Lifetime parts/labor warranty can cover every Volvo ever made

You might think that the last thing a service adviser at a Volvo dealership would want to see chugging onto his service drive is an ancient 240 or 740 or 850 with a million miles on the odometer. You'd be wrong.

In an effort to boost dealer profitability, Volvo Car USA wants any customer with any Volvo -- no matter its age or mileage -- to return to the dealership for service.

Volvo has introduced a lifetime parts and labor warranty with the slogan: "Pay once and never pay again." After the initial factory warranty expires, the program offers owners warranty-covered repairs for non-wear items on any Volvo ever built.

Examples of non-wear items include an air-conditioning compressor, alternator, water pump, and brake master cylinder. Wear items, which the lifetime warranty does not cover, are parts such as brake pads, timing belts, windshield wiper blades, fuses and light bulbs.

The program also offers free software updates and service diagnostics. The warranty cannot be transferred to a new owner.

Scott Doering, Volvo's vice president of customer service, says that if the automaker can source a repair part through its normal supply base or its Classic Volvo Parts business in Sweden, and if a Volvo dealer installs the part, the warranty covers the repair. 

Doering says Volvo launched the program as a way to boost dealership customer service retention rates for its vehicles that are about eight years old and out of warranty. But because Volvo has so many older vehicles in service that owners continue to repair, he says, the company decided to cover all of its vehicles. 

Many Volvo drivers delight in piling hundreds of thousands of miles on their vehicles over many years; several owners have logged more than a million miles. The automaker has a website dedicated to its older, high-mileage cars: volvoclub.org.uk/miles.php. "When we launched the program, we were viewing it as a way to bring value to Volvo parts and service, and to justify the price customers were paying for genuine Volvo parts," Doering told Fixed Ops Journal. 

"Dealers have commented that it has been a very strong closing tool, especially for high-dollar repairs," Doering said. "They talk to the customer about the fact that once they install the part on the vehicle, it's covered for life." 

Konrad Mausser, the service manager at Barrington Volvo in suburban Chicago, calls the program a win-win for the dealership and its service customers. "Dealerships have always had to face the challenge of losing customers to aftermarket service centers," he says. 

Mausser says his dealership charges about $1,425 in parts and labor to replace an air-conditioner compressor. The warranty would cover that repair for the remaining life of the vehicle. 

The Volvo program, Mausser notes, also covers parts for discontinued models such as the P1800. If a factory part is no longer available, he says, the program will use aftermarket or remanufactured parts. 

Doering says Volvo didn't design the lifetime warranty "to bring in the P1800 and 122 customers." 

"We have a very large population of customers with vehicles that are eight-plus years old that are driven every day," he says. "Our real goal is to capture a greater share of parts and service on those cars, not so much the antique vehicles." 

Because Volvo tracks its vehicles' repair history, the warranty program allows customers who are traveling to get covered service from a Volvo dealership far from home. That assurance offers peace of mind, says Jason Stockwell, service manager at Almartin Volvo Cars in Shelburne, Vt. 

"If a customer came up from Florida, I could call their dealer and get a copy of the warranty information and we could work with it," he says. 

Stockwell says his dealership has worked on cars as old as a 1982 Volvo 240 that are covered by the lifetime warranty. 

Stephanie Brinley, a senior analyst with IHS Automotive, says the Volvo warranty program's value is limited because it doesn't cover wear items. 

"If you're only keeping the car for five or six years, and [non-wear] parts don't require frequent replacement, then there isn't that much risk to Volvo," Brinley says. "I question how much value the consumer's really going to get from it. 

"It's a little bit of window dressing," she adds. "But if it helps make a sale, that's not necessarily bad. If it gets customers to come back, great. It doesn't seem to hurt anyone to do it."

Richard Truett contributed to this report.