>>Yes our insurance company settled. They depreciated it and we paid the deductible. We live south of Tallahassee on the coast. Let me know if you see a rebuild. The MINI S was returned to Jacksonville. It was electric blue/white top, black leather interior, run flats, approx 1800 miles. Post the VIN number or a portion of and I'll confirm!

Well, I just called the Jacksonville MINI dealer's service dept and they have no knowledge of any MINIs coming in over the past month (or ever) as being totaled due to engine fire. So...BOGUS!! (Yikes...I've got to stop reading this stuff
)

 

Thanks. Another useless topic that needs to be send to the gutter!

Hosts, time to put this one to sleep.

 

While I too have my doubts about this story,

I don't think you can count on the Service dept (which is really the Tom Bush BMW service dept with one MINI Service Advisor) to tell you if they did or did not have such an occurrance...

If it is true, then ToooHot should post the VIN here in response, and someone could check it in CarFAX.

(I live in Jacksonville, and bought my MINI from the Jacksonville dealer - Tom Bush MINI.)

 

>>While I too have my doubts about this story,
>>
>>I don't think you can count on the Service dept (which is really the Tom Bush BMW service dept with one MINI Service Advisor) to tell you if they did or did not have such an occurrance...
>>
>>If it is true, then ToooHot should post the VIN here in response, and someone could check it in CarFAX.
>>
>>(I live in Jacksonville, and bought my MINI from the Jacksonville dealer - Tom Bush MINI.)

Well, I heard that they had 2 service advisors (Jose and Emily), but anyway don't you think that they'd know if a car came in with a melted engine compartment? I would think that that would stand out from the spate of faulty boot latches, buzzing sunroofs, faulty anti-siphon valves, and the like.


Maybe not.

 

You're right, I'm sure they would remember it.

 

Pics woulda been good...who doesn't love a good car-beque.

 

>>
>>It would be like me posting "Had anyone had their MINI roof cave in"
>>
>>... then going on to say its because a gigantic tree fell on my car.
>>
>>Very odd.
>>

now you mention it.....

ouch!

This was a photo from the BBC News site a few months ago reporting on the massive storms that hit Germany.

Poor little Mini!

 

What do you have to do to get a thread locked down around here? Maybe "tooohot" should go post some more fake feedbacks on the dealer review page while they're at it.

 

It is rarely the case that when an insurance agency pays out on a totaled vehicle that it is returned to the dealer. They are usually sent to the insurance auction yard and bought by stripping yards or rebuilders but i have never seen a dealership buy out of the auction yard unless they were a used car dealesd and the car didnt have a "salvage title" which is what they do if a car is totaled. (story getting weaker by the minute) someone just wants a little attention

 

i can't comment on whether a nest was really in the engine compartment but I did have an experience that makes me think that something like this could happen.

Some years ago we owned a Taurus wagon that we kept in the garage (before it was evicted by kids' bicycles and my BJ8 Healey). And this was a car was used multiple times daily shuttling kids, going shopping, etc. One time as I went to do my weekly tire pressure, fluid levels, etc. check I found many many little bits of meat and fur on the belt, pulleys and elsewhere - apparently a rodent of some kind was in the wrong place at the wrong time when the engine was started.

Apparently end of story, but nooooo, about a year later the head gasket failed on the front bank of the V6 (this series of Ford engines was notorious for bad head gaskets) and being short on funds it seemed worth doing the job myself for a couple of hundred bucks in parts instead of the grand it would have cost at a repair shop. So I started to take the engine compartment apart - take out the air filter, take out the air flow sensor, take out the intake manifold - and what is in the valley of the vee under the manifold but about a pound and a half of dog food pellets. It seems as though an uninvited community of chipmunks was living in our garage and decided it was a good idea to take dog food from the big bags of it we kept in the garage and store them for winter (or whatever it is that chipmunks do). Besides the engine compartment we subsequently found dog food stashed in cinder block walls (the tops are open), in the back of dresser drawers that were awaiting refinishing, and in a a pair of baseball cleats.

Mainly this seemed like an appropriate opprtunity to share this story - but also just to point out that things that seem ridiculous might still be true.

 

If a car is left outside for a while, unused and unattended, it could inspire nesting!

House sparrows, house finches, and starlings will built nests in virtually anything made by man, and they'd love the hood scoop. It is just about the right opening for a starling (maybe a bit too big, but not impossible.)

Otherwise, I would take this story with a grain of salt- too many incongruities.

 

Sounds like a feasible explanation. I have mice that build nests in my MGB engine compartment all the time. They use the insulation from the hood and stuff it in any cubbyhole they can find. It doesn't rake them long, either. When the MG sits for a few days, I check for nests and pull them out.

 

Sounds like a feasible explanation. I have mice that build nests in my MGB engine compartment all the time. They use the insulation from the hood and stuff it in any cubbyhole they can find. It doesn't rake them long, either. When the MG sits for a few days, I check for nests and pull them out.

 

isn't there a rule about the "one post wonder" ?? Or was it called the firt-post ??

 

Hey Gidget,

Is that comment directed at me?

 

I have been curious about this post since I read it the first time and responded with the statement that the car would have ended up in an insurance auction yard...well I found a couple of them both with engine fires here is the link to Colege auto sales (an insurance sales outfit in miami) http://www.casmiami.com/listing.html
click on MINI in the list it is a 2002 EB Cooper S A buddy of mine buys rebuilders from these guys.

 

Can I just say that this has been the most entertaining post I have read lately.......it was just too funny. And furthermore it is the 2nd time I have seen the same post...maybe they didnt raise enough answers the first time around.

 

I had forgotten about this untill My buddy said he found an S for 13 Grand. I told him he was foll of it and he pointed me here he is thinking of picking it up if it is still there.