I have a 2003 S60 that was leaking power steering fluid and had to have the car towed to the dealer. Once the car was at the dealer to fix this problem, they called to tell me that the power stearing pump was leaking and that it would be covered under warranty to fix the problem.

At the same time they told me that the rear brakes needed to be changed. I've had some problems with this dealership in the past trying to sell me things that I didn't need or ask for. For example, about a year ago, I was hearing a noise from the left front whenever I turned the wheel to the left. They immediately said that the cause was that the front brakes were bad and they wanted to charge $200 to replace them. Since I know enough about cars to know when the brakes are worn I asked them to show them to me. When I looked at the brakes, I saw that they still had meat on the pads and paying $200 would not have solved the noise I was getting. I had a mechanic drive the car with me and it turns out the noise was coming from the backing plate and simply needed to be bent back slightly (at no cost) to eliminate the noise I was getting

It concerns me as to why they are even looking at my rear brakes in the first place when I brought the car in for a totally unrelated problem and was wondering if this is standard procedure for all Volvo dealers or are they just trying to pad their wallets? I'm getting ready to get a new car want to know if I should just steer clear of this dealership.

This is the same dealer that wanted to charge me for 3/10 of an hour labor ($30) just to reset the service required soon message on the dashboard message center after I did my own oil change. From a google search I found out how to do it myself and it took me all of 30 seconds to reset it.

 

Well, the dealer is not 'in business' to do freebies............if he (dealership) has to pay a mechanic money to reset the service light, don't you feel he is entitled? At any rate as to your rear brakes, simply pull a wheel and check the the amount of pad that is left. If it is at minimum you can perform your own brake service as it is not difficult at all! The same holds true for your front brakes, which I am assuming you did not 're-pad'. The fronts will take no time to change.............the most difficult part is determining whether to use Volvo pads or after market pads. If you use this forum's search engine you will be provided some insight on that dillema. TECH will probably add to my response with some valuable insight.............stay tuned.
Reg.

 

Alot of the dealers out there will do a General SAFETY inspection on all the cars they bring in. Like tires,Brakes,Belts,Hoses, ETC.

They do this to Cover their own A**.

I have seen Many times people come in for something simple like a side Mirror. Then a week later they come back with their brakes Metal to Metal. Then they complain that they never told the Cust. that they needed the Brakes.

It is Customers like that giving the Dealers no other option but to do the inspection while the car is in the shop.

Hope this helps a little.

 

I don't expect a "freebie" from the dealer. It takes all of 30 seconds for them to do and they were already working on the car as I brought the car to the dealer to do repair work due to a recall. Since I already had the car there and had recently done on oil change on my own, I didn't think that it was a big deal to reset the message as a courtesy sinced the manual does say how to do it. If the dealer wants $40 to do an oil change, I didn't think that they would want $30 just to reset the message center if it only takes 30 seconds to do. Thank god for the internet as it was easy to find out exactly how to do it. In the time it took them to tell me it would be $30 for them to do, it could have been done.

I know how to check and replace rear brakes. I was simply wondering why they would pull my wheels to check the rear brakes when the car was there due a leak in the power steering system and I didn't ask them to check the brakes. It's almost like they were looking for something wrong so they could charge me since the power steering work was covered under the warranty.