[LMB]

Quote:

Originally posted by ricardo
PS. I have entered this project in the Anorak of the Year competition and am confident of 1st place.

Well you get my vote

LMB

[ricardo]

Cheers LMB, I knew I could count on you!!

Up to 162 cars listed now ...can't see me losing now!!

[BruceK]

Quote:

Originally posted by ricardo
...By the way, I've started compiling a MINI faults database. This lists every MINI-owning MINI2 member that has posted details on the site, together with any faults they've mentioned and the build date and spec of the car. Over 100 cars listed so far. Hope to finish it this week and will then provide more details and see if the results can be published in some useful format.

PS. I have entered this project in the Anorak of the Year competition and am confident of 1st place.

Ricardo, if you really want first place, my I suggest taking heed of this?

http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...&threadid=3779

[Basil]

Quote:

Originally posted by ricardo

Mine has the following "faults":-

1) Rear wiper arc doesn't quite reach the top of the glass
2) Greasy smudge still appearing on osf door glass

So insignificant that I would class the vehicle as fault free. So they can build 'em right in Oxford.

By the way, I've started compiling a MINI faults database. This lists every MINI-owning MINI2 member that has posted details on the site, together with any faults they've mentioned and the build date and spec of the car. Over 100 cars listed so far. Hope to finish it this week and will then provide more details and see if the results can be published in some useful format.

PS. I have entered this project in the Anorak of the Year competition and am confident of 1st place.

That would make most interesting reading......good work.

[ricardo]

Bruce I do remember the posts about Foxton's. However, I thought may be we had enough data amongst MINI2 members. Plus we could monitor and update the info over a longer period.

I've trawled through all the MINI2 posts concerning faults and through the galleries for specs, colours, wheel types etc. So far I've listed 162 MINIs with as much info as I can get from the posts and pics. It's nowhere near finished as there are gaps on the spec front, plus there are lots of members who haven't mentioned any faults - they may or may not have them.

For example, I can tell you that of the 162 cars, there are 9 whose owners can detect a left drift which they feel is acceptable. There are a further 4 owners with a drift (not pull) who have been back to their dealers. Then there are 12 owners who say they have no pull or drift. Finally there are 22 owners who describe a pull rather than a drift and consider(ed) it to be a major issue. Of these 22, 2 people say the pull has been fixed by the dealers. That leaves us with 115 "unknowns." We need to know what their opinion is on their cars - unless we assume no comment means "no problem."

Incidentally, there are 66 different types of fault mentioned in the database!!

What I really need to be able to do is post the list somehow so that owners can fill in the blanks.

Any suggestions?

I think this is a superb idea - particularly as I collect my Cooper tomorrow and can immediately start over-analysing every interior squeak and tug on the wheel! Will I miss my current 200SX? (mmm... now I'm soooo worried about this issue, more so than pulling steering and leaky bits'n'bobs!)

Joking apart, I accept that almost every new car model will have faults, cars are built (mainly) by humans who make mistakes so I'm not gonna get too uptight about it. However, I do know that most reputable companies fear motivated and enthusiast complainers... I work for an UK insurance company and know only too well the havoc a well-worded letter to our CEO or phonecall to a Regional Director can do!

Incidentally, some helpful insurance titbits...

- Don't lie on your proposal - it's not worth it (remember driving without adequate insurance is a criminal offence - meaning costly fines and IN10 conviction's - not nice!).

- Having your policy voided 'ab initio' because of a material non-disclosure (any modification to your car may be considered a 'material fact' as these are often an 'indication of lifestyle/driving attitude', don't believe me? Think about the Impreza owner who chose not to tell us about his £9k of Prodrive mods and three previous speeding convictions only to write-off his car in an accident euphamistically described as 'losing control on bend'. What's a 'material' fact is my decision when quoting for your car insurance, and the courts when there's been a claim!).. and this will only be the start of your problems What happens at your next renewal? You disclose past claims/convictions and the whole unpleasant business of mucho pricey insurance premiums starts again! Stay out of bother and remain cheaply insured (other than imposed Government taxes, doh!).

- A common misconception is that the value of your car often has a bearing on the premium - this is a total red herring... Your past claims history, age, where the car's kept overnight postcode, it's insurance group and performance/theft attractiveness etc (Gp15 for the Cooper S according to our records), your past driving experience and level of 'earned' no claims discount are all much more important.

- Insurers are rip-off merchants - not necessarily so. It's an industry truism that most companies lose more money than they make in the whole 'Motor Insurance Market'. If you're looking for a scapegoat, try society at large and lawyers advocating an increasingly 'no win no fee' blame-culture. "I've suffered a misfortune, it must be someone's fault" (other than mine!). I joke (a little) but make no mistake, the guys behind the recent "Pot Noodle" tv-ad's have hit the nail on the head and in the end, we'll all pay for it - remember insurers are not charities and have shareholder/staff bonuses to pay out to! My employer was at one time the UK's largest commercial insurer and even we have not received a profit share payment in the past five years because our claims costs have vastly outweighed the premiums we've charged our customers, we've not made a profit! It might not feel like that when you get your next car insurance renewal notice, but believe me it's true for us and many others!

- Shop around, we're not all the same. Some companies launch new products and discount the book-price to attract market share. Try insurers direct, try via a bank or broker, try online, try an owners club scheme or arrange one yourself! Capitalism is often highly efficient and insurance companies do go bust occassionaly, so bear that in mind when you chose to go with 'Robbing Bards of Somewhere You've Never Heard Of Limited' who want 50p plus Tax for your Cooper parked in darkest Ibrox... (good luck tonights lads, not!). You often get what you pay for, and remember you're only paying for a promise in the end, a promise to sort you our should sh*t happen.

Anyhoo, lecture over - sorry to ramble on so much!

DBK.

[Rob.]

Nice first post
Although my heart bleeds for all the insurance companies losing money, not.
You can never really tell how good a company is until you have to make a claim. Then it sometimes depends on who picks up the phone. My experience is Churchill are good and Admiral are ******** to put it nicely. Never had to claim with anyone else, well never experience of any other company.

[Crashandburn]

Ricardo,

now that database is an excellent idea. To fill in the gaps could you PM the owners? That may be a tad too labour intensive though, so how about asking Paul for some help. I don't doubt he can't give you actual e-mail addresses, but maybe he could send out a questionnaire on your behalf?

Alternatively, we could PM you with our e-mail addresses, you could collate them and then send out a questionnaire yourself. That may be the best (legal) way of doing it.

BTW - I polled 'No'. How can you be happy with a car you can't trust?

[mr.bill]

Ricardo, if possible you might try to include when the car was built and when delivery was taken. Then roughly when the problems appeared. You can get a fair idea from the dates of the posts in the archives. Some cars were defective when driven off the lot, as in Apial's case, but others seemed perfect for a few weeks, as with "Amy," then started having squeaks, rattles, left pull and electrical problems.

The easiest way to do it might be with an Excel spreadsheet. You could easily add fields to denote right or left hand drive, whether it has a sunroof, Chili Pack, etc. The .XLS format is common enough for just about anyone to view, or it can be exported in text format delimited with spaces. Perhaps Paul could post it for everyone to download when you are finished.

[LMB]

Are you getting a Mini Mr Bill?

LMB

[ricardo]

Strangely enough (!), it is in an Excel spreadsheet and it does already include the build and delivery dates (where known) and the spec: sunroof, wheels, suspension type etc.



No dates are recorded for when faults started as all the cars are so new that I think it can be taken as read that they started pretty early.

As to when it'll be finished, it's never ending as people keep posting about faults and ofcourse there are new users every day!!

I'm gonna send a copy to Mr Mullett this very evening to see what he thinks.