Volvo Service centers in ATLANTA: Advice Suggestions
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From: 404,770,678,943,470
Volvo Service centers in ATLANTA: Advice Suggestions
Hello all,
I am new to the Volvo owner life and want to start building a good relationship with my local dealers and independent shops in the Atlanta Area (preferably near Southside: Newnan, PTC, Fairburn area). I am not opposed to traveling to the North for great service any advice or referrals? Thanks
DP
I am new to the Volvo owner life and want to start building a good relationship with my local dealers and independent shops in the Atlanta Area (preferably near Southside: Newnan, PTC, Fairburn area). I am not opposed to traveling to the North for great service any advice or referrals? Thanks
DP
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If youre in atlanta, the only place I'd recommend besides a dealership is Auto Disassembly Volvo. They only work on volvos, bunch of spare parts, and really know their stuff. Really honest guys. They are located on Chattahoochee Ave NW
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From: GA
I owned a Volvo only shop in Atanta for 38 years, until 2018. Sold and the new owner works on all sorts of stuff, mostly higher end. He was not really interested in the Volvo business, but still takes them in for service. Over the years I have watched many competitors/garages go out of business due to all sorts of reasons.
Years ago The above mentioned shop was simply a junkyard. (and still is) My one experience with them was I called for a used speedometer and was quoted x. When i arrived the speedo was not sold by itself, purchase of the entire instrument cluster was required for xxxx. The phone price and time to pick it up price was 4 times the price. I declined and have not done business with them since.
If you are looking for a professional shop - someone who is familiar with newer cars, has and uses a VIDA subscription to diagnose and repair Volvos - there used to be several. Clark Otten's "Pro Repair" shop - he got old like me and sold his shops. One of his shops might still do a bunch of Volvos but they are in North Atlanta. His shops like mine had and used VIDA. Braxton Automotive still does some Volvo work - I hired Steve Braxton as a tech when he first moved to Atlanta. Worked for me for several years until he opened his Bmw/Volvo shop. Have great respect for him - honest and trustworthy. Don't think he works at his Chattahoochee BMW/Volvo location anymore though. Don't know about "VolMaz" in Decatur, they have been in business a long time. And Summit Automotive in Decatur works on a lot of Volvos. I interviewed the owner for a tech position back in the late 80's. Nice guy.
For your 2018 - you will find very few shops that have the experience and knowledge on the 2016+ cars. As an independant shop I would not see the new cars until they were 5-6 years old. So, any common problems the dealers were fixing we were out of the loop on. Sure we could read the tech journals, but that's not the same thing as hands on experience. In the 60s,70s,80s,90s, that was not a problem. Cars were simple and did not change much. When Volvo went to networked control units in 1999 - your average junkyard "mechanic" was not able to understand how things worked. And things have not gotten any simpler to diagnose -
Who do I use for service? I have a leased 2020 and a new 2022. Having hired, trained, fired, techs for 45 years - IMHO the average independant "tech" is not someone you would want touching your car. Modern cars are much more reliable but when there is a problem, the knowledge needed is more than the independant "tech" has access to.
I don't plan to own a car outside of warranty due to the specialized knowledge and tools needed to fix some stuff when it breaks.
Years ago The above mentioned shop was simply a junkyard. (and still is) My one experience with them was I called for a used speedometer and was quoted x. When i arrived the speedo was not sold by itself, purchase of the entire instrument cluster was required for xxxx. The phone price and time to pick it up price was 4 times the price. I declined and have not done business with them since.
If you are looking for a professional shop - someone who is familiar with newer cars, has and uses a VIDA subscription to diagnose and repair Volvos - there used to be several. Clark Otten's "Pro Repair" shop - he got old like me and sold his shops. One of his shops might still do a bunch of Volvos but they are in North Atlanta. His shops like mine had and used VIDA. Braxton Automotive still does some Volvo work - I hired Steve Braxton as a tech when he first moved to Atlanta. Worked for me for several years until he opened his Bmw/Volvo shop. Have great respect for him - honest and trustworthy. Don't think he works at his Chattahoochee BMW/Volvo location anymore though. Don't know about "VolMaz" in Decatur, they have been in business a long time. And Summit Automotive in Decatur works on a lot of Volvos. I interviewed the owner for a tech position back in the late 80's. Nice guy.
For your 2018 - you will find very few shops that have the experience and knowledge on the 2016+ cars. As an independant shop I would not see the new cars until they were 5-6 years old. So, any common problems the dealers were fixing we were out of the loop on. Sure we could read the tech journals, but that's not the same thing as hands on experience. In the 60s,70s,80s,90s, that was not a problem. Cars were simple and did not change much. When Volvo went to networked control units in 1999 - your average junkyard "mechanic" was not able to understand how things worked. And things have not gotten any simpler to diagnose -
Who do I use for service? I have a leased 2020 and a new 2022. Having hired, trained, fired, techs for 45 years - IMHO the average independant "tech" is not someone you would want touching your car. Modern cars are much more reliable but when there is a problem, the knowledge needed is more than the independant "tech" has access to.
I don't plan to own a car outside of warranty due to the specialized knowledge and tools needed to fix some stuff when it breaks.
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@hoonk Thank you thank you thank you! So insightful and awesome to know we have owners and forum members with your expertise on these forums. I am total agreement with you and I have a mechanic who workers on my TL for over 10 years. Acura and Honda specialists in Fayetteville GA. I will have him do simple things like oil changes, brakes, etc. but will go to the dealer (Dyer & Dyer) for the high level Volvo issues. I just live south of I-20 and as you know ATL is not getting any smaller and I don't want to spend over an hour trying to get my car to a dealer for simple things.
It is great to hear that there are still reputable Volvo shops out there, but so many shops are being hit hard on all sides and so it is sometimes easiest to sell the shop and move on. I think long term we won't keep the Volvo for as long as we have kept our Highlander (2008 bought in 2013 with 78k miles and to date we have over 275k miles on the car. I also only took the Highlander to the Toyota of Newnan and I am glad because they have comp'd so many things for me because I have been a long and consistent client with them.
It is great to hear that there are still reputable Volvo shops out there, but so many shops are being hit hard on all sides and so it is sometimes easiest to sell the shop and move on. I think long term we won't keep the Volvo for as long as we have kept our Highlander (2008 bought in 2013 with 78k miles and to date we have over 275k miles on the car. I also only took the Highlander to the Toyota of Newnan and I am glad because they have comp'd so many things for me because I have been a long and consistent client with them.
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