Your recent e-mail from a Volvo V70 owner in Eccles reinforces my belief that Volvo franchised dealers lack "imagination". I have owned from virtually new a 1999 XC70 which has done over 200,000 miles and which I love dearly (but for its relative lack of fuel economy). Before that I owned a 760 GLE Turbo Estate in which I covered over 250,000 miles (another good car - in its time). In my ownership they not surprisingly developed occasional faults which Volvo franchised dealers singularly failed to diagnose despite charging a great deal of money, and which were finally diagnosed either by myself using a bit of intelligence or by non-franchised Volvo specialists - invariably without hesitation or requiring a great deal of description. A yet earlier example of franchised dealer ignorance related to my first Volvo, a 740 GLT Estate which I bought new in 1985, which suffered automatic gearbox failure at some 65,000 miles. My franchised dealer said I would have to pay some £900 to replace it. I sought the advice of the Volvo specialist from whom I had bought the car at a time it was still a franchised dealer, who pointed out that as a known fault it was covered by a special Volvo warranty; thanks to which the replacement was supplied and fitted at no cost to myself, but no thanks to the dealer who would have charged me a great deal. I have learned to trust a good specialist over a franchised dealer; the latter seem to rely on diagnostics rather than intelligence (i.e. the computer knows best even though I know that it's rubbish).