Need Help - Dealer Repair Estimate

Hello to everyone. I'm sorry to jump in and make this my first post...but I'm dealing with a fairly high priced repair estimate and need to know if I'm getting the run around or not. Any insight you can offer would be most helpful.

My car: 2000, Volvo s40


After a "Check-Engine" light and "Service" light came on, I took the car in to the dealership. The dealer calls me this morning (less than 24 hours after drop off) and tells me I need the following:

1) Oxygen Sensor (the cause of the check-engine light) - $445
2) New battery and battery mount (battery was low when tested and mount was "worn out and not sturdy") - $235
3) Two Rear Tires (this I think might be needed) which they informed me are below the wear line - $295

They recommended some other things (i.e., "Spring Seats" and a 37.5k mile check-in), but did not note them as "necessary."

Can any of you look at these listed work and let me know if I'm getting the run-around? The quicker the response the better! I've heard very good things about the help on this forum and really hope you can help.

Thank you.

well at the dealership they're gonna screw you over. If you're mechanically minded and can get around a car pretty good and have some tools do it yourself. At advance auto parts the oxy sensor ranges from 83 to 173 depending on the type you have and the brand you want, a new battery is only about 75 for a pretty good one that will come with a 1 or 2 year warranty, once the batteries out you can check the mount for yourself and see if it's coming apart and "unsafe" as they say or not, as for tires depends on what brands you like sometimes you can go to walmart and get a whole set of tires mounted, balanced, road warranty, and so on for around 300 instead of just two. In my opinion get your car away from the dealership and do the work yourself. If you have any problems with doing the work yourself hop on our volvo forum and they'll be the best to help you out.

1. Never buy tires at a dealer. That's just asking for it. They go down the street and buy them from the tire shop just like you should do, then double the price. You should get the size off the sidewall (i.e. 245-60 R16 or whatever) and go to www.tirerack.com (http://www.tirerack.com) and see what kind of tires and prices are available for your car. That site will let you search tires by make and model if you don't know the tire size. This will give you some ammo to work with when shopping for tires. Last set I bought were from NTB, they quoted me $665 out the door (not bad for high-end performance tires), but I told them I would do it for $600 tax and all. The manager OK'd it. The price is not always rock solid on tires. See what you can get outta them. They want volume of sales, and will work with you.

2. O2 sensor should be nowhere near that. OE brand on the Volvo is probably Bosch, AutoZone sells those cheap.

3. Battery. That's actually not a bad price for a Volvo spec battery, you can find it cheaper, but it may be a universal fit or need a spacer or other tweaking to fit properly, which kinda sucks. If that price reflects the battery, disposal, labor and the mount hardware (which I can't see why you need unless it's severely corroded), it's acceptable.

An update...the Bosch is the OE sensor for your car...it sells for $165 (yikes) at AutoZone. Labor to install shouldn't be more than 1 hour, so if you figure a markup to $225 for the part and $100/hr for labor (I'm guessing, don;t know what a Volvo dealer gets these days), it still sounds high to me. Shop that around, see what you find.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Compare1.jsp?width=195%2F&ratio=60&diameter=15&sortCode=38000&minSpeedRating=H&ratio=60&width=195%2F&diameter=15&minLoad=S&vehicleSearch=true&startIndex=0&search=true&pagelen=20&pagenum=1&pagemark=1&performance=UHPAS&performance=HPAS&performance=PAS&performance=GTAS&performance=ST&performance=AS&speed_rating=HR&speed_rating=VR&speed_rating=ZR&speed_rating=WR&speed_rating=YR&RunFlat=All&x=30&y=4

Here is a sampling of tires and prices for your car. Keep in mind tirerack's prices are for tires only, no installation or tax is included. But figure about $20 each above the prices here for tires with installation and tax.

PS I can tell you from experience those Bridgestone Potenza RE-950's (bottom of page) are a great tire. Get a set of 4 and you won't believe the difference in wet traction and cornering ability.