{Car Troubles Galore}

Since this is a family blog/scrapbook I really feel the need to share with you some of the troubling issues we're dealing with. I'm at my wit's end. Perhaps some of you will have some advice for us.

Here goes...

We bought a beautiful, brand new Volvo XC60 last August (August 10, 2009 to be exact). Loved it! It was everything we wanted...AWD, comfortable ride, SUV cross-over. Perfect for snowy and icy conditions!

My first visit to the dealership was about a month after we'd purchased it. We wanted a hitch installed to tow a trailer. Also, the sales rep who had helped us told me that my cargo cover was in and I could pick it up. Since the hitch installing would take most of the day they gave me a loaner car. Great! However, when I went to install Ava's car seat in the loaner I was having lots of trouble. The service writer/manager just stood there and watched me struggle...all he could say was that he wasn't allowed to help. Okay...I was slightly annoyed and irritated (especially since I got oil or something on my pants. Grr). Then when I went to pick up the car I asked the service writer about the whereabouts of my cargo cover. He yelled at me! He said he didn't know anything about it and why hadn't I mentioned it before? Ummmm... Hmm.

I had to take the car in again for a recall. At that point Mark decided that the tires should be rotated (based on the tire manufacturer recommendation). I did ask the service writer in advance to make sure he knew I wanted to have the tires rotated (and not get yelled at again!). He said, "are you sure?" That's all he asked. Of course I was sure since Mark had asked me to have that done. After they finished the car (which took longer than their original estimate) he said I could pay out at the cashier. Ummm? Pay for what? Nobody had mentioned that any of the services performed on that day would cost anything. As he turned and walked away from me, he put his hands up in the air and said, "I don't think I could have been any more clear."

I'm not sure about you but I can think of one very good way to have made it clear. (by telling me in advance). Fortunately for me the tire rotation fee wasn't unmanageable BUT it was unexpected.

After that I told Mark that I would no longer take the car in to the dealership. Would you? I don't like being yelled at.

Mark took the Volvo in to have the electrics installed for the hitch we'd had them put on earlier. They gave Mark a loaner vehicle (not AWD though). It took them one week to get the car back to us since they ordered the wrong wire harness! It should have only taken a day (maybe two at the very most). During this fiasco we got our first snow storm- we had bought the AWD car so that I could safely shuttle our girls around on snowy and icy roads. And we didn't have our car!

We also noticed that the car had a steering fluid leak but they couldn't find the source of the leak.

We knew that we'd gone for a week so we decided to drop off the car at the dealership and give them that week to find the steering fluid leak. I also had an alarming electrical glitch happen that we wanted them to check out. First, they did find the leak and they also discovered that a mouse had chewed through one of the wires! Argh! Not a great thing to hear on what was supposed to be my mini-vacation. Fortunately, insurance would pick up most of the tab and we would only have to pay the deductible (the first estimate I heard was $3800!). Whew. Since the car was still under warranty they refused to just fix the wire. They decided to replace the entire wire harness. Still, that seems quite reasonable, right? Well, the first wire harness they received wasn't the right one. Four weeks have passed and they receive another wire harness...and guess what? It's the wrong one! Now five full weeks have passed and we're not sure when we'll get our car back. They have an estimate of 7 days (item is being shipped from Sweden). So it will be at least SIX weeks before we get our car back!!!!

Does anybody else think this is obnoxious? They've ordered the wrong parts, Volvo doesn't even have service parts available in the US for the vehicles they're selling here and I've been treated rather rudely (by one person at the dealership; I've heard he's been let go).

I'm not sure where to go from here. Sadly, there isn't another dealership that we can take the car to. I've lost all my faith and patience with this dealership. We've made payments on a car we can't drive. We only got to enjoy our six month free Sirius XM radio trial for 5 months. At this point they said they're paying for the wire harness and labor costs to replace it. Some how that just doesn't seem like enough to me. They did loan us a vehicle but I mentioned earlier it's not AWD. Over the past month we've had a great need for an AWD car (and yes, I do know about driving on snow and ice having been taught how to drive in Alaska). Also, we haven't been able to use our trailer and pick up home improvement items.

Where can we go from here? What can we do? Any advice? I'm at a loss.