Last year I had the LF wheel bearing replaced at the dealer, cost over $400 for parts and labor. This is on my 99 S70GLT. 2 weeks ago, same bearing needs to be replaced. It only lasted 10K miles in 17 months. Original bearing lasted 96K miles. Dealer says warranty is 12 months/12K miles whichever comes first, would not budge. I walked, and called Volvo customer care. Heard nothing back from them for 48hrs, so I went ahead and did the work myself. Bought an oem bearing online for $129.

After I did the job myself, Volvo calls back, says they will cover the part, but only if I pay dealer to do the work. Told them I just wanted to warranty the part, they refused.

IMO, a wheel bearing that fails at 17 months/10K miles should be unacceptable to Volvo. There should be room for bending the rules as needed. But I guess I am wrong.

On the bright side, I am super glad I did the work myself. I look back at all the money I paid the dealership to do repairs I could easily have done myself. As the saying goes "Too soon old, too late smart".

 

No, you're not wrong. Back when I worked at a BMW dealer, they would bend the rules (on rare occasion) but it was usually a percentage thing; the percentage they would pick up would depend on time out of warranty and other factors. In your case you were only slightly out of warranty; they should have picked the whole thing, just because it's the right thing to do.

Sure, they were willing to eat the cost of the part (since I'm sure they would still warranty it through their parts dept) as long as they got to charge you the labor (again); sweet deal, for them!

But the good thing is you learned you can do much of these repairs yourself and save tons of $$$.