Cars...
OK this is gonna be a bit of a car rant, so if you don't like cars or hearing me rant, then I'd stop reading now.
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Still here?
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Okay, here goes.
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I love my car. It's a Volvo S70 Estate (Diesel) from 2003. I inherited it from my father who purchased it brand new.
As a rule, my father is very good with his cars. He gets them regularly serviced and they always pass their MOTs.
He's got a good history of not crashing them, so any work done to the car is normally for minor things. He does have one problem though in that he NEVER takes the car into an official dealer garage, because he can get an 'equivalent' service from his local garage for a third of the price.
Now, when I got this car 8 months ago it had a few 'niggling' issues which I'll list now:
About a week ago the low-speed turning issue got so bad that I figured it'd be a good idea to get the car serviced again. It was due it's 72,000 mile service soon anyway. Now, like most modern cars, mine has an on-board computer that complains at you for a service, and unless you go to an approved dealer garage it'll stay there even after a service. So I figure, I'll see about getting it service by our local Volvo dealer (the place it was purchased from).
The dealer is very helpful, and informs me that from their records that it's never had an official dealer service, and that they'll give me a 10% discount if I go with them due to my cars age. Due to my mis-givings about the competence of some of the 'local garages' my father usually uses (one of them once blew all of my electrics in my car, and still said it passed the MOT! >_<) I felt I'd take the financial hit to get it serviced properly at least once.
So, I take my car in yesterday morning, get called at about 11am to be told all of the things that need to be fixed, and there were alot of things...
In total that came to near £1,200, which they took 10% off of, and I then argued an extra £80 off, to get it down to about £1,000.
I think that all of you will agree that it's alot of cash to part with >_<;;
Well after the speech from my father about how I should be looking after the car I went and looked through the service history. It turns out that he's had his power-steering fluid filled for the last two services. Considering it's a closed system that doesn't require filling usually, you'd think that any minorly qualified mechanic could guess there was a fking leak...
The fuel filter that had been put on was Volvo-like, but not 100% compatible, so it had been introducing condensation into the fuel mix and the water had been screwing with the engine, hence the cut-out issue.
So to summarise, my major issues were all due to tha fact that pikies had been working on my car rather than proper mechanics :P
Well i've got my car back, and it's never driven this well. It positively floats ^_^
So, here's hoping the MOT goes smoothly in a few months ¬_¬;;
-Simon
.
.
.
Still here?
.
.
.
Okay, here goes.
.
.
I love my car. It's a Volvo S70 Estate (Diesel) from 2003. I inherited it from my father who purchased it brand new.
As a rule, my father is very good with his cars. He gets them regularly serviced and they always pass their MOTs.
He's got a good history of not crashing them, so any work done to the car is normally for minor things. He does have one problem though in that he NEVER takes the car into an official dealer garage, because he can get an 'equivalent' service from his local garage for a third of the price.
Now, when I got this car 8 months ago it had a few 'niggling' issues which I'll list now:
- If you accelerated 'hard' (i.e. over 3000 revs), then the engine would cut out and you'd need to stop and restart the car.
- At low speeds turning would make a creaking sound. This was very minor to begin with but got worse with time.
- The rear exhaust hung a little low, and would occasionally scrape on a road-bump.
About a week ago the low-speed turning issue got so bad that I figured it'd be a good idea to get the car serviced again. It was due it's 72,000 mile service soon anyway. Now, like most modern cars, mine has an on-board computer that complains at you for a service, and unless you go to an approved dealer garage it'll stay there even after a service. So I figure, I'll see about getting it service by our local Volvo dealer (the place it was purchased from).
The dealer is very helpful, and informs me that from their records that it's never had an official dealer service, and that they'll give me a 10% discount if I go with them due to my cars age. Due to my mis-givings about the competence of some of the 'local garages' my father usually uses (one of them once blew all of my electrics in my car, and still said it passed the MOT! >_<) I felt I'd take the financial hit to get it serviced properly at least once.
So, I take my car in yesterday morning, get called at about 11am to be told all of the things that need to be fixed, and there were alot of things...
- Damaged Rear Wiper
- Dead Headlight
- Cracked Front Number Plate
- Broken Rear Exhaust Bracket
- Cracked Engine Mount
- A cut in one of the rear seat-belts, meaning a complete replacement
- A leak in the power-steering reservoir
- Incorrect fuel filter fitted, replacement needed
In total that came to near £1,200, which they took 10% off of, and I then argued an extra £80 off, to get it down to about £1,000.
I think that all of you will agree that it's alot of cash to part with >_<;;
Well after the speech from my father about how I should be looking after the car I went and looked through the service history. It turns out that he's had his power-steering fluid filled for the last two services. Considering it's a closed system that doesn't require filling usually, you'd think that any minorly qualified mechanic could guess there was a fking leak...
The fuel filter that had been put on was Volvo-like, but not 100% compatible, so it had been introducing condensation into the fuel mix and the water had been screwing with the engine, hence the cut-out issue.
So to summarise, my major issues were all due to tha fact that pikies had been working on my car rather than proper mechanics :P
Well i've got my car back, and it's never driven this well. It positively floats ^_^
So, here's hoping the MOT goes smoothly in a few months ¬_¬;;
-Simon