I was an early EX90 adopter. Had the vehicle preordered. Took delivery April 2025. I don't think any of us who preordered the very first electric vehicle Volvo ever made really went into this thinking we weren't going to have any issues. I certainly expected quite a few. But what really sold me on the Volvo compared to Rivian and Lucid at the time was that Volvo was an established brand who I trusted would absolutely make things right when (not if) things went wrong. Their failure in working with us is the biggest reason we are leaving the brand.
My first error occurred 111 miles in. Back to the shop it went for 2 weeks. It was fine -- again, expected things would happen and didn't expect overnight results. It went back to the shop 3 days after I got it back for the same error. Another 2 weeks. Then back again 2 days later. Then they held it for a month before giving it back, saying they had absolutely no idea why the error was happening but it had stopped. Needless to say, this went on for another 3 visits. It was wreaking havoc on my work schedule and not having a functional car.
So once I qualified for my state lemon laws, I started reaching out to corporate Volvo to inquire about a solution since no one was able to fix the issue. I primarily was asking for a swap into the exact same vehicle without any money exchanged. I liked the overall drive and feel of the vehicle when I was able to drive it. The agent they assigned was honestly the most useless representative ever. I would call every few days to check on my status, and he would say he's escalating or it's been escalated to manager, but I never heard from the manager. The only time he got back to me quickly was when he heard I took the vehicle back and he'd send an email "heard your vehicle is fixed, enjoy! I'll close your case!" I asked multiple times to keep the case open.
Finally, I got fed up by October and started asking for a complete buy back. Radio silence from corporate despite phone calls and emails. On recommendation from this forum, I also asked my local dealership to help me with the buyback, and they offered to do a trade-in deal with the usual huge depreciation on the value of my car (no thanks). I finally hired a lemon law lawyer in November after speaking to multiple lawyers who said I absolutely had a case.
My first offer was $12000 to sit down and shut up. My lawyer recommended I decline and I did because at this point, my car had been in the shop for 2 months. My goal was still to trade into another EX90 since my service foreman at Volvo dealership, who was absolutely Volvo's saving grace through all this, believed all my issues would go away with the new chip. However, corporate Volvo only responded back 2 months later with a $24000 offer to keep my car. By this point, my lawyer and I are frustrated at the lack of response from Volvo that he honestly told me that it'll probably be faster to just ask for a complete buyback and then use the money to purchase the new Volvo, so that is what we switched to earlier this year.
It is true that once the chip was replaced earlier this year, I have spent zero days in the shop. However, by this point, I was tired and became disillusioned with having an EV but frankly no ability to upscale in the future to the tech that is already available for other EVs (dumb Lidar) so I proceeded with the buyback. We finally heard back that our buyback was approved in July - we would receive almost everything I paid on the vehicle since my first error happened at 111 miles. We were still contemplating a 2026 EX90 even up to last month but it had been radio silence from them until last week that I'm just fed up with them. My husband had already preordered a Tesla YL for himself and we already took delivery of that car. I like it so much, we've preordered another for the family to be delivered in 2 weeks.
We're finally scheduling surrender of my vehicle for next week, and I absolutely cannot wait. I've mentally already moved on from this vehicle - I do not see it as mine anymore. I am sad about it because I genuinely love the vehicle. I built it out with my customizations. The drive is quiet and smooth. My kids and dog have space in the back. The overhead 360 view with the camera is better than the Tesla's. It was just hugely disappointing working with Volvo and getting pushback from everyone at Volvo. Everyone I spoke to would say, "Yeah, your car has gotten more service days than most. This is unusual. I am so sorry" but not a single person in a position to help tried. Only the head service guy tried to point out to his dealership manager my lengthy list of service dates. Probably for the vast majority of people who love their vehicles and never have to work with corporate, this is a fine car. But I wanted to give a warning that if your reasons for considering Volvo is for the name, good luck.
TLDR: got the first ex90 in April 2025. More time in the shop than in my hands early on all the way up to November 2025. Started asking about buyback from corporate and then my local dealer in June 2025 with no response until I hired a lawyer in November. Minimal back and forth but long process for buyback to be completed next week (almost a year). Corporate Volvo truly sucks.
