XC60 2nd Year Service - Ouch!!

[wilbydoughboy]

I have never understood why Volvo dont offer a no frills service. I dont want a breakdown service or a wash and vac. I would rather have have a couple of hundred pounds off the price.

[GMcL]

Most manufacturers do.

Volvo did, I don't know if they still do it or not for cars out of warranty.

You won't get a stamp in the book though as it's not classed as a full service.

[NigelDay]

Originally Posted by GMcL

Most manufacturers do.

Volvo did, I don't know if they still do it or not for cars out of warranty.

You won't get a stamp in the book though as it's not classed as a full service.

Once out of warranty, the only other option is probably a good independent garage if you are fortunate enough to have one nearby. I reverted to this in all my cars once past the warranty period.

[GMcL]

I ummed and arrrrd over that for the next service due, 5 years and have 43k on the clock.
Quoted £228 + £54 for the MOT from the main dealer made me think the indie would have to doing it almost for free for me to have recovery to the nearest garage anywhere in Europe for a puncture.
Also, told the Aux belt and tensioner would be done FoC as subject to a recall.

[Harvey1512]

Originally Posted by NigelDay

While we are on the subject, the other irritation is when a dealer charges several pounds for filling the washer fluid reservoir when it is already virtually full. Very cheeky. (If this has probably been discussed before, apologies.)

My absolute pet hate. I have had many an argument at payment time regarding this issue, even if it is for pennies. I always send the car in full and tell the servicing people not to touch it. It always comes up on the bill and I always refuse to pay. If they dodn't budge and remove the charge I tell them it will be the last time I ever use them. Very irritating bit of profiteering.

On the main point, blimey that sounds steep.

[Ninja59]

Originally Posted by NigelDay

Check out the Service Price Indicator.
http://www.volvocars.com/uk/own/main...rice-indicator
Seems to suggest £390 for the South East for the two year service.
With hindsight (if it was available) the pre-paid service deal would have been a bargain.

The main problem and annoyance from my point of view when considering Volvo for our practical car is Volvo still stupidly only allow the original owner within 90 days of purchase to benefit from the prepaid version. Future owners buying through selekt cannot do it.

Many other manufacturers definitely allow future owners an opportunity to do fixed price pre paid including BMW. Now whilst I think about "ongoing" costs and also my unfortunate habit to pamper the MX5 it has to be considered as part of the overall game for our future practical car.

On that, final point whilst I do agree in my head about the bad nature of condition based servicing from some of the German makes such as BMW with 36K or 36 months between services it is one huge way to cut costs for owners.

Fixed price servicing at those intervals though makes no sense as they want the best part of £500 for the service over 4 years or 50K. Quite a simple argument as it is one service...the service is "only" £430.

Originally Posted by RoyMacDonald

Always supply your own oil. Never use the collect and return facility unless it's a lease car and unless you don't care about your engine and transmission being thrashed to within an inch of it's life. Check how much they charge first.

You're reasonably close to Charlwood Volvo. They'll give you a courtesy car if you need one. http://crvolvo.com/

I disagree entirely actually it is dependent on dealer and the type of people they employ, but when I still had my Volvo it visited Rybrooks in Chester I never saw or witnessed any thrashing, speeding or anything of the above nature using collect and return. If I had then I would of been straight down to them with the video from the car.

In my experience as well they never used to charge within a 10 or 15 mile radius

On the oil point as everyone else has said it is one huge way to reduce your servicing costs if using main dealer, make sure to check they are okay with it prior to booking though.

[Ninja59]

Originally Posted by NigelDay

Once out of warranty, the only other option is probably a good independent garage if you are fortunate enough to have one nearby. I reverted to this in all my cars once past the warranty period.

You can still use an inde in warranty and maintain it using blocking exemption rules but you have to prove it was all done using OEM parts and goodwill goes out the window.

[GJB]

Have for last 8 years supplied my own oil except with a Volvo select car which came with a free service.
Have never had a problem with the dealer over the oil,
have saved possibly over£400.

[GMcL]

That's paid for your Saturday or Sunday newspaper maybe. I think that works out at about £1/week you've saved sourcing and carting your own oil around.
I wonder how long before the dealers catch on to this and start giving you the old oil back to recycle.

[Fellwalker]

With my previous car, I paid for 3 years servicing, then extended by a further two, and found that only the service items in the book were covered (a few checks and an oil change), and mandatory replacements weren't. The garage also tried to include a spare bottle of oil, and top up the washer bottles. I declined to pay and these were removed from the bill. I was also pressured to have but rejected a "recommended" clean and recharge of the air conditioning unit at 2 years and every subsequent time. I rang the manufacturer to confirm this was only recommended by the garage not them. The service manager then tried to say it was an over zealous receptionist just wanting to protect me by suggesting ("we don't recommend, sir") the AC work.

I am interested in whether my Volvo 5 year deal will include the timing belt and automatic gearbox oil change which are usually at 4 years.

Main agents have to have ridiculously specified and expensive showrooms and workshops to manufacturers standards, and they have to pay for them somehow.