Tips for getting rid and replacing
Discussion
All,
We have had a late 2007 Cooper D Clubman since June of last year, purchased as a Mini Cherished car from Sytner Cov. It should be the ideal car for our needs, but since then I don't think it has ever worked properly.
After the initial snagging of interior bulbs, missing boot folding floor etc, I noticed several areas of rust on the rear doors. These were dutifully replaced by the dealer, but several follow up visits were needed to replace scrached / damaged rear windows, bits of trim and so on.
More worrying has been a sort of misfire at low revs. The dealer agree that there is fault, can make it misfire on demand, but seem to have no idea of what is wrong. To make matters worse, on the way to its third visit to have this looked at the Cooper tread plate came away, taking a grommet of the bottom of the door with it.
Sytner have generally been ok, and none of this work has cost us a penny, but frankly we're sick of it. In 9 months it must have been back at least a dozen times. We have no confidence that the bills won't continue after the warranty has expired.
All very frustrating because the W reg Golf it replaced only needed fixing twice in the four years we had it, but we wanted something newer and more reliable...
Venting over.
Is it unreasonable to ask the garage to buy it back at the market (not trade in) price against another Mini? I don't see why they should make money out of us twice given the inadequacies of our first purchase. I don't really want the hassle of selling privately at the moment.
Anybody got any experience of this type of situation? Any tips?
Thanks for any thoughts,
Roadster25
We have had a late 2007 Cooper D Clubman since June of last year, purchased as a Mini Cherished car from Sytner Cov. It should be the ideal car for our needs, but since then I don't think it has ever worked properly.
After the initial snagging of interior bulbs, missing boot folding floor etc, I noticed several areas of rust on the rear doors. These were dutifully replaced by the dealer, but several follow up visits were needed to replace scrached / damaged rear windows, bits of trim and so on.
More worrying has been a sort of misfire at low revs. The dealer agree that there is fault, can make it misfire on demand, but seem to have no idea of what is wrong. To make matters worse, on the way to its third visit to have this looked at the Cooper tread plate came away, taking a grommet of the bottom of the door with it.
Sytner have generally been ok, and none of this work has cost us a penny, but frankly we're sick of it. In 9 months it must have been back at least a dozen times. We have no confidence that the bills won't continue after the warranty has expired.
All very frustrating because the W reg Golf it replaced only needed fixing twice in the four years we had it, but we wanted something newer and more reliable...
Venting over.
Is it unreasonable to ask the garage to buy it back at the market (not trade in) price against another Mini? I don't see why they should make money out of us twice given the inadequacies of our first purchase. I don't really want the hassle of selling privately at the moment.
Anybody got any experience of this type of situation? Any tips?
Thanks for any thoughts,
Roadster25
The key aspect is to have a face to face meeting with the dealer principal armed with all the available documentary evidence of the hassle you had.
Bore him to death and he might just want to get rid of you by making an offer you can't refuse. if not, start talking to all the potential buyers in the showroom on a busy saturday PM...
Bore him to death and he might just want to get rid of you by making an offer you can't refuse. if not, start talking to all the potential buyers in the showroom on a busy saturday PM...
Apparently even the chaps from MINI are struggling with this one now. They're going to try fitting a new turbo now. Doesn't fill us with confidence, either in their abilities or the long term durability of our purchase.
Sytner are now aware that we don't want the car anymore. Negotiations to start shortly...
Sytner are now aware that we don't want the car anymore. Negotiations to start shortly...
Have you considered getting a second opinion from a separate dealer.
I had issues with my MCS when I had it and did this. No sooner they looked at it, they booked it in and did all the rectification work under warranty. I kept the car for 2.5 years after this. OK, it meant an extra 25 miles to get there but it save me lots of grief.
I had issues with my MCS when I had it and did this. No sooner they looked at it, they booked it in and did all the rectification work under warranty. I kept the car for 2.5 years after this. OK, it meant an extra 25 miles to get there but it save me lots of grief.
AndyM31 said:
Have you considered getting a second opinion from a separate dealer.
It is a thought, but the fact that MINI technical have looked at it should cover that. If MINI don't really know what is wrong with it either then I'm not sure another dealer would. It seems to be a case of just replacing parts until the problem goes away. All well and good, but we'll never really know what the fault was, what caused it and how likely it is to return.
Another update: car still at Sytner after nearly three weeks, now fitted with a new turbo, still not fixed.
We've been offered a "generous" trade in price by brand manager, but he can't offer the price of an actual replacement, because apparently they need to make a profit on this lemon again.
We've been offered a "generous" trade in price by brand manager, but he can't offer the price of an actual replacement, because apparently they need to make a profit on this lemon again.
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