Hello All,

Two of my daughters are going to graduate school out of state, taking with them ancient Volvos at the end of this month. Both are 850 wagons. One daughter will be based in Richmond, VA and the other will be Chapel Hill, NC. Instead of picking a name out of the phone book (Yes, I am dating myself, no one uses phone books anymore) I would appreciate if any members of this Volvo community could recommend independent repair shops that know how to service Volvos in the respective areas.

I would like to identify a garage in advance of the need. Thanks to all who respond

Hugh

P.S. You too may have this experience someday.

My daughter went to school in Ithaca NY, she was there for three years getting her masters - large college towns are loaded with Volvo repair shops.

The knob on her heater switch broke, so she went to a small Volvo garage in town. They pulled all three knobs off a junker in the yard and gave them to her for free.

She called me up and told me - Dad you should see this shop, they're hippies! She had the car serviced there.

Later, I actually fixed the knob by winding small copper wire several times around the cracked tip and put a small bit of epoxy to hold the wire in place.

Christine had to junk her 17 year old 855 because no one around her in upstate Minnesota wanted to work on the car when it would not start. We have gone out there about 12 years in a row and never saw another Volvo! She joined the Dark Side and bought a new Civic.

We are buying a 2017 XC60 TURBO sedan (?) with 39K miles and trading in our 2008 XC70. Time rolls on!

James,

Thanks for your reply. For some reason, there does seem to be a shop that specializes in Volvos that is located near a college campus. Maybe to service all those stereotypical college professors who drive Volvos? I will tell both daughters to ask around. There have to be some "Hippie Volvo" shops around. I may be "nuts" but I recently purchased a 2006 V70 FWD non-turbo wagon for my daughter attending graduate school in Chapel Hill, NC. It is 10 years newer and "only" has a 170.000 miles on it in comparison to the Silver 1996 850 GLT wagon she is driving now. Fortunately it was well maintained and appears to be solid. I will be swapping it off with her soon and taking the old Silver 850 (5-speed manual, non-turbo with 385,000 miles) back. I still have a bias for Volvos, but like you will probably purchase used ones in the future. Buying new, in my opinion is "nuts".

Again, thank you for your reply.

Hugh

Hi.

I found Paul's the Volvo Specialist via cartalk. The reviews are 10 years or older. The yelp listing and review were dismal, can't go by five reviews.

Once they go to school, they are going to find a good shop thru theirs freinds, the kids are well connected. :-)

Good luck.

Swedish Baklava,

Thank you for your reply. You are probably right. You ask around and make inquiries. I just don't want them taken advantage of if I can prevent it. But that experience is part of life too.

Hugh