Incorrectly badged car at main dealer

Soldato
Joined
12 Jul 2007
Posts
16,316
Location
South East
According to the internet, the T6 is turbocharged and supercharged. The T5 is only turbocharged. So open the bonnet and look for the supercharger, I guess.

It does sound like it's a T6 with some sort of rear end repair/badge replacement though!
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
90,805
Could the previous owner 'debadged' his car and someone reapplied the badges rather than the car having been in an accident? That smiley Volvo badge is awful. You'd be better debadging the car yourself rather than drive around with that curved monstrosity!

The Volvo text does like kind of naff in both layout so I could believe someone debadged it.

I'm wondering if it was previously a liveried vehicle - stuff like highway inspection tend to stick a stripe across there and those are the kind of vehicles they often use though normally they'd be in white.
 
Soldato
Joined
7 Nov 2004
Posts
15,686
Location
East of England
This will have almost certainly had a rear end shunt of some description, and the workmanship appears to be questionable at best.

Top tip: have a look at the stickers on the rear lights to see the date of manufacturer of them (you normally just have to open the little interior flap as if you were replacing a bulb). If the labels say the same as one another and a production date of around April/May 2018 - they're likely to be factory original. If they/one of them says a date after the date of the cars production, the car is likely to have been in a rear end collision, and I would bet been repaired on the cheap.

All the cars I've ever seen with badges in the wrong place have been in a rear end shunt at some point or, on some cars, the car has been wrapped or something.
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Jul 2010
Posts
25,657
This will have almost certainly had a rear end shunt of some description, and the workmanship appears to be questionable at best.

Top tip: have a look at the stickers on the rear lights to see the date of manufacturer of them (you normally just have to open the little interior flap as if you were replacing a bulb). If the labels say the same as one another and a production date of around April/May 2018 - they're likely to be factory original. If they/one of them says a date after the date of the cars production, the car is likely to have been in a rear end collision, and I would bet been repaired on the cheap.

All the cars I've ever seen with badges in the wrong place have been in a rear end shunt at some point or, on some cars, the car has been wrapped or something.
Indeed I’d be very very surprised if it came incorrectly badged from the factory.
 
Soldato
Joined
7 Nov 2004
Posts
15,686
Location
East of England
Indeed I’d be very very surprised if it came incorrectly badged from the factory.

Yeh this simply wouldn't happen. And it absolutely wouldn't happen that they put the Volvo badge in the wrong place on the boot lid, and not even straight!

Also, the where the bootlid/bumper meet - is it just me or is the shut line huge compared to other V90 CCs?
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Nov 2006
Posts
23,299
Just take the badges off. Fixed :p

Those type of badges would be a real PITA to get perfect by hand even with a template. Even a couple of mm off people will notice. Maybe they are put on by machine at the factory.

Check the boot floor and spare wheel well though. If it's had a bump those areas are pretty much impossible to get perfect again. Sometimes the stickers around there are a giveaway (if they are twisted or half unstuck etc and you can see marks where they were originally).

It may have just been a damaged boot lid which is nothing really.
 
Last edited:
Man of Honour
OP
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
20,307
Location
Екатеринбург
I hadn’t considered a wrap. It was previously on a plate “WH15 KKY” so possibly used as a promotional vehicle? Or maybe just a whisky enthusiast as the owner. But if Volvo were the previous owner it would point to it not being a private vehicle.
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Jul 2010
Posts
25,657
I hadn’t considered a wrap. It was previously on a plate “WH15 KKY” so possibly used as a promotional vehicle? Or maybe just a whisky enthusiast as the owner. But if Volvo were the previous owner it would point to it not being a private vehicle.
Could have been a lease? Volvo would still be the owner?
 
Associate
Joined
28 Aug 2003
Posts
1,214
Location
N Ireland
way back we ordered a new 1.8 focus as did parents in law from same dealer at same time - they arrived and had registrations only a few digits differrent from each other. all was fine. 3 weeks later father in law rings up and asks where the water topup/dipstick were - i tried to describe ours but it didnt match. he sent me a photo and his engine layout was different to mine, both supposedly 1.8 on all the dealer paperwork. Their focus turned out to have 1.6 engine. not sure where the snafu happened but dealer took their car back (with ~1k miles) and supplied a new 1.8 focus without any hassle. I think they were very embarrassed!
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
7 Nov 2004
Posts
15,686
Location
East of England
I hadn’t considered a wrap. It was previously on a plate “WH15 KKY” so possibly used as a promotional vehicle? Or maybe just a whisky enthusiast as the owner. But if Volvo were the previous owner it would point to it not being a private vehicle.

I would say a wrap is unlikely given that it's a Volvo and the T* badge is also incorrect.

Ultimately, if both rear lights have original manufacturer date stamps on them, the boot floor and seam sealer all looks factory original and all the shut lines around the boot are absolutely spot on - it's likely that it's not been in an accident. If any of these are not right, it's likely to have taken a rear end hit at some point.

If it has been in an accident and they couldn't even put the badges in the right place, in a straight line or indeed get the correct badges, I'd say there is a high chance of being able to spot a crap repair quite easily. The paint will likely be cloudy and not glossy like adjoining panels, gaps will all be different around the boot/rear lights and interior plastic clips/covers are likely to be missing.

It'll be worth checking out the front as well, in case it got rear ended and shunted into another car. Much easier to do as you can normally easily see the manufacturer dates on the headlights/radiator/air conditioning condense just by lifting the bonnet.

EDIT: Just had a look and unfortunately, Volvo put the stickers for their rear lights on the bottom of the light so you have to take the light off to see it:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volvo-V9...776696?hash=item28a15ad638:g:4Y8AAOSw3dRfox69
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,544
Location
Nottingham
My guess is it was used as a fleet car with a wrap on it alongside other Volvos and the wrong badges were put on the car. I can imagain one of the staff just slapping the badges back on before handing them back at the end of the lease. Hopefully wasn't emergency response!
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2010
Posts
21,778
with the previous registration, no ? less likely to be fleet / promotionally wrapped ... would you want your business associated with a reg plate where character spacing/font was used to accentuate the word whisky .. on the other hand maybe a whisky lover
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Oct 2004
Posts
5,216
Location
location, location
with the previous registration, no ? less likely to be fleet / promotionally wrapped ... would you want your business associated with a reg plate where character spacing/font was used to accentuate the word whisky .. on the other hand maybe a whisky lover
If your business was about producing and selling whiskey then, yes? It's not like it's an illegal drug...
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Jun 2013
Posts
4,363
It’s a rare spec at a middle of the road price

And there will no doubt be a good reason for that. i think the fact you're dubious enough to create a thread about it is all you need to know, in my opinion. i speak from having bought a car that subsequently turned out to have sustained pretty major damage and been repaired by a monkey.
 
Back
Top Bottom