took my griff in for a service and got ripped off! !

took my griff in for a service and got ripped off! !

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Discussion

rigga

Original Poster:

8,727 posts

200 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
But not what you think ...
Don't do many miles in the griff for various reasons, family life shift work etc, anyway my local tvr place who have looked after it since I purchased now do a low mileage service, which I had done this morning, was allowed to stay with the mechanic who didnt mind me watching, and he did a great job, in total he changed oil and filter, checked gearbox and diff levels, wheels off and checked brakes,tyres and pressures, checked all light's and wipers, underneath chassis check, adjusted ride height on my front protechs and then Geo set up, checked emissions,exhaust off to tighten a plate on top of the gearbox due to noticing slightly notchy gear change on pre service roadtest, basicly a thorough going over and he performed it expertly and happy to answer any questions I had at any point...and all this for £240 inclusive



I paid £150 to have just the oil and filter changed on my mini so BMW ripped me off! !



N7GTX

7,823 posts

142 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
rigga said:
I paid £150 to have just the oil and filter changed and my BMW service history kept up to date which will help me get a better trade-in/sale price on my mini so BMW ripped me off, well, just a little bit!
hehe

rigga

Original Poster:

8,727 posts

200 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
Not quite, mini has a service plan in place paid for by a previous owner, so technically i don't have to pay, BUT mini service intervals are 2 year's or 20k, so in my case an oil change every 2 years which might be alright if the engine wasn't a ticking time bomb due to a badly designed timing chain tensioner, which due to tight tolerance when being machined, and the extended oil change schedule tends to gum up and stick, then the death rattle on start up ensues, plastic guides break and you either need to replace the timing cassette sharpish, or it breaks and takes the engine with it.
I'm playing the long game by having an interim oil change to show that I've done all I can to prevent the inevitable happening, and thus try to extract some goodwill out of BMW and some contribution to the £900 cost of replacing the cassette, in America mini USA recognize the issue and are replacing chain's and tensioners foc, here in the uk where the engine's are built at Ham's hall its jog on pal, nothing wrong with it, which in itself is a joke as the engine is a joint project with Citroen and Peugeot, and model's in those car ranges are equally affected
And I know BMW labour rate's are sky high compared to local tvr Indie due to overheads with showrooms staff etc etc.

So not that clear cut regarding resale and history winkbiggrin

Griffithy

929 posts

275 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all

At the main dealers the price for oil they charge is quite cracy.
For a Merc Diesel they charged about 300 pounds for engine oil only.
14 liters of special oil they would have to use in our case, as we were told.
furious

N7GTX

7,823 posts

142 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
rigga said:
Not quite, mini has a service plan in place paid for by a previous owner, so technically i don't have to pay, BUT mini service intervals are 2 year's or 20k, so in my case an oil change every 2 years which might be alright if the engine wasn't a ticking time bomb due to a badly designed timing chain tensioner, which due to tight tolerance when being machined, and the extended oil change schedule tends to gum up and stick, then the death rattle on start up ensues, plastic guides break and you either need to replace the timing cassette sharpish, or it breaks and takes the engine with it.
I'm playing the long game by having an interim oil change to show that I've done all I can to prevent the inevitable happening, and thus try to extract some goodwill out of BMW and some contribution to the £900 cost of replacing the cassette, in America mini USA recognize the issue and are replacing chain's and tensioners foc, here in the uk where the engine's are built at Ham's hall its jog on pal, nothing wrong with it, which in itself is a joke as the engine is a joint project with Citroen and Peugeot, and model's in those car ranges are equally affected
And I know BMW labour rate's are sky high compared to local tvr Indie due to overheads with showrooms staff etc etc.

So not that clear cut regarding resale and history winkbiggrin
That wonderful engine, not, I have diagnosed many times on Peugeots. The lowest recorded mileage one I have so far found had done 3,800 miles. The chain had stretched in that short time. When a new chain is fitted, a software update is made to the ECU to give greater tolerance between the cam and crank signals so the engine management light does not come on so readily. Very poor, I agree.

Byker28i

58,851 posts

216 months

Thursday 31st July 2014
quotequote all
N7GTX said:
rigga said:
I paid £150 to have just the oil and filter changed and my BMW service history kept up to date which will help me get a better trade-in/sale price on my mini so BMW ripped me off, well, just a little bit!
hehe
I was thinking snigger - he has a not so mini

rigga

Original Poster:

8,727 posts

200 months

Thursday 31st July 2014
quotequote all
Byker28i said:
I was thinking snigger - he has a not so mini
aside from quoting something i never posted...the Bini as the bmw version is known has nothing mini about it,size wise or running costs smile

scotty_d

6,795 posts

193 months

Saturday 2nd August 2014
quotequote all
rigga said:
Byker28i said:
I was thinking snigger - he has a not so mini
aside from quoting something i never posted...the Bini as the bmw version is known has nothing mini about it,size wise or running costs smile
Very true we just sold our cooper s yesterday after nearly 4 years with it,

keeping the 100% BMW free mini so much fun using it more than the Tvr these days. smile