MTBScott, you'd think that this would be unenforceable, but refer to the link in my post --- a G stock national champion had major warranty issues. (I don't mean to bring up that old post.) This is something that they can enforce and frankly, it's almost never worth the hassle for one person to challenge this. It's just an attitude or a stance that mini has decided to take ... It's very sad.

 

roadus - tsd rallies are considered a competitive event and they can void your warranty over it.

 

To everyone who suggested that you just avoid telling your dealer about the AutoX event, that is probably a very good idea. However it seems a little silly to have to hide in the closet over the issue.

To add insult to injury, the mini use group encourages you to go out and try autocrossing or rallying events, but then they won't stand by their product. If they are going to reach out to people and market their cars with road races like the JCW challenge, then they should stand by their product. It would be like Jeep voiding your warranty because they noticed you put the vehicle in 4WD. It's almost like Mini saying, "I know we suggested you go out there and do this, but you actually did it. Oh well, then you are on your own."

And, Maxx, if mini service wants to debate the issue -- they win.

-Jamie

 

Autocrossing is abusive to the car, I doubt anyone would argue that. AFAIK all manufacturers will deny claims if they find sufficient evidence of abuse. I've seen dealers carefully exam tires for signs of aggressive driving. It may not be enough to deny work but why give them more excuses to give you a hard time?

 

They market the car as a capable vehicle. If they encourage me to go out for an autocross event and they tell me it's capable of doing these events with it's "excellent handling", then why shouldn't they cover mushrooming and strut mount failure even if I do drive the car hard.

Why doesn't mini just write ---

This warranty is for little old ladies only.


Do you think Range Rover is going to void your warranty if your bring it back dirty?
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I've got too much time on my hands, I guess. This post was just supposed to be an FYI, not a lets leap to Mini's defense debate

 

It might be better not to tell your dealer that you are competing in the mini, but overall there shouldn't be much of a problem. Autox itself really isn't going to damage the car anymore than driving hard on the road, and less to some point due to less gear changing. Competitive event can be a rather vague term as well and they would probably end up loosing a large amount of customers and PR if they started voiding warranties due to autox.

 

Starting in 2003, my Subaru Dealership worked together with Subaru USA and put together HDE's at our local track for WRX owners. It had the full blessing of Subaru of America, who had reps there, and yep, most of the cars were driven hard. Someone asked the question what would happen if they broke their car at the event - he was told to push it outside the grounds of the track and call a tow truck, that way no warranty impact.

That's what I call a dealership standing by its customers.

 

I asked my SA about this. She said that track racing will usually void the warranty, but AutoX "usually" isn't a problem.

She did tell me a story about one track case they had recently. Someone brought in a car with melted brakes. MINI wanted to know if the car had been tracked. The owner swore it hadn't. MINI did some "research" and found that it had. They fixed the car under warranty as a curtesy, but told the owner that if he/she ever lied to them again they would void the entire warranty.