Hi there,

So finally after weeks of research, i have narrowed down a v60 that i'm looking to buy. I live in the Summit, NJ area and this being my first volvo i dont have a trusted mechanic to conduct a pre purchase inpection.
Would you have any recommendations on one or how i should go about doing this.
Any and all advice is appreciated!

Thanks,
Rich

 

What year are you looking to buy? To me, the most critical value add a seller can provide is the car's maintenance history. Was it dealer maintained? If so, its likely the dealer did whole car inspections with each service. Ask the seller to provide a full Carfax report as well. (dealers also report maintenance servicing which shows up on the carfax). Otherwise you can see if the seller will give you a money back guarantee based on a third party inspection - this would come out of your pocket but most dealers and many quality independents (use a service like Angies, Yelp etc to find one) and have them quote a full safety inspection. Expect to pay for a full hour of shop time ($100-$150). If you are looking to buy something like a 2015 or newer, you can also consider shopping for a certified pre-owned model or buying an extended warranty. If you buy older, just remember how old the car is and expect to have more repairs than a newer car.

 

2015.5 volvo v60 cross country premier . Dealer reported maintenance servcicing has shown up on the carfax every 10k miles or so. I've also paid for a third party inspection now from motovise. Lets see how that turns out. The car has just over 60K miles on it and seems to be in decent shape. Ill be paying all cash, what is a reasonable offer i should make if the inspection turns out fine?

 

a good way to get a market price is to use sites like Autotrader etc and search for your desired model/features/year across a wide area. Use a few sites and you'll begin to see what's typical asking price for Volvo dealers, non-volvo dealers and private sellers. Kelly Blue Book (KBB.com) also provides some market based insights on what the typical selling price range is based on recorded sales.