7500 mile service $$

[anthony8464]

I had the dealer due the 7500 mile service today on my '02 XC OR.

$129 for LOF, tire rotation & "check" a bunch of stuff....

I think a fair price for a dealer would've been $50-$75,  but $129 approaches is just shy of what my Porsche oil changes run and it takes 10quarts of Mobile 1 synthetic & 2 filters.

I may consider the dealer for more notable services (30K, etc) but, I'm thinking of finding an independent for the other services --not jiffy lube.

Am I missing something here? or is there any downside by going this route -- parts, warranty? etc?

Thanks.


http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/huh2.gif  http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/huh2.gif  http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/huh2.gif

[Chipshot]

I think Volvo dealer maintenance is a rip-off.  Audi does maintenance for "free" during leases.  While that may factor into the price paid for the car, it gives the perception of good value.

[Supertoyz]

I apologize to you all but I once again have to side with the dealer here.

I'm as cheap as anybody here and no I wouldn't pay $129 myself for that service, I'd do it myself, but I do think it's a fair price. As most of you know by now, I'm in the service industry and customers don't realize how much $$$ it costs to have competant staff on hand and keep the doors open. I agree that LOF, tire rotations and checking of systems is all pretty simple stuff but it takes time and equiptment. Figure the salary of the person who created your work order, the service manager who cordinated the work getting completed, the technician who performed the work. The cost of the tools used, building overhead - taxes, utilities, insurances etc. Now add the cost of the oil, filter and related supplies. Don't forget waste oil disposal etc. You add up all of the numbers and your dealer didn't profit much. It always pissed me off when we have a customer come in and complain about a legitimate bill, why don't we just pay to maintain the boat for you I feel like saying....one particular Doctor comes to mind, he makes upwards of $250,000 a year and when he gets a bill for his service he analyzes every penny and complains that everything is overpriced. Most of the people here don't earn 1/10 of what he does but yet WE are overpriced! Bottom line is it costs money to run a service department and if you think the prices are too high do the work yourself. I apologize, once I get going all of these examples come to mind...let me share one more. Yesterday one of our customers calls in a panic because his docks are coming out of the water today and he needs to get his boat out now, can we come get it? First question that comes to mind is how long has he known the docks were coming out...probably weeks and now it's a dilema. I tell him to drive the boat down to us and we can haul him out from the public access area down the road. Oh no he says, I have a golf game in an hour and can't make it...you can't send somebody up to my house to get it? He's 30 minutes away from us. We generally charge $2.00 / ft. for haul out's from the public access which is 1/4 mile away and takes one emplyee, a truck and trailer. Now I have to take two guys out of the shop, send them up to his house, one drives the boat to the access near the customers house the other drives the truck to meet him. They haul out the boat and come back to the shop. Total time gone is about 1.5 hours times two guys = 3.0 hours. Now it's only fair to charge the haul out fee as well since we used $50,000 in equiptment for 1.5 hours to go get him....wear and tear, gas etc. So the haul out charge came to ($60/hr x 3hrs) + ($2.00/ft x 24ft) for a total of $224.00. Customer gets the bill and goes ballistic about the charge...thinks it's outrageous etc. He requested this service and would not lift 1 finger on his own to save himself any money...he couldn't be bothered with it. If he had driven it to our access area the charge would have been $48 not $224 I agree $60 / hour seems like a lot to do this simple task but if those guys had stayed in the shop where they belong and were working on shop jobs they would have been producing work at $60 / hr. Because he requested we use them for something else we should now loose money? I don't get it. Since boats are much larger than cars and obvisouly less mobil we get a bunch of people who request us go to the boat for service....of course many then bitch that they get charged travel time to and from the shop. If they don't want to pay travel time bring the boat to us. Somebody want's and oil change on a boat that's 15 minutes away they get a bill for 1/2 hour travel plus the change, about another 1/2 hour so 1 hour total is $60 plus the materials etc. Usually comes to about $85, it's not unusual to get calls soon after questioning and hour labor for an oil change. How much do you think the Volvo dealer whould charge to come to your house and change your oil? It may seem expensive when you pay your service bill but if you knew what it cost to keep service going you would be more understanding.....believe me nobody is getting rich. (sorry for the rant, gotta vent somewhere :-)

[Chipshot]

I don't blame the dealers and apologize if it sounded that way. If Volvo wanted to offer free maintanence to owners/lessees, they would compensate the dealers for their time and materials. Competition is pretty brutal right now (and shows no signs of easing), and free maintanence might influence a potential customer's purchase decision.

By the way, our local service station charges $25 for an oil change, and yes they do come to our house to pick up and return the car. That saves us time and keeps us very loyal.

[Supertoyz]

Many of the European maufactureres do now include maintenance for the warranty period but it's actually of little real value. I've got a new BMW M3 with full maintenance for the time of the 3/36 warranty and in that time I'll get two oil changes (BMW has 15,000 mile intervals) maybe a set of wipers and a routine service at 30,000 miles. Regardles of what the manual says for a maintenace schedule the computer tracks useage and displays service needs on the display according to your driving habits. The dealer won't do any service unless the car says its needed. My last car a 2000 328ci included routine service as well. The service light came on at about 15,500 miles and again at about 32,000 miles. I had the wipers changed in between once. I also changed my own oil most of the time since I can't swallow 15,000 mile intervals. I know the 15 & 30,000 mile services were pretty minor since they took less than two hours each. Bottom line is included service is nice but I don't believe you actually save as much as you think you will. I asked about it when we picked up the XC in August and was surprised that Volvo doesn't include it but it's really no big deal.....they do offer a longer warranty than BMW (4/48 vs 3/36) which is better than included service in my opinion.

[wiz]

hey anthony8464, welcome to the forum!! http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

I have to say I don't think $129.00 is outrageous. Now maybe these prices vary by region (I live in the north-eastern US) but I have been paying $80+ to a truly excellent independent Volvo service shop for years. This for an oil change, lube & general check. They charge $75/hr. for labor.

I expect to pay more at the dealership where we bought the V70XC. They charge $80/hr. for labor. You go in there, you look at the size of the operation (it's huge) and you figure there has to be some overhead but if I get my 7500 mi. service done for ~$130 then I'll be a happy lad... http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[anthony8464]

Thanks for the perspective....

Supertoyz, good points, but I tend to disagree about the real earning/profit potential of the repair shop.  When my car was ready, it had not been washed --I'm not the most outspoken customer and 80% of the time would've been on my way...not for this price so I waited as they washed it.  

While I waited, about 15 min.  I listened to the service techs. make calls to customers about the status of their cars.  Not exaggerating there was at least $3,000 in repairs discussed while I waited.  Window switch for $160, brakes for $180, new battery, sensors, headlights, etc. etc.  

Do the math, that's some serious cash-flow, all at high margine, with RELATIVELY little inventory expense.  So despite set up costs, I'm sure this Volve svc. dept. does quite well.

That said, regardless of make, dealers charge a premium because they can.  The smaller shops, that would preform the same service would charge me 1/2 and provide SIMILAR service and they do it making money; yes less OH, yes a little less labor costs/tech experience.  I don't need 20yr Sr. mechanics to change my oil on a new car with no wear.  

I also know this service didn't take more than 1/2 hr. to complete & less than $30 in materials -- so I can't help but feel gouged on a $129 bill.

I'll pay the premium and for the experience on more thorough services, where a trained eye and repair experience is desired.  But there's no way I'll continue plunk down $129 for oil changes--- that's just my $.02 though....

[Supertoyz]

Ok...now you are changing your story slightly. First you said you had a LOF, Tire Rotation and routine inspection of some of the cars other systems. Now in your latest post you say it was just an oil change .... but you did get a car wash. It appears like you got a quick system check, a tire roatation, LOF and a car wash to boot all for $129. I'll agree that the materials cost was probably about $30 so you got everything else done for $99. Not cheap but it's legitimate as far as I'm concerned. While you were listening to them make service calls it may sound like a lot of money but you are only listening to about 25% of the information you need to come to a fair conclusion regarding dealer pricing. Just our Electric bill here is about $1800 / month. When you add payroll, taxes, training, shop supplies, tools, gas, heating oil, disposal fee's, and the dozens of other expenses required to keep a service department or any other business open it adds up to a bunch of money. Our operating expenses for a medium sized shop approach $80,000 / month to keep the doors open.....that's alot of oil changes. You figure not all of those customers you heard them call will go for the repairs, some will agree and then will complain about the bill, others will come back two weeks later and say you fixed my brakes now my radio doesn't work so you owe me a new one ....etc. etc. I agree it sounds like your dealer makes a fortune and I agree that if run properly they can and will make money but I also don't think many of the people who worked on your car can afford to drive a Volvo XC.

[XCMIKE]

Gentlemen: I would settle for the $130 charge for 7500 mile service.  I just had the 15000 mile service which is exactly the same service and I was charged $230 by the dealer.  Now I did get synthetic oil, and they did "clean the injectors" but otherwise, it was an oil change, tire rotation, check for computer codes and no car wash. P.S., I really believe a high end dealer should wash the car, before you pick it up, and remove the service tag hanging from the rear view mirror, remove the paper on the floor protecting the carpet and put a new sticker in the window.  I didn't get any of this for my $230, but I did get a follow up letter to tell Volvo that I was completely satisfied!

[Supertoyz]

My BMW dealer washes my car when I pick it up....I hate it. Wish they would touch it as little as possible. You know that they would have a car wash bucket used on dozens of cars before they would change the solution in it, and the mitts gets used & dropped all day long, car after car. Do you think the kid washing your car for $8/Hr cares how carefull he is washing your car? I'd bet he likely gets jealous and a little PO'd washing $40,000 and up cars all day long anyway. My dealer recently bought an automatic car wash but still I have them do as little as possible. Nobody treats your car the way that you would so I'd rather do it myself. First thing I do when I get a new car is detail it because most dealerships initial prep is marginal at best.

[anthony8464]

Sorry if I mislead, yes they did the LOF, tire rotation, & quite a long "check-list".

After reading the posts, I've warmed up to the $129....not happy about it, don't think I got a good value, BUT I don't think I got completely screwed either....  

I felt screwed at first as I was slightly sticker-shocked as I viewed my XC as "one steop up" from my old Subaru Outback where they did similar service for about $50 at a nice dealer svc. dept.

On my Porsche, I happily pay $150 for the oil change and eye-popping prices for anything else, but you expect it.  I guess I didn't consider the XC as a "high-end" car and didn't expect a steep bill.

Oh, Supertoyz:  I agree about the carwash thing...at your next service tell them NOT to wash the car.  I didn't mind for the XC as the beatiful blue paint will get it's initiation on the WA ski passes this season, with gravel, ice, etc...

Cheers

http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/alien.gif

[Supertoyz]

Good,  glad to here it.  Just try to look at it from both sides.  Most dealers are not trying to screw you.  They need to charge what may seem like high prices because it costs so much to run a business nowadays.  I think it's too expensive as well, that's why I do most of my work myself but I do realize that the dealer is expensive because they have to be, not because they choose to be.  To put things in perspective I paid $180 to have the carpets in two rooms cleaned in our home yesterday.  The guy took 45 minutes to an hour to do it.  Lets be generous and say he used $20 in materials, that leaves him a gross of $160.  I would wager he has little overhead or equiptment costs in running this type of business out of a Van mostly.....I'd say he fared much better for his time than your Volvo dealership did doing your $129 service.  Let's face it just about everything nowadays seems way overpriced....I pay more now for car insurance than I used to for a car :-(

[HeadXC]

Ah crap i just a nice response to this and tried to insert a devil and lost all the paragraphs, lets try this again with no devils this time.
I think that there is more than an oil change here, I paid about $125 CDN for my 12,000 km change and they washed and vacumed the car, came to my work to pick up the car (35km away) and left me with S60 for the day.
I change my oil with the dealer every 6,000Km (have you ever looked at your oil after 6,000 km or so?)and they wash and vacuum it, give me car for the day all for about $35-40CDN, I get to try all the differnt Volvos (hope they put a XC90 in the fleet) This is how they got me into the 02 from the 99, lent me 01XC for a day during an oil change.
Now on the other hand they don't make all their money selling new cars and those fancy buildings aren't cheap most of the money a dealer brings in is from the parts and service, ever notice how many things get replaced under warranty that you would not want to even think of having to pay for that job. I wonder if the head offices ever see those parts or if they really ever left my car and they simply got the credit for the "warranty" work.
Or is that just salesmenship to get you to spend $2,000 for the extended warranty?
I have heard of mechanics and service advisors on quotas to sell so much in parts service.

[edjike]

For 70 bucks I get my oil changed, tires rotated, car cleaned inside and out, and they lube it up, plus add any fluids.  I will go to volvo for the 30k's.   But not my oil changes for every 4-5k.

For 40 grand, they could have thrown in a few oil changes!!!!

[Supertoyz]

If you can afford to spend 40 grand on a car you can afford to pay for oil changes. Oh I forgot how it works, you bought their car now for the privelage of selling it to you they owe you something right.

I think most of us spent several hundred grand on a home, did the sellers throw in a cleaning lady?

Everybody's looking for something for free.

[anthony8464]

Supertoyz, you're missing the point....it has nothing to do w/ getting stuff for free.  This is simply comarison shopping which is what a open market is all about.  BMW & Volvo compete....if BMW offers free maint. that's one up they have on Volvo.

This whole string started by me feeling there's got to be better options than paying $129 for this this service....oh that was WITH a $30 discount they gave me as they provided a "free oil change" cupon when I bought the car.  So this would've been about $160 for Oil, tire rotation, and check-up.

I don't care if you're driving a subaru, volvo, or Porsche (all of which I drive)....you comparison show for the car and services regardless if it's 20K, 40K or 80K.

I also noticed today (since it was sunny near seattle)that the car wash i insisted on left swirl marks on my OR Blue paint.  I'm not happy, but I should've known better.   And yes, I will call my sales guy and complain.

[Supertoyz]

Another pain in the A$$ customer.....why would you call your sales guy? Did he wash your car? Does he have anything to do with service? If you have a problem with the service provided call your service manager not your salesman. That's the whole point of a "Sales" department and a "Service" department. Hey, I want to buy a new car, I think I'll give the service department a call.

And no, I'm not missing the point....I was reffering to the comment "For 40 grand they can throw in a few oil changes" and the message that statement gives is that when you spend this much money on a car they owe you something.

And yes, BMW has free scheduled maintenance but they also have a much shorter warranty 3/36 vs. 4/48 so it's pretty much a wash.

Sorry about the sarcasm of the first paragraph....It's Monday morning and the first thing I had to deal with is another idiot customer dropping his new boat off, he left it uncovered all summer now it's full of leaves, water, pollen, ice etc. and it's stained the carpet & vinyl of the cockpit....now he want's a new interior under warranty. What an idiot, how about I leave the top down on my convertible for a year outside and then go cry to the dealer that the interior is ruined. This is why most of my posts are defending the dealers. Yes prices are high and yes we make mistakes but d@mn! Some people are just so stupid and take no responsibility for their own actions. I'll spend 1/2 of the morning on the phone with the manufacturer, emailing pictures and trying to get the interior cleaned just so the manufacturer can deny the claim. Then not only will I have wasted all morning on it but when the customer is told it's not warranty I'll be the bad guy. He'll yell and scream, say he'll never buy another boat here again and bad mouth us all over town.....sometimes you just can't win. I could go on and on with stories but you folks have heard enough.....I just want to apologize for my attitude and give you some insight to what your service representatives have to deal with every day.

[anthony8464]

I recommend you find a new line of work as you've lost sight that pain in the A** customers drive business and your paycheck... not only that, you sound miserable.

It's quite obvious why I would call the sales rep...
because when he sold me the car he made a point to mention how great the svc dpt. is. It also caries more weight as this is a follow-on sale to the $40K sale that brought me to the svc. dept. in the first place. He also needs to know service shortfalls as customers may not buy from there again if they don't like dealing the svc. dept. I'll bet the svc. dpt. won't tell the sales guys about unhappy transactions....Also, the sales people tend to have better customer service skills w/ pain in the A** customers like me. :-) If you still think Sales and Service don't have anything to do with each other talk to the owner of the dealership and see what he thinks....

And yes, you are missing the point on "For 40 grand they can throw in a few oil changes"........BMW does, why shouldn't Volvo? The comment wouldn't have come up if the competition/BMW wasn't doing it, therefore "owing something" is simply evening out the overall offering & value.
Don't lose sight how important this is...on my next car purchase, if I look to BMW, the nice customer focused salesperson will tell me I don't have to spend a dime for 3 years - guaranteed. I agree w/ you; so it's only a couple oil changes for relatively little $$....It'll go a long way to killing Volvo loyalty if I(and buyers in general) continue to feel gouged @ volvo w/ expensive service & BMW buyers feel cared for.

[cbob]

Who knew that the cost of an oil change would mess up so many folks who bought an expensive car/toy?  http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
I'm lucky to have had a dealer who threw in 42k km worth of regular service-then printed out all the service lists, and explained how to get the most out of the free service within the 2 year time limit.  http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
There is a certain value to letting the dealer do your maintenance for a couple of years -most small stuff that fails will do so early on, so you can knock off some of those repairs without making a seperate trip.
I know some of you are located at quite a distance from your dealer, so finding a good local service station is certainly a prime consideration.

[Supertoyz]

I'd like to reiterate a few of my points and then agree to disagree on this thread.

Yes, I am a little burned out, I'm finishing the end of a long season of 7 day work weeks. My last day off was Labor day and I won't be able to cut back on hours until Thanksgiving when I can go to having three day weekends (thank God). Your point about the pain in the A$$ customers driving our business and my paycheck is in error. Those customers are the ones who cause us to lose money and have to raise rates for everybody else. Every business has it's good customers and those you would rather lose to your competition. Hopefully the good outweigh the bad otherwise you won't last long. The bad customers cost us money, the good customers make us money. Hopefully when the two balance out we can make payroll. And I don't see why you would call your salesman....he performs sales and should have no say whatsoever in service. That is the service managers position and above his the owners. The sales department are working for the same goal and that's satisfied customers but for no reason should your salesman be bothered with service issues. You can make your argument but only after you have tried the first steps of complaining to the service manager. If he is no help ask for the owner. A salesman would carry no weight whatsoever in the sercvice area just as asking the service manager to get you a better price on a new car will get you nowhere. The salesman may listen and be concerned but he doesn't make any decisions in the service department.

No, for 40K I dont think they owe you a d@mn thing. The car did not come with included service period! BMW does, Audi does etc. They also have less warranty coverage 3/36 vs 4/48. Which would you rather have? Especially when you have a major problem at 44,000 miles. And yes BMW does care....too much. Every time your car is in for anything - even an oil change you will be getting a phone call asking you to rate every aspect of your service experience. If you don't answer "Excellent" to every question the dealer gets a failing grade. I was waiting in a lounge for my car how excellent can that be? It's not the dealers fault just the way service is but if I don't say the experience was "Excellent" they fail. The first few times they called me it was kinda nice that they cared, now it's like talking to a telemarketer. To me the included service was pretty worhtless, I got a free oil change every 15,000 miles (for a total of 2) and a set of wiper blades. Other than that you don't get much in BMW's included service....not much is required in the first 36,000 miles, and I'm sure even less is required now that BMW is paying for it. It's funny how my last BMW had 7,500 mile oil change intervals now that BMW is paying the interval has gone to 15,000 miles. It's mostly a marketing gimmick, Volvo offers owner loyalty rebates as well, BMW never offered me that. I'll personally always drive a BMW but not because they offer free maintenace....it's nice but hardly a deal maker/breaker.

One last bad customer story and then I promise no more ever. This just goes against your statement that those PIA customers drive our business and our paychecks :-) We have this customer who bought a $60,000 boat new in 1999 so of course everybody owes him free everything for life. He makes it a point everytime he calls to say tell us how much the boat cost. Anyway, he did no maintenance for the last three years. This year the water pump impeller fails and the engine actually catches on fire doing substantial damage. We give him the estimate of $5280 and he authorizes the repairs. We spend several thousand dollars to order the parts and two days cleaning up the mess and making the repairs. When we are all done the rapairs except for a $10 part that's on backorder he calls us to put a hold on the repairs. Bottom line is he's trying to find somebody to blame besides himself. Either it's Volvo's fault because they sold it or it's our fault for not telling him he needed to change the impeller. It's certainly not his fault even though his owners manual clearly says that the impeller needs to be changed every season. So the last $10 part comes in and we finish the job. Here it sits three months later and we still have not been paid. We had to pay the mechanics that worked on the Job and we had to pay Volvo for the parts used on the Job so we are out money on this and you think customers like this support our business and pay our salaries? These customers are leaches that make it difficult to stay in business. He couldn't have played the blame game before he authorized the repairs. Now that the boat is sitting here me have another dilema, it's snowing and getting cold here. If we shrinkwrap and winterize the boat he will scream that he didn't ask for it and won't pay for it. If we don't do it the boat will be trashed and the engine cracked and he'll blame us for not doing it. In the end it would be better for us and our other customers if people like this would just go away. You can actually make more money with a few good customers than you can with twice the customers when some are like this guy. We'll need to do a ton of $129 oil changes to make up the money that we are out just on this one job. This is just my opinion and I'll drop this thread at this point. Flame away :-)

[Art]

To add to Cbob's comments, I can't say that I was as fortunate as he, as well as others, who, have received free maintenance along with the purchase of their cars. However, since I do live a city away from either of the nearest authorized Volvo dealers, one of the two dealerships recognized this need and was good enough to set up a satellite service depot in my hometown to look after it's many out of town clients. http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

I've come to appreciate this extra effort and find it a great convenience for minor service work. http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[lausch]

Supertoyz,

3,147 words in five days.  With all due respect, maybe that's why you haven't had a day off since Labor Day.

http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif

[Supertoyz]

And I didn't think anybody was paying attention :-)

I apologize, I can't help myself but to share these last two stories with you and this is it I promise. You guys know how I started the day now you can hear how I'm ending it.

We spent most of the day looking for a boat that was dropped off last week for winterization, we couldn't find it anywhere. I did notice a similiar boat here that I thought had been picked up last week. I checked the records and indeed that boat that's here was supposed to have been picked up last week. With a little more checking and a few phone calls I confirm that the customer picked up the wrong boat. Not only is it 4' shorter than theirs but it's a different color. How stupid can people be? They first said that they couldn't have picked up the wrong boat, once they verified it they asked us if we would deliver their boat to them and pick up the wrong one, sure for $90 / hour. Another guy today called to see if his boat was done yet.....I didn't see any work orders under his name in the computer. He say's he dropped it off last Monday. "Did you ever call to let us know it's here, who you were or what you wanted"? "No, I figured you would see it out there, it's the one with the blue canvas"..........we have over 400 boat's in the yard and he expected us to notice the one with the blue canvas! Even if I did notice it how would I know who owned it or what they wanted? What an idiot.  Another guy called to find out the oil ratio for his Volvo-Pinto...for those of you that don't know it's Volvo-Penta, Pinto was an old Ford wagon and oil ratio's apply to 2-cycle engines not 4 cycle.

Ok, now I'm done with the venting and stories.....I'll save them for the more friendly bimmer.org message boards :-)
I wonder if I hit 3,500 words.

[wiz]

I'm a lot luckier than Art, I live two miles from one of the best Volvo dealerships in my city, and about a mile from a tremendous independent Volvo service shop. So I am spoiled for choice.

A couple of weeks ago, my 240DL broke down on the highway for the very first time in its life (it's old) and I had it towed to the independent shop on a Saturday afternoon. They gave me a loaner car, and an hour later called me to tell me it was fixed (fuel pump relay switch).

Being a customer for many years helps, of course, but also realizing that import cars are inherently expensive to maintain, and not having a snippy attitude (on both sides of the service desk) goes a long way to making your service experience a good one. http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Chipshot]

Do people view the situation differently based on whether they have purchased or leased their car?

[Chipshot]

I extinguished the "Service" light myself, so should I demand to pay less for the 15,000 mile service?

[wiz]

http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/happy.gif

I'll bet purchase/lease does affect your view of this. Our car is purchased with a view to long-term ownership like our other Volvos. So right from the get-go I have been trying to learn how to treat it right.

If the car was leased I would only have it for 2 years, so what's the point? http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sly.gif

[cmon4day]

What's an LOF??

Vic

[coastal]

I'd guess Lube, Oil & Filter.

http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[dan]

My car had its first (7500) a month ago.  It was free except for $44 extra I paid to have synthetic oil put in.  I thought they all included free regular service?  Mine are.

[wiz]

Service arrangements (and payments) seem to be dealer specific. I think there have been deals on service from Volvo, but also some dealers bundle "free" service into the price of a car...

[gsx95]

Supertoyz may be a little burned out, but, as anyone who owns a service business can tell you, he is (mostly) correct.

[wiz]

Had my 7500 mile service yesterday, and it cost $178.00, and I supplied the oil!  My dealer now charges $90.00/hr. for a tech's time.

[Hiro's XC]

$100 here in the Western burbs of Chicago. The BMW dealer has been getting that for 4 years and is going to $115!!!!

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jason

Glad I can do my own work.......

[wiz]

It is expensive, isn't it? I think that's about the highest price that's been posted here over the last few months (not that I'm proud of it).

I drove the car quite a bit today to make sure everying was OK, I'm a bit paranoid about vibration and was relieved that the car seems the same as it was on Thursday. There are 4 new balancing weights on the wheels so at least they took the trouble to balance them after the rotation.

[pico de luuks]

I haven't asked an estimate for the 7.5k service, but I'll know after the fact on Thursday.
Will ask about the wiperblade angle as wel, maybe that'll solve my problem as wel as it did for cbob.
I can't wait to have my rear skid plate installed. It looked pretty cool on Barry's car!

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[pico de luuks]

First service completed:
$110,- service (vcoa discount 10 %)
$ 30,- own full synthetic oil (mobil1 0W40)
$ 76,- skidplate installed ( 1 hr labor)
$ 15,- safety inspection

No loaner though http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif but there was a shuttle service.

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[wiz]

Much more reasonable.  How much do they charge per hour for labor, pico?

[pico de luuks]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (wiz @ April 18 2003,09:19)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Much more reasonable. How much do they charge per hour for labor, pico?[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
&#036;76/hr &nbsp;so I&#39;m not complaining &nbsp;http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif


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[wiz]

Wow, I could only wish. There is an independent Volvo shop near me and they charge &#036;85.00/hr so I&#39;m not going to complain about the dealer&#39;s rates&#33; In fact the dealer&#39;s rate almost seems reasonable given the fact that it is the biggest dealership in Boston with a huge service area - the overhead must be massive.

The car seems fine after the service, the only negative is that they scratched the wheels taking off the factory balancing weights. http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

I thought the vcoa discount was 15%, not 10%? http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/huh2.gif

[pico de luuks]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (wiz @ April 20 2003,09:25)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I thought the vcoa discount was 15%, not 10%? http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/huh2.gif[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
That&#39;s different for every dealer. Some give 15% some 10%. Others only on parts , mine actually also on labor. So 10% off every dollar I spend. It&#39;s not bad (similar discounts are given for high milage members 100k miles +) &nbsp;http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

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[wiz]

No that&#39;s very good. Mine &quot;only&quot; gives 15% on parts still that&#39;s better than nothing&#33; Worth being a member especially if you buy a car off the lot then want to buy a number of Volvo accessories after the sale. http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[ifnt420]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Hiro&#39;s XC @ April 12 2003,18:39)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">&#036;100 here in the Western burbs of Chicago. The BMW dealer has been getting that for 4 years and is going to &#036;115&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Wow, I was sticker shocked when I first changed from Toyota&#39;s &#036;20/hr to Volvo&#39;s &#036;40/hr here... I guess I should not complain. http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blush.gif

[Low Tide]

Well, the inevitable has occurred. The first service @ 7212 mi

Labor Rate...Cough&#33; ----&#62; &#036;98.00hr. (It was &#036;84 last year)

Anyway-

&#036;127.40 for the service
&#036;26.72 parts
&#036;0.00 oil &lt;------I SUPPLIED 6 quarts 10w30 Mobil 1&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;
&#036;2.00 Hazard Desposal
&#036;2.00 Tax
(4.72) VCOA &quot;Angry old White Man&quot; parts discount.
&#036;0.00 &quot;Yeah, Right&#33;&quot; Non-existent Labor Discount
_

&#036;158.12

Total Pain and Agony of waiting without a loaner, Priceless

...And they missed a whole lot of bugspots during the wash&#33;

[AutoMonkey]

Another piece of 7500mi data for you -

Mine cost ~&#036;177. I went with the standard Volvo 10W30 oil, so I guess my overall price was about the same as Low Tide.

I don&#39;t want to reopen the apparently contentious issue of value for money, but &#036;177 does seem like a lot to pay for a glorified oil/filter change. That being said, the car did seem to drive extra-nicely on the way back from the dealership... http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

AM

[pico de luuks]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (AutoMonkey @ Nov. 03 2003,18:37)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I don&#39;t want to reopen the apparently contentious issue of value for money, but &#036;177 does seem like a lot to pay for a glorified oil/filter change. That being said, the car did seem to drive extra-nicely on the way back from the dealership... http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

AM[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
To get that -all new, yes it drives better feeling- again, I try to buy one or two accessories for my car at every service. &nbsp;http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif So that way, I can both feel and see the difference http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sly.gif

Man, am I simple or what? http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

For my next service the cargo side pocket and the rear door sun screens are on my list http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

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[xclogan]

I do what I can myself...just did the 90k check this pas weekend and changed:

Brake Rotors (all 4 wheels)
Brake Pads
Serpentine Belt
Spark Plugs
Installed CD-Changer
Installed K&amp;N Air Filter
Chassis Lubed

As for Oil change (which was also done) I get my oil where-ever I can find it the cheapest (Valvoline Synthetic 10W30), the oil filter (from Volvo or IPD) and go to WalMart Automotive and let them do it...If you brin your own oil and filters...they charge less than &#036;10 do do the change...

[BillAileo]

Logan,
What manual or other reference are using when you do work like the serpentine belt?Bill

[xclogan]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (BillAileo @ Nov. 04 2003,08:04)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Logan,
What manual or other reference are using when you do work like the serpentine belt?Bill[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
It was really very easy. I borrowed the Serpentine belt tool from a friend (it looks like a giant brass tongue depressor with holes at the ends and he got it at IPD), visually checked the belt routing, put the tool on the tensioner and pulled to release the tension, took the old belt off put the new one on and restored the tensioner back to the way it was... Very, Very Easy and less than 10 minutes&#33;&#33;