Can you give me some advice and possibly point me in the right direction of which way to proceed with a problem with my 2009 Mini Cooper cabriolet that I have had from new. The car has been serviced by the BMW Mini dealership since new. Just over a year ago I noticed there was a small plastic component sticking out of the side of the hood. I immediately returned the car to the service dept at Chandlers MINI and they confirmed the part was integral to the hood and as a result the entire canvas cover would need replacing. Unfortunately they were unable to source a hood in the UK and I had to wait around 4 weeks for a replacement to arrive from Germany.

During that time it rained pretty much non-stop and as a result the boot of the car filled with water. The carpeting in the boot went mouldy. As soon as the hood arrived I took the car to Chandlers for it to be fitted. They had to keep the car overnight to dry it out. All the carpeting was beyond repair so that was also replaced under the the warranty.

Move forwards to just over a year. The boot on the car now randomly opens. Also when I lock the car I can sometimes hear the boot catch continually trying to open and close. It is an intermittent fault. My car was due its service last week so I booked it into BMW and asked them to also look at the fault with boot at the same time. I took a call Tuesday afternoon to say the mechanics had never seen anything like it. Apparently all the components in the boot have corroded. I told them to refer to their records and they would see the boot sat in water for around four weeks whilst I waited for a replacement hood. Whilst they accept this happened they cannot agree that this would have caused the components to corrode in the way that they have. Is it usual for electrical components on a car to rust in this way?