MD/DC Area Volvo Service Recommendations

[MD-Daddy]

Which Volvo Service Dealship do you use?

Darcars (Rockville)
Herb Gordon (Silver Spring)
Don Buyer (Falls Church)
Martenz (NW DC)

[Poll Attempt]

[littlewaywelt]

Which Volvo Service Dealship do you use?

Darcars (Rockville)
Herb Gordon (Silver Spring)
Don Buyer (Falls Church)
Martenz (NW DC)

[Poll Attempt]

I used Herb Gordon for four years and to be honest was never really happy with their skills or problem solving abilities. I continued to use them because they always gave me a free loaner even if the car was in for an oil change.

I used Martens in DC a few times and have heard great things about their service, but the morning lines there are inefficient, and they only provide loaners to ppl who purchased their cars there. I had a service done once there and they forgot to put the engine cap back on. I got five blocks from the dealer before smoke was pouring out from under the hood. When I got back the service advisor was still in the driveway with other customers. His face was priceless. Needless to say they refunded the oil change and topped off the oil and cleaned the mess up from the engine bay.

I will now be doing all of my service at Red Bank Volvo in NJ when I am out of town to visit my wife's family. Their service has been outstanding. Friendly, indoor vehicle drop off, skilled technicians and they have a fleet of 50 Volvo loaners.

[anthonya9999]

Saluja Motors on Lee Highway in Falls Church -- 703-560-6646. They're a Volvo authorized service center (i.e., won't void the warrantee doing warantee work) and are SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than DB and certainly than Martens.

And here's the mark of how honest they are --

I ask them to check things things out and they say -- "don't worry about that. It's nothing. You don't want to pay me to fix it." They're also always cheaper on Volvo parts than the dealer -- usually 20 to 30%.

[MD-Daddy]

I will now be doing all of my service at Red Bank Volvo in NJ when I am out of town to visit my wife's family. Their service has been outstanding. Friendly, indoor vehicle drop off, skilled technicians and they have a fleet of 50 Volvo loaners.

Once or twice a month I head up to your corporate offices in Red Bank. My trip up always includes an early morning swing by the *best* road coffee house in the word Dunkin Donuts across from that very Vovlo dealership.

Having been up there a few times since owning the XC70 in June I've noticed that Red Bank has more XC70 than any other city I've visited. Not one time, not once I say, have I not had at least one XC70 in the parking lot of the Dunkin Donuts when I pull in for my morning ritual.

They do look at me funny when I walk by admiring their cars. I mention the site and get a cool smile... imagine what I'd get if I put a flyer on their wind shield.

Anyways, I love Red Bank and love our XC and will consider having it serviced there one time I drive up for a day or two. Thanks!

[Morvran]

I purchased both of my Volvos at Herb Gordon, and they've been very good to me so far. I get a loaner car (Volvo) from them every time I have to drop the car off, even if it's just for a look-over. The service people so far have also been very nice each time I've been in. I wouldn't rank them as my best car service experience (Land Rover was always fantastic) but they have not done me wrong yet.

I did enjoy talking to the folks at Don Buyer when I was in the market for the XC70 and when I was looking for accessories for my S40, but I've never utilized their service department.

[Goose529]

If you want to avoid going to a dealer I have had good experiances with AutoScandia in Reston/Herndon VA. They specialize in Volvos and SAABs though they can not perform repairs that require software work... only Volvo dealers can perfrom this type of work (including the ETM).