Holy Cow! $31,412.00 in repairs over 10 years! This is good?

jimr2345 · Post by **jimr2345** » 01 Jul 2011, 11:47

So I added up the repair receipts that came with my 1997 850R that I bought from a friend.

I DID NOT PAY THESES BILLS _ the guy I bought it from paid them!

Thy totaled $31,412.00
Less body work $8,055.00

Net repairs, 23,357.00

Other than a love for Volvos - WHY do this? Could have bought antoher car! No Ford, Chevy or Japsnese car would have cost this. Ok they are sweet cars but till - 23k in repairs???? WOW!

Post by **jblackburn** » 01 Jul 2011, 11:52

I've only put around $2000 (I do 98% of my own work though) into mine in 4.5 years aside from basic wear items like tires, oil changes, wiper blades, etc. Not bad, considering it's 13 years old and I do a LOT of driving with it.

My 1988 Accord cost me $1300, and I put nearly $5000 worth of work into the stupid thing before giving up and selling it 3 years later.

Post by **JRL** » 01 Jul 2011, 12:35

What did you do?
Blow up the motor, the trans and about everything else?!
NOBODY can spend that much money on mechanics on one stupid Volvo and you were a total fool to do so if you really did this.
You can buy the best 850R in the world for 10-12K

Post by **FlyingVolvo** » 01 Jul 2011, 12:41

I gotta second Jim on this one... did you hand off every single repair to a shop that overcharged you or what?

instarx · Post by **instarx** » 01 Jul 2011, 12:47

JRL, it isn't polite to call people fools. Anyway he said his friend paid those costs, didn't you read the post?

jimr2345: You said "less body work" so it was in an accident? Did you deduct those repairs?

Funny how these things work. My car was evidently a cash devouring hole for the previous owner, but I have spent less than $500 in repairs over the three years since I bought it from her. In three years I have had a bad coil, a sticking brake caliper, one worn engine mount, and a loose electrical connection on the starter. That's it in three years for an 11 year old 149k car.

Now I have had some maintenance items that any car would have like worn rotors and oil changes, so did you separate maintenance items from repair items??

SimLyons · Post by **SimLyons** » 01 Jul 2011, 13:39

JRL: Very harsh response and even more so considering you didn't even read the entire post. Maybehe gotthecar for a really great deal and everything is as it should be now....with the car, that is. So who's the fool now?

It'd be nice if you would confine your remarks to helpful comments/suggestions and not so full of criticism and put-downs.

Post by **vjaneczko** » 01 Jul 2011, 13:52

I've not had any body work done on my ride, but I'll guess 8 grand is some serious repair work due to an accident. That also tells me that a lot of those repair costs were probably from a shop charging a lot of hours for repairs.

On the other hand, it sounds like you might have a car that won't need a lot of maintenance in the near future!

Still, 23 grand works out to about $194.64 a month over the ten years. If the R is running well, I'd pay that monthly note

Marcobrick · Post by **Marcobrick** » 01 Jul 2011, 14:47

I know a few folks who have been taken for huge amounts owning European cars. Look, some people (ok, most people) don't know cars and will accept mammoth bills from the garage if they are led to believe it's necessary. Not one of my workmates believes how small my budget is for running two family cars and a couple of toys but I do ALL the work myself with the exception of opening up computers and other electrickery. $2300 per year is still quite steep but hey, my neighbour's friend just got a bill from the VW dealers for $1100 just to do the front brake rotors and pads. Doesn't take that many visits....

Post by **JRL** » 01 Jul 2011, 15:00

I'm sorry
Spending that much on a 15 year old car (doesn't matter who's money was spent) if that's a total of actual dollars spent, that's just plain nuts!

(Apologies for the comment), but seriously, it just doesn't make sense to spend that kind of money.
I would still like to know where all the money went to and what for.... out of inane curiousity

instarx · Post by **instarx** » 01 Jul 2011, 15:22

JRL wrote:I'm sorry
Spending that much on a 15 year old car (doesn't matter who's money was spent) if that's a total of actual dollars spent, that's just plain nuts!

Well, presumably it was only a five year old car ten years ago. But you are right, it seems way out of line. I suspect everything was done at a dealer, and regular service is included in the "repair" number. If my $431 of repairs had been done by a dealer the cost would probably have been more like $3,000.