My new volvo ruined 😞

[Gh81]

Having recently joined the world of volvo owners and this forum after buying my beautiful 54 plate v70 d5, an accident yesterday has left me car-less and wanting another.

I am truly gutted as it was a fantastic looking car and great to drive. I'm mildly hopeful that it may be repairable but the realistic side of me says not likely.

So if anyone knows of a 53 plate or onwards volvo v70 d5 for sale, preferably in metallic blue with tan leather then I would be grateful to hear about it.

Fingers crossed for repair in the meantime.

Thanks

[martinrpeachey]

Hope nobody was hurt. (It's a V70 - I doubt you noticed )

How bad is the damage? It might be worth buying it back if the insurer writes it off.

[Gh81]

Hi Martin

No body was hurt thankfully. I wasnt surprised that the other wasnt hurt as they pretty much stopped in their tracks but I ended up in a ditch on the side and like you said didnt really notice until I climbed out. I did think about buying it back but unfortuately the damage assessment came back and it just wouldnt be worth it. Am gutted as loved it!!

Got my eye on another one but the prices seem to have gone up since I bought mine the other month. Am looking at an 04 plate but its not the facelift, its got 20,000miles more on it and its coming in at nearly £800 more.

Not to mention I cant find another with the same colour combination. Stunning blue with full tan leather...

Am open to any suggestions of where to look. Ive tried the usual autotrader, ebay, parkers and piston heads.... any other suggestions?

Thanks,

G

[martinrpeachey]

You could try signing up to other Volvo specific forums - T5D5, VPCUK, Volvotuning and see what's about. Try to stay clear of pre-2004 models and tbh, some 2004 models are late registered 2003 models and potentially troublesome - look for chrome rings around the speedo dials and avoid autos if you can.

[Brendan W]

No 2 son managed a pirouette into a stone wall a wiped out the front and back of his Focus and set all the fireworks off inside. Officialy the repair estimate was greater than the car value. We got a second opinion out of curiosity from a smaller father and son operation and on the basis of a quote for less than half the amount reversed the decision to replace and repaired an otherwise excellent car. Yes he used some 'spurious' body panels and lights but did a first class job all new parts and reset the SRS light. Worth a look, certainly was in our case

[Gh81]

Thanks Martin, will take a look at those and see if anything comes up. Strange you should mention the autos as I prefer manual but the car I'm taking a look at is an auto for a change. Excuse my ignorance but what is it about the autos that I should be staying away from?

Brendan, thanks for that. I didn't realise a second opinion could be sought so readily. Did you have to cover the costs for this and did it impact on the time scale much for the insurance turnaround?

[BL08]

Originally Posted by Gh81

Am open to any suggestions of where to look. Ive tried the usual autotrader, ebay, parkers and piston heads.... any other suggestions?

Gumtree?

[5imon]

Originally Posted by martinrpeachey

look for chrome rings around the speedo dials and avoid autos if you can.

Why avoid autos? at 1k + for a new clutch I'm keen to avoid manuals!

[Brendan W]

Originally Posted by Gh81

Brendan, thanks for that. I didn't realise a second opinion could be sought so readily. Did you have to cover the costs for this and did it impact on the time scale much for the insurance turnaround?

There are plenty of good people looking for honest work and a second opinion costs nothing.
I could write a book about the inflationary effect of insurance on repair costs. The first question in a body shop is ..... is this an insurance job?
We didn't have comprehensive which fosuses the mind of both owner and repairer who has the option to offer a proper price or lose the money to a replacement car salesman.
As we were outside the insurance silliness loop the whole thing took six weeks. The first two was us making our minds up, the last two were down to main dealer delivering the wrong belt tensioner fireworks.
A stingy pill for a young driver but a valuable lesson well learned with no injury to life or limb and new friends made in an excellent repair shop.
In any event even if it were an insurance job, between excesses and loadings most if not all of the real world repair bill would have been clawed back in time.
Insurance doesn't so much protect us from what things cost as protect us from the insurance industry.

[martinrpeachey]

Originally Posted by 5imon

Why avoid autos? at 1k + for a new clutch I'm keen to avoid manuals!

Early autos were notoriously troublesome when the miles built up. Volvo insisted they were a sealed unit and never needed any maintenance and by the time it was realised they actually needed a fluid change from time to time, it was too late for most boxes. At around £1500 to replace a box, which had to be the same box and not the newer version due to the software, there have been a lot of early autos getting scrapped.
My clutch cost 1100 quid to change but it lasted 170k miles, 70k of which was during police use/abuse when it was a motorway traffic car.

Then there's the fuel economy and poor performance of the auto cars...

Oh, and the transmission cooler being built into the main radiator? what's that about? If I wanted a gearbox full of water, I'd buy a landrover