Bart’s Swedish Formula

Love the personal service and family approach to auto care here. They helped me out at the end of the day with a quick fix off-​schedule.
Highly recommend them!

Solid Volvo shop. Have thrown a bunch of little jobs Bart’s way over the last several years, maybe the largest was a water pump replacement on my last Volvo 240. Plus he’s right down the street, which is great. For more specialized stuff (had a transmission issue) Bart will generally refer you to another shop.
It’s usually just him there, sometimes his wife in the office, sometimes another tech in the shop, but anyway, they don’t have a ton of capacity so tend to get booked up. Which is fine — if they’re busy, they’ll let you know, you can figure out your schedule, and Bart might recommend someone who could look at it sooner.
Actually, last time I was in there, I brought a broken alternator mounting bolt (it had broken off in the engine block cause I was fucking around) and Bart glances at it casually from across the room, and says «is that the lower alternator mounting bolt?» Now that’s impressive.
Anyway, good shop. Use it, love it, get the t-​shirt, like it on Facebook, etc.

wow, kind of shocked!
this review can go away once they acknowledge that this is just odd.
called them to get a quote for a diagnosed volvo problem from another volvo specialist shop. it’s 100% the problem. no doubt.
«no quotes unless we see the car ourselves»
come on, you just lost the business — really weird attitude. give me a quote for what i want fixed. if it doesn’t fix the problem that’s on my end.

I am so glad to have found Bart & Bart’s Swedish Formula! Bart diagnosed the issues with my car over the phone (and confirmed the problem once I got there). He did the work quickly and the cost was reasonable. I’m glad to have found him and will definitely use him again when needed!

I don’t know what to say. They fixed my problem, explained in detail what was wrong with my car (1998 Volvo V70) and didn’t charge me a penny. I hope I don’t need help on my car in the future, but if/​when I do I will definitely be coming here.

I can not state how happy I am using Bart. He does a great job, explains things in simple language, and always saves me some money. They even dropped my car off at my house! (Although I only live a block away).
I would highly recommend Bart to anyone needing to get their Volvo worked on. You could not go to a better guy.

Honest guy, great prices, knows Volvos well. He once spent 3 hours trying to diagnose a problem where it always smelt like gas. Zero charge. Another time, he crafted a part from scratch (inner drivers side door window issue) because to purchase a new part would have cost me hundreds more and many weeks of waiting for hte part to ship from Ukraine. I trust Bart to only make appropriate repairs, and to have my best interests in mind. With my 1990 240, I end up seeing him every couple of months and his friendly demeanor cuts the sting of always having my car in the shop.

Integrity — Check
Knowledge — Check
Trust — Check
World Class Customer Service — Check
Price — Check
These are just of a few of things you’ll find at Barts! Check them out the next time you need to have your Volvo serviced, you’ll be glad you did!

I have never been able to speak so highly of the ½ dozen mechanics in Portland that have treated my old Volvos… until now.
I absolutely trust Bart with my ’92 Volvo sedan. He has maintained it and fixed every little and big thing that has come up with care and attention that is quite impressive, for over 3 yrs now. On top of this he has given me all kinds of tips to help keep my old car running well and done extra things like bolt on my license plate that was tied on with zip-​ties, without even mentioning it; figure out why my stereo wasn’t working and my door-​ajar alert was going non-​stop and given me free fuses to keep them working; sell me a new spare tire for super-​cheap, all with the energy more of a therapist than a mechanical attendant.
This guy rocks and I hope he is always around! His wife who runs the front is great too!

What do you do when you want your 95 850 wagon to handle like today’s cars? You let Bart tell you what’s good. So far he’s put on my iPD’s endlinks, sway bars, and soon overload coils plus a strut brace. The Volvo handles like a lotus, and will only get tighter. None of this would be possible without Bart’s Swedish Formula.

If you are desiring an honest, quality (think pride of workmanship), flexible, and price conscious shop to care for your Volvo… look no further.
We just moved up to the greater Portland area and had a semi-​crisis with our XC90. Bart accommodated our repair situation and completed the work promptly. I found the communication with his business to be excellent. He uses texts and e-​mails to give updates more than phone calls, which I think is perfect, but may be why another review complained about communication.
We definitely plan on returning to Barts for our Volvo’s maintenance needs.

Every time I take my car into Bart’s shop, I kick myself. Not because of something Bart has done, but because of what I was doing to myself. Why, after experiencing such great customer service and care at Barts, would I ever of thought to go to a dealership and get my car serviced?!
Bart takes care of you, plain and simple. He has been honest and up front from day one. His estimates for the service are spot on, well, not exactly. Let’s just say that he charges LESS than he estimates! Imagine that!
He regularly updates you as to what is going on with your vehicle and is timely in getting back to you when you place a call.
Three times now he has sent me away with something thrown in for free because he is a good guy and values his customers and their cars (He drives Volvo’s too).
I’m sad that I’ll be leaving the portland area and losing such an honest mechanic.
Oh, and you know a shop is great when they have the Stones, Marley, etc. playing loud enough for you to tap your foot to when you’re waiting.

Bart’s is the only place I’ll take my old Volvo. They are nice guys who care about Volvos and the people who drive them.

I’ve only owned Volvo 240’s my whole driving life. I’ve had a lot of mechanics. I have only had one mechanic I actually trust to properly fix my car and not screw me over for it at the same time. That mechanic is Bart.
I love Bart. So does my car. It’s a win win as far as I’m concerned.
My windshield wipers decided to randomly stop working recently (as soon as the rain started of course), and when I called in to make an appointment Bart just had me come in as soon as I could. I pulled up and he figured out what was wrong in like 2 minutes, fixed it, and then sent me on my way. Wouldn’t let me pay for anything. He said he just didn’t want me driving around without windshield wipers.
I have seriously never met a single mechanic who didn’t charge me for every minute of their time.
I am the first to admit I don’t know a ton about my (totally beater) car. Which basically sets me up for being taken advantage of by mechanics. Bart is always happy to show me what has been fixed, and why. He is also happy to tell me whether or not things need to be immediately fixed or if I can wait a while.
Blah blah blah. You get it, I think these people rock. If you own a Volvo and need affordable, reliable work done, go here. Seriously.

Generally, I do nut trust other people with my car. I’ve done everything from changing the oil, to changing a timing belt and blown head gasket. But every now and then something comes up where I don’t have the right tools, or the time, etc; and there’s no one I’d rather have take care of these things than the people at Bart’s. If you have a Volvo, this is the best place to take it to in Portland.
**I can’t imagine Annie’s experience happening at Bart’s, but who knows, maybe it was done by someone that no longer works there. I assure you that I check all work done to my car after taking it to them and it is always been top notch. I had the steering rack replaced, which isn’t easy, and I’ve never found a better rate or level of quality that they offered.

I joined Unilocal just to write this review and sadly it is not one of praise. I just want to be able to warn others about what happened to me at Bart’s. My car is in great condition and I believe in preventative care for my vehicle, doing whatever is necessary to prevent larger problems. About a year and a half ago (Spring 2010) I took my car there for a few things and honestly thought that they were a great business, took care of me, etc. But it isnt until now that I realized they made a few costly mistakes.
One of the things they did for me was replace my brakes, and as they recommended, replace the rotors as well instead of just resurfacing them. I did as they asked and had everything done, no expense spared. A few months ago, I noticed my steering wheel vibrating when I braked at high speed (like on the freeway). I took it to a trusted mechanic in California, thinking it was an alignment problem, but instead they told me that the rotors for my front brakes needed to be replaced since they were terribly worn. It appeared that they were never replaced.
Another thing I had done at Bart’s was a 100k tune up where they replaced all my spark plugs. It turns out they did not do this correctly either. A few months ago, my car was idling roughly so I took it to my mechanic and they said that as they were looking up the idling problem they realized that the spark plugs were fried – they even brought one to me in its mangled state to prove it. I had to get them all replaced because none of them were installed properly.
In addition to the money I paid to have these done in the first place (which wasn’t cheap), these two jobs cost me almost a $ 1000 dollars to fix after being mangled by the folks at Bart’s. Please beware of them, I thought that they were trusted allies to me.

Honest, skilled, friendly, and reasonably priced, what else is there to say?
My new fave Volvo repair shop!

as with many of my favorite things, i just want to be a greedy bunny and keep bart’s all to myself. but before i explain why let me just tell you, i have one word for barts; RAR!
let me explain. you know that book called «porn for women» with pictures of the men of your dreams vacuuming and taking care of the babies, saying things like, «honey let me buy you a new dress» and «let me cook dinner tonight.» well, bart’s is going to be in the next edition of that book.
first of all, i get bart on the phone, and he’s just a charming, down to earth, helpful man. then when i take my car in, the whole shop is filled with even more charming, down to earth helpful men who are handsome too. they were really honest and totally fair with their rates. i just got back this moment and the whole experience made me feel SAUCY!
i have never had a better car experience than this. so, take your volvo to bart’s. i mean, get away from barts! it’s mine! i saw them all first! rrrrrrrr!

Tragically, I let friends of mine buy a Volvo V50, as opposed to the Saab that they should have bought. In order to repair our battered accord, they agreed to take the Volvo to Bart’s.
My friends have enjoyed the service they have receieved at BSF, describing it as fair, honest, skilled and friendly. Now we never talk of their earlier poor decision. Like the true Scandinavians we are, we just never talk.

Bart’s is a great place to go. I have a 2004 Volvo wagon and the back tail gate wouldn’t open, so I called them and they said, just drop by whenever you can, so I did. I took a minute to look at the problem, told me exactly what was wrong and I made an appointment to bring in the car. While I was there I told him about a tail light that was out, he popped open the side panel, switched out the bulb and said «no charge». I brought the car back for the appointment, they told me how long it would take and how much, they were spot on. I was in and out in no time and the bill actually was lower than the estimate.
Everyone told me not to buy a Volvo because repairs are outrageouly expensive, well me experience with Bart’s definately disproves that myth.
My back tailgate works great now and I couldn’t be happier. I’m going to bring my car back to Bart for all the work I need. Great place to go if you’ve got a Volvo, highly recommend them.