Our MINI stopped in the rain by itself. They did not repair the car, they did not honor the warranty, we had to settle for a trade-in deal, and now they are preparing to sell the car.
The details:
We absolutely loved working with this dealership for the last 2.5 years. We traded in two cars and purchased two cars, and the MINIs are way too much fun to drive. But when our 2023 Electric Mini Cooper SE applied the brakes on its own in the rain, shut down all interior displays and lights, came to a stop, and was then hit from behind, they did nothing to repair it.
We took the car in within an hour on the morning of the accident, and that afternoon, they called MINI corporate, who took the case from there. Three months later, corporate finally told us they "couldn't confirm" what my wife reported, and because of that, our warranty claim was invalid. In addition, we were told that the case went all the way to the manufacturer in Germany. They did not interview my wife or the witness who hit the car. Instead, they claimed they got all information needed from the dealership. I don't believe the car was ever physically inspected - they only downloaded information from the onboard computer.
Days after this news, we discovered a recall on this model: https://www.kbb.com/car-news/recall-alert-electric-mini-se/#:~:text=By%20Sean%20Tucker%2005/08,at%20our%20easy%20recall%20center.
The recall explains that water can leak into the battery, causing the car to stall in the rain - exactly what my wife experienced. I directly asked the corporate representative if they had performed a leak test on the battery. They then stopped replying to my emails, and the service manager told us he needed his loaner car back, putting pressure on us to finalize the trade-in deal they had offered. So we suspect MINI was trying to avoid another recall by denying my wife's account, and the dealership worked in coordination with them in an attempt to make this all go away.
The sales manager at D&R said he would advocate for us, but simply repeated what corporate said, and claimed he could not give us a full reimbursement for the car. The service manager said his hands were tied because corporate had made their decision - he had to rely on corporate's decision that my wife's account is not to be believed.
The service manager, to his credit, actually listened to what I had to say when we spoke on the phone. But one of their service representatives, as well as the sales manager, interrupted and shushed us whenever we tried to explain what actually happened.
Since corporate did not approve a warranty claim, we were left with the distasteful option of making a deal to buy a new car instead of having ours repaired or being reimbursed for its full retail value. If we actually wanted to trade in the car, we would have been happily skipping out of the dealership with an amazing offer. Instead we are faced with the reality that not only did MINI refuse to repair the car or reimburse us for its full value, now they are going to sell it to someone who has no idea they are putting their own lives in danger when they drive it in the rain. read more