Car repair

afaulkner66

My car has recently broken down, it was due to water ingress via a faulty door seal. The water damaged the carpets, and two electrical modules in the drivers footwell. The cost of repair so far is sat at £1200 or there abouts. I have warranty through the AA and they claim it isn't covered as water damage is one this that isn't covered. I've spoken to BMW MINI and they have told me that they wont help pay anything towards the car as door seals are something that they don't cover in their warranty. I have explained to MINI that I have been out of the country for 6 months and that my car was parked up unused and the door seal shouldn't fail on a car that is only 6 years old with 45K on the clock. Although it did how was I suppose to notice the water was leaking in? I am stuck with this mounting bill.

Does anybody have any ideas on what I can do to either ease the costs or help with the payment?

fishpond

"The cost of repair so far is sat at £1200"
Are you sure, as that sounds a little excessive for 2 modules.

DantheMan

fishpond wrote: »

"The cost of repair so far is sat at £1200"
Are you sure, as that sounds a little excessive for 2 modules.

Agreed, what else did they replace?

This is just speculation, but the damamge may have occured because the car wasn't being used. Bad weather can damage seals and if it was left sitting unused this may have been the issue. eg if you leave a car sitting long enough the tyres will go flat and will be unusable

coinxoperated

I have a horrible feeling the OP has taken it to a Mini or BMW garage Poor sod.

Go to a garage a friend or family member can recommend if your paying out of your own pocket.

I had a Mini for a while. On a service with Mini I was told I needed new windscreen wipers...

80 quid!!!!

Shot down to Halfords, 15 quid.

forgotmyname

2nd hand units from a breakers would have saved a fortune.

afaulkner66

The car got towed there by The AA. Thats what it will cost to repair it, its all the labour involved in taking the carpets up and the seats out, then fitting the parts. The parts are £450 and £250 for the modules. Mini have already taken the seats and the carpets out. I took it to them because I thought My warranty would cover the problem, which at the time I didn't know what it was. I could easily fit new modules if I could acquire them. Its whether or not they need programming in. Plus the cost of moving the car from the garage to another garage and the work already carried out by mini could still be stupidly high. I would need to ring them to find out how much the car would cost as it stands.

londonTiger

yeah, that's one of the problems with having a breakdown cover - you're not given enough time or information to decide on the best course of action as you dont know what the fault is.

I would have asked aa to drop you off the cae to your home and then you can decide what to do with it - i bet the recovery firms get a comission from the garages they take your car to.

C_Mababejive

Who designs a car where electronic modules are potentially below a point where water might collect due to ingress or other means? Mindless.

colino

The new MINI, even with BMW engineering is a surprisingly unfinished car. Some people have successfully dried out the Body Control Module, though with electronics I would say it's always just delaying a proper fix. After not so many units, MINI actually produced a new cover for the BCM - tells you they knew there was a problem!
What you need to do is seal (or get someone who has done it successfully before for you) the door seals, the windscreen, the sunroof (if you have one) and most worryingly, the A pillars. On a lot, if not all, the external trims need to come off and the whole thing put back together with plenty of silicon sealant.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Before putting new modules in it might be worth contacting BBA Reman (other ECU specialists are vailable some good some not), they might be able to overhaul your existing modules for a fair price, you have nothing to lose.
Stress it was rain water ingress, they might not want to touch possibly dangerously infected flood damaged items and i wouldn't blame them.

Dislike modern mass produced unreliable badly built cars more every day, wouldn't give you a thankyou for one.

afaulkner66

Thing is now I am stuck till Monday. I spoke to a friend last night and he mentioned that the bolts used to bolt the modules down are designed to snap when they are removed. Thus making it impossible to do it at home. I have written to the warranty company asking for help with the situation. But so far it looks like I will just have to fork out for it. But this is the last time I buy a mini. I couldn't believe they can't even sort out a courtesy car. Now means I will have to pay for hire car