Mini back from the garage. Haven't had the bill yet, but it's going to be at least £750.

I really hope that we can recoup some of that in the sale price, given that the new owner won't have to worry about it (replacement chain and tensioner have been redesigned).

Gutted that our time with the car, which was so positive most of the time, has been soured by this.

MrsC had booked us in for a tour of the MINI production line next Monday. Now cancelled; I have better things to be doing with my time...

So frustrating for you both. The experience you have had is one of the reasons we have shyed away from even having a test drive of one.

Still it's a new year Jim so let's look on the positive that you find a great car next.

I don't think it's the Mini that's the problem, Joe, even though the timing chain is a known issue. It has been a fantastic, fun, yet practical car, with enough power to be enjoyable on country roads.

No, it's just the feeling of having been caught out naively in the age old small-print trap with the warranty.

Anyway, as you say, time to look ahead, and I'm feeling very, very positive about my next car...!!

Jim,

While this may not be a huge help try this, ask warranty company for a copy of their official complaints policy, Then complain using it, when you have exhausted that, make a complaint to Financial Ombudsman.

You may also want to consider whether the policy was "miss sold"


http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/extended-warranties.html

Thanks Charlie,

We actually sold the Mini a week or so ago. I explained about the warranty to the new buyer (it was transferable), so it's now his to do with as he wishes (a small fire would be my personal recommendation).

The problem is that the warranty never openly claims to do more than it does. It is clear, if you have your wits about you, that it will not cover anything other than a sudden, mechanical breakage (not failure) of the parts involved.

The issue here is just that a warranty will have a great opportunity to let you down, just when you need it most, making you cross and disillusioned - unless you are 100% careful and objective when you buy it.

The trouble with that is there is nearly always a sign of the impending failure.

If you'd ignored the signs in this case, would you have been covered on the event of failure?

Before I bought my 997, I carefully researched these types of warranties and discovered they seldom pay out, oh they will pay for the odd alternator or some such, just enough to soothe any regulator or defend a court claim. BUT they will wriggle out using "Wear and tear" or some such and I am told they pay a healthy kickback to any dealer who sells them to a customer too.

The only way to respond is to complain then use the Ombudsman because if enough do that they will have to change and in any case each complaint costs them money.

Pleased you have moved on though Jim

Absolutely and emphatically not. That's the catch-all; if you don't investigate and take reasonable action if you hear a noise or get a warning light, etc., you are deemed not to have maintained the vehicle properly and are therefore not covered.

Heads they win, etc.

I recall when I bought the Bravo the salesman was most upset that I wouldn't buy a warranty.

He gave it the complete scare story, but got rather irritated when I suggested that if the car was as fragile as he was hinting then it would be back on his lot in the morning.

In a hundred and fifty thousand miles since then, the only serious issue has been an ECU failure (caused by a failed fan resistor, which caused an overheating wire in the loom, which caused a short circuit, which caused a permanent fan error, which dropped it into limp home) which caused a couple of hundred quid to fix - though there were a few days of head scratching.

I cannot see any reason for these warranties, other than to make the warranty companies rich.

The warranties are to cover the dealers who are liable anyway.

When I had an issue with my warranty after the piston melted on my 20VT, I spoke to Trading Standards. The guy there said to never take them as they rarely cover you for anything that the dealer isn't already liable for (ie a latent fault). The dealer makes the commission and sells on some of his liability (at your cost) and you (erroneously, in most cases) feel you have peace of mind.

As it happens in my case, me being a chartered mechanical engineer and Jamie Porter at The Workshop prepared to support me in court caused the warranty company to pay up. They tried the "impending failure" thing but I did ask the guy how you know a piston is melting slowly...

I should add that I'm going to test the theory as my Fiat 500 Dualogic developed a fault the day after I bought it which I reported to the dealer. The bill was eventually £400. I've sent them the invoice and not heard anything back after a couple of emails. Looks like I might have to start pushing a bit harder.

I await further updates on this, MRS. Hopefully it will all be sorted out easily, but if not, I'll be rooting for you!