Hi all.

In my 35+ years of driving, I have owned quite a few GM products, but never an import. I've made a valiant attempt to find out what is "so expensive" about maintaining a Volvo versus maintaining a domestic car, but have yet to find much info.

My view is that all cars need an oil change every so often, have things that break, etc. Some work I can do, others are worthy of a mechanic'a expertise.

What am I missing - what's so different and expensive about a Volvo?

 

There's nothing special about different manufacturers but there will be some nuances in the maintenance space. For example, Some GM cars call for "Dexcool" antifreeze (ie orange) but Volvos and other cars with a lot of aluminum (heads, radiator components) etc require a more aluminum friendly formula ( ie green colored coolants). Same with transmission fluids - which have various additives designed for the transmission. Volvos use some Borg Warners (ie GMs) and some Aisins (ie Toyotas) so the key is to use your owners manual to see what fluids are right for your model. As to oil - newer engines are designed to tighter tolerances and cars ship with thinner synthetic oil to gain efficiency. Again your manual will tell you the recommended viscosity but there's no reason to not run synthetic oil unless your car is old and the extra benefits are not going to be realized. As to "expensive", Volvo use common suppliers like Bosch, Sachs etc who supply to BMW, Mercedes as well as VWs. Parts are easy to find and there's plenty of after market suppliers - you just need to have a trusted supplier who can tell you the difference between Genuine Volvo, OEM and aftermarket by brand.

Regarding work, dealers cost more because they have special training, special tools and provide the strongest warranty on their work - but not all jobs require special tools or model specific training. I've done the bulk of my maintenance on my 850 and S40 and would say my indy has done 75% of the stuff I don't - the rest goes to the dealer for special stuff like in warranty work or things that need special skills or genuine parts (ie side door airbag as an example).

 

So what I'm gathering is it's a bit more expensive for parts, but labor by a "specialist" is what invades the wallet.
Thanks for the info!!