An ex girlfriend has recently gifted me her 2006 Volvo XC70 wagon with 196,000 miles (should have been my first hint). The local Volvo repair facility is recommending a Bevel Gear and Sleeve replacement. The estimate is $1350. She owned the car for 6-7 years and never knew what AWD even meant let alone how to activate it. We both live around Philadelphia so my thought is I don't need to spend $1350 to have four wheel drive that I probably would never use/need. The car rides smoothly and quietly. Very solid. Is my thinking faulty? Is that estimate in line with current costs or might there be a cheaper alternative?

If we sold the car, how much should the price drop allowing for the bevel gear issue?

A minor concern (I have not really searched out yet) is the windshield washer leaks. If I fill the reservoir, it sprays fine, but drains out in a day. I was told that is about $300 to fix. Otherwise, she did spend a lot over the years at a Volvo specialists maintaining the car.

Any feedback very much appreciated.

 

Philadelphia has more than one independent Volvo garage. Comparison shop that repair. But do have it done, I the AWD is not only for rock crawling.

if you do DIY the windshield washer reservoir replacement is relatively cheap parts but time consuming, which is how the job hits $300.

 

If there's no snow you won't notice lack of 4wd.

No one will notice during a sale unless they pull codes from the differential module - nothing shows up on the dash.