MINI Dealers Rank Below Average in Service

Sections: In the Press Jul 22nd, 2004 111 Comments

JD Powers has released it's annual Customer Service Index Study and US MINI dealers don't score well. The study measures customer satisfaction among new-vehicle owners with the dealer service department during the first three years of vehicle ownership, which typically represents the majority of the vehicle warranty period. Overall satisfaction is based on six service categories: initiating service, service advisor, in-dealership experience, service delivery, service quality, and user-friendly service.

MINI scored 8th from the bottom at 838 (based on an 1000 point scale) – well behind the industry average of 862. You can see the entire chart of scores here.

Of course what this means and how it happened can be debated to no end (and I'm sure it will be in the comments section). But what is obvious is that MINIUSA and it's dealers now must create and execute a plan of action to solve these issues to regain some respectability in this area.

You can download the entire PDF report here.

Written By: MF Staff

andrew

regarding the rental car issue. my dealer, Princeton MINI has rentals for mini dealers. two auto coopers. which they have recently got'en. i say that because i had to get a new tranny only after 50 miles.something broke which they never told me what it was. yet as usual they claimed driver error, which it was not. but then offered to replace it for free. so in the end i feel that thier service is not that all bad.in fact pretty good.
Ally Speirs

My dealer, Checkered Flag MINI of Virginia Beach are outstanding, from the sales people to the service dept. They always give me a loaner car, and call promptly. They are very friendly, and we now have 2 MINIs bought from the same dealership…….I also think a lot goes for your tolerance level, people seem to have no patience these days, and by that I mean substandard service should not be accepted, but people need a chance to put things right, and the recalls are not your dealers fault……..Thumbs up to Checkered Flag MINI for me….
Dave

I have purchased 3 Mini's from Hank Aaron and overall its been a good experience. One service though was not good and that included leaving a lug not off the car and leaving a cap of an oil container on my shock tower!!! That being said I was up in Atlanta evading Hurricane Ivan and they took my car in early for a required service :) Dreyer in Indianapolis is top notch!!! I asked them on the phone on a late Wed afternoon to redo the service Aaron gooned up and they did so that day and verified all that was done and also told me the oil was a half quart low and they replaced my lug nut. Great folks and I felt on par with BMW owners at both. By the way my 02 Cooper S is for sale. I am getting a 05 MCS. The 02 is perfectly running no issues and has all updates including water pump seal and software. If you worried about a Cooper or the S they completely ROCK!
JB

Can a care dealer really not provide service just because I did not buy a car from them? I just received a recall notice for my brand new 2005 Mini Cooper. The recall states that the transmission fluid may be low. I called the local mini dealer, Brecht near San Diego, and they asked if I purchased the car from them, which I did not because they did not have one in stock, and they said that they are not accepting new customers. Just great, the next dealer is about 100 miles away, that is if they even accept new customers. I then called Mini USA customer service and they said the dealers can do what ever they want. I find it hard to believe that Mini Cooper/BMW would run an organization like this. This is a recall, what would happen if I actually try to use my extended service package that I purchased??
RWB

I have a new Mini S convertible with a slow leak defective run-flat tire. Neither Mini nor BMW want to take any responsibility for the tire. I have now found that this run-flat tire can not be repaired in the US. The cost of replacing this tire is close to $500. Certainly I think Mini/BMW is responsible for replacing this defective tire. But, I really do not want to have tires on a car that must be replaced at $500 each for even a simple nail or other puncture. I think this run-flat concept is seriously flawed and that a recall is in order to replace these run-flat tires with a reasonable tire.
http://motoringfile.com Gabe

RWB – you can get a replacement tire from resellers like the Tirerack for probably well under $200. Further the MSRP from MINI on one runflat tire shouldn’t be more than $225. If it is I’d highly recommend going to another dealer.
Alan W.

I believe this can be looked at this way. Car dealerships in general rank low in customer satisfaction as compared other retail and service organizations.

Just because you have a BMW over a MINI does not mean you are going to get better service. We have a BMW as well, and it trully matters what dealer you go to and even the service manager you are dealing with respect to the level of customer service you receive.

I have seen and heard of many more bad BMW dealers then good ones. Most market areas only have one, or at best two, BMW/MINI dealerships. This effectly removes the compitition and the “forced” incetive for your local BMW/MINI dealership to improve their level of service. If enough people report their issues to MINIUSA then maybe BMW will take notice.
Simon Bowles

Wow i have a 2004 Mini s and i have hade many talk’s with the service manger at Brecht Bmw she is so rude they will not fix things that are going on with my car like a bad nav kit power st and clock that will not work. some places will give you a loner car not them forget you car if it’s down it takes 3 m to get an apt they are backed up but if you have a bmw you can get in today i drove from san diego to DESERT BMW OF LAS VEGAS and they gave me a car and fixed most of what was broken in 2 day’s they were nice and helpfull why in ca are they so rude if you call miniusa don’t hold your breth you will be dead with a car that will not drive they can not help much at all and they do not have any mangers for the area like all outher’s do like toyota i should have just spent my $30,000.00 on my old toyota it would have been better spent now about the car i love it it just need’s to be backed up
Chris

I live in the Cincinnati, Ohio area and Cincinnati MINI is an excellent dealer to have service done. Everytime I have gone into the dealership, they have treated me very well. Both John and Maryann are service advisors there and are great people to deal with. In addition, the technician, Nate; is very knowledgeable and always takes the time to address my concerns. Everytime my car is in for warranty work or maintenance, it is always repaired correctly the first time and I am always given a loaner. I am also a BMW owner and as such I take my BMW to their sister dealership, THE BMW Store; which is located in the same building. While THE BMW Store is a good dealership, the folks at Cincinnati MINI have them beat as far as customer service and friendliness.

Because of their great service, I actually purchased the maintenenace extension which will take me to 4 years or 50,000 miles.
Jessica Ko

I am not surprised!

Mini of Sterling (virginia) IS HORRIBLE. Not only are their service representatives RUDE and condescending. Because I am a female, they always put me through to a female service agent.

I had an emergency and needed a new tire, but they were unwilling to check inventory or help me out.

I called Goodyear instead and will have the tire and service for about $100 less than the dealership.

Its too bad, because I really love my Mini. This makes me reconsider buying a new car!
Chris

I have had both very bad and very good dealership experiences with MINI of Universal City. Agreeing with someone above…Tony Fernandez was top notch and helped me out for the last three years. Alas, with the dealership now separated out (BMW on one side of the street and MINI on the other side), I can no longer work with Tony, as he is on the BMW side. I have, so far, had some very bad experiences with one of the MINI reps; the other MINI rep? I’m still waiting to see.

With regard to being treated differently because I am a woman (and also older): some reps will give everyone the runaround, not just women. I usually try to find a good rep by asking the shuttle drivers who they like. If a driver likes a rep, chances are the rep treats the mechanics, shuttle drivers, customers and everyone else with respect. I also ask tow truck drivers who they like; same reason. I recently bought the Service Manual for my 2003 from Promini (through advertisement on this web site). As I’m very handy, I’m looking forward to finding out what goes on under the hood. I’m hoping this will make it easier, hopefully not harder (sometimes male service guys are uninformed and take it real hard if you know more than they do), to get some good service.

← Autoweek Comments on MINI's Latest Ad 2005 JCW Kits to Roll Out in September →

Sort by MINI model

Recent BimmerFile Stories

MINI Model Cheat Sheet

1st Gen MINI
R50: One & MC Hatch
R52: All 1st Gen MINI Convt.
R53: MCS Hatch
2nd Gen MINI
R55: Clubman
R56: Hatch
R57: Convertible
R58: Coupe
R59: Roadster
R60: MINI Crossover
R61: MINI Crossover Coupe
3rd Gen MINI
F55: Clubman
F56: Hatch
F57: Convertible
F60: MINI Crossover
F62: Traveller

Advertise with MotoringFile

If you or your company are interested in advertising on the most influential MINI website in the world, please visit our Advertising section. If you have further questions about becoming a sponsor or would like to see our rate sheet please feel free to contact us directly.