New gearbox after 25k miles

Mart2912

Mart2912

Mart2912

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25 Sep 2007
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765
Location
Scotland
So my dad has a 2018 Mini with an 8 speed auto. It has around 25k miles and he's had the car for just over a year. The warranty ran out at the end of March unknown to him. The car is financed on PCP.

His car suddenly started having issues engaging gears. It would sometimes rev before the gear would engage then it was a harsh thud, like dropping the clutch on a low rev manual. The issue was mainly in reverse, but when cruising on the motorway, no issues. There is a yellow warning light that says something about the drivetrain. Torque comes up with P0736 Reverse Incorrect Ratio. He took it into BMW because our nearest specialists wouldn't be able to see until a week on Monday, even then they say another 2 weeks if it requires parts.

BMW just called him saying he will need a new gearbox at a cost of £8000!! Understandable, he's very taken back by this. Where does he stand with this? To me, it's ridiculous to expect someone to fork out 8k for a new gearbox for a car that has done 25k miles that was sold from a Mini dealership. I've told him not to go with BMW as dealerships seem to replace, not repair.

Is this just a matter of tough luck and go to an independent specialist to get this sorted?
 
Does it have a full, main-dealer BMW service history? If so, then BMW may do a goodwill gesture seeing as the milage is so low. If it's been outside of the dealer network then he may need to just suck it up.
A transmission rebuild at a transmission specialist might work out cheaper. You'll have to ring around a bit though.
 
I don't know much about gearboxes/auto transmission mechanically but in my experience these kind of dealerships don't want to do any real diagnostic work and will happily try to narrow it down by suggesting replacing big ticket items :( sometimes they assume in the first hand you have some kind of warranty they can claim the work under as well.

Definitely get a second opinion on it.
 
He has dropped it off at the BMW/Mini specialist who just so happen to be within a mile of the BMW garage (it's an industrial estate with a lot of dealerships around). Funnily enough, that BMW garage wasn't aware/hadn't heard of that company. He took the diagnostic report to the indie specialist who seems to think they never even checked the fluids. They are saying worse case scenario it would be £3000 for a rebuild, so a lot more palatable than 8k, but here's hoping it's something fairly simple. Thankfully, the specialists has agreed to keep his car so he doesn't have to worry about getting it back and forth. Not sure when he will hear back, so it's just a matter of wait and see.

He's away for the weekend with my mum, so it won't quite be the stress free weekend he had hoped lol, feel really bad for him.
 
Rroff said:
I don't know much about gearboxes/auto transmission mechanically but in my experience these kind of dealerships don't want to do any real diagnostic work and will happily try to narrow it down by suggesting replacing big ticket items :( sometimes they assume in the first hand you have some kind of warranty they can claim the work under as well.

Definitely get a second opinion on it.
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correct you may as well be asking for the service managers first born as get any dealer round here to work on autos. wait for the specialist to diagnose it price sounds about right.
 
Only ever had one DSG myself and always worried if it was out of warranty, whilst I understand things don’t last forever and plenty run them out of warranty, a worse case scenario would ultimately ruin my year!

I would also have my dad saying “Told you to get a Kia/Toyota with their 5/7 Year warranties” or whatever they are.

My Partner had to have a new Mechatronic Unit (Under warranty thankfully) but I’m sure the paperwork including labour was around/over £2000.

Edit: Regarding it only having 25k Miles and 6 Years Old - If it’s short local journeys that’s far more wear and tear than a car doing 20k Motorway miles per year.

Point is 25k miles doesn’t tell the whole story but agreed it should be capable of such mileage.
 
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Gilbert89 said:
Point is 25k miles doesn’t tell the whole story but agreed it should be capable of such mileage.
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I’ve got a DCT in my Smart. I’ve done just below 6000 miles in 5 years, always been 23 miles once a week non stop from new, I know as I’ve owned it from new. I would expect it to last more than 25k miles.
 
nlel1975 said:
I’ve got a DCT in my Smart. I’ve done just below 6000 miles in 5 years, always been 23 miles once a week non stop from new, I know as I’ve owned it from new. I would expect it to last more than 25k miles.
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Agreed.

However sometimes, unfortunately mechanical failures can happen prematurely.

I’m not clued up on Mini’s - Assuming this is a JCW therefore I’d imagine potentially driven very hard (Numerous Launch Controls etc, Remapped etc) again meaning 25k miles of wear with that usage I could understand a major gearbox issue.

How they can suggest 8k for a new gear box at 25,000 miles with a straight face is beyond me.

Customer Service/Complaints for Good Will and Social Media if no joy after exhausting all avenues with dealership on this one I think.
 
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( look at the points of failure with all the actuators in the zf .. price of cars has gone up relative to earnings I thought )
 
I've done 185,000 miles in my F11 and the ZF8 has never been serviced. It's seen some abuse in its life to. You can definitely tell it isn't a new gearbox but I'd be fuming if I had a gearbox go at 25,000.

I assume the mini is the "same" gearbox?
 
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