Gouging by Volvo..No, you say, they wouldn't do that?

Let me say at the beginning....... I LOVE MY V70XC. That being said, a few days ago I posted about the $300 problem of having to replace a keyless remote fob for my V70Xc...($167 unit + $45 software + $45 labour + tax + $300 +/- (Many thanks to Allen, Glenn and Dave G for their suggestions)

I started thinking (very dangerous, I agree) and recalled that I recently bought a HD receiver with a remote control for $200 complete. I called and asked the cost of the remote if it had to be purchases separately.........$28.95. The remote has 48 buttons, controls the receiver, reprogrammes......does everything but open my car door. 4.......8........30..........80 gig MP3 players are available for a few hundred dollars. Extremely sophisticated gaming consoles Wii, XBox etc are a few hundred dollars. I can navigate around the continent with Garvin or other for a few hundred dollars, far from the $3000+ my car's original owner put into the Volvo system in my V70 7 years ago. (But then it was hi-tech and new)

The question arose...........ta....da.........Why does this little crappy lo tech 3v - 5 buttons controlling ultra simple applications with little or no technology......a piece of plastic, a little circuit board simpler than a $20 watch..... command an installed price of $300.................ANSWER....BECAUSE VOLVO IS THE ONLY SOURCE OF THIS ITEM IF I WANT TO CONTINUE TO LOCK AND UNLOCK MY CAR REMOTELY. What a letdown...I might have to actually insert my key as I did with my 1959 DeSoto.....NO F.....'N WAY....this is 2008 and I am going to operate my doors remotely.

Let Volvo take a $2 item and fire it up my consumeristic ass for $300.......... let them laugh all the way to the bank.........I'll be "cool" and will be able to operate my doors remotely with the cute little flashes of front and reverse lights flick on (at least I don't have to go all the way like the Yank do.....with a horn) to tell all..............I'ME 'COOL'...... I'ME UP-TO-DATE....and those squeaky little Volvo engineers can put out another purchase order for a million "keyless remote fobs" for $1.47 each and grumble that their gross margin will be dropping to only 97.5% when they sell it to the dealer and they will only make another $160 on the item and it's verrrrrrry, verrrrrrrry complicated installation. (The actual installation procedure, I am sure. is guarded by the Swedish Royal Guard).

There was a time when keyless entry was a big thing and people had to pay for this "high tech" security feature. I do think the "cat's now out of the bag"........but no one seems to tell Volvo, and many of the deep-pocketed car owners just genuflect to the shiny V O L V O sign in the service department, as they push forward their American Express card with a big "Thanks John" to the nice man whose main talents include mollifying the customer if he has any doubts about the "bill", and sending him home happily with his newly washed car with the free bottle of cold water

Anyway, to cut a long story thin, I do love my car, but am pissed off no end when I see the price of some small parts and accessories and the cost of some car repairs.

(A little aside).......It was my wife who ran her fob through the wash, and I haven't in so many word "suggested" that she surely wouldn't feel justified in spending $300 to avoid using the key and the little key switch by the door controls. (Sounds simple doesn't it). She'll say, "why don't I use the fob during those months with an "r" in them........and then we're off. The banter carries on over several weeks, but ends when I go into my dealer do get the $300 replacement, saying to the "adviser", "Thanks John, here's my credit card......now where's my nice cold 25 cent bottle of cold water?' (I've been married 46 years and not a hell of a lot really changes)

Regards to all,
Gerry

 

i view it as a trade off...businesses do what they can these
days to make some $$, and keep investors and stockholders
happy...i fig, if volvo didn't have the $ for r&d, they wouldn't
have come up with the volvo products...we wouldn't be driving
the volvos avail today...other car mfg's wouldn't be copying
volvo for safety items...etc... 1/2 the time i am workinh 4
myself....so, i pass on costs and other $#%@ business
expenses to my clients in the form of higher fees and don't
worry about it...not that this will help your pain...i know exactally
what you are talking about...the dealers are dreadfull places to
take a beloved volvo....only in dire straights...cheers !! like your
wagon, do ya?...there cool...i am going to get a wagon next ( i
think )
...i have had one...a 1993 940 / teal / we pit aprox 100k trouble
free miles on it...a true brick...on of the last few "boxy" years...

i am thinkin' of shopping for a 01-05 v70 or v70r ....

outtt.......



" I do love my car, but am pissed off no end when
I see the price of some small parts and accessories
and the cost of some car repairs"

 

Ummm... because ~anybody~ could open your car with a $20 remote?
There's more to it than a radio link...

 

They do it because they can, and I'm also not happy about it.

The absurdly high cost of repair parts for Volvos and the frequency with
which things fail on a modern Volvo once it gets up to the 100k mile and
over range is one reason that after having purchase three new Volvos in
the past I don't buy them anymore.

I expect a well cared for car to need little to no non-maintenance,
non-warranty repairs in the first 100k miles. Modern Volvo do not meet
that requirement in my experience.

A friend of mine has an S70 with the infamous failed spot welds on the
driver's door strap assembly. This is clearly a long running Volvo
design marginality and I'm going to help him fix it using the methods I
found on the net .... but there is no reason it should have broken.
Shoddy engineering by Volvo, pure and simple. The same car has various
interior plastic bits falling off all and/or breaking all the time and
Volvo's price for replacement parts is nuts.

These are some of the reasons why Volvo has one of the lower customer
loyalty rates in the business.

 

Don't get mad, get even, buy a Volvo that does NOT have such
technology!

My 240 doesn't. Also, I have REAL bumpers on my 240!!!!!!

Btw, last week I spoke with an old friend who is working at a Volvo
dealer (service dept) in Montreal (Canada) and he was telling me that
the new Volvos are pretty awful as far as he is concerned. He was
telling me, "every 5 minutes I have to tell someone that it's a
computer or electronic problems and they'll have to come in to get a
fix." He is a friend and he was recommending me not to buy a Volvo.

Furthermore, business is apparently down, or was down at Volvo dealers
in Quebec. Some techs were told they could not work 5 days/week. Not
enough work. Apparently, prices are kind of high and reputation is
not what it used to be.

Please don't shoot the messenger.

 

Yep, Volvo is in trouble. Years of middling quality. Me to fashion
oriented design. Now a weak dollar when Volvo has no manufacturing in
it's Number 1 market, North America. US sales are down, and the sales
they are making must be much less profitable due to the US dollar being
at record lows. The Japanese and Germans both have manufacturing
footprints in the US, Canada and Mexico. Volvo used to have a factory
in Canada, but closed it years ago.

Volvo is in a very, very bad strategic position right now. Ford has
shown little talent for managing European subsidiaries. Volvo is the
only one left now and I wonder how long it will carry on.

 

As a 240 owner, I can say that they are certainly not immune to interior
plastic parts breaking, it's taken me years of junkyard browsing to find a
full set for mine and I still have a small crack in the parking brake cover.
Great cars, but given the newest are 15 years old, finding one that doesn't
need a bunch of work is a needle in a haystack.

 

Apart from a 1990+ 240, a 740 or 940 would be equally good. An 850
wouldn't be too bad either. Cost more to maintain, access to parts is
poor and the A/C is famous for dying after 4-6 years (aren't all real
Volvos the same regarding A/C? ). Also, a 1996+ 960 is a smart
choice. Parts are more expensive for the 960. But apart from eating
brake pads and ending up with warped disks, the 960 is a good
candidate for reliable Volvo.

To quote the owner of a Volvo dealership, "cars are made to last 4-6
years and then you throw them away. Look at all the plastics...
everything seems to be made this way nowadays..."

 

For the money/age I haven't seen too many good 850s. A few years ago I
tried to buy an estate for my Sis for around GBP1000, the 850s where all
in very poor condition for that price and were a good 3-4 years younger
than the 900s. We of course went for a 940 in the end, they got another
one later one.

On a seperate occasion 8 years ago I was looking for a speedy upgrade
for my rusting 360, tried a 850 T5R, seemed very powerful but no
traction and again very poor condition, suspension, brakes, wheels, back
yard respray etc. In comparison the 940 I purchased for a similar price
was immaculate, reliable and still looks good today (the wheels have
hardly even corroded, unlike my partners younger BMW), and gives you a
real kick up the backside when you hit the accelerator.

Volvo pretty much dropped quality/reliability for low cost/good looks
and popularity with the FWD cars.

 

I've never been a fan of the 850. Regarding quality, it isn't limited
to Volvo. Pretty much ALL car makers are doing the same. Loading the
cars with electronic gadgets and load of computers. Building them
cheap so that you need to replace it after 4-6 years.

A guy who own more than 20 dealerships (Volvo, BMW, VW, etc.) was
telling me last year that he felt that nowadays cars are made so that
you throw it away after a few years.

It's not just cars, it's pretty much everything.