research, research, research
i didnt do my research about this beautiful 03 xc90 T6 28,000 miles off lease and after 1 year of great driving the transmission light comes on. i take it to the dealer and my head almost explodes when the guy tells me that the tranny is shot the truck has 42000 miles. $2800 bucks for the rebuilt tranny 15 hours labour @ $160 ph.

 

I feel sick for you! I would have to ramp that up with Volvo somehow. That failure at that milage should not be acceptable to them as a company. There should be a corporate figure in the states that should be stympathetic to your situation.

Have you called non-dealer shops for their recommendations, I would think anyone else would be cheaper than the dealer with a warranty as well.

 

I am so sorry to hear that, really, it is unacceptable for a car with that low milage to blow a transmission. Volvo has this reputation for cars that live forever and yet here they are letting this model tarnish that reputation in a big way.

I have the T6 model and like you am kicking myself for not researching MORE. we researched this car to death before we took the plunge. Only after did I start to little by little connect the T6 with all these problems. So don't feel bad, I did research it and still didn't realize that this is what i was getting into.

Volvo really should, in my opinion show good faith and accept the BIG BIG mistake they made with this transmission by offering those of us with this model some kid of deal on a new transmission so that we can drive this car with peace of mind. I hate the fact that I bought this car and I have only had it a year but I am afraid to take it on a road trip this summer vacation because I don't want to be left stranded somewhere, how pathetic is that for a 4 yr old car made by Volvo???

 

That is probably the GM-built transmission. I remember that one person drove out of the dealer in his/her brand-new XC90 and the transmission crapped out in just a few minutes. Sadly, unless amanufacturing defect poses direct threat against safety, manufacturers do not issue recalls.


JPN

 

Extended warranty helpful in this case - yes/no?

 

Mr.Atornquist,

I really don't mean to object to your support for extended warranty, and IF companies do pay extended warranty coverage, only then will I say yes. However, I have only heard of companies not paying for the coverage and coming up with hundreds of different versions of excuses for not paying, I wonder if you haveread the "Before" and "After" I've been posting in a couple of threads. I believe you were fortunate that your extended warranty was paid and you got your money's worth, whichis great. I keep opposing it, only because extended warranty is often overpriced, well within the realm of a few thousand dollars (although it depends on what package you buy), and if I were to pay for extended warranty that is not guaranteed to be paid, I would save/set the money aside and use it for future repair or for scheduled maintenance items.

I used to say extended warranty may be good for the XC90s with GM-tranny, ONLY if the warranty does cover transmission failure. To this day, I have not heard of anyone whose transmission failed but was saved by extended warranty.

Unless if I'm wrong, I would believe that transmission replacement on an XC90 is about $3,000-$5,000, am I wrong? And say if I had the choice of setting the money aside on my own, I would at least know that the money would be spent, but I do not have confidence in an extended warranty and with all reports I've been hearing & seeing so far, I would not buy an extended warranty.

The primary purpose of it is to make money. It is so profitable that it's now seen in almost every industry. And often there is "Scare Tactics" involved, a tactics where a sales guy/gal scares possible customers of how bad future would be without an extended warranty. I would say the future would be catastrophic if someone bought an extended warranty and the company refuses to pay for it.

This is solely my personal opinion, and I still leave 10% margin to support extended warranty. However, 90% of the time I am against it. It is absolutely up to individual car owner's decision whether or not to buy an extended warranty.


JPN

 

I agree with JPN, we bought an extended warranty when we bought the car, we spent over 2000.00 dollars for it. It was for 60,000 km. We never needed it until it was expired. I would have preferred to stash that money away and have it right now to fix all that needs to be fixed. You had to send in these little (we are talking the size of 2 postage stamps) stubs in the mail to the warranty company every time you serviced the car and had to have it serviced every 3000 km. I do that anyway and i think that a good warranty company would be able to see by the records you keep for the service that you have been maintaining it. The clincher was that if you failed to send in these stubs you voided the warranty. I think most warranties sold are sold for your peace of mind and the actual chance of you getting anything out of them is slim to none. I read somewhere, I think it was here and it may even have been JPN that said it but some warranties cover certain parts but not others so even if you think you are covered for a certain part, because it failed due to X part, it may not be covered.... I think the whole thing is kind of shady in my opinion.

However having said that, I am not sure if you are able to buy an extended warranty directly form a volvo dealer?? if that was an option I would be more inclined to do that than just go with "X" warranty company.

So, after that long ramble, I have to say I agree with JPN, keep the money you would spend on the warranty and use it when you need it.

 

Hi. New to the forum. My '05 XC90 T6 with 62,000 miles just had the transmission fail on the way back from a camping trip. It was towed to the dealer and I will speak to them in the morning to find out the extent of the damage.

I understand the skepticism about extended warranties, but that seems most of that venom is being directed at 3rd party warranties. I would like to ask specifically if those who have purchased their cars as Certified Pre-Owned Volvo's and have experienced the T6 tranny failure have had the repair covered by the Volvo extended warranty.

My experience with the Volvo Certified program to date has been pretty positive. Already had a wiring harness replaced on this car, which was a $1,500 job all covered by the warranty.

 

Sorry dudes. That seems to be Volvos response. The T6 package is substandard and Volvo ought to make it right. I've owned Volvos since 1978 and the T6 ought to be recalled. My 78' 240DL was just about the best. My 07' XC90 comes close.
It was built on Wednesday I have the papers to prove it. A Wednesday car is best. If your going to buy an XC90, the V8 is the only way to go. I've owned an 03' T6, a 06' V8 and an 07' V8. The biggest change was the engine and all to the better.
Also, the 8 seat is the way to go. Automatic leveling.

 

the T6 trannies can be rebuilt, they use the same tranny as a large variety of GM minivans. I just got mine rebuilt (at 55K Miles) it was $2000 to R&R and rebuild, new converter, warranty, new p;anetary set, clutches, etc, not a bad deal considering a new tranny is $4000 (all prices in Canada) and plus to install is 14 hrs labor.
Try it if you need a tranny job.