need warranty or repair/maintenance budget advice

U

used s40 gal

Hi! Just bought my 1st Volvo. It's a 2007 S40 2.4i w/ 36k miles that was previously a lease. I am trying decide between an extended warranty now that original warranty has expired or just budgeting for handling repairs & maintenance on my own out of pocket. Any advice is appreciated.

The car repair contract my dealer is offering is with Easy Care. 4 tiers to chose from starting w/ Powertrain only on up to bumper to bumper. Anyone have experience w/ Easy Care or have another brand of Warranty they recommend?

Can anyone give a ballpark of how much to budget annually for repair & maintenance given the mileage, age, model, etc of my car?
 
Hi, Your Volvo is only a few years old, so I doubt if you will need to consider serious repairs until you reach somewhere around 18 years old, when fair wear and tear will probably start to occur.
I would work on the average car, around town, to drive about 10,000 miles, and yours is say 5 years old x 10,000 miles = 50,000 miles, but your car has done 36,000 miles, so it has not been driven much over that period and falls well within the 50,000 miles I would expect of a car the age of yours.
The only suggestion I can make with Volvo's is to have them regularly serviced every 5000 miles roughly - you can check with a mechanic on what he recommends. I have mine done every 5,000 kms - but I only drive that distance roughly over 9 months and my Volvo is much older than yours with a higher mileage reading (km actually).
I would guess you are in America, so different to Aussie obviously. Your car is practically new and hardly run in, so you should not really need bumper to bumper for years yet. I'd be inclined to go with an oil change, spark plugs, tune up, grease as necessary, check for leaks and general under body care and leave it at that. What you save on the swings, you can spend on the roundabouts if anything unexpected occurs - but Volvo is a great quality make and I would not expect any major bills any time soon. Hope that helps.
BigBenn
 
Hi,
My Volvo is 22 years old. Had to replace the turbo just before Christmas Cost A$3,000. Couple of weeks ago had to replace the radiator, water pump and thermostat housing because they were all corroded out. Those 3 items cost me A$2,100. Shudder.
22 years for original parts (presumably) is pretty good.
BigBenn
 
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