Wheels/Tyres: Advice needed Please - Volvo UK

[Arianne]

I woundn't rate your chances with compensation on this one.

24k on a set of tyres for an XC90 is not bad, other forum members have experienced considerably less.

A dealer could reasonably argue that, since owners are advised to check their tyre condition and pressures regularly (weekly?) then early signs of uneven wear can quickly be identified and then rectified before too much premature damage is done.

The other problem is that tyre wear can be affected by many factors such as road damage, kerbing, poor tyre pressure etc.

What I'm suggesting is that it'll be too difficult to prove causal responsibility under the test of reasonableness and probability.

Save your time, pennies and pressure. Just move on. Put it down to experience.

Best wishes.

Judge Arianne

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by Arianne

I woundn't rate your chances with compensation on this one.

24k on a set of tyres for an XC90 is not bad, other forum members have experienced considerably less.

A dealer could reasonably argue that, since owners are advised to check their tyre condition and pressures regularly (weekly?) then early signs of uneven wear can quickly be identified and then rectified before too much premature damage is done.

The other problem is that tyre wear can be affected by many factors such as road damage, kerbing, poor tyre pressure etc.

What I'm suggesting is that it'll be too difficult to prove causal responsibility under the test of reasonableness and probability.

Save your time, pennies and pressure. Just move on. Put it down to experience.

Best wishes.

Judge Arianne

I'm not so sure Arianne as the guy did return the car for checking as he thought there was a problem after about 8 weeks. The dealer didn't perform a proper check of the wheel alignment so how could they say the alignment was OK without one?

I'm speaking here as someone who complained to my local dealer for 2 years about every 6 months about excess pressure in my cooling system on my 940. They insisted every thing was fine time after time. I had fat hoses, water spraying out of the expansion bottle which eventually split. Eventually I took it to an independant who said the head is probably cracked, we'll whip it off and take a quick look. Two big cracks...new head everything fine. I'm sure the problem was caused by the dealer when I asked them to change the coolant on a service. I belive they thrashed the engine before it had a chance to get rid of air in the system. It came back from them leaking coolant after the service.

They also told me I needed a new auto gearbox. I took it to a specialist who found that the kickdown cable had never been adjusted since new. It had 25mm excess play. He adjusted it for free.... Auto box fine. The dealer ticked the kickdown cable adjustment box on every service. When it had a fault I actually asked if the cable needed adjustment because that's what my Haynes manual listed as the problem. "Oh yes sir of course we adjusted the cable"!!!!

Thankfully they are out of business now, but maybe you can see why I tend to think that some dealers don't give a satisfactory service and deserve to end up in court.

[Arianne]

That's fair enough Roy, I'd forgotten that the car had been returned to the dealer (thread's getting a bit long).

I still think I'd probably walk away though. Life's too precious. But the letter threatening legal action didn't cost more than a few pennies so as a tactic of brinkmanship it seems worth a shot.

Good weekend to you.

Arianne

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by Arianne

That's fair enough Roy, I'd forgotten that the car had been returned to the dealer (thread's getting a bit long).

I still think I'd probably walk away though. Life's too precious. But the letter threatening legal action didn't cost more than a few pennies so as a tactic of brinkmanship it seems worth a shot.

Good weekend to you.

Arianne

Me too Arianne....I'd just find someone I could trust to look after my car in the future. I think it all depends how strongly you feel about getting bad service. As he's still sounds annoyed after 2 years for him it could be worthwhile.

Good weekend to you as well.
Roy

[sfiente]

Thankfully I have now found a garage that is decent. I have started to use one which is about 40 miles away, however he has 25 years experience on Volvo's and seems to know more than the average technician at my local dealership. He diagnosed a fault that the local dealership were unable to and his labour rates are a little cheaper, so with the extra travel im still a little better off.

It's a shame that I have to drive so far, however I would rather leave the car with someone who I trust, then worry about it when its in for a service 10 mins away.

Thinking about my dealership, the service was rubbish, they used to charge me £10.00 for a courtesy car when my car was being serviced. Their loss at the end of the day as I will not buy another car from them, shame really the sales guy there was excellent and looked after us when we took the car back, however he left.

[Patrick lince]

Originally Posted by Multiplex

The problem with XC90 drivers is they all seem to be two bob millionaires.

They like to drive around in their nice flash SUV but wont fork out the money for a couple of tyres!

Jealousy rears its head in many ways!!!!!!!!!!!

[sfiente]

Originally Posted by Patrick lince

Jealousy rears its head in many ways!!!!!!!!!!!

I was'nt going to give this fool the satisfaction of replying to his post, however it shows how he failed to understand the post. I need 4 tyres not 2

[Arianne]

Originally Posted by sfiente

It's a shame that I have to drive so far, however I would rather leave the car with someone who I trust, then worry about it when its in for a service 10 mins away.

My previous car was a Ford Galaxy and the Ford dealer was just 5mins walk on the same road as we live. I thought that building a solid relationship with the dealer in my country town (of just 7,000 population) was a 'marriage made in heaven'. How wrong I was.

The dealer was almost useless. They couldn't hear the tell-tale signs of front suspension drop-link failure at 10k, didn't know how to fix a heating fault, gave incorrect advice concerning suitability of a spare set of wheel rims that I then bought but the dealer realised wouldn't fit, got the bit about a replacement cambelt wrong by 20k and claimed that the noises made by a malfunctioning run-on water pump were typical of all Ford TDCi engines.......even though the Galaxy runs with a VW sourced TDi unit and not the Ford TDCi found in the rest of the Ford range. They managed to scuff my alloys allowing ongoing water penetration to cause more serious discolouration.

Received plenty of apologies. Ford offered a 50% contribution to the water pump failure as the manufacturers warranty had expired by two months. The dealer refurbished all four wheels at their expense - but only after much wrangling and expecting a contribution from me, despite their admission that the cause was their screwdrivers being used to lever the centre hubs off the wheels rather than using the Ford approved special tool.

Now they see our £30k+ XC90 parked just along from their dealership and I hope they wonder why they never even got a sniff of some of that cash when it came to car change time!

Thankfully, we now have the most wonderful dealership. They're not cheap but they work hard to get things right, explain everything to us, offer a free (well, nothings free really) car collection service and / or courtesy car. They also always wash the car, vacuum and wash to rubber mats and dress the tyres when it's with them - even for a minor item. Quite amazing. I just hope Volvo still have a superb car in their range for us when the time comes to change the XC90. I'd really want to stick with the dealer.

Arianne (feeling better for sharing this tale of woe).

[RoyMacDonald]

It's a pity all Volvo dealers aren't like yours Arianne.

We used to have a brilliant one just a mile away but unfortunatly they went Audi some years ago because Volvo had no small car in their range at that time. Now I travel 40 miles to someone I'm happy with.

All the best.
Roy

[Multiplex]

Originally Posted by sfiente

I was'nt going to give this fool the satisfaction of replying to his post, however it shows how he failed to understand the post. I need 4 tyres not 2

Believe me I deal with people like yourself day in day out and by no means am I jealous. I do however drive a car that I can afford to maintain