Not me, but a mate of mine, has just had his 3 year and 6 day old Volvo V40 engine fail. In his words ” cracked in half”, I’m not sure of the exact details, but new engine needed at a cost of £6300. As I say, just out of warranty, and only 30k on the clock, full service history at the dealers who have said they will cover 50% of the costs, but that still leaves a sizeable chunk to pay. Any thoughts please. Any directions to go, or people to speak too, or “legal speak” to push the right buttons.

Speak to Volvo UK and hope for the best.

https://www.volvocars.com/uk/footer/contact-us

Shame them on Facebook to get a better deal than 50%! The engine is only days outside the warranty.

Oooof there but for the grace of god and all that.
Any refurbished / second hand options?

At three years old the Sale of Goods Act applies here. Goods have to be of “satisfactory quality” and that could be up to six years. Is it reasonable to expect to need a new engine in a three year old car? I’d say not.

Talk to Volvo first as Jamie, see if they’ll foot the bill out of goodwill. If not, SoGA.

No help but bloody hell 😯

The good news in this is it’s got a Dealer FSH, from the dealer whose offered you 50% I assume.

He needs to make a fuss, with them and Volvo themselves, get facts and figures together and make compliant.
Quote SoGA and if required garner the help of a solicitor for an initial outlay (claim back once deals been agreed)

Agreed, you have a case, warranty does not override rights, although depending on when the car was purchased it might fall under the consumer rights act which replaced the sale of goods act, but it’s broadly similar in that you can reasonably expect a car to last more than 3 years regardless of warranty.

The fact it has full service history shows that it’s been correctly maintained and you’ve done all you reasonably can to prevent any issues.

The 50% offer, which whilst them just trying to save themselves money, could be construed as an admittion of liability.

Which engine and what failure?

+1 to the advice above about speaking to Volvo customer services directly.

My V40 door locks jammed which is a known fault and the dealer said they’d pay half. Called Volvo and said that it was known and is a safety concern. They stumped up the other half.

Definitely worth a go

Personally I wouldn’t go down the shouting your head off in the dealership, Facebook shame, etc straight away.

Speak to Volvo UK first, see how you get on.

Then ‘lawyer up’ find a decent solicitor than knows consumer law inside and out, go from there.

I don’t think the public shaming thing works that well these days. People will be put off with a patern of failures, not a single case and it just makes you look like a nut.

As above, make a polite, insistent fuss. Research people in the chain of command. Make sure the garage know you’re not going to go away, make them WANT to help you to get you off their back and onto Head Office’s.

I had a Honda Accord diesel which died just out of the 3 yr, 90000 mile warranty. After a little prevaricating, they paid. Took a while, but they sorted it out after an initial quote of a similar value to your friend’s. In the end, they wanted to investigate, as they were starting to see a few problem engines, and I think this tipped it. Was about the chain that ran the oil pump in the end.

I would hope that Volvo would take a similar view of their reliability reputation as Honda did for me. Volvos have a reputation of lasting for hundreds of thousands of miles, 30k is NOTHING.

Revert to social media if you get nowhere, but don’t get angry on their quickly, just that polite insistence. If you’re struggling to find out who to contact, ask that question on Social Media perhaps, wanting a specific name or asking that a senior manager contacts you.

Good luck.

depending on when the car was purchased it might fall under the consumer rights act which replaced the sale of goods act

CRA came in in 2015, it won’t apply to a 3yo car.

My son has a Merc c220 diesal thing brand new company car at 6000 miles a con rod or two came out sideways…

Car was written off by Mercedes

‘kin ‘ell OP and @oldman

As above go to Volvo direct, press can be quite helpful too – What Car ?

Thanks all, I’ll pass on your suggestions. For anyone who’s interested, the engine is the 1.6 D2.

or volvo could do what land rover did to me when the td5 seized for the third time.. Tough nuts

Same 1.6 that’s also found in millions of Fords then? I bet they sort it tbh, it’s an unusual event and so close to warranty (plus SOGA) it’d probably end up costing more to fight

Crikey OP I wonder what caused it. 😯

During my younger days all me boy racer mates experienced exploding engine one time or another, but them boys use to modify their cars. 😀

or volvo could do what land rover did to me when the td5 seized for the third time.. Tough nuts

Yup. Occasionally companies will just go into wall of silence mode.

Yeh speak to Volvo UK directly in the first instance.

Also as a previous Volvo owner, this forum is a great resource:

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/

Crikey OP I wonder what caused it.

During my younger days all me boy racer mates experienced exploding engine one time or another, but them boys use to modify their cars.

It does sound like a manufacturing issue, maybe just plain bad luck. But it’s not the op problem.. The only time I ever popped an engine was running a 125bhp No2 kit on a 70 bhp engine

I would forego the solicitor. Speak to the Citizens Advice Bureau, they have set letters for the vast majority of issues around sale of goods act. I used them to deal with land rover when the ECU, engine wiring loom and half the injectors went on my disco not long after it was out of warranty.

Citizens advice can be a bit dim at times, depending on the advisor you get, by all means call but in tandem I’d press the case for a new engine directly with Volvo UK in the first instance, 50% is a cop out and not acceptable.

For anyone who’s interested, the engine block has split in two. The coolant level was apparently all over the place in the day proceeding which my friend informed Volvo, as it had just had a service a few days earlier.

Service a few days earlier – get them to prove it wasn’t them.

Serviced so close does seem ‘fortuitous’ in timing.

No ‘Volvo for sale’ tag?

FTFY, but standards are slipping 🙄

If the vehicle is serviced by Volvo you are provided with 12mths warranty on work completed, if the service was done in that period then it will support the claim.

Worse case email jon.wakefield@volvocars.com, he’s the UK managing director

Quick update. Volvo have gone from offering 50% to 80%. Rather strangley the dealership ordered the new engine immediately, without knowing who was paying for the work.

If the car is worth it and ge is goin to keep it, then that is a reasonably good offer, just over a k for a new engine…

that is a reasonably good offer, just over a k for a new engine…

Of course ignoring the fact it’s 6 days over 3 years old with 30k on the clock and FSH….last service just days before the block split.

One of the few cases where it’s quite clear Volvo should be paying 100% imo.

One of the few cases where it’s quite clear Volvo should be paying 100% imo.

Exactly. Blocks don’t just split – sounds like a casting problem and they should be covering all the costs.

Sounds like they forgot the antifreeze at service.

Although I’d have expected the core plugs to push out first….but stranger things have happened.

I did wonder about that…. but then a service doesn’t include draining all the coolant and replacing.

One of the few cases where it’s quite clear Volvo should be paying 100% imo.

I have a friend whose just out of warranty vw 180 bitdi engine needing replacement, VW told him to get lost.

On those grounds 80% seems reasonable

Note they aren’t just fixing the problem but actually leaving the owner in a better position with a new engine…I’d be tempted to just take it.

There was a problem with the coolant level imediately after the service and this was reported, and this was still in the warranty period. I agree that 80% seems a fair deal, but given the circumstances I believe he should be pushing for 100%.

I did wonder about that…. but then a service doesn’t include draining all the coolant and replacing.

Could do at 3 years, that’s in the ball-park for it’s first major service. Would certainly be worth comparing the invoice and service record to find out what was/should have been done.

Assuming there was no conversation about ‘ooh, I’m not paying for all that to be done, costs a fortune, just change the oil and filters’ type discussion beforehand.

I’d be pushing for 100%.
They are just trying to save a few quid by making you think they are being generous with the 80% offer that miraculously was only 50% a few days ago.

The fact they ordered the new engine and mysteriously offered to pay an extra 30% speaks volumes.

Hopefully he’s got written evidence of this.