[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Kelly66

Hi, would it be possible for you to you check with your BMW X1 friends and let me know the contacts of the local FNG in Bangalore?

Lol he himself runs a workshop called Krithi Car Care now...google them up. Its at Manyata Tech Park.

[lamborghini]

Originally Posted by Ashutosh

@lemedico raised an important point,

Can members with experience in luxury purchases from Lexus, Toyota and Honda share their running costs?

I have heard high praises of low cost of running for the Japanese brands

I wouldn't count Toyota and Honda in the luxury segment - that's why they have Lexus & Acura respectively.

For Lexus - no it's not cheaper than a European brand as far as maintenance is concerned.
A single parking sensor conked off on our pre-owned ES - cost was a cool 17K and not covered in warranty because there is a chance it could have happened due to a stone hit (there were 2 marks on the sensor - no indentations, and no marks anywhere else around the sensors that indicated an impact)!

Similarly paid around 11K for a rear suspension bush which was similar to what BMW charged.

Routine service is also 20-25K, same as BMW and Audi; though not the same experience since they operate from a toyota dealership.

Factor in the replacement cost of the 18" low profile tyres, etc. - I can see rattles and replacements popping up on Mumbai's lunar surface.
From my experience, I'd rate it on par with BMW, notches above Mercedes and a notch above Audi.
I would expect given their reputation for reliability that in the longer run it would be cheaper to maintain than the BMW but I do not have high expectations truth be told as there will also be a Rs. 2-3L battery change in the 8-10th year.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by Kelly66

Even though only the outer glass is broken I have to replace the entire headlight assembly, which is going to cost me around Rs.2.75L. See how BMW makes money. They don't offer just the outer glass as replacement.

It's not easy, look here at the efforts. I think it's the same even for Toyota or VW and others these days. You should try Bodomo or similar. How much does these cost overseas?


https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...02&postcount=6

I read somewhere that insurance companies don't offer zero dep for older cars. At what age do they stop offering zero-dep?

Usually past 6 Year mark but based on claims, they can continue longer. I used to have it on my X6 up until 8th year or so.

[Red Liner]

How do Volvos rank in this overall used car ease of maintenance index?

[Kelly66]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

It's not easy, look here at the efforts. I think it's the same even for Toyota or VW and others these days. You should try Bodomo or similar. How much does these cost overseas?

Yeah looks complex. In my case only the outer lens is broken, so I thought that alone can be replaced. Anyways, now I am going for insurance claim so will go with OEM parts.

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Usually past 6 Year mark but based on claims, they can continue longer. I used to have it on my X6 up until 8th year or so.

You didn't have any claims in those 8 years? I need to check early next year. Now that I have a claim it may be tough.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by Kelly66

You didn't have any claims in those 8 years? I need to check early next year. Now that I have a claim it may be tough.

Nope

It had done less than 30K in all these years if I recollect.

[shalabh_sahai]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

How do Volvos rank in this overall used car ease of maintenance index?

Upvoting this as in the debate of European vs Japanese luxury, we seem to be considering only the Germans to represent the former

So would welcome any experience on maintenance costs of Volvos.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by shalabh_sahai

So would welcome any experience on maintenance costs of Volvos.

I really can’t answer this question in an Indian context. But in Western Europe old and classic Volvo’s are considered to be pretty reliable. The older Volvos such as the ones from the 240/340 era are on par with the legendary Mercedes W123.

I know several people who own and maintain old Volvo’s right up to the V40/60 series.

Personally I think Volvo are underrated as second hand cars. They are relatively easy to maintain. Parts availability might be an issue on some bits on certain models. Again, it all depends on how old the respective Volvo would be of course.

Volvo’s only downside? Incredibly boring. It is the proverbial dull man automobile.

I owned two second hand 340s in the late 80s/early 90s. Of course these were actually DAFs. One came with the DAF CVT the other a classic manual gear box. With three kids it was an ideal family car. Very few cars of that era offered that a good driving position for tall drivers. My dad bought one for no other reason he could keep his hat on inside the car. (In those days gentlemen still wore hats).

Jeroen

[PratikPatel]

These cars tend to become a bottomless money hungry pits post 5 - 7 years of ownership. All of our company owned German cars (which are provided to the top level management) are serviced and maintained at authorised service center. These cars not abused nor have they been through multiple hands. One driver is assigned exclusively to one car.

At any hint of trouble the car is withdrawn from use and sent to the service center for investigation & rectification if needed. We have never argued with the need for something to be done for the cars as reported by the service manager. However, post 5 years of ownership the bills start increasing exponentially. Also these cars do not have heavy usage. Most run for 10 to 12k a year. That’s peanuts for cars supposedly engineered for 500,000+ kms.

To illustrate the above, we have 2017 BMW 7 series that has done about 65,000 kms till date. About 4 weeks back we noticed the car started sagging at one of the tyres. We promptly sent the car to the service center which quoted a sum of 6.25 lakhs for replacing 3 of the shock absorbers along with the other associated parts. Once this was done and the car was returned to us, we put it back in regular use. Couple of days back the fuel door release got jammed and the car was sent back for rectification. Lo and behold, the service manager calls and informs us that the rear of the car is sagging and the springs need to be replaced. Total estimate 3.2 lakhs. So much for vaulted German reliability.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by PratikPatel

All of our company owned German cars.

The question was about Volvo. Which is a Swedish brand. So I don’t understand rambling on about BMW and German brands?

Jeroen

[PratikPatel]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

The question was about Volvo. Which is a Swedish brand. So I don’t understand rambling on about BMW and German brands?

Jeroen

We have couple of XC90s with similar experience. Most of these high end cars have these problems. I just posted the experience as the post is entitled used luxury cars’. My apologies if it seems like I am rambling. You can always delete the post if it’s not relevant.