Spent 17k on brand new mini...broke down in two weeks...

BigJonnyB

My nan has recently spent over 17k on a brand new mini cooper. She had it for about 2 weeks, but at this time it started randomly stopping. This was either in the middle of driving or while stopped at a roundabout or junction. The car got taken away and had to have the engine vanos inlet valve and spark plugs all replaced. The problem is that since getting the car back my nan has been unable to build up the confidence to drive it in case it randomly stops again. Its now at the stage where BMW wont do anything else, but the car is just sat on the drive (it was only ever going to do a few thousand miles a year anyway). I am worried that it going wrong so quickly could affect the value upon resale, and that it is hardly going to get used. With it not being used it might take a while for a fault to reoccur - which could easily be outside a warranty period.
What are her rights with this? Does she just have to accept that they have apparently fixed the fault? I just feel a brand new car going wrong in 2 weeks is unacceptable...any thoughts appreciated..
JB

plane_boy2000

JB - if your nan is not driving it then you are correct in that it will be difficult to see if there are any further or re ocuring faults, but cars do sometimes break down, and BMW have repaired it so you cant really expect them to do much else. Could you or someone else borrow it for a few weeks so that it gets used and that might also help your nan feel more confident in it?

I am not really sure what else you expect BMW to do - they claim to have fixed it and you cant prove otherwise.

Re resale value then there will be no issue - who will know your nan has had a problem with it, and to be honest if it has been fixed there is no issue anyway.

saintjanet

I have to agree with the plane boy,It's probably been fixed,if my washing machine was fixed under warranty i would do some washing,lots of it!!!

Dont forget the new mini has fantastic residual values too.

DealDrivers_company_representative

We agree with PlaneBoy... a small problem that has been diagnosed quickly and put right, tell her to get in it and get on with enjoying it.

It's a car - with complex mechanical & electrical functions - occasionally things go wrong..just like computers or TV's. It isn't a hanging offence for the manufacturer and doesn't warrant a rejection because you've found a small fault that has immediately been corrected.

She can't afford to be frightened of a car as she won't be concentrating on the road when she's driving, for worrying about what might go wrong, but you cannot possibly try to reject a brand new car just saying you can't believe its been put right - without even testing it.

If the manufacturer resolves a problem to put the car in perfect order, that's it, job done. You have no right of rejection, especially for something so small.

As she sounds like a nervous driver anyway, take her to a large supermarket car park when it is shut and get her to drive around a few times and resume her confidence that it won't stall when she's approaching a halt. Whatever car she drives always faces potential occasional 'blips' so she needs to get over a fear of everything that 'MIGHT' go wrong, quickly.

Quinny_2

Ditto all of the above.

I think it's fair to say that BMW are probably one of the best when it comes to dealing with problems,along with the likes of Jaguar,Mercedes and all of the other top marques.

Tell your nan not to worry,and to go out and enjoy the experience of driving the modern icon,and not let it sit on the drive.

Personally,I'm a traditional Mini man myself.especially with a 1071s engine,straight cut box,twin 40's etc etc..............

Ken.