Q. In early 2021 I purchased a 2020 Mini Cooper SE EV. I thoroughly enjoyed bopping around the city, and it was the perfect urban car for me.

In June 2026 I tried to start my car and got a red powertrain fault notification. It refused to move and was towed to the dealership. After several hundred dollars in diagnostics and several hundred more replacing the "weak" 12V battery, nothing changed. So here is a 6-year-old car with under 10,000 miles and a supposed 8-year/80,000-mile high-voltage battery warranty, and I was informed that I needed to authorize $7,000 in labor to take the car apart to determine if the problem was covered. If so, the $7,000 would be refunded and the car fixed. If not, I remained on the hook for the $7,000 plus repairs.

I am a senior citizen living on Social Security and my retirement savings, and cannot wager $7,000 on a roll of the dice. Apparently neither the dealership or Mini corporate was willing to place that bet either, since they asked me to cover the cost upfront.

The final solution was to sell the bricked Mini back to the dealer for a minimal amount. My initial diagnostic and battery costs were covered, with a few thousand dollars coming back to me, but nothing close to what I could have gotten for the car in running order.

Mechanical things fail — that is a given in life. What offended me was the audacity of a major manufacturer to sell a car that could not be serviced in a reasonable way. I am sending out this warning to all Mini SE EV owners: if your car is still running, dump it now!

—W.O., Minnetonka, Minnesota

A. Something most readers do not know about me is that I own multiple vehicles just for fun, and I spent over a dozen years at two different times in my life working in the car business. I am immersed in car culture and as passionate and knowledgeable about automobiles as I am about technology and home entertainment, though it will not become a regular column topic. This reader email is compelling and directly related to my recent Stellantis hybrid experience, so I decided to address it.

I am shocked (pun unintended) and disappointed that you had such an experience with Mini, a BMW brand. BMW has a long-held reputation for stepping up for their customers, and in my fleet I have two BMWs, a 2006 and a 2013. Given their age and being out of warranty (and over 250,000 miles on my 2006) I work on them myself or have mechanic friends help with complicated jobs. Fortunately other than regular maintenance over 76,000 miles, the 2013 BMW hasn't needed anything besides a $100 module and repairs for the 2006 have been straightforward.

As we have both experienced, it can be extremely difficult to diagnose EV problems, and we both also learned that a warranty does not guarantee your car actually gets fixed. EV owners are also tied to the dealer because independent mechanics cannot service them. A second opinion from an independent would have been an option for you with a gasoline car out of factory warranty. For those who must have an EV, I think leasing is the way to go, as you are shielded from the massive depreciation and walking away is much easier and probably far less expensive if things go sideways. Since my Stellantis/Tonale column ran I have been gravitating away from an EV for my hatchback replacement. I never again want to experience a bricked EV with a red powertrain failure notification!

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