Coming up the entrance ramp to the 190 yesterday, Little Em'ly's clutch dropped straight to the floor & did not come back up ('04 MC, 30,575 miles). Called MINI Roadside Assistance, and was told there would be a 2 hour wait. Mary came & got the groceries out to take home and get into the freezer, I called my policeman-best friend, and I waited. The cops showed up and offered to speed things along with the tow. They made a few official law enforcement type phone calls. They took my cell phone number and then went off to fight crime. Called me back, and told me MINI hadn't even called out a truck; due to the snow in Buffalo (which is only in Buffalo - I live 10 minutes north, and it's green everywhere, as it was in Niagara County, where I was shopping) they couldn't find any tow truck to take the call. Well, there are plenty of trucks in Niagara County, and when the constabulary offered to call one of them, I was grateful.
Instead of getting the tow from MINI to Towne, this other guy drove Little Em'ly & myself to my home on Grand Island. On the way, he said, "Did they explain the terms to you?" Well, no, they hadn't. $ 125.00 plus 3 per mile. I swallowed hard, and said, "I'll make out a check, or would you prefer a credit card?" I was told in no uncertain terms that cash would be required. When we got to my house, I left him there, jumped into my wife's car and drove like a bat out of Hell to the nearest ATM, whereupon I discovered my ATM card was missing. It must have fallen out of my wallet when I got out a credit card to pry open the little tow - thingy on the bumper, which he didn't use anyway.
Racing back to my house, swearing all the way, I got Mary's ATM card, drove back, got the cash, and paid the guy. Now I have to try and get MINI to reimburse me and get my car to Towne, which is not open on Sunday. This is the first real trouble I've had with her.
Just wanted to vent, and warn you all about my famous disappearing clutch.
Holy cannoli! You could have hired a limo for her at that price! I hope she'll be OK, once you get her where she needs to be. Good luck with the repairs.
Sorry to hear that Little Em'ly is under the weather. I had to ask Laurie about your towing adventure and we think that it is not MINI's fault . It’s a possibility that the rules imposed on the tow truck operators on the thruway were the reason for your difficulty.
Only certain companies can tow off the thruway. This is probably why there was a delay getting someone to help during the storm.
They are required to remove the vehicle to the nearest exit and then you have to arrange for the vehicle to be towed to the requested destination sometimes with a second tow. The first tow is always handled as a cash transaction, even if you have road side assistance. The second tow should be covered by the roadside assistance if the tow company participates.
Now for the story on how we came by this nugget of wisdom. In the pre Smiley days Laurie used to drive a Ford Escort wagon. One afternoon around 4:30 PM the car quit at one of the worst possible places. The Easy Pass lane on the south Grand Island bridge.
Hope this helps explain some of what happened to you.
Well, all is not said and done, but . . . MINI is going to reimburse me for the tow. I just got Little Em'ly back (yes, almost 3 weeks), and they forgot to give her the oil change I asked for. Other than that, things were great. I had a MINI loaner, almost the same color as Em'ly, and a year newer, but not as nice as her. Turns out I got a lot of options on her that I never knew were options, but having a MINI for all this time as a loaner was nice.
Mark Huber at Towne was considerate and helpful. Not counting the tow, which I'm getting back, it cost me nothing (well, I did go without my EZPass and my garage door opener for all this time, and that'll drive you nuts!), and that included getting a running light replaced as well as a second fix on my airbag/steering wheel emblem problem.
Funny how different Em'ly's clutch and shifter feels after 3 weeks of the loaner. And how good the Harmon Karden sounds. And not having to adjust the temperature all the time. ANd how I don't have to remember the code for the garage door keypad. And how I don't have to keep digging out my wallet on top of the Grand Island Bridge. And how good it is to be able to smoke in the car . . .
Good to hear she's back, Dave. I had a Mini loaner for 24 hours, which was great except for the slightly disconcerting view of a different colored Mini in the driveway. (PH/B MCS)
Mark was great- a nice addition to the Towne crew.
Same as always. I'll let everybody guess what that means.
I had no problem with traffic, or with coasting off to the side of the road. Just a big inconvenience, particularly with having relatives stay iwth us, as that was the weekend of the big storm, and we were the only ones in the family that didn't lose anything. I took the next day off work, since I had a bad cold anyway, and got everything handled.
