I will be posting this on the Solo site as well, but please be informed that the official policy of miniusa is that any autocross event will void your warranty. Interestingly, this doesn't seem to apply to an HPDE.

But, if you are going to autocross, either put down a fake name or be aware they can void your warranty.

Please feel free to review the following email exchange.


<MINI.Assistance@askMINIUSA.COM> wrote:
From: MINI.Assistance@askMINIUSA.COM <MINI.Assistance@askMINIUSA.COM>
Subject: Your Warranty Inquiry [1-775739423]
To: Date: Monday, June 16, 2008, 10:24 AM


Hi ----,

Thanks for writing MINI. We appreciate your inquiry regardig the warranty.

As indicated in the Service and Warranty booklet, the warranty shall be null
and void if the vehicle has been used in any competitive event. Please also
note that only a service technician at an authorized MINI dealer can provide
technical support and specific warranty coverage advice upon inspection of the
vehicle. If you need it, you can find a list of our MINI dealers and their
contact information on our website,
http://www.miniusa.com/link/findadealer/dealerlocator.

If there are further questions I can assist with, please feel free to drop me
an e-mail. I will be happy to lend a hand.

LET’S MOTOR.

Darlene Hawley
MINI Customer
Relations and Services
Representative
866.ASK.MINI (275-6464)




-----Original Message-----

From: Sent: 6/16/2008 12:00:00 AM
To: miniassist <miniassist@internal>
Subject: General customer service



question/comment:
I am an avid autocrosser and I enjoy the occasional HPDE. I have been running
my 02 Cooper S for both of these events and I have been considering upgrading
to a 07 or 08 cooper S. Unfortunately, I just read this post:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125769&page=2

What is your stance on your warranty for cars used in

1) autocross

2) HPDE

3) Time Trials

4) Hill Climbs

5) Nasa or SCCA stock road races

Please email me your response as this is sorted out.

 

Thanks for posting. This is something all new MINI owners need to be aware of!

 

Yah....they've included that in the small print of the warranty ever since 2002. It's written in the books that they give you in the glovebox.

I autocrossed my Cooper (SCCA and independent) for 4 of the 6 years and never had any issues getting warranty work done....but that doesn't mean they don't still have the ABILITY to refuse warranty claims if they discovered your track/autox presence.

I have heard of stories where companies like mitsubishi and subaru were watching autocrosses and listing the WRX's and EVO's that frequented the events so that they could void warranty.

I don't think it's something I'd worry myself about though....

 

what about finding parking spot during boxing day at mall parking?? that's like autocross as well... LOL

 

Cover up your VIN # ?

 

It says quite clearly "any competitive event" (or something similar) voids the warranty, which has always put me off auto-cross. Track days are non competitive so don't void the warranty.

 

I think this falls in the category of "unenforceable." Federal laws dictate how warranties work and generally frown on companies adding their own reasons for denying them in advance. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Our local BMWCCA autocrosses are full of MINI's, most of them local club members with close ties to the area dealerships.

 

it seems that competitive event = timed event
so that would include autox, as well as time attack events where there is timing involved.

it sucks to hear that MINI is being like Mitu/toyota/subaru about autox.

 

How is this unenforceable? A picture of your car being autocrossed is grounds for Miniusa to deny warranty work. If you autocross your name and car info will likely wind up on a results website somewhere.

Most dealerships don't care or wouldn't bother to enforce this, but that doesn't mean they couldn't. As mentioned above, Subaru was doing this for a period of time around 2004. They would take pictures of cars and VIN's at events. The irony of this was my WRX came with a free SCCA membership.

 

???

this was discussed a while ago but i dunno what the resolution was

don't they have a contingency program? this is totally contradictory. technically, wouldn't tsd rallies be considered a competitive event? or pizza delivery?

 

A ton of my customers, including myself have been AutoXing our MINI's with only one person ever getting hasseled by the dealer. Basicly if you wear out of break something AutoXing don't try to get it warrantied. The dealer still has to prove it, and that is hard. Also if your AutoXing or Tracking it don't offer that info to the dealer. Remember you could have been driving the Dragon and done just as much wear, which is probaly harder than an AutoX.

 

Folks,

I have had a great relationship with my dealer - Mini Peabody in MA - since I bought the car.

I've never pressed them for warranty work that was in the grey area, and they've never refused to honor warranty where appropriate.

Gary King is the service manager, and a good man, and of course no fool.

I've sent them pictures of the car doing SCCA Solo National Tour, and proudly worn their decals for such events, and obviously made no secret of my use of the car since purchase.

I'd certainly hope that my experience is not unique.

I am aware of one rather visible tussle between a SCCA National Champion (in a G Stock Mini) and MiniUSA over a warranty claim that at least to me appeared incontrovertibly unrelated to motorsports.

After about thirty days, what turned out to be a problem with an individual MiniUSA employee was resolved and the warranty work was honored.

As this thread points out, Mini reserves the right to defend against warranty claims arising from extraordinary circumstances, but the interpretation of this allowance seems to be in safe hands - at least here in Eastern Mass.

Respectfully,

Charlie

Charles M. Thompson
2005 ASP Regional Champ
2007 STX Regional Champ
NER SCCA

 

Well done.

In other words, you behave honestly, and so does MINI. That's the way it should be.

 

Yes autoX and HPDE may void the warranty. More importantly, your auto insurance policy will contain a clause which excludes coverage for certain activities which may include autoX and HPDE.

Moral of the story: if you autoX or track your car, be prepared to pay out of pocket if you shunt it.

Subaru drivers register using phony names and tape over their license plates because Subaru of America, Inc. has been known to send spies to events to photo cars to void warranty claims.

 

I guess I should remove my SCCA sticker before going in for service. I haven't autoxed the MINI yet but at this point I am inclined not to use it for autox and just bring out my out of warranty M coupe out of retirement from autox duties.

 

AutoX'ing WILL NOT void your warranty. Being dumb enough to tell your dealer you AutoX after trashing your transmission while AutoX'ing will void your warranty.

 

Back when I was AutoX'ing VW's in the 80's, our local VW dealer sponsored most of the events. Several of their mechanics and salesmen raced. Warranty was never an issue. In fact, at one event, a mechanic showed up at the event with a factory demo and won his class.

Those were the days. People and corporations were a LOT less uptight. Hell, even lawyers raced in those days. Now Lawyers just suck scum.

 

I have a funny story...I come from the VW community and we had a local kid (my age) that took his brand new 07 Jetta GLI to the 1/4 track. Somehow (to this day dont know how) he managed to break the welds off the motor mounts and went down the track a few times. He ended up totally ruining the turbo, manifold, downpipe and a few other things. He had his car towed to the dealership with the time slips in the car and THE NUMBERS painted on the window. Needless to say, they laughed in his face and he had to have a local shop fix it (a few grand later). Lesson learned I guess, the thread was hilarious.

 

Interestingly on MINIUSA under the contact and FAQ section it states that they strongly encourage amateur racers to get involved with rallies and auto crossing.

 

EXACTLY! If these companies had any brains, they'd realize that the PR they get from people seeing their products compete and win in these events will SELL CARS. I think that's what VW had in mind when I was racing. They sold cars. Sure they paid for some repairs, but they sold cars too. It's not rocket science.

 

At a local BMWCCA DE the owner of a local BMW dealership was extremely fast in a highly modified E46 M3 (race seats, coilovers, Hoosiers, etc.). I asked him why he was not in the club race? He told me it was a lease car and at the end of the lease they would take off the performance parts and turn it back in. I assume he never turned himself down for any warranty work

I feel for the person who got this car thinking they were getting a nice low mileage M3.

 

Your right that is exactly what it says. I dont think you will have to much problems with autox, if your worried print a copy of MiniUsa faq's and throw it on the glove box in case service wants to debate the issue.

 

lol classic mini in mentor ohio holds a track day for every one that bought acar from them. second mini usa is doing auto x at mini take the states all 4 of them. so i would say go have fun your car

 

Please post pics of MINIs doing hill climbs!

 

I wanna see some too

Here are some from the John Cooper challenge hill climbs

http://www.minichallenge.co.uk/index...id=37&catid=16