My family has owned Volvo cars since the 1980s and have always been extremely satisfied with the vehicle’s reliability. We recently purchased a 2012 S60 for our 16 year old son from an individual who purchased it as a CPO from our local dealership. She had the car serviced there as well. On the second day of ownership, the serpentine belt broke, hit the timing belt, and blew up the engine going 10 mph in our cup-de-sac! Since the car had 76k miles, it’s no longer under warranty. The dealership wants 7k to replace the engine. We contacted VCNA & filed a goodwill claim as the factory installed serpentine belt should have lasted to 105k miles.
VCNA expressed their condolences on our misfortune but would not offer any financial assistance or negotiation to replace the engine.

Its a sad day when a company will no longer stand behind its own product.

WE WILL NOT BUY ANOTHER VOLVO!!

 

How is this a Volvo issue? Did you read your contract on warranty? If it was truly a Volvo CPO car, you'd have a CPO warranty
see https://content.modix.us/userdata/14...act_2_1_19.pdf which is what a true Volvo CPO program car would offer for coverage.

Also, many states have lemon laws which cover recent purchases for xx days For example, if your car was bought used in NY state, the dealer is obligated to provide a warranty for 60 days or 3000 miles for a car for a used car purchased with 76K miles.

Sounds like your issue is with the dealer and you need to do some homework on lemon laws and read the sales contract, particularly if as you stated the car was yours for only two days.

 

CPO would be expired on a 2012. And it sounds like he bought it from an individual, not a dealer.

Clearly didn't get a pre-purchase inspection, or at least not a good one. It would have caught the belt walking off the tensioner. Somehow now that is Volvo's fault.

 

yep a 2012 seemed too old to be a "true" Volvo CPO

 

I'm have serious problems with my s60 2012. Do you know your engine #. I'm fighting with Volvo now. My 2012 S60 only has 81K

Any help would be appreciated.

Tom.

 

I'm have serious problems with my s60 2012. Do you know your engine #. I'm fighting with Volvo now. My 2012 S60 only has 81K

Any help would be appreciated.

Tom.

 

From what I can discern, it looks like this purchase may have been the result of a private sale. In my state (New Jersey), I believe a private sale of an vehicle is considered an "as-is" transaction. My guess, even in NJ, is that if the seller out-right lied to the buyer about a material defect, possibly the buyer might have grounds to sue the seller. However, it doesn't appear that the buyer has an issue with the seller, just with the dealer the seller used and the manufacturer.

Being a 2012 model, the serpentine belt is around 8 years old. No mention is made regarding the car's mileage. It is hard to detect the ware of modern serpentine belts, as opposed to those made years ago which decayed with use and/or age. Modern serpentine belts have an age and mileage useful life. It's not just based on mileage. As a result, my personal practice is to replace the serpentine belt every 5 years and/or 50K to 60K miles, whichever comes first. This belt replacement is a relative low cost maintenance item, and one that can easily be done by the owner, themself. It was mentioned that VCNA said the serpentine belt "should have lasted to 105K miles". My opinion is that this may be true of the timing belt, but not the serpentine belt, at least based on my experience.

PS: Perhaps the new buyer should check with the seller for all prior maintenance records from the dealer, assuming the previous buyer maintained their car at the dealer, as stated. If this is the case, as part of the dealer's normal maintenance, they would have recommended the serpentine belt replacement at around 5-to-6 years and/or 50K to 60K, based on my experience. From the new car dealers I've maintained my cars with in the past, the dealer's serpentine belt recommendation would have been documented in the maintenance invoice given to the owner, along with a note if the owner rejected the service department's advice. Typically, I purchase and keep all of my cars for 15+ years, and ensure that all needed and preventive maintenance is performed. Never had a breakdown of any of my vehicles in 50+ years of driving.