Hi,

Just purchased a new 2001 C70; The Finance Department at the dealer tried to push on us the additional "sealant" and "protection" plans which we declined and some private company backed extended warranty plan. We declined these, and when I mentioned to the sales person we were interested in an extention of the factory warranty, she had us go back some days later and when the factory warranty (I believe it is called the VIP, Volvo extended protection plan), the second F and I person said, "Oh, you should buy the private comapny plan, it is much better than the one offered by Volvo".

I then asked a friend who used to sell cars about this response, and he said, sure, the profit to the F and I is increased by 5X if you buy the private company extended warranty they try and sell you. He also said if you want the 7 year Volvo plan don't offer to pay more than $1800 for it.

Is this why they never even mentioned its existance? Am I stupid to be appalled at this? Can I go back to them a third time, and tell them: I am interested in the VIP 7 year Volvo plan warranty, will pay $1800 for it, take it or leave it? If they say no, can I go to another Volvo dealer and try?

(We took delivery of the new C70 on 29 December 2000.

Thanks

Jim

Jim, Took my new Volvo home 12/15/99....

a 2000 S70/GLT......about a month or so ago VIP sent me a leter with all the info. I got a very good deal(I think the price just went up though). This is my second time around with a VIP extended warranty....I had one on my 1991 244. Yes I shopped around......VIP is your best bet(both in price & extent of coverage). If you like I can give you VIP’s phone number, and you can get them to send you the info packet.

BTW: Screw that sales dept. you delt with......they sound like get over artists.

I would not trust a place like this with the service or parts for my cars either.

good luck with the new car!

Steve Ferraro

Hoboken, NJ

Steve:

I would like the address of the VIP warranty.

My S70 GLT is coming off lease soon and it has less than 36K miles

so it qualifies for the warranty. It might be a sales enhancement.

I am ready to make a deal with anyone wanting a low miles perfect '98 S70 GLT. Will take less than current buy-out.

Rich

Well, being an individual who has been in the business for a more than "a couple of years", it is obvious that they have a bigger profit margin built into the warranty from the "private company". We do not even bother with those (even though we would make more money) because we have seen too many private companies go out of business and then the people who bought their warranties are left w/ nothing!

Lastly, I would like to find out how does your friend justify that you "should not pay anything more than $1800 for a 7yr. VIP plan"??? Where does he get his numbers from? Because if he can tell me where I (and I emphasize "I") can get the 7yr. plan for $1800, I would like to get a few hundred. Does he know what is the COST of such plan (especially after the latest price increase) to a Volvo dealer? I can sell you any of these plans with a 20% discount off the retail figure but it will not be any close to $1800 because it, simply, I cannot even buy that plan at my cost.

Yannis

Gee,

I got mine for $700 when I bought the car. Glad I did considering all of the problems

Evap, 3 blower moters,anti-lock parts, suspension parts, these are just the highlights

Note that Volvo won't sell you a VIP policy if you have more

then 35K miles (I may have that number wrong nut there is a milage

limit and it is fairly low). Point is, you

should wait (as suggested) but don't wait past the point where

they will not sell you one. This 35K mileage policy is relativly

new (so be aware of dealers who might not know about it).

Also, when your factory warranty runs out, Volvo will send

you a letter offering the VIP plan (that is what they did for

our 850). I assume they don't if their records indicate your

milage is too high. This is the time to buy it since you know

the history of the car. In our case, our 95 850 was quite

reliable and it did not seem like we needed an extended warranty.

Jim,

I shopped around in my area and found the cheapest one ($1800). This was the Volvo VIP with $25 co-payment, 7yrs/10,000 miles.

I bought it from another dealer than the one I purchased my 855. I used it several times in my dealership.

Hope this help.

Ching-Ho Cheng

VIP is not a Volvo warranty! Volvo resells these policies to insurance companies (as does GM and Ford and every other car maker). When you have a claim you do not deal with Volvo but with an insurance company. Take a look at warrantygold.com and warrantydirect.com for better, lower cost alternatives.

Also, If you want an extended warranty then wait until your car is just about out of OEM warranty and then get it. The clock starts on these warranties when you buy them so a 7 year policy starts today even though for the first 4 years you can not claim on it as you have OEM warranty. So you get an effective 3 years of coverage. If you wait until the last month of your OEM warranty you will get the full seven years (up to 10 with warrantydirect).

Also make sure you get an "exclusionary contract". This means everything not listed by the policy is covered. Typically they exclude wear and tear items just like the OEM warranty. If anything not "wear and tear" breaks it is covered. And pay extra for the zero deductible.

This is a very questionable subject. You can find the dealer's true cost on any type vehicle, but the cost that a dealer pays for an extended warranty is a closely guarded secret within the dealership that maybe only the very top management and/or owner knows.

From discussing this with several friends in the car business, I have concluded that the sales people and even the finance manager don't know the actual dealer's cost of an extended warranty. Because of this, most dealerships are making huge profits in this area and they keep it hidden because if the working level people knew what was going on they would be very disgruntled about it.

I purchased a " Factory " ( I know most Extended Warrantiies are actually handled by insurance companies, but the factory or importer stand behind it, as I believe VCNA does for VIP, so I refer to it as a Factory Extended Warranty ) for a major European manufacturer for 7yr/100,000 miles, $25 deductible. Before the dealers got wise and forced them to shut it down, they were selling it direct for $895, which is still probably more than dealer's cost on the same policy.

Yannis, I think you are in the dark on this. there is no way a Volvo dealer's cost is up there where you're talking. From alot of checking around, I would say their cost for a FWD vehicle would be at or a little below $1,000.

By the way, for those interested, you can buy your VIP from any Volvo dealer. So shop around and you may luck up on one willing to sell for a fair price.