Standard of Mini AUC
Discussion
What are other people's opinions of the standard of Approved Used cars from Mini dealers ?
I have come across two cars I am interested in but both don't meet the standard I would expect when paying a premium over an independent dealer:
1. The first car clearly had mismatching panels in the photos and was badly prepped. The rear quarter panel was a different shade to the door pointing to a bad and/or cheap repair yet the car was being sold as approved used. When I rang to check, in case it was just bad photos, they did admit that it mis matched and that they had now put it through their Mini approved bodyshop and resprayed it. This worries me though as to what the original damage was and any other shoddy parts to the repair.
2. Another approved used mini with 21k miles was being sold with Full Service History. All it had in 3 years and 21k miles was a PDI service when new on the electronic record, and one piece of paper showing a £150 oil service from Joe Bloggs VAT registered garage at about 19k miles that looked like something my kids could have knocked up on the computer.
They charge a premium for peace of mind and yes, you get a warranty but that is only for 1 year, what happens after or if there are bodywork issues down the line ?
How do others rate them and their experience ?
I have come across two cars I am interested in but both don't meet the standard I would expect when paying a premium over an independent dealer:
1. The first car clearly had mismatching panels in the photos and was badly prepped. The rear quarter panel was a different shade to the door pointing to a bad and/or cheap repair yet the car was being sold as approved used. When I rang to check, in case it was just bad photos, they did admit that it mis matched and that they had now put it through their Mini approved bodyshop and resprayed it. This worries me though as to what the original damage was and any other shoddy parts to the repair.
2. Another approved used mini with 21k miles was being sold with Full Service History. All it had in 3 years and 21k miles was a PDI service when new on the electronic record, and one piece of paper showing a £150 oil service from Joe Bloggs VAT registered garage at about 19k miles that looked like something my kids could have knocked up on the computer.
They charge a premium for peace of mind and yes, you get a warranty but that is only for 1 year, what happens after or if there are bodywork issues down the line ?
How do others rate them and their experience ?
I always thought AUC had to have full main dealer service but someone mentioned on a BMW forum that this wasnt the case as they found a car with a missing idrive service record.
Regarding condition, no they are not the best of the best. I've seen some right lemons and even know of a twice stolen recovered car being sold as AUC.
Do not trust a sales person when they say a car is in excellent condition and it's had x y z. I'd walk away from both the cars you've mentioned.
Regarding condition, no they are not the best of the best. I've seen some right lemons and even know of a twice stolen recovered car being sold as AUC.
Do not trust a sales person when they say a car is in excellent condition and it's had x y z. I'd walk away from both the cars you've mentioned.
Thanks. Definitely walking away. I was just posting to see if my experience was not normal but sounds like standards have dropped.
I definitely would not expect a stolen recovered car to be sold as an AUC. That is what the auctions and trade are for.
The sales guy said that due to COVID and a shortage of cars in the face of high demand, BMW Mini relaxed their AUC criteria and now accept cars serviced by independent VAT registered garages.
In principal, I am not against that but I think they should be limited to independent marque specialists and not back street mechanics.
I definitely would not expect a stolen recovered car to be sold as an AUC. That is what the auctions and trade are for.
The sales guy said that due to COVID and a shortage of cars in the face of high demand, BMW Mini relaxed their AUC criteria and now accept cars serviced by independent VAT registered garages.
In principal, I am not against that but I think they should be limited to independent marque specialists and not back street mechanics.
I thought the terms had changed as I was pretty sure it use to have to be main dealer history. I'm on my 11th BMW/Mini and the current one is the first not to be AUC or New as I found a honest low mileage car with full main dealer history sitting in a Peugeot forecourt, £3k cheaper than AUC and it still came with 12 months warranty.
Bought our Mini from a main dealer as a AUC. I think the experience varies quite a bit from dealer to dealer, but can't say I was impressed.
When we test drove the car it had a knocking noise when the stop/start fired the engine back up. The sales person then drove it and confirmed it was normal. Next service at our local Mini dealer (not where we bought it) and it was traced to needing 2 new engine mounts
When we viewed the car I asked them put it in the showroom so we could see it in good light (we were arranging a bit later in the day). They didn't do this and when I got the car home, found some very deep scratches the roof that then needed to be sorted out
For some reason they totally drenched the all interior plastics in silicone polish, which took ages to get rid of. It wasn't as though they were trying to hide any damage, once I'd cleaned it all off, it looked fine.
The filler cap cover fell off the first time I stopped for fuel, so I had to glue it back on.
They didn't bother to check if the tyre sealant in the boot had been used, so I've been driving around without any way to use the puncture repair kit. The bottle was there, just empty.
Although, to be fair, this was still a better experience than we had at another Mini dealer who basically refused to sell us a car as we didn't want finance!
When we test drove the car it had a knocking noise when the stop/start fired the engine back up. The sales person then drove it and confirmed it was normal. Next service at our local Mini dealer (not where we bought it) and it was traced to needing 2 new engine mounts
When we viewed the car I asked them put it in the showroom so we could see it in good light (we were arranging a bit later in the day). They didn't do this and when I got the car home, found some very deep scratches the roof that then needed to be sorted out
For some reason they totally drenched the all interior plastics in silicone polish, which took ages to get rid of. It wasn't as though they were trying to hide any damage, once I'd cleaned it all off, it looked fine.
The filler cap cover fell off the first time I stopped for fuel, so I had to glue it back on.
They didn't bother to check if the tyre sealant in the boot had been used, so I've been driving around without any way to use the puncture repair kit. The bottle was there, just empty.
Although, to be fair, this was still a better experience than we had at another Mini dealer who basically refused to sell us a car as we didn't want finance!
Edited by TNW on Wednesday 17th January 15:23
Your first mistake was letting a sales person tell you a knocking noise was normal. I haven't come across a sales person at BMW/Mini that actually knows cars. To them they're just selling a product.
They won't want to fix anything as it comes off their profit. Once sold any issues are now paid for by the dealer warranty.
They won't want to fix anything as it comes off their profit. Once sold any issues are now paid for by the dealer warranty.
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