At the end of August of this year I purchased a Mini Cooper S from my local dealership (I will call it delearship 1), I'm now sick to the teeth of the car due to various problems.
Here is an email I sent to "dealership 1"
The problems started the first day I bought the car. I took it to a friend?s business based in Worcestershire that specialise in MINIs. He?s an ex head tech at dealership 2 (another local dealership), straight away he noticed that the car was well overdue its first service. Not because of mileage, but because of age (2 years old). This isn?t great news on the first day of ownership of a ?cherished MINI?.
When I booked the car in for this I also asked your Service team (dealership 1) to check the steering rack as it was ?creaking / clunking? when moving the car at low speeds, e.g. parking. I was told that there was nothing wrong with the steering and that it was fine.
Knowing there was something definitely wrong with the steering I took the car to Dealership 2, who over this visit and around 3 or 4 other visits replaced the steering column, steering spindle, cd player, heater, clutch, flywheel, drivers door window regulator, drivers armrest pad and a few other parts. All in 5 weeks of owning the car.
I now have several other problems emerging that I am coming to see your service manager about tomorrow afternoon.
Its annoying as when I agreed the finance with your salesman he told me how this car would only cost me a bit extra on payments per month than my previous BMW did. This is now not the case as each time I visits either dealership 1 or 2 I?m losing time from work as well as having to travel. Taking the first month as an example, I made at least 4 separate visits to dealership 2 service, so that is 16 Journeys between my home /work and the dealership.
I can appreciate the car is not brand new, I look after the car very well, never drive it hard, let it warm up and cool down before use (yes over the top) but I?m a great believer in peace of mind. I could live with a few niggles but at the moment every time I drive the car I hate it and seriously regret buying it.
Tomorrow I?m coming to see Jeremy regarding a rattle from the gearbox at low revs, loose boot, miss aligned front bumper, brake ?grinding? and a rattle I get when starting the car.
Could you tell me what my rights are regarding rejecting the car please?
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Thanks
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Any advice would be much appreciated!
See tab FAQs at the top [next to UV].
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Thanks for reply, here is an email I recieved:
Dear Mr ************
I have fully investigated your concerns and the issues you have had with your MINI and most recently the work we have carried out here in snip. I am sure that Jeremy has gone through this with you already but here are my findings.
When we carried out the Approved Used Car Inspection on your MINI earlier in the year, at that time the service was not due, however very soon afterwards in your ownership it did require a service, which was due on age rather than mileage. I apologise for any inconvenience caused to you over this. I have also spoken to our MINI Technician who first checked your vehicle here for the steering noise and at the time of test he could not find any irregularities, I have no other information unfortunately to give you.
I cannot comment on the repairs carried out by snip in the past and the time taken by them to repair your MINI, but what we did find here was that the front bumper which you mentioned as being miss aligned had been removed by snip when they replaced the clutch, we have now aligned the bumper correctly.
The noise / rattle you mentioned from the gearbox area was again the result of a repair by snip as they had fitted new bolts to the engine mountings which were found to be too long, Jeremy has now had them replaced with the correct bolts and the noise has gone away.
We have replaced the tailgate struts as they were a little weak and we have re programmed your key for comfort opening. We could find no fault with the rattle on cold start up but please keep Jeremy or myself informed of any development.
It is most unfortunate that you have had these issues with your MINI so soon in your ownership, MINI's are constructed to the highest build quality tolerances utilising the best available materials. However , despite the exceptional build quality unfortunately a failure may occur. For this reason BMW / MINI implement comprehensive warranty terms that will enable us to address any such unfortunate occurrences. I sincerely hope that you will now be able to enjoy trouble free motoring from now on. I have also asked Jeremy to fill your tank with fuel as a Goodwill Gesture, and he has also informed me that he will be sending you a hard copy of the repairs we have carried out on your MINI here in snip.
We fully appreciate your thoughts on this matter and the concerns you have with the reliability of your vehicle, we take great pride in everything that we do here at snip, and we are fully committed to providing the highest levels of customer service . With regard to your request for a similar replacement vehicle I do not feel it is an appropriate cause of action at the present time as we have addressed all of your concerns and having driven your MINI myself I am happy for it to be returned to you.
If at anytime in the future you do require our services again we will be happy to collect and deliver your MINI and supply a loan car free of charge, and should you ever need clarification of any Technical point please do not hesitate to contact either myself direct or xxxxx in my absence.
Yours Sincerely
xxxxxx
Aftersales Manager
I pointed out that the car was overdue a service the day I collected it, the aftersales manager then retracted and admitted that the car had been AUC'd when it was part exchanged in March, but when I collected it in July it had passed the 2 year time for its first service.
Here is a list of my dealership visits:
Soon after collection
Oil service was overdue on 1st day of ownership by 2 months.
4th Sept 08 to 5th Sept 08
Rattle from engine when cold diagnosed as heater box removed heater rerouted pipe work
catching on heater box
o/s window clunking when operated. replaced window regulator.
n/s mirror cap loose. replaced mirror back
Steering column clunks. replaced steering column.
Check brakes seam to bind. no fault found.
Radio fault when listening to radio CD cuts in or changes channel. replaced radio unit.
16th Sept 08 to 16th Sept 08
Trims on car scratched may have been done here at last visit.
Valet bay cleaned trims free of charge
Clutch pedal seams to stick
N/s window screech when operated. removed door trim panel r&i regulator lubricated cables
1st Oct 08 to 7TH Oct 08
O/s door interior arm rest loose. replaced armrest
Rattle from cold stops when load put on engine 2nd rattle increases when engine revved but goes quiet when clutch depressed. replaced clutch & flywheel
doors creek when used. replaced door check straps
3rd Nov to 7th Nov
Boot struts
Rattle from gearbox area in 1st and 2nd gear upto 2.5k rpm. Suspect gearbox mount bolts too long, replaced, but rattle still there.
Program key to comfort open.
Investigate break grind, problem still there.
could really do with some advise on my next steps please.
{several edits taken place to prevent any naming/shaming - which, btw, you were more careful about with your first post}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 11/11/2008 at 13:00
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Out of interest how old is the car and what miles has it done ?
Apart from the lack of service I dont see what the selling dealer has done wrong ?
The car has had issues but from what I can see they have all been attended to under warranty or at the expense of the selling dealer ?
Personally I feel you are over the top with your complaint towards the selling dealer.
Garage 2 is cashing in on the warranty company / garage 1
I would be more concerned with garage 2 fitting the wrong bolts and not refitting the bumper correctly.
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The car's obviously a dog, if you can legally reject it, get rid
MVP
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The OP has issues with the car rather than the dealers ability to resolve them, I would imagine OP has ad to have time of work, cost and the time in visiting the dealer. I'm sure the dealer has fixed them, but how many more times should he visit them? He needs to consider if the car is of satisactory quality, the dealer will simply keep repairing the car but is it acceptable on a 2 year old car??
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I had a new Cooper S aprox 2 years ago which I rejected. It was the car from hell. Mini bought it back from me, but it was made clear to me the car wasn't a rejection, but bought back as a good will gesture. No doubt it appeared as a Cherished Used Car.
I stupidly bought another new Cooper D, which is a bit better, but still pretty hopeless. I'm cutting my loses soon, and replacing the car at my own expense.
I suggest you try the rejection route, not fit for purpose, etc.
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I can see where the OP is coming from here, yes the problems have been sorted out, but you should'nt be going back to the dealer every few weeks to have a problem sorted. Apart from the inconveniace (and cost!), you stand a chance of something else being damage or not correctly fitted or the car scratch or dented.
We are talking about BMW here, so surly this is supposed to be a premium brand so I would expect NOT to have to return the car for anything other than minor niggles so soon after purchasing it. What happens when the warranty runs out? I would, at the very least, ask for a free 1 Year MINI warranty, or try and reject it as its not of satisfactory quality. However you have had the car for 2 or 3 months so your not simply going to get a full refund! I would try and push for a generous trade in against another Mini. If you have really lost confidence in Mini (don't blame you) try for a years warranty and look around for another make, maybe a Smart or something.
Btw, nobody else has mentioned it, but as its on finance, the finance company are jointly liable should you reject it, so it might be worth sending copies of everything to them and seek their advice.
I'm pretty sure if you approach the dealership, they'll be sympathetic and hopefully do the right thing and do a trade in deal for you.
Rejecting a car is an extreme course of action so make sure you've tried all other options, if you think you'd be doing this then you'd need to leave the car and the keys at the dealership as you can't continue driving it if you want to reject it!
Good luck and keep us informed.
James
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AFAIA you have up to six months to reject a car if it is not fit for purpose as long as you have given the vendor reasonable opportunity to rectify the problems.
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This may sound flippant but it sounds not unlike BL minis from years ago. I say that as someone that's owned several.
All the best with it.
Steve.
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