[drifter94]

I received a letter from Volvo corporate yesterday asking if our 2018 XC90 could be loaned to Automotive Testing and Development Services (ATDS) in Ann Arbor, MI. Apparently, Volvo contracts this firm to perform emissions testing and ATDS has multiple locations in the US.

Volvo & ATDS offer $300, a free (unlimited mileage) Volvo loaner, a tank of gas (woo hoo) plus delivery to & from our house.

Does anyone have experience with this program? Considering the testing is limited to a dyno and is relatively close to home, it seems interesting....

 

[DFrantz]

I've never heard of it myself, or anything like it. Might be legit, but I'd proceed with caution. Sounds like an easy way to steal a car.

 

[Wayne T5]

I just received the letter yesterday too. I don't think I'll do it because the $300 that they offer is just not worth it to me. I know they say that they'll treat the car with the utmost of care but if I saw one scratch somewhere I'd be pretty annoyed, and then you get into the battle that it was pre-existing. Volvo would need to make it worth my while a lot more than $300 for me to be interested.

My one question would be whether they come pick up your car with a car carrier (and drop off the loaner) or if someone's driving the loaner car to you and then driving my car up to Ann Arbor and back again.

 

[DFrantz]

I did some quick googling and saw it show up on some other forums for other brands. Looks like it used to offer a higher dollar amount. Here's probably the best research I found from a BWM site for 2015, I'd imagine it's a bit similar.


"I called the Automotive Testing and Development Services, Inc. Company to ask questions. Here are my brief notes:

• It sounds 100% legit
• They are doing emissions testing for BMW
• In this campaign they are contacting a random pull of owners with 1 year old and 4 year old vehicles in Michigan that are in a certain radius of a test facility in Ann Arbor
• They don’t have their own test facility for this so they borrow time at the Mercedes Benz facility
• Based on the yes responses, they then take a random pull of those and these are the owners that are contacted
• The loaner cars are either a 2015 335i or 2015 x5 (if you have a sport utility BMW)
• On average they put 80 miles on the vehicle
• It is driven to simulate normal driving conditions (stop/go, etc.)
• They don’t take anything apart, they test tail pipe emissions
• There is a 3 ring binder of documents to sign when the exchange occurs
• Both vehicles are inspected and documented in this exchange (dents, dings, etc.)
• Any damage to my vehicle is covered by them (they don’t contact my insurance company)
• Any damage I do to the loaner vehicle is covered by them (they don’t contact my insurance company) – unless it is intentional
• The $500 check is mailed 14 days after my car is returned.
• The timing of this is in the next 2 months
• Even if you say you want to do it, you can back out at any time "

 

[rpmccormick]

Automotive Testing and Development Services, Inc.

Automotive Testing and Development Services, Inc. is a full-service indepdent automotive testing laboratory located in Ontario, California. We test vehicle emissions, electric vehicle range, and anything automotive.

automotivetesting.com