MINI Countryman 2024 (73) - 2.0 John Cooper Works ALL4 [Level 3] 5dr Auto Petrol Hatchback

Writing this on behalf of my parents, who as you can see had a rather shocking experience from both Mini Sunderland and Mini nationally. We bought a new Mini in October 2021 from Vertu MINI Garage, Sunderland. We now have, they tell us, a major problem which will cost at least \xa33000 to put right because of a problem with the drivetrain which the MINI computer analysis says requires a new clutch, which means taking out the gearbox, and probably a new flywheel as well. This is a car not long out of warranty, with low mileage (just over 20,000 miles on the clock when the warning light came on). It has had one elderly lady owner and has been garage serviced (at our usual garage) and maintained throughout, being used essentially as a second car. It seems incredible that the clutch should need replacing in these circumstances. It does not say much about the quality of Mini and Mini parts. The details are summarised below, and we think people who are considering buying a mini should know how awful Vertu MINI garage has been and how useless any appeal for help to MINI at a national level has been. When we bought the car, we got all the usual stuff about customer service. In practice, if our experience is typical, there has been none. We asked that Mini should consider a contribution, or a reduced bill, in the circumstances, but no. We said that we would have the work done at our usual garage, which has quoted less than half of the Vertu Garage quote. In fact, our garage's quote is much less as it includes replacing the flywheel, which they say is almost always necessary, and the Vertu quote does not, as they say they do not know till they do the work, so presumably we would be hit with that cost by Vertu on top of the \xa33,000. Vertu said that if the parts were defective, they would consider assisting, but they would not know until they had done the job (and presented us with the bill). We think most people would be sceptical, as we are, about whether, since they would be the only ones to know the truth, they would admit that the parts were faulty, if they found that they were. We already know from Mini nationally that Vertu has told them, incredibly and wholly illogically, that although they don't know and can't know till they have done the job, they are sure the parts aren't faulty. We therefore suggested that we get the job done at our usual garage, at half the cost, then give Mini the parts to check if they are faulty. Vertu has even refused to do that. On top of all this, and worst of all, Vertu told us the car could break down at any moment and we should just get it done. This was alarming, of course, but our garage tells us that this is incorrect and we would know when it was getting worse and needed to be done. Certainly, as things stand, the car is still running apparently normally. In summary, Vertu has offered us no help but on the contrary has quoted a huge bill which (if the flywheel also needs to be done, as they would no doubt tell us once they started on the job) is in effect a deliberate underestimate for a classic rip-off. Further, they have worried us by saying it needs doing at once or the car could break down anytime, in effect alarming us into a hasty decision. We should add that Mini nationally seem no use at all. They say (remarkably) that they are not car experts and can only proceed as their garage tells them, which suggests that the whole Mini appeal mechanism is a complete sham. We have referred all this to the Motor Ombudsman and we will see what, if anything, happens. We are happy to put a further update on social media in due course if people are interested. In the meantime, we would advise anyone thinking of buying a Mini, and especially from the Vertu Garage Sunderland, to think very carefully indeed.