Mini broke my Mini!
Discussion
Hopefully I'm posting this in the right place. Apologies if I'm not.
Yesterday, my 2012 R58 JCW Coupe (32k on the clock) was picked up at 8:30am by my local Mini dealership for a service and spark plugs change. It wasn't due a service or new plugs, but as I'd only bought the car two weeks ago, I wanted to get it all done.
I hadn't heard from them by 12:30, so gave them a call to get an update. Apparently, no-one was available to speak to me, so they promised to call me back. By the time they did, I was already on my way to the dealership.
I got there at around 1:30. The service assistant then said she had some bad news; the mechanic had managed to snap one of the spark plugs whilst trying to remove it, and now the head needs to be removed and reskimmed, at a cost of over £2.5k. She also advised me that my car cannot be driven until it's been repaired. Obviously, I demanded they fix the issue at their own cost, as they'd broken my car! They are refusing to accept liability. I just want my car back as it was before they picked it up yesterday morning.
Any advice would be much appreciated. My baby is currently sitting at the dealership undriveable.
Yesterday, my 2012 R58 JCW Coupe (32k on the clock) was picked up at 8:30am by my local Mini dealership for a service and spark plugs change. It wasn't due a service or new plugs, but as I'd only bought the car two weeks ago, I wanted to get it all done.
I hadn't heard from them by 12:30, so gave them a call to get an update. Apparently, no-one was available to speak to me, so they promised to call me back. By the time they did, I was already on my way to the dealership.
I got there at around 1:30. The service assistant then said she had some bad news; the mechanic had managed to snap one of the spark plugs whilst trying to remove it, and now the head needs to be removed and reskimmed, at a cost of over £2.5k. She also advised me that my car cannot be driven until it's been repaired. Obviously, I demanded they fix the issue at their own cost, as they'd broken my car! They are refusing to accept liability. I just want my car back as it was before they picked it up yesterday morning.
Any advice would be much appreciated. My baby is currently sitting at the dealership undriveable.
Edited by Prufrock on Thursday 30th August 10:10
Edited by Prufrock on Thursday 30th August 10:11
Same issue if I turn off a tap in someone’s house and it snaps and floods the place. Doesn’t matter wether it was me, then or another random. Balance of probabilities is that it would have snapped when the next person turned it.
It would be hard to prove fault due to negligence so you might be up s
t creek without a paddle.
It would be hard to prove fault due to negligence so you might be up s
t creek without a paddle. Head skim for that. Dear me. I know that certain snapped glow plugs on diesel engines can be removed in-situ without lifting the head. I think a similar tool would exist for spark plugs, getting to it might be a problem with the deep recesses modern sparkplugs sit in but can be minimized by removing the valve cover surely.
Googling snapped spark plug removal shows a ton of tools for this to avoid removing the cyl head. Maybe something has dropped off in to the chamber.
Sounds expensive anyway, I guess they will be replacing the timing chain / belt etc while they are there?
Googling snapped spark plug removal shows a ton of tools for this to avoid removing the cyl head. Maybe something has dropped off in to the chamber.
Sounds expensive anyway, I guess they will be replacing the timing chain / belt etc while they are there?
I've done some googling and found it is possible to get it out without removing the head. They're now getting an independent engineer in today to take the rocker cover off, to make it easier to access the hole, then he'll try to drill out the plug. They haven't mentioned who's paying for that! They didn't mention anything about changing the timing chain, etc. Oh, they did say I need a new clutch at a cost of over £1k too. My clutch is fine!
Personally, I believe they are liable for the damage to my car.
Edited by Prufrock on Thursday 30th August 10:32
The plug could have snapped off for a few reasons though, such as water leaking down past the seals on the coil pack causing the plug to corrode in place. Could have been a defective spark plug, maybe it was cross-threaded in there and you'll need a time-sert put in there too. It's not rocket science to pull a plug especially on one of those motors, it's a straight run down on to the plug, you can't cock it up. I wouldn't put the blame with the garage. Whoever came to that plug next was going to snap it imo, what would you expect them to do to avoid it?
Then on the flip side... I've only ever broken plugs where the ceramic insulation has broken, to snap one off just above the threaded portion takes some doing. Perhaps the tech should have felt the plug was tough to remove, and given it a soak in some plus gas. Looks like they just strong armed it and it didn't work out. With customers all wanting a mega fast turnaround they would probably have the service manager busting their balls to get cars done and not sat there while some penetrating fluid wicking down the threads.
I know that when diesel glow plugs snap, the owner of the car pays up to have them removed, not the garage. st happens, they're well known to snap off, it'll be about £150 to have the mobile engineer remove the plug. Suck it up and move on I reckon, so long as they don't take the piss with the bill. You might be able to get a few quid off with a whinge.
Then on the flip side... I've only ever broken plugs where the ceramic insulation has broken, to snap one off just above the threaded portion takes some doing. Perhaps the tech should have felt the plug was tough to remove, and given it a soak in some plus gas. Looks like they just strong armed it and it didn't work out. With customers all wanting a mega fast turnaround they would probably have the service manager busting their balls to get cars done and not sat there while some penetrating fluid wicking down the threads.
I know that when diesel glow plugs snap, the owner of the car pays up to have them removed, not the garage. s
t happens, they're well known to snap off, it'll be about £150 to have the mobile engineer remove the plug. Suck it up and move on I reckon, so long as they don't take the piss with the bill. You might be able to get a few quid off with a whinge.Edited by Cardinal Hips on Thursday 30th August 12:58
The independent engineer they got in has managed to get the plug out. They've agreed to cover the cost of the work they've got to do to retread, etc, and I've agreed to pay £100 towards the cost of the engineer (can't be arsed to argue with them over £100.)
Glad I'll have my car back tomorrow!
Glad I'll have my car back tomorrow!
Glad you got it sorted in the end. Just imagine though if you were the type that knew very little about cars or had no reason to doubt their expertise, you might well have said OK if that's what needs doing then do it. So the £2500 quote vs £100, hhmmm.... no wonder main stealers are called stealers, boils my piss.
Its rare for a plug to break, more often they strip the thread. However just because it breaks doesn't mean the garage should cover the bill. Granted £2500 is a lot but for a main dealer its probably reasonable.
As customers always being right.....thats not always the case. If a customer brings a car in and they have had a go or their mate has already had a look then refuse the job.
If you want a job doing and when things go wrong they are prepared to go the extra mile don't use main dealers use the smaller guys.
As customers always being right.....thats not always the case. If a customer brings a car in and they have had a go or their mate has already had a look then refuse the job.
If you want a job doing and when things go wrong they are prepared to go the extra mile don't use main dealers use the smaller guys.
Prufrock said:
The independent engineer they got in has managed to get the plug out. They've agreed to cover the cost of the work they've got to do to retread, etc, and I've agreed to pay £100 towards the cost of the engineer (can't be arsed to argue with them over £100.)
So they accept liability in the form of paying most of the bill but have asked for a contribution from you? fking chancers, you do understand how all MINI (and BMW, plus a high proportion of other main dealers) incentivise their staff by way of financial bonuses in their pay packets for every minute of time they get any service under "book" time?Then how the service management get incentives for extra customer spend on service? You've probably helped someone hit their target with that £100 despite their ineptitude.
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