I just got the Volvo back from its 70,000 mile inspection.  We have been diligent about keeping this car in good working order.  But as soon as I write that, I have to point out it has been two years since its last visit (Bless me father for I have sinned, It has been two years since my last maintenance.  Here are the items in need of repair). I won't tell you how much the visit cost.  Let's just say it was the second most expensive visit the Volvo has ever made. Millicent is number 3.  I believe the high cost this time is due to the length of time bewteen visits to the service department.  Typically it goes in every 6 months to one year, not two years.

The graph above is the cost of the periodic maintenance.  We have brought the car in every 5,000 miles for its scheduled maintenance, but I can't find the receipts for the 5K, 25K, 35K and 45K work.  You will notice the 50K and 60K service bills were big.  I have no good explanation.  Both were done in Austin, TX, but at different shops.  The 55K service was also in Austin, but at a different shop from the other two.  The 65K and 70K services were done in Connecticut, and were about the same price as the 30K and 40K service done in Chicago, IL.  Yes, the Volvo has been around the country. When Mom and The Donald visited we got off the train and started walking to the Volvo, parked in the lot.  Mom sort of laughed and said, "You still have this car."  Oh yeah.  The average bill, for the 10 service calls for which we have records, is a little less than $200.  But of course, something else is always wrong.  We have replaced the front brake pads about every 10,000 miles, the rear brake pads about every 20,000 miles.  Something will show up in the suspension or engine diagnostics or throttle or muffler or exhaust kit etc. etc.  The average bill for these maintenance calls, with all that other stuff included is about $500.  This excludes special things.  Like $331 for tire replacement in 1999 and replacing a battery.  The 70K service included replacing front brake pads and discs, the exhaust kit and front tailpipe, the  tie-rod and re-attaching the spoiler.  That's what made it so expensive. The single most expensive repair we had done to the car was not Millicent.  It was not the 70K service.  It was replacement of the upholstery in September of 2000.

This isn't our car.  Ours is gold with gold cloth interior.  But according to the web site I got this picture from, it is a 1991 Volvo 240 Sedan,  And it does look just look ours.  This one pictured has 143,000 miles on it and is priced at $6,195. According to Kelley's Blue Book www.kbb.com, our 1991 with 71,500 is worth $3,920 if we sold it to a dealer in Connecticut.  Interesting to note, if we sold it to a dealer in Denver it would be priced at $4,570.  According to the Kelley Blue Book if we sold the Volvo on our own, the average price in our area is $5,505.  So how can the blue Volvo above, with twice as many miles, expect to get over $6,000?  This is all academic, because we are not selling our Volvo.  We hope to keep it in good condition and let K1 use it some day.  We love our Volvo.

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