The trunk of my V70 wouldn't close or lock. I checked the "VIP" warranty which states that the power locks and actuaters are covered and took the vehicle to my Volvo dealer. The rear lock died in my wife's V70 and was covered, so I thought this is a no brainer. When the deed is done, I get faced with a $250.00 CAD bill and I am told that the VIP people say that the mechanism is not warranted. The excuse I got was that the warranty doesn't cover mechanical failure of the lock only the electrical component. Nowhere in the warranty does it state this. The warranty guy got my really mad since he was making up rules and regulations so that they could weedle out of paying. I just stood my ground and told him to tell me what section of the warranty shows only the electrical component of the actuator was covered and not the mechanical. The dealer got into the fray and tested the actuator with a solenoid and found that it was dead. There was no argument and the grudgingly paid. It makes me sick to my stomach that a less aggressive response would have resulted in a non-payment. When the thermostat died and caused the engine light to go on they wouldn't pay for the resetting of the light for what reason I am not sure.

VIP suck.


Darryl
98 V70 AWD manual, dual exausts
98 V70R AWD

I also find them very irritating people! I came in for "strange noise" check-up on my 98 V70 GLT and was told I needed a new transmission. I had 54k on the clock! I couldn't believe it. The dealer told me not to worry that it was ALL covered under the V.I.P. contract. Gave me a loner and said see you 5 days... two days later they call and advise me that V.I.P. will not cover the transmission module ($350 dollars) b/c it is not listed under the parts covered section. Can you believe that!!

When I complained to my dealer he said, "he did his best, but V.I.P. would not cover it". I called them direct in Calif. and really tryed to get the whole thing covered but was told about contract, contract, contract. I even tryed to find out if the transmission module existed and could not get a part number.

Final outcome:
1.I paid the $350 dollars
2.The noise came back within two days of receiving my "repaired" car back.
3.It was brought back and they replaced the automatic belt tensioner.
V.I.P. would not cover it. The dealer paid for it this time.
4. I will never know if my trans. was even bad from the start.
5. V.I.P. has made me pay something every time come in for repairs. i.e. window switch, whatever.

Good luck to me when I buy a new V70 XC.

Maya 98 V70 GLT 67K

89 245 DL 112K

I had a similar experience with the VIP. Very unsatisfactory experience overall with VIP. If the specific part is not expressly covered, they claim it isn't covered under the warranty. Not only that, but the dealer charged me $250 to diagnose the various problems before submitting it to VIP, who ended up not covering anything anyway. A complete waste of money, unless you have the good (or bad) fortune of having a major problem with something they can't possibly wiggle out of. I've owned at least one Volvo (sometimes up to three at a time) since 1978, but my '98 V70 T5 will probably be my last.

>>> I agree ! !we had to pay up quite a bit (but not all) for our thermostat and sensor that was all changed.
Unfortunaltly for us then the darn ECU threw a O2 code. I guess running it Cold for the time the sensor T-stat was bad failed the O2 (Front or Back I don't know ? but its' going to be another 300$ easy even if I do it! VIP's a Joke I agree! ~D

I would try to find another dealer.

If it's the same as the US VIP warranty it's a third party warranty, and they company administers about a bazillion different extended warranties for different manufacturers all of which seem to have different terms and exclusions! My point being sometimes you have to call them yourself and ask them to pull the Volvo VIP contract out of their file cabinet, no I'm not joking about this!

The only solution I can think of is to buy a car from a more reliable and reputable manufacturer than Ford that doesn't break quite so often next time. If you can think of a better soluion please tell me! Love the car but the reliability and service.....

-bdc