an early 2001 mini one - everything and anything went wrong with it. funniest was when big chunk of windscreen rubber shield was sticking off the front on way up to scotland. people were checking the car out and i was enjoying the ride up there - only realised once i reached destination that it was because the car had a second 4 inch thick aerial!! turned out the whole windcreeen had to be replaced. also remember seat being stuck in forward postion cos some dumbo (guess who) forgot the special "mini" entry/exit method. seat replaced. thank goodness for TLC and warranty.

take care people - i fallen back in love with the mini

[Paul]

Sounds like dedication.

[CC07ERS]

thats why there are called the stealers not dealers welcome to mini2 let the modding madness comence

[Peter2002IBMC]

Hm...stop guys from driving MCS, that's going to be tough How tall is she? Maybe fix the seat so that only she can fit in?

I also had an early model MC, and had endless problems, everything feom gearbox failures, to seat failures, to windows not working, fault airbags, steering column knock, brake disk sensor failures etc etc. Basically the full list of early problems, but I still desperately want another one...

[vickietots]

How to stop guys driving your car - she won't be out of it long enough for anyone else to get in the drivers seat!! Well if she is anything like me!! Have had my car over a year now and it still feels like a new car when I drive it, brings a smile to my face and I am always looking to go out in it!! Great colour combo btw!!

[Richard Crofts]

Its not unusual to get 0 discount even on secondhand cars from BMW/MINI dealers. If its an official dealer you should get 1 year warrantee and 12 months tax and a full MOT (if the car is a 03 or older) as part of the cherished package. I did on my 3 year old S.

If they try to sell you with 6 months anything they are doing you I think as the cherished thing is always 12 months everything TMK.

Good luck you'll love it!

[sel]

yep .... ive modded mine....... PINK!!!!! all over... classy not tacky!! wouldnt see a bloke driving it!! (see my zoint profile!-click on photo album)

Got my 05 (was 6mths old) from dealer ....

i got 12mths tax-said i didnt want the car otherwise!!
full tank of petrol!!
flowers!
and carpet mats!!

happy mini motorin'!!

[bazMCS]

dear all - thanks for the replies and great to see such a strong mini community

well we went today to pick the car up

can i just say - HEARTSINK

the car is great and all that but little things just make the whole experience so sour

well - only got 6 months road tax free

as i guessed - the car was supplied with maybe 50 miles of petrol remaining (including reserve). how sad is it when first stop in new car is petrol station.

the guy who sold it wasnt there but some random showed us through the pack and car. he was decent guy but clearly wasnt in it for the experience - just wanted car off the forecourt

well - once we drove it off the forecourt other half said she wanted to play her cds and make it her own! so out comes the cd - and - DOESNT WORK!!! :0

cd noise went and then cd wouldn't eject! radio came on instead. its a boost by the way

so off we went back to the dealer - by now we saw another random this time a woman who didnt believe what we said. after few attempts at ejecting cd it came out. put different one in and LUCKILY that didnt work as well - u know how it is with faults which magically get better in presence of superior people like bmw dealers. anyway - she told us to drive to service bit and then i had to go through whole story with service guy who wasnt convinced, got it working. i didnt accept it so he said new cd player. the words new cd player was like a silver lining to my brain cells

for some reason guy who was away today who sold us the car yesterday said all the little scratches and curbs have been fixed. they blatantly hadn't been!!! and the car wasnt even valeted properly. i was peeeed off by now. anyway they agreed to refurbish the alloy wheel. what is the point of lying - i just dont get it. if i lied in my profession i would be struck off!

anyway - at least my partner is happy with the car - its was such a heartsink when the new car didnt come up to scratch especially after a stressful day at work. so it seems two things havent changed - mini dealers are the same and minis still faulty cars.

will stick to keeping whole dealership anonymous. but does the local code 01204 ring any bells????

anyway - its a nice car and i think if mini's were bad cars dealers would act incredibly different.

take care all of u thought i would share my experiences.

[Paul]

That's all pretty much down the dealer, by the sound of it they just didn't test and check the car before you came to take it away, which just isn't on. How hard would it be to test the CD player, sort the little scratches etc?

[ttocs]

Should have been done, after all another thread talks of how much dealers spend on checks etc.
They may sell them everyday but should also be aware that for most people this is a very major purchase and at least get the basics right.

[TimCS]

When you put your deposit down - was the repair of the scratches and kerbing written on the order form? Always wise to get everything written down and agreed. If so you can go back and say that the dealer has failed to supply you the car in the agreed condition and they should sort it out.

[beken]

Quote: Originally Posted by bazMCS (original)

dear all - thanks for the replies and great to see such a strong mini community

well we went today to pick the car up

can i just say - HEARTSINK

the car is great and all that but little things just make the whole experience so sour

well - only got 6 months road tax free

as i guessed - the car was supplied with maybe 50 miles of petrol remaining (including reserve). how sad is it when first stop in new car is petrol station.

the guy who sold it wasnt there but some random showed us through the pack and car. he was decent guy but clearly wasnt in it for the experience - just wanted car off the forecourt

well - once we drove it off the forecourt other half said she wanted to play her cds and make it her own! so out comes the cd - and - DOESNT WORK!!! :0

cd noise went and then cd wouldn't eject! radio came on instead. its a boost by the way

so off we went back to the dealer - by now we saw another random this time a woman who didnt believe what we said. after few attempts at ejecting cd it came out. put different one in and LUCKILY that didnt work as well - u know how it is with faults which magically get better in presence of superior people like bmw dealers. anyway - she told us to drive to service bit and then i had to go through whole story with service guy who wasnt convinced, got it working. i didnt accept it so he said new cd player. the words new cd player was like a silver lining to my brain cells

for some reason guy who was away today who sold us the car yesterday said all the little scratches and curbs have been fixed. they blatantly hadn't been!!! and the car wasnt even valeted properly. i was peeeed off by now. anyway they agreed to refurbish the alloy wheel. what is the point of lying - i just dont get it. if i lied in my profession i would be struck off!

anyway - at least my partner is happy with the car - its was such a heartsink when the new car didnt come up to scratch especially after a stressful day at work. so it seems two things havent changed - mini dealers are the same and minis still faulty cars.

will stick to keeping whole dealership anonymous. but does the local code 01204 ring any bells????

anyway - its a nice car and i think if mini's were bad cars dealers would act incredibly different.

take care all of u thought i would share my experiences.

Gosh, your experience sounds like a General Motors dealer here in Canada. Very little gets by the MINI dealers here. Hope you get the issues sorted out.


I'm waiting to see pictures of your car

[bazMCS]

dear mini enthusiasts,

well, thanks for your comments. today we took the car to get new radio - and because i was at work my GF had to take it in.

do u remember the recent news about women drivers being scared of taking their cars for repair because of the classic dodgy mechanic? well today was a prime example. even though we had PROVEN BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT that the radio was broken (the dealer basically saw it chew up CD in front of us), the weirdo still asked her to prove it was broken today!!!

well, it was confirmed they would fit new radio, and apparently they were hassling her about the fact it was now an intermittent problem. anyway, she managed to peel her way through the bmw service denial talk.

now there is rattling in the car - sounds like its coming from exhaust - like the noise u would get if u left a spanner in the metal spare wheel area. (i did check for that by the way - and found a BATTERY!!!). its such an annoying metallic knocking sound. but they were having none of it, and just replaced the radio period. now that knocking is there all the time.

anyway - the dealer who sold us car wasnt in. and there wasnt anything on the receipt about wheel repair and scuffs - to be honest i took his word for it as we were buying from a BMW dealership! in a way i dont want to hand a letter of complaint in because i cant deal with arguing and complaining when they clearly will brush it off.

actually i would rate general motors above mini motors co. u should see the way they treat X5, M3, M6 owners when they come in for their service issues - but u never see that hierachy in other car dealerships, even in vw. its a shame that cos i was actually considering a new shape 3 series coupe for myself.

i am considering what to do next. its so stressful this whole car business wish i could just build them myself (ac cobra). i actually feel anxious walking into the dealership. anyway lets hope the car proves us wrong.

i will get photos photos up - but do u really wanna see another ds/b cooper s with black bonnet stripes???? i guess it will kinda prove that all of the above isnt something i dreamt (or nightmared) last night....

[Paul]

Do you have another dealer nearby, your warranty will be valid with them so maybe worth a try? Sounds like a really bad dealership!