Why I won’t buy a Volvo

I hardly ever blog about what I consider “trivial” things, but this one is just too perfect: As my tough little Skoda is running near the end of its lifecycle I’m slowly starting to think about working on a replacement. So the new Volvo C30 (I’ve always been fond of Scandinavian cars..) seemed to perfectly fit. On Tuesday I called my local Volvo Dealer, Denzel Klagenfurt. Actually I didn’t just call anyone but their head salesman, Mr. K. whom I asked for a test drive for a weekend. “No problem, I will call you back latest tomorrow.” Until now there has been no call back. Now this week our newspaper published a ranking of “trust” Austrians put into various kinds of professionals: doctors, journalists, car salesmen… – funny enough car salesmen ranked below journalists. I finally understand why: I am willing to spend 20.000+ Euro on a new car. But appearantly Volvo does not deem that enough for proper customer service. You could argue now, that a brand should never be made responsible for the dealer selling it. True, Volvos are still great cars. But then again experience tells me that during the course of my car’s lifecycle I will need my dealer’s service time after time. And I am not willing to tak any risks. So, no Volvo. Sorry.

I believe.