I spent two hours at Do It Yourself Mechanics in Sterling earlier today, doing brakes on my Subaru. Fantastic facility, great people. Every bay was occupied.
The dealers have people that make that kind of repair all the time to cars that they are going to put on their previously owned lot. Call your closest dealer and see if they can work something out.
TVRGeek, I disagree. The filter cannister is a bit tricky and it is quite easy for some grease monkey that has never done one before to screw it up.
Recent example - a friend took his 1985 grey market Porsche to a local non-Porsche independent for an oil change. They put the lift points on non-structural parts of the rocker panels. Did $2500 worth of damage.
DIY oil change is something that every self-respecting MINI owner should know how to do. Make it easy on yourself by installing a Fumoto valve. Buy the 36 mm socket (at least thats the size my R53 takes) for the oil filter cannister. With those done, the only tricky part is learning the 'feel' of reinstalling the oil filter cannister. Tricky at first - you don't want to risk cross-threading it - but you'll figure it out.
I have a few misc R53 parts for sale. OE knee bolster, $15. OE Tensioner with 90K on it plus two stock belts each with 35K on them, all for $35. OE coolant expansion tank, $15. Cubby, $10.
I had to leave Saturday. 520 miles door to door for the return trip to Centreville; 1360 miles driven in total. I hope everyone had a great Saturday and a safe drive back today.