Went in to get an oil/filter change yesterday-Friday--a bit early-2600 miles since last one-usually I wait till 3000. Since my injured back now prohibits me from changing my own oil, I had searched and found a place that charges $49.00- BUT they don’t have the oil or Mann filter I use, so I bring in my own oil and filter (and my bottle of “Sep”) and it’s knocked down to $23. (Not bad considering the “Jiffy Lube” type places want anywhere from $25 to $35 if you use your own oil and filter.)

They also check the undercarriage, tires, exhaust, brake linings, etc. They have never ever tried to sell me anything I don’t really need and if they do find something, they are very courteous and explain carefully and take me under the car to explain the issue. .Since I also have a good “shade tree” mechanic, (who doesn’t like to do oil changes)-oh well--anyway my “shade tree” does almost all the other mechanical work that I can not do, so I will consult him if the place that changes my oil suggests a possible repair that needs to be looked at.. What’s also nice is the oil change place is aware I use a “shade tree” and they don’t seem to have any issue with that. They just seem to be happy to help me out, and IF I ever need more work on the brick my 'shade tree' wasn’t up to for whatever reason, they probably know I’d then consult them about doing the work. Well, it’s nice to find a “regular shop” that has a good reputation for being reasonable, honest and considerate. No real point to this post-just saying--

Could you share your city/state and the name of the place where you go? Assuming you don't think it will make it impossible for you to access it.

Happy Bricking

Well, I don’t quite understand this> "Assuming you don't think it will make it impossible for you to access it."-
but anyway it is: Dons Tire service in Berkeley, Calif, at 820 Gilman Street about 5-6 blocks west of San Pablo Ave. Yes, they do/sell primarily tires-but they do alignments, of course, and some other stuff like oil changes-brakes-supension-stuff like that but not huge major mechanical repairs. . They do not specialize in any particular make of vehicle, and I feel their prices for labor and things like their tires are competitive. Don himself has been there many years and good chance you will see him especially if you’re there in the morning. I’ve dealt with him for many years when the need arose, and right now it's for oil changes and an occasional alignment and maybe even tires, but I buy my tires mostly at Big ”O” as I like their warranty, and they have a good price on Michelins usually.
For my specific Volvo repairs I then see Dave, my "shade tree" mechanic.

There are a lot of good points to your post, may people take for granted, or don't even ask or question.

My local Volvo dealer has a coupon now for oil change $21.95 up to 5 qts and a Volvo oil filter. These coupons are offered 3-4 times a year and beat out ANY local lube places, PLUS you get a free car wash!
I'm pretty sure that this is a nationwide discount going on right now.

I would never take my Volvo's to a Jiffy lube or any of those quick oil change type of places, especially after I saw a guy peel my nearly new windshield wiper blade off and come to me saying I needed new wiper blades for ONLY $18(it was a Jiffylube). I drove straight to the deealer after copmplaining to the manager and bought a new set (also showed him the reciept for new baldes less than two months ago), and the dealer price was $15. They did re-imburse me for the wiper blades, but I will never go back again.

You get what you pay for in both service & parts. I do almost 100% of my repair needs, but recognize the value of a Volvo dealer compared to other 'Qualified shops' It's a good thing to send them work from time to time just to establish and keep a good relationship going. I can't tell you how many times I've done work on my cars like front-end and they've said how good my work was while I had them do a precise 4 wheel alignment. I also don't take my cars to the local alighment shop, always to a dealer, and usually the same or less cost than the tire guy's alignment w/coupons. Same goes for State inspections.

I know I'll get some flack for this but you're wasting money changing the oil that often. If you change the oil at 1/2 interval (5000 miles) your'er going to be way ahead of the engine wear game. Just saying

Thanks for your comments- "Funny" you should mention going to a dealer. We bought our '89 wagon 9 years ago from a guy who went primarily to a dealer for service on the brick. He had saved about $18,000 dollars worth of receipts (which he gave to us) for service, upgrades and repairs he had done at a dealers, even including having the transmission pulled out and resealed and having the motor resealed at the back while the tranny was out, not that it was leaking, he just thought it was a good time to do the rear seal as long as the tranny was out. Here’s the issue though with going to a dealer with a 20+ year old 200 series-the mechanics usually are well trained for dealing with the newer bricks, doing regular required maintenance and repairs at times--many have little knowledge of an old 200. Seems the independents who have worked on 200s for years have a more intimate knowledge of the workings of the 200’s. Of course a dealers labor cost skyrockets over an independents usually. The receipts we saw , and still have, from the dealer had many 1000s of $$ in labor that most likely could have been saved by just going to a reputable independent.

For example, my best independent mechanic ever (that I “lost” to Jay Leno) worked at a dealers at the time the 200s were fairly new, for years. As the 200s gave way to newer models he had to go for more training at times,. He eventually decided to set up his own shop specializing in 200,s 850, 940s etc-you get the idea. After many many years his expertise has grown, tho I would imagine if he went back to a dealer, he would have to have extensive “retraining” on the new models.

Anyway continuing on, as far as doing the oil change at 3k instead of the recommended 5k-its fine with a fairly new brick, but the older it gets the more frequently it should be changed, imo, due to natural “wear and tear”. If we keep the brick for a much longer period I might even drop it regularly to changing the oil every 2.5k and maybe even every 2k eventually. As far as the oil change-I imagine your dealer uses the type of oil you prefer so it works out for you. I also have never been to a “Jiffy Lube” and never would. BTW I had a friend who used to take his 200 into a dealer and they had a real difficult time doing some things as they said the 200s were “pretty much too old” for some items, tho they did have an older mechanic they would bring over to help with an issue. Seems the new” younger mechanics now were trained to work on the fancy new bricks knew next to nothing about the more intimate workings of the 200s. Sure, an oil change is an oil change, but there are issues it might take a 20-30 year veteran of 200s to answer and deal with.

Lastly-thank goodness for our current brick “shade tree” mechanic, Dave. He is over 65, worked on 200 series bricks for umpteen years, and is almost as good as our previous shade tree was. He’s reasonable, honest, knowledgeable, etc, and has done repairs that have saved us hundreds of $$$ especially in labor costs. Everyone should have their own “Dave”. Thanks again. Good feedback.