Volvo's Only

Claim
marker

525 SE Oak St
Portland, OR 97214

marker
(503) 238-5355
Incorrect info? Correct your listing
Reviews
( 11 )
( 4 )
( 2 )
( 3 )
( 29 )

Best

You folks are the best. You are the only one I will let you work on Miss VV. Thanks so much!

Worst

I bought a 740 wagon from Richard late Jan 2010. Car was just fine for such an old car with 198000 miles. The problem I have with him and his company is the lack of honest commun...


Editorial review from Citysearch 9/26/2012

Excellent, friendly, communication is fast. Thank you & thanks for showing me the compression check :) more

I can't believe this guy is still in 3/18/2012

I can't believe this guy is still in business! Never buy a Volvo from him. Never let his mechanics touch your car. There are shops in town who won't even work on his Volvos. When shopping for a used Volvo, try to find out who has done the work and if it's any of Rich's various names for a Volvo business, do not buy it. more

I parked my car in front of this place 3/18/2012

I parked my car in front of this place last night and someone drove a screw into the sidewall of my tire. WAYYYY SKETCH!!!! more

very good shop I am very happy with 3/11/2012

very good shop I am very happy with there work they did on my wifes v70 wagon more

This man is a criminal. I paid dearly! 3/6/2012

This man is a criminal. I paid dearly! He used it as a personal driver, switched parts and wreck it! Now I have to sue him to get it straightened out. I highly recommend that people be very very aware. more

You folks are the best. You are the 2/28/2012

You folks are the best. You are the only one I will let you work on Miss VV. Thanks so much! more

This guy is super shady and deserves 2/6/2012

This guy is super shady and deserves all the bad karma he gets! We took a vehicle as partial trade from him and it turned out to have over $3000 in unpaid tickets. Just before we had the money to go get the title transferred to our name, it got towed. In order to get it back we would have had to pay the tickets and impound charges. He's a crook. DON'T SUPPORT THIS BUSINESS. more

Volvo's Only is Bad 11/8/2011

I am surprised to read these recent postings about the shadiness of Rich's business, Volvo's Only. I bought a car from them in 2000 and got ripped off big time. Rich is quite the talker and makes a lot of promises that he'll never fulfill. I complained to the BBB and Attorney General about his business practices shortly after I bought my car. I have advised friends who are in need of a car and like Volvo's to NEVER go to Volvo's Only. Hopefully, I have caused him to lose some business, for he surely deserves the bad karma. I suspect that the posters who rave about him here are probably paid employees or Rich himself. He is a blatant thief with absolutely no morals. Beware the positive reviews, for they are likely fake! DO NOT go to Volvo's Only... you will regret it if you do. more

Corrupt business 10/26/2011

Rich is not an honest businessman. He was trying to sell me a car that would not run and even his mechanic stepped in and said, ""Wait. This is not ethical. This car hasn't even been examined yet."" They were supposed to take my new battery out of my old car and place it in the new one I was interested in, but then they stole it over the weekend and put it in someone else's car before I had even given them my title. more

best Volvo shop on the west side 6/21/2011

I bought a 1990 240 from Richs volvo 2 years ,I paid a fair price for the car ,but the service I received when I take it in for servicing is great thay take great care of my car I got there and it is still worth as much now as I paided for it two years ago ,I have had volvos for twenty years now and been to every volvo shop on the west side by far this is the best shop for my car thanks rog more

crooks 5/19/2011

I'm only in Portland for a year and needed a cheap reliable car. I saw a volvo on craigslist and it seemed pretty good, so I rang the guy and he told me it wasn't a dealer but a private sale, which is what I wanted. So, we arrange to meet at his place of work...Volvo's only. Oh I thought, strange, I repeated my question, he said no it was a private sale he just happens to work at this place. Well, if he's a mechanic then maybe this is a good thing???. He tells me everything on the car is good, no problems, serviced etc. Ok, naivety is not a crime, so I buy this thing for $1950. The next day the engine warning light comes on. Then it breaks down completely. I take it to Volvo's only and 4 mechanics look at it shaking their heads and rubbing their chins, can't find anything they say. I take it to another garage and I'm told the car is a wreck and would cost at least $2000 more to fix, bad money after bad money, don't do this mechanic says. I call the guy from Volvo's only up and he wont give me my money back saying, after 5 days that I've had it too long now. He totally screwed me over, they knew exactly what they were doing and cheated me, they are crooks and should be shut down before they get the chance to steal money off other people. DO NOT BELIEVE A WORD THEY ARE LIARS. more

We have had great service here! 5/3/2011

I am really shocked at the polar opposite reviews on Volvo's Only. I had a problem with my blower motor for the heater. Everyone else we talked to didn't know what was wrong and/or wanted to charge us over 500. Volvo's only knew looked in the Volvo bulletins from the factory and found a quick fix that worked just fine and was only 120. Hell yea we like them! The other Volvo repair shops just wanted to nail us for all they could get. We were impressed. They were nice to us, saved us money, and it was ready on time. more

Inconsistent service and disorganized 3/28/2011

The shop is very disorganized and issues often are not resolved the first time or at all. I traded in my older car for a newer car and right after the transaction was complete I was told that the car had a ""reconstructed title"" elaborating that it had probably been previously stolen. When I received my title in the mail, it had in fact been totaled. I don't have a lot of experience buying used cars, but I do know that I will never return to this place, nor will I take it there for repairs. In the ?30 day warranty? time span, I was going to this shop 2-3 times a week to drop off the purchased car for repairs that often did not get repaired in the first place. Some things were also made worse or didn't even exist until I took it to them. When I tried to talk about what was going on with the car, I was often dismissed because they are always in a hurry and are very disorganized in general. I took this car there 3 times for the same issue?leaking coolant. After that was fixed, it started to leak transmission fluid. They fixed/welded the popping door. Two weeks later it starts popping again. I have to jump start it, the replace the battery. It happened again, they later discovered it was the inside door light not turning off and draining the battery. And now for some reason, the driver?s side door handle looks like it is coming apart, coming off the door on the outside. My Check engine light comes on and they tell me they will fix it for free and only charge for the part (air pump?but ?Don?t worry, you just passed DEQ, you have two years to go?).My neighbor shared this experience with me as we bought our Volvos from them at the same time (within a week). She has since been taking her car to VolTek and has had a positive experience; I will be trying them out as I still have unresolved car troubles. She advised me well: Cut my losses and go to a different shop. And I will. I feel taken advantage of by a careless mechanic with shoddy workmanship. Know what you are doing or take someone with you who does if you use this shop. And do a ton of homework, which I thought I did, but clearly not enough. The best advice: Just don't go there. I take giving this king of negative feedback seriously; I generally have faith (too much sometimes) in humanity. I am greatly disappointed in this shop and their work ethic (or lack thereof). more

Rich's Volvo's Only Is The Best In The Business! 2/8/2011

Rich's Volvo's Only is the most honest, competent and courteous Dealer/Repair Shop I have ever had the pleasure of doing business with. It's been just about 2 years to the day that I bought my 1986 240DL Wagon from Rich's and would like to share my positive experience(s). I'm a professional musician and I rely on my Volvo to get to gigs throughout the week all over Western Oregon. Recently, my alternator went out and instead of having it towed to Rich's, I decided to have it fixed locally at one of those 'other' repair shops. BIG MISTAKE! Twice they replaced the alternator in a 14 day span and twice it failed, causing me scheduling nightmares. I had it towed to Rich's...hardly any advance notice on my part...and they fixed it correctly right while I waited...just like I was family. Rich and his entire staff are extremely knowledgeable. Steve, Tommy and the other mechanics are Volvo owners themselves and have many, many years of experience working on them. When they work on your Volvo, it is with the same amount of care and expertise as if it were their own. Amber and the entire office staff really go out of their way to accommodate the customers. I have never experienced any of the negativity some of the comments here suggest. Some of these negative reviews are just downright ludicrous...accusing Rich of snipping the odometer cable because 'others' they have met have the same problem. One has to only Google 'Volvo odometer' to find that Volvo's are notorious for odometer failure due to a lost tooth on the odometer gear. These replacement gears can be purchased online for ~ $20.00 and will last for years. I couldn't give Rich's Volvo's Only a higher recommendation...their prices are excellent and their repair work is expertly done. The peace of mind I get in knowing the job was performed correctly is priceless. I know many others feel that same way...I see nothing but happy, satisfied customers every time I'm there. I would not hesitate to buy another car from Rich and will NEVER have my Volvo worked on anywhere else! more

avoid this a-hole for used cars! 2/6/2011

I will whole-heartedly agree with the all negative reviews! I got absolutely RIPPED OFF! He sold me a complete piece of junk Volvo XC that had so many problems that slowly appeared as I drove it around. He outwardly lied about things that were so obviously broken, and started claiming I was ""imagining things"" that he had already agreed where a problem! (for example: a terrible driveshaft vibration, leaking power-steering rack, multiple electronic failures). I only had a month in Portland, and by the time I had to leave, he had not fixed any of the problems he had agreed, to despite supposed attempts to fix them, and then was a sarcastic a-hole when I wanted some accountability. Within a month of leaving Portland, the transmission failed, the PS rack was still leaking, and the horrible driveshaft vibration was still there! I have spent thousand since then to finally get *most* of things fixed. I am still outraged! Avoid this cheating, lying cheat at all costs!!! (although the rest of the staff, esp Amber, were awesome and shared my anger at Rich for his dishonesty and desperate tactics.) more

Better repairs available close by 11/29/2010

For all the complaints I've heard regarding Volvos Only's repair quality (or lack thereof), everyone keeps moaning that there isn't anyone else in Central Eastside PDX to take it to. TVG is my recommendation, a 2nd generation Volvo repair (no sales) shop on SE 12th just south of Belmont, only 5 blocks from Volvos Only. I've had nothing but good luck with their repairs on 2 of my cars & 4 of my roommate's. I have also heard good things about VolTech on close in NE Lombard, Swede One on NE 82nd across from Madison HS Field, & a new place whose name I don't recall, but who works on Volvos & Saabs & is on NE Sandy in the old Timberline Dodge complex at the east end (25th 0r 26th?). more

What. An. Absolute. Crook. 10/15/2010

A month ago I purchased a new/used door for my car from this shop and let them install it instead of hauling it to my normal mechanic. They were having a problem getting the window in, but besides that I thought all was ok. Then the trim fell off a couple hours later, and the window mechanism was creaky but I didn't think much of it, and since I rarely use the car during nice weather I didn't use it enough to notice a real problem. The door itself was filthy and my new window matched it - obviously it had been sitting unused for a long time. I figured I would wash it and didn't give it another thought. This week I had to take the car in for (unrelated) repairs at my usual Volvo specialist. He rolled down my window and it fell sideways down into the door panel. He said it seemed that it hadn't been properly installed. So I took it back to Volvo's Only, since I needed to have the trim reglued anyway. After I waited a bit, Rich came out with a metal part, and told me that he had to replace the whole window, since it was my original window and the part attached to it had gotten old and broken. (Important thing to note: I had NOT ok'ed any paid work to be done to the car and would've chosen to leave had I known about it.) So he charged me, and I reluctantly paid. I sat back down, and while waiting I remembered the old, dirt-streaked window that had come with the new door. So, basically... he lied. A month he replaced my nice, clean, probably resellable window with a piece of crap that was ready to fall apart. And then this week tried to convince me that it was my old, functional window that had broken. I went out to the work area where he was schmoozing another customer, and confronted him with this. He created an expert sleazy salesman cocktail of denying it, ""forgetting"", and strongly insinuating that I can't prove anything. Why is he allowed to remain in business? Seriously, Volvo-lovers: take your car to a reputable shop. There are honest, hardworking Volvo specialists out there who will help you source used parts if you need them. Right now, I am seriously wondering if I bought back my own window... more

Saved my a$$ more than once! 10/4/2010

I drive a 1989 Volvo 760 Turbo - which is a bitch to get anyone to work on - unless it's a volvo shop. I also have a disabled spouse and a one year old child and we live on a fixed income, so random expenses like car trouble can be catastrophic. more

Despite negative reviews, my experience was a good one 10/1/2010

Despite the negative reviews, my experience with Rich at Volvo's Only was positive. Rich and his staff are very friendly, Rich fixed my old car which was dying quickly and was not a Volvo, sold it for me and gave me a fair price for it as a downpayment on a nice little wagon. While the car had a few old car problems, Rich took care of the issues without complaint. The repairs I had done to the car were carried out very quickly and while I will say that his cars aren't perfect, most are older, I was never left stranded or without a car. If you don't need something that is perfect and just need to get into some good, sturdy transportation for not a lot of money, Rich will work with you to keep you rolling. He did for me anyway. Thanks Rich! more
< Previous 1 2 3 Next >
Summer SALE!!!:
15% OFF all yearly plans
Use year15 at checkout. Expires 1/1/2021
Additional information
  • Neighborhoods: Buckman, Southeast Uplift Neighborhood Program
badge