Year 2 Service - Items not included?

[darbs]

update:

i called volvo north london for a quote on the brake fliuid change. they want £161.88. kwikfit want £34.95. kwikfit use mobil (exceeds dot4 standard). i'm booked in with kwikfit first thing monday morning.

when i called volvo they mentioned another fluid change was recommended as an optional extra to the service. this was a coolant change. how much? £89.88. i just had this done at kwikfit for £39.95.

on the other issue, i spent £4.99 for a tyre depth checker at halfords. these are the 3 results of the depth test on my offside rear tyre:

kwikfit (wednesday):
inner 5mm
centre 5mm
outer 5mm

volvo north london (thursday):
inner 3mm
centre 5mm
outer 6mm

my check (friday):
inner 3.75mm
centre 4.75mm
outer 4.75mm

so it seems there is some alignment required, but the situation isn't as bad as volvo reported. i will check out the details given by DD below on a geometry analysis (how can i not try a place where the top guys name is tony bones!), but does anyone have any other recommendations?

[XC60MY12]

Originally Posted by darbs

(how can i not try a place where the top guys name is tony bones!)

Presumably has a skeleton staff! Too easy I know but couldn't be @rsed to think of anything better (getting old)

[wimorrison]

Originally Posted by darbs

update:

i called volvo north london for a quote on the brake fliuid change. they want £161.88. kwikfit want £34.95. kwikfit use mobil (exceeds dot4 standard). i'm booked in with kwikfit first thing monday morning.

...

Might be worth pinging this to Volvo Customer Services - they have been pretty good with me when have brought up discrepancies between the dealer costed options and teh Volvo listed options - they told the dealer to sell them at the Volvo price and then gave me a credit note for bringing it to their attention

[jimbg]

Originally Posted by wimorrison

Might be worth pinging this to Volvo Customer Services - they have been pretty good with me when have brought up discrepancies between the dealer costed options and teh Volvo listed options - they told the dealer to sell them at the Volvo price and then gave me a credit note for bringing it to their attention

How do you know how much these items should be charged for? Is there a Volvo list somewhere?

Cheers
JimG

[Worthingmike]

I have just had my car 2 year service 24000 miles and 22 months old, and the engineer also recommended that the brake fluid gets changed cost £98, but it's not included in the service. I was also recommended to have the this was a coolant change cost £89 and because I have a tow bar fitted I should have the gearbox oil changed. Cost £198 It seams to me strange that if they are all optional extras. Having new filters fitted is part of the service. Either it needs doing so should be part of the service or it is not required and should not be asking.
Personal I think that two years is a bit short for both the brake fluid and the coolant. It used to be recommended at three years. I suppose soon it will be recommended as yearly.

[darbs]

Originally Posted by wimorrison

Might be worth pinging this to Volvo Customer Services - they have been pretty good with me when have brought up discrepancies between the dealer costed options and teh Volvo listed options - they told the dealer to sell them at the Volvo price and then gave me a credit note for bringing it to their attention

i might do this, although i have nothing in writing, just a phone quote. in any case, i'm happy that i shopped around and found somewhere cheaper.

i must admit, if it wasn't for this forum, and the practices followed by others to get the best deal, i would have probably just told volvo to do it. i suspect far too many do that, especially in the extravagant north london brent x area.

i think to date this forum has saved me well over a grand - including fixing self inflicting bodywork damage. i'll make sure the missus knows next time she complains i spend too much time on it!

[darbs]

Originally Posted by Worthingmike

It seams to me strange that if they are all optional extras. Having new filters fitted is part of the service. Either it needs doing so should be part of the service or it is not required and should not be asking.

100% agree. as far as i can make out these things are pretty much as mandatory as an oil change and not really optional at all. seems this isn't unique to volvo though. i've seen similar discussions on a VW forum.

[wimorrison]

Originally Posted by jimbg

How do you know how much these items should be charged for? Is there a Volvo list somewhere?

Cheers
JimG

In my case it was simple as the items I wanted were listed on the accessories pages and has prices against them. The issue was that the dealer was 'willing' to honour the price on the Volvo Accessories List but wanted to charge VAT (at that time 17.5%) whereas the the Volvo Price List said that VAT was included

The items I was ordering totalled over £1000 so the saving was considerable and then Volvo sent me a credit note for £100 by way of apology, I was a very happy bunny!!!

[Clan]

Originally Posted by darbs

update:


when i called volvo they mentioned another fluid change was recommended as an optional extra to the service. this was a coolant change. how much? £89.88. i just had this done at kwikfit for £39.95.

That is wrong , Volvo DO NOT list a coolant change interval , ask them for the evidence ..
It should last indefinatly and only needs changing when the coolant is drained for some other reason .. Volvo use the very best coolant and it is not very expensive ( about £14 for 4 litres needed )
In practice in recent years volvo are not using the best coolant in the factory , change that after 2 years when it looses its strong blue colour for the coolant you get from the volvo parts dept and you wont ever need to change it again ..

Kwik fit wont have used the best coolant so be prepared to fork out again in a couple of years for some volvo coolant ..

[darbs]

it was still a very strong blue colour when it was changed over. the kwikfit guy seemed to think red coolant lasted 5 yrs, but blue only 2. he was surprised to see blue in it when we took a look. not sure how right he was.

it's clear it isn't just volvo north london advising this. worthingmike had it done too. is this worth reporting to volvo uk?