Volvo Service Price Indicator - Beware!!!

[froggyted]

Folks, just a heads-up not to use the Volvo Service Price Indicator tool at https://www.volvocars.com/uk, as it's not fit for purpose. I've just discovered that my ten year service on a 2009 S40 2.0D is going to cost me over £1,000 more than I'd anticipated!!! The Service Price Indicator shows that only a basic oil, oil filter and cabin filter change are needed, at approx £250, but Volvo service technicians are adamant that the vehicle needs the two belts replacing, as well as other sundries, despite the fact that Volvo's online tool indicates that these belts don't need changing until 12 years/150k miles. I'm not impressed. I hadn't budgeted for this, and am going to have to defer the service until May, when the vehicle is actually ten years old. I previously used this tool before having the vehicle serviced last year, so this discrepancy has existed for at least twelve months, possibly a lot longer. I can't believe that nobody has previously noticed and flagged this up. What would happen if you used the Service Price Indicator, but had the vehicle independently serviced, and the timing belt snapped somewhere between 10-12 years or 125k and 150 miles?! Very sloppy of Volvo, and it has greatly inconvenienced me.

[Dancake]

You drive a 9 year old non-premium representation of the marque that any reputable garage could easily maintain, so I fail to see exactly how you've been greatly inconvenienced. Stick with Volvos current service regime and have the work carried out by an independant. Staying with Volvo for your servicing is not cost effective. You won't get back most of what you've put into the car when it comes to selling it. Aside from that, £250 for a basic oil, oil filter and cabin filter change is absolute madness.

[froggyted]

Originally Posted by Dancake

You drive a 9 year old non-premium representation of the marque that any reputable garage could easily maintain, so I fail to see exactly how you've been greatly inconvenienced. Stick with Volvos current service regime and have the work carried out by an independant. Staying with Volvo for your servicing is not cost effective. You won't get back most of what you've put into the car when it comes to selling it. Aside from that, £250 for a basic oil, oil filter and cabin filter change is absolute madness.

The inconvenience is that, due to other demands on my resources such as a narrowboat i co-own with my partner, i had not set aside an additional £1k for this service. Or, to put it another way, i do not have the money. If the Volvo Service Indicator, which, it appears, is frankly wrong, and highly misleading, had been accurate, i would have budgeted for this expense during the past year. As it is i now have to delay the service until May when, due to the original owner actually having the first two services done within a year, the car actually reaches ten years old and thereby falls due for the ten year/125k service. Since i only do between 6-8k miles per annum and the actual mileage since new is only just nudging 70k, i am going to take a chance that the belt doesn't snap in the next few months and that the oil will be ok for nearer 18 months rather than 12. I agree with your view regarding Volvo's service costs up to a point, but the main dealer service does come with Volvo expertise, Volvo HQ software updates, and, moreover, comprehensive breakdown cover which is worth about £100. This makes the £250 service cost look better value, and although i accept that this major service could be done considerably cheaper by an independent specialist, it's not the sort of work i would want bodged.

[Dancake]

That's fair enough, but I can tell you now that there are thousands of non main dealer mechanics and technicians who could service your vehicle just as well, if not better than Volvo. I could understand your logic if it was a 3 or 4 year old car, but at 9 years I honestly believe it's just money down the drain. If you had your car serviced at a reputable independant, you wouldn't be online complaining about the price of servicing. In fact you'd probably be able to afford Volvos' £1k service quite easily.

[Bendolfc]

Theres also a whole load of not so great independents who skimp on the basics like lubing the bonnet latch meaning you get a nice shock when it pops at 80MPH (fortunately in my case the secondary catch held it) and using pattern parts that don't last.

That said, I'm sure my belts service at a dealer came in at around £700 and that included the water pump that they said they wouldn't normally do but it felt notchy.

[scoobysn7x]

£249 on essentially an oil servicer is just silly, why anyone uses volvo to service their car after its out of warranty is beyond me. Same service at my local volvo indy (that uses volvo parts) cost me £114 all in , my volvo dealer quoted £245+vat, quote for the timing belt was also extortionate, sure quote was near £800 from there, vs about £400 from the volvo indy. Probably something to do with £85+ vat labour rate at volvo vs £35 at the volvo indy.

[BOBAD]

Originally Posted by Bendolfc

......I'm sure my belts service at a dealer came in at around £700 and that included the water pump that they said they wouldn't normally do but it felt notchy.

If they said that they wouldn't normally replace the water pump at the same time as they replaced the timing belt then they should be avoided at all cost.

That is the worst piece of advice I have heard since the designer of the Viking helmet was advised to place the horns on the inside........

As for the OP thinking that £250 for an oil and filter change represents good value, well, words fail..............



,

[Ignatz]

You pay your money and make your choice. Here's my experience for what it's worth.

I bought new in 2010. The main dealer mislead and outright lied to me throughout the entire process. So much so that I took the service business to another of the group's dealerships for the first three years. Experience there was reasonable but the servicing costs and in particular the third year service was astronomical. It took significant effort on my part to get the original dealer to make some recompense by paying for my first service and for a tank of diesel. No apology from anyone in person.

I moved house a few years back to a new area. I thought I'd give the local main dealer one last chance. They damaged the car, which was left to me to discover. It had to go back to them the damage to be made good and resprayed.

A year or so later I had a fault with the aircon. Out of warranty, I went to Volvo UK, who made a goodwill 50% contribution to the work which had to be done at a main dealer. The fault was subject to a 'fix free if defective' note to dealers, but the window for that had just ended. The dealer did the work, but when pressed was adamant that Volvo UK wouldn't budge further on the discount. I called Volvo again and they immediately agreed to take another £50 off the bill. The Service Manager wouldn't talk to me when I picked the car up.

Since then I've found a reliable local garage (two in fact) who I trust to do work on my car at a reasonable price and to be honest and straightforward in any fault diagnosis. And this has been my experience not only with my Volvo, but with the one other car I owned from new.

Large car sales groups have no incentive at all in my view to do anything other than charge through the nose for all the services they provide. My local main dealer charges over £100 an hour labour, twice that of my local garage.

As the years pass and cars depreciate in value, there comes a point where the maintenance costs become equivalent to the car value. If you can get the work done by someone you trust (ask locally for recommendations), you might find that the work you need can be done at a greatly reduced cost and with the peace of mind that in my experience at least, the small garage is more inclined to help you out at short notice and when things go wrong.

[Lincolnite]

Originally Posted by Ignatz

You pay your money and make your choice. Here's my experience for what it's worth.

I bought new in 2010. The main dealer mislead and outright lied to me throughout the entire process. So much so that I took the service business to another of the group's dealerships for the first three years. Experience there was reasonable but the servicing costs and in particular the third year service was astronomical. It took significant effort on my part to get the original dealer to make some recompense by paying for my first service and for a tank of diesel. No apology from anyone in person.

I moved house a few years back to a new area. I thought I'd give the local main dealer one last chance. They damaged the car, which was left to me to discover. It had to go back to them the damage to be made good and resprayed.

A year or so later I had a fault with the aircon. Out of warranty, I went to Volvo UK, who made a goodwill 50% contribution to the work which had to be done at a main dealer. The fault was subject to a 'fix free if defective' note to dealers, but the window for that had just ended. The dealer did the work, but when pressed was adamant that Volvo UK wouldn't budge further on the discount. I called Volvo again and they immediately agreed to take another £50 off the bill. The Service Manager wouldn't talk to me when I picked the car up.

Since then I've found a reliable local garage (two in fact) who I trust to do work on my car at a reasonable price and to be honest and straightforward in any fault diagnosis. And this has been my experience not only with my Volvo, but with the one other car I owned from new.

Large car sales groups have no incentive at all in my view to do anything other than charge through the nose for all the services they provide. My local main dealer charges over £100 an hour labour, twice that of my local garage.

As the years pass and cars depreciate in value, there comes a point where the maintenance costs become equivalent to the car value. If you can get the work done by someone you trust (ask locally for recommendations), you might find that the work you need can be done at a greatly reduced cost and with the peace of mind that in my experience at least, the small garage is more inclined to help you out at short notice and when things go wrong.

Could you advise the two garages in Lincoln you’d use again please.

Thanks

[Ignatz]

I chose the County city to denote my location, but I live some distance from Lincoln. Depending on where you live this probably puts you at least an hour from my location so might not be of much use.