Ravenscroft Volvo?

[imac]

Originally Posted by Ravage

Because I am importing to the UK a seperate warranty won't be viable.

Plus the s60 selected used car warranty is europe wide as it's a volvo warranty, not a dealer warranty.

Yeah I might take the gamble and get what I want rather than something which isn't spot on.

It depends whats avaliable at the time. I started looking at S60R's which seem to go about £15k for an '03 through Volvo Selected Used Cars - and about £13k elsewhere. For only £2k I'd probably spend the extra and get the used car warranty that comes with the cars direct from Volvo.

[s60.i@n]

Prolly a bit overpriced, but thought they were ok,,

The main sales guy seemed very reasonable, and not too "sleazy 2nd-hand car salesman",, (the other guy that tried flogging the extended warranty OTOH was a bit creepy,, and really didnt make me want to buy the warranty,, lol)

All the minor problems were sorted, and the guy spent a long time tracking down a bizarre rattle that only occured when we drove the car ! (turned out to be the plastic ticket holder attached to the windscreen )

[V70RMW]

I had a look at their cars when buying both a V70 and S60 last year and they seemed OK - although I didn't buy there. I think they were a bit expensive, in common with most of the specialists. Something to do with them having to source enough of the same type of car to keep the business turning over so sometimes paying over the odds at auction etc.

I bought both cars in the last 12 months from Volvo dealers and was really happy with the prices I paid - just need to spend some time searching to find the right car at the right price.

[gizbourn]

Newbie here but as this is a forum thought I would give an opinion on this topic.

Just bought a lovely Car from this garage, well it looks good, sounds and feel good, apart from an v annoying rattle from passenger sun visor, but must grumble as didn't hear this on test drive.

I am the easiest person to sell too and would probably class myself as a bit of a buying mug. From the outset I put £100 to secure the car for viewing, completely refundable if you’re not happy. I got there greeted by a smiling (assassin) salesman. Talked over the car, it had some additional items for the model which was pleasing and the price seemed about right to me having done some scouting for Audi A4's and Merc C classes and not being a Volvo trader. Took it for a test drive, had read a report about engine vibration at around 1800 which was not present, it was noisier than my 10 yr old C Class but I remember a parent’s 58 v70 model which was also noisier than my old C Class so wasn't worried about that.

So then started talking about part exchange for my old 220,000 miles c250 TD. He offered a shinny warranty that was worth £600 a year which I thought was great news, so agreed on that and thought I would see if I could get anything else. Absolutely adamant that he could not do anything on the price as they were an internet based firm and their prices are rock bottom already. So I suggested he offer more years of the warranty on cut price, which was forthcoming.

Then he said I needed to put a further £400 to secure and he had had another buyer already, this is where muggins knows it is a typical ploy but at the same time didn't want to lose the car. So I um and ah and phone the wife and I then decidee to go ahead and make the agreement to put the £400 non refundable deposit. Checked through the service book with all the stamps. Then asked about the spare key as I couldn't see it, and was told they normally turn up and would probably be hear by the time I get back to pick the car up and if my some strange chance it didn't the cost is around £140.

That is where the trouble started.

I agree it is my fault that I am too quick to go into these things and too easily sold too, but you can't help feeling a bit deflated.

Firstly you find that the second key is never going to turn up, you also realise the salesmen who had a big beaming smile when you met him is going to do absolutely nothing to help you. I rang a trusted garage which I found on this forum to get a price of a 2ndkey and they asked if I could get the serial code from the primary key, so I called the garage and asked, they said the key was not with them as the car had gone for pre handover service but would get back to me. When I rang later they said they couldn't find a serial number. The fact it is clearly on the bottom of every key was annoying that they couldn’t even be bothered to have a look. The key from a dealer is £270 so I went back and said I was a little shocked as this was a lot more than the £140 the salesman had suggested and as they had absolutely no intention of buying it they could possibly help out with the cost. Which to their credit they did, they got it with £70 off which was great, but still strange that there was no spare anyway and the line that 90% of their cars are sold without spares was just bizarre.

Then there were no mats, which the slightly lame excuse that mats look tatty when selling didn't even fool me, but they could do me a set to £100 which is a cut price, I found some on EBay for £35 incl postage.

Then there was my research into the warranty. The policy the salesman tried to sell me, which in his words "covered everything apart from services" didn't even exist. The warranty company had never heard of such a policy with the name the salesmen referred to, even when I called the salesman to confirm I was told a name that the warranty company had never heard and was in fact an amalgamation of two policies. Also their most expensive policy was £320 not the £600 I was being told I would get as part exchange. So I backed out of this and flogged the car quite satisfactorily privately and got enough to be a top of the range Warranty for another company that also includes wear and tear.

This then led to the next issue. The warranty needs a last service invoice not just the book being stamped, which is acceptable as it references what has been done. I asked for this from my friendly smiling salesman to be told that they can't do that !!!! they get all their cars done on mass and get a monthly bill from the garage so they cant separate up the cars for specific amounts. There was no point in talking to this man as he just had no intention of helping at all. I called back a couple of days later and thankfully got another salesman who said, yes, no problem we do this for our warranty company as well. So I now have a kind of invoice that lists the work done on headed paper with reg and mileage etc and obviously the book is stamped. It still left me with a bigger sinking feeling and the taste of sour lemons in my gut.

My main point about this is that unless you know exactly what you are doing and you know the car trade and you know the Volvo market I wouldn't buy from this "family run business", but then I guess if you are in the car trade and know your volvo's you wouldn't be going there anyway.

I fully realise this may be read by someone at ravenscroft but I think it is a fair enough report, I was naive and they were somewhat econominc with some statements. Anyway I love my 06 V70 got some really neat little things and the ride is very good, immediately put 200 miles on it going up and down M3 and half way down the m4 and it is actually quite nice to hear the engine as opposed to the Merc which was so insulated you just hear a low hum.

BTW as a newbie thanks very much for running a great Forum.

[billibong]

New to this .......

[billibong]

love the forum...............

[billibong]

Originally Posted by FIREBOLT

In my opinion if they were the last firm on earth I would not buy a Volvo from them, from personal experience! If you like throwing away money it would be less stessfull just to burn it!

CONFUSED...
I recently purchased a used 3 year old XC90 from Ravenscroft Volvo. We visited them because they seemed to have the largest selection of 3-5 year old examples. We felt the whole experience at Ravenscroft Volvo was very welcoming and easygoing without that stuffiness of some main agents, which we visited the previous week. They let us test drive 3 vehicles unsupervised, which I found to be a great bonus to buying the car. We explained we needed a vehicle within 3 days, which to our surprise they managed to have a Volvo check list service carried out, a twin electrics tow bar fitted and and a blue tooth parrot system added to the car. I can only say that Rob, the salesman I dealt with, was very professional and made the whole experience hassle free. It is very obvious that their set up is low maintenance, ie no glossy showrooms, but the volume of Volvos they have and the whole professional quick turnaround is the reason they were so busy. We were recommended by a colleague at work and would certainly use them again in the future.

[RaVolvoR]

Have had my V70 for 3 years now that I bought from them. I agree somewhere in between "Gizbourn" and "billibong". Car has been OK, warranty was a 100% con, pure and simple £600 down the toilet. Choice of cars great but generally they seem as "honest" as the general motor trade. That is they are making a living and are not a charity so trust them like any car salesmen. Modern times, no one is just doing you a favour!

[Big Guns]

Hello all, great forum although im a bit of a newbie when it comes to forums, just thought id add my comments as im now a happy V70 driver and im very suprised at the odd negative comment regarding Ravenscroft and the extended warranty, as both have been nothing short of excellent in my experience. I has bought my V70 D5 auto from Ravenscroft about 8 months ago and i purchased a 1 year warranty extension that turned out to be a real blessing and worth its wait in gold because after approx 6 months a started experiencing what i would call lurching or juddering? when put into drive, i immediately contacted Ravenscroft and they where very helpful and even managed the booking of the car into workshop etc unfortunately it turned out the gearbox was at fault, now although it was apparantly a very rare fault the bill still totted upto over £3000! Luckily the warranty came into play and coverd the whole cost and i was over the moon, I had the car back on the road very very quickly and touch wood ive had no problems ever since, so thank you warranty and thank you Ravenscroft i would certainly buy from and recommend them to any person thinking of changing or upgrading to a Volvo.

[John Steed]

Must agree with Big Guns. Ravenscroft seemed pretty OK to me. Happy to let you crawl all over the cars, take long unaccompanied test drives, and sort out the odd niggles you get with any car (even a new one). Reasonable PX offer for a non-Volvo as well. No warranty issues (touch wood) but I found the warranty firm they deal with helpful when I contacted them to enquire about details before choosing which warranty firm to go for. RaVolvoR, you're right that they're not a charity, but I think they are streets ahead of most dealers, and they do seem to know their Volvos! Did you have any particular after-sales problems with them?