Well, it's been nearly 10 months since my accident (smacked a pothole, tore the engine crossmember back 3") and we're STILL having problems with the insurance company. This time, we found out that the Chevy people who did the work did not put the rubber piece that's attached to the crossmember and sits under the oil pan on (pictures: 1, 2). The people at the shop the car's at now say it's not important and consequently the insurance company will not pay for the part or the work. So, I was hoping a couple of you great Brickboarders could scribble something out about why it should be replaced to get the insurance people to believe us rather than the morons that are doing the work. Thanks a bunch.

-Greg

from looking at your pictures, it looks pretty obvious that its possible that the engine could bounce around and hit that dross member, id assume that that rubber is there to keep damage from happening to the oil pan and cross member, heck you could probly open a normall chiltons manual and find where they say its a needed part. just my 2 cents, not accountable in a legal court of law.

If your engine mounts are weak, and most all of this vintage are by now if not replaced, the oil pan will be resting on this rubber piece. I don't think it's good for the pan to be contacting the crossmember.
--
Paul NW Indiana '89 740 Turbo 103,000

I remember seeing a pamplet in my local Volvo shop waiting room with a title something like, "Keep your Volvo a Volvo." Of course that was a sales piece aimed at causing customers to insist on genuine Volvo parts. But, even though the intent was probably sales, none-the-less, the content made some convincing arguments relative to using real (v aftermarket) parts. I remember the brochure was particularly aimed at situations such as that which you are in when insurance companies try to take short cuts and use inferior parts. The brochure gave technical/engineering info as to why Volvo parts should be used in most occassions, and it went into detail, as did "aye roll," about the legal obligation of the insurance company to maintain the integrety of your car after repairs. I thought I saved a copy of that bulletin, but naturally I cannot find it. It might be worth your time to contact a dealership and check with the parts or body guy about obtaining the piece I am talking about. It was good enough to take to court, if need be.

If it was "not important", Volvo would not have built the car with it, now would they? Every part is there for a reason. Obviously this piece has a function. If you've paid for insurance that covered this type of incident or damage, it is incumbent upon the insurer to make you (in this case your car) whole again. If the shop refuses to perform work that restores the vehicle to it's condition prior to the incident, then you would have to either take the vehicle from them, go somewhere else, and submit that additional bill to the insurance company; or go to your insurance company and essentially have them instruct the mechanic/shop to perform the work or risk denial of the payment.

Now as for the question of why you're letting Chevy-factory-trained idiots work on your Volvo, I can't help you there. Perhaps the whole job should be done by another shop that has some familiarity with the vehicle they're servicing.
In my experience, ONLY Volvo shops should work on Volvos!
--
Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: 'Roterande Fläkt Och Drivremmar!'

Thanks! That was exactly what I was looking for. We're not exactly letting the Chevy morons work on it. This happened in a town where the closest Volvo shop is more than 100 miles away. Our insurance company will only let "authorized" shops work on cars, and, even though we moved, there are none around here. Honestly we should have let them total the car ($4K damage) and done the work ourselves, but we were in the process of moving so that wasn't gonna happen. Anyhow, thanks for the response. I'll send it to the insurance company immediately.

-Greg

I would have to say, there are some cases where the "chevy morons" [sic] do a very good job, especially when it comes to bodywork. The thing is, body shops might be affiliated with a dealer, but they don't necessarily work on only that brand. Because they have the shop space and a good cash flow from incoming brand work, they're able to equip themselves very well and pay the right people the right money to do the job properly.

I remember someone who refused to have their Mercedes paintwork done anywhere but at Highland Park Ford. And I'll tell you, that car was perfect. And there are a lot of others like it. There are Infiniti dealers that send their bodywork to the local Ford store for bodywork. There are Ford dealers who send their work to Chevy stores. There are all sorts of weird situations like that where a car store has a body shop that works on a lot of brands.

Not only that, there are a lot of very good, professional Chevrolet, Ford, Mercedes, VW, Kia--whatever--service techs who do a very good job fixing pretty much any car that comes in the door. The difference is mostly in knowledge base, because on the whole most RWD Volvo product is somewhat basic work compared to many other brands. I should know; I've worked on a wide variety of products and had to learn the hard way that not every vehicle is as easy to work on as Volvo.

There are a lot of top wrenches out there at all sorts of car stores and body shops.

In your case, it sounds as if they just don't want to bother with the hassle of replacing a $30 rubber piece more than just plain not wanting to do it. The fact of the matter is simple; the car came with the piece, the car had the piece when you crashed it, and the car should have the piece now that it's fixed. Would they leave a hubcap off, or not replace a quarter panel, or a trim piece, or headlight bulbs? This is just a stupid excuse for not wanting to finish the job.
--
Chris Herbst, near Chicago.