GINA KIDA
Los Angeles,#2Consumer Comment
Thu, May 16, 2013
I am one of the thousands of owners who have experienced multiple transmission failures on my V70T wagon. One at 40k miles and another at 60k. My dealer also spoke to Dealer Management at corporate and while my car was also maintained on schedule exclusively at a volvo dealership I was merely offered a reduction in cost not a new transmission at their cost. So you see, not so simple.
While this may not be recall proportions there is obviously a problem with these transmissions. An extensive one. Should I really be expected to buy a Volvo and then replace the transmission every 20-40k miles? So Volvo sells you a car and then you're expected to pay thousands of dollars to their dealers to replace transmissions? Does that really strike you as ethical?
Anonymous
United States of America#3Consumer Comment
Wed, February 24, 2010
A few things about your post.
1. You claim to have had a 100,000 mile "bumper to bumper" warranty. This is simply not true. A Volvo Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle is not a "bumper to bumper" warranty, it is a exclusionary warranty valid for 100,000 miles OR 6 years from date of original purchase, whichever comes first (The day the first owner drove it off the showroom floor). In fact, the ONLY "bumper to bumper" warranty on ANY car is during the first 12 months OR 12,000 miles, whichever comes first.
2. You paid 3k 3 weeks prior to have the turbos replaced. Turbochargers do not fail. Period. End of story. UNLESS - the vehicle has not been properly maintained. Do not want to hear excuses on this one. They simply do not fail unless the services have not been done. Entirely your fault.
3. The "service transmission urgent" light came on at 116k miles. Great. Now the technician can pinpoint the concern with your car. Guess what??? Your warranty, as you stated, only lasted 100,000 miles. Not to mention, no record of your concern was documented in the past. No leg to stand on, not even a stub.
4. Loaner cars are owned by the dealership, not Volvo corporate. The dealer buys these cars from corporate to sell as new, then takes the stickers off the windows and slaps license plates on them. They are provided by the dealership for customer use. They make the rules for handing them out, not corporate.
5. Recalls are issued by corporate. You say there are 1,973 complaints on the internet for this failure. Wonderful. Super. Great. Question. How many XC90's are on the road? 2,000? Um, no. 100,000? Sounds better. So that would mean that less than 2% of these vehicles have this problem. Not nearly enough to issue a recall.
6. Can corporate authorize a repair to fix your car at no cost to you? Sure they can. The same thing happened to my XC90. Radiator, cooler, lines, transmission. And I maintained my Volvo ONLY at the dealership. Please note that one word, ONLY. I had 125,000 on my car before this happened to me. The dealer called and stated I needed these things for around the same price, 7500 bucks, but since I have been a lifelong customer of Volvo, AND do every one of my services at that dealership, I don't have to pay a cent. Not one cent. Because the dealer called someone at corporate and told them my problem (without my consent, but that's ok). They explained how I have been a Volvo customer for years and had everything done there. They approved it. Done. Simple.
Next time you want something from the dealer, get all of your services done there. Your brakes, your tires, your alignments. The 30 and 60k's are expensive (600 bucks a shot), but in the long run, it's money in the bank.