Albert,
Nice reply to this post! I didn't realize that VIDA was non-satelite based and could possibly be bought by an independent. Seems the way to go with this is for a group of Volvo owners who live in close proximity to one another buy this and the subscription, forming a sort of "VIDA Club." This would be cost effective for all. Say that in a metropolitan area, there are 100 P2 owners; the $7000 to buy it would quickly decrease to $70 a person for a year. When service is needed, an announcement could be sent out for once during a certain month, once a certain week, or whenever. Those who come in for software downloads can then split the cost of the $100 for the subscription for those 3 days (for instance, have the service over a weekend with Monday being the last of the 3 days for those who have the flexibility in their schedules to wait until then). This would be a great service and well worth the effort and would take the controls away from the dealer and place them back into the hands of the DIY owners, where it should have been to begin with...just my opinion, but may be worth thinking about.

Even if there were 50 owners willing to do this in a certain place, that would only be $140 for the year plus the part of the subscription they would be sharing with others. If there is an emergency and someone needs a software download at an unscheduled time, they may have to pay the $100 on their own, or maybe find one or two other people who would like software downloads within the 3 day period that he/she would be doing theirs and split the cost this way. This would still be much cheaper than having the dealer do the downloads, not to mention the other things that could possibly go wrong at the dealer, or the unecessary repairs they may do, or "encourage" you to have done (been my experience over the years, and has been very costly- many times not solving problems). Ideally, an independent garage would be the place for this...someone who may not be able to afford the software on their own, but could manage everything and keep track of the accounting for the "club," etc. Even if this person charges a slight over-head it would still be worth it.

One thing not mentioned here and is an after-thought: How much is the scan tool that connects to VIDA? This would have to be considered in the cost above, but I believe this would be a one time cost for everyone and still would be worth it.
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1998 S70 T5 Emarald Green Metallic, 2004 V70 2.5T Ruby Red, Previous Owner of Black '94 850 Turbo Wagon. My cars have been running so well lately they've got me worried.