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.

+1.

I’d view offering 80% as an admission of guilt / liability. They wouldn’t have offered it if they thought they were on solid ground.

A better position than he was before ?

He had a car with a working engine

After he has a car with a working engine.

It’s worth no more money. It still has the same milage. Infact it may even be harder to sell if you declare the new engine….

Had a Saab years back, he’d gasket went just out of warranty,

I asked Saab UK for help, they told me to take it to a local dealer and theyd fix it, I’d have to pay for parts, theyd pay for labour. 😀

Pretty good result. Gaskets aren’t expensive

Worth asking Volvo directly if you’ve not already.

Edit, seen the 80% thing, snap their hands off. Record mileage when new lump went in.

Could do at 3 years, that’s in the ball-park for it’s first major service

Nah,they def don’t drain the coolant as part of a service.
As has been said already though, if there was an issue with the cooling system that was reported in the warranty period then Volvo should be picking up 100% of this job.
Volvo do have history with ignoring issues though.
I had a V70 T5 from be new back in 2000 which developed a problem with the throttle body causing the car to suddenly lose all power. It was so widespread that it even made it to BBCs Watchdog program….. Volvo denied there was a problem.

My guess is that the dealer is trying to use the 20% to fund their labour costs.

Whoever funds the parts required won’t be paying retail for them so their 80% offer is probably twice their actual cost.

Whilst coolant change is not part of a standard service, it may well be part of a major service. If you can find evidence of this in the servicing paperwork then you’re going to be putting the onus back on them.

RESULT! 100% from Volvo. Thanks for all your help, my mate thinks I’m some kind of consumer genius, but it’s all come from you guys. Thanks again, have a great Christmas.

Good work.

That’s more like it. Clearly more than meets the eye and they were trying it on.

I suspect a lot of it has just been a matter of working up through the chain of command until someone senior enough to sign off a free engine got to see the paperwork… as that would *probably* be in Sweden. After it’s worked its way through the dealer and volvo UK.

What did your mate do in the end? Just badger customer services or did they have to start sending emails higher up? Nice result though, always good when this happens

Yes, great result (well, rectification if not a “result”)

where’s that thumbs up gif?

Result! 8)

Excellent result.

8)

It’s a PSA Group engine, Peugeot, Citroen, Minis, Fords, Suzukis, and others. Comon problem is turbo failure through oil starvation but not a split block.

Noice.

It’s not limited to Volvo though, it’s all manufacturers, it’s local dealerships.

Trying to make thier annual figures look good by fobbing off the punters.

You have to wonder how many punters accept the paltry initial offer, it’s probably a very significant amount of money.

The problem is more often the dealers.

They’ll typically only get somewhere between 50-70% of their retail labour rate for warranty work, as the manufacturer sets the labour rate. And there’s no sneaking anything extra on to the warranty bill, like they can do with retail work. So they’ll often do their utmost to avoid warranty work.

I’ve seen local dealers try it on with my employer. Best one was the Honda dealer who tried to bill us several hundred pound for a new seat base for a ten day old CRV, after the adjuster came of in the drivers hand. My boss told them somebody would get back to them. He then phoned our HQ, and 10 minutes later Honda UK were on the phone, asking exactly what had been quoted, informed him it was a known problem, the part required to fix it was £16, and there was no doubt that it was covered by warranty.
Said CRV was delivered back next day, fixed, and with a box of chocolates for the driver. That dealer has been very helpful ever since.

Quick heads up on the 100% situation. If your friend had paid ANYTHING towards the repair he would have been due whatever parts warranty you would get if he had paid full price for the work. Sometimes that’s 2yrs on parts.

If it has been done as goodwill and at 100% it has, then it goes in line with the original warranty, i.e. Expired.

95% would have been a win

^^^ Exactly that.