Warranties on new cars

pledgeX

I’m thinking about getting my next car on a PCH (or possibly PCP) deal. One of the reasons for doing so is, with it being a brand-new car, not having to worry about potentially expensive faults as I’d be covered by the warranty. Am I being naïve here though? I imagine there’s all sorts of exclusions buried in the small print, so I’d still be liable for a lot of things.

Is anyone able to shed any light on this? Does it vary much from manufacturer to manufacturer? In case it matters, I was thinking of a Volvo, or perhaps BMW.

AdrianC

How you finance a car makes no difference to the warranty coverage. Buy, lease, PCP, HP - the warranty's the same.

No warranty covers wear and tear items.
You can pay for servicing deals, but they may or may not work out good value.

If you're thinking new car on PCP is the only option other than used car bought outright, then you probably need to investigate the market a bit harder.

It also depends on whether you're just focussing on certain aspects of expenditure, rather than looking at the total cost of ownership over <say> three years and x0,000 miles. Used cars may have higher maintenance bills, but they have far lower depreciation and finance costs.

You may also need to consider how likely your financial position is to change in the duration of a finance contract, and whether you may need or want to change the car early, either because it doesn't meet your requirements or because you can't justify the ongoing expenditure.

Scrapit

You shouldn't be using the warranty on most new cars.

Supersonos

Buying a new car simply to reduce the chance of expensive repairs seems very odd.

Especially if you're buying it by borrowing the money.

A nearly-new car will be cheaper and may still have some warranty left. You can even buy third-party warranties if that's important to you.

Modern cars are very reliable (Volvo and BMW in particular) and a huge repair bill is quite unlikely really.

motorguy

Supersonos wrote: »

Buying a new car simply to reduce the chance of expensive repairs seems very odd.

Especially if you're buying it by borrowing the money.

A nearly-new car will be cheaper and may still have some warranty left. You can even buy third-party warranties if that's important to you.

Modern cars are very reliable (Volvo and BMW in particular) and a huge repair bill is quite unlikely really.

He said one of the reasons for doing so, not THE reason for doing so.

Penelopa.Pitstop

With new car, you have to check cost of the servicing. Volvo for example, has annual servicing and it's quite expensive but there are service packages at good price. BMW has service every 2 years. Depending on how long you're going to lease the car, and how many miles you plan to do, you may avoid any maintenance costs.

I had leased many cars in past and only paid for scheduled service. Didn't have to buy new tyres or replace anything else other than wipers. I usually do 10K miles per annum and lease for 2 years. Did 36K miles in one leased car but had winter tyres, so that saved my summers ones from excessive usage.

If you give us examples of cars you're intersted in, planned mileage, we can help you with maintenance costs.

Car_54

Penelopa.Pitstop wrote: »

With new car, you have to check cost of the servicing. Volvo for example, has annual servicing and it's quite expensive but there are service packages at good price. BMW has service every 2 years. Depending on how long you're going to lease the car, and how many miles you plan to do, you may avoid any maintenance costs.

When I bought my current (6-month-old) car recently we’d reached deadlock over price, and they gave me a five-year servicing package to clinch the deal. Something similar happened with two out of the three previous cars (but not as long as five years).

LandyAndy

Scrapit wrote: »

You shouldn't be using the warranty on most new cars.

This ^^^

I've had three new cars, all Mazdas, and the only warranty work I've had done is replacement of a split sunvisor.

fred990

I've had three new cars, all Mazdas, and the only warranty work I've had done is replacement of a split sunvisor.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

forgotmyname

The warranty does not cover other expensive bills like clutches. brakes, tyres and other consumable items. How much will the servicing cost to keep the warranty company happy?

m0bov

I've had new cars, I had an Octavia and on warranty it needed: ABS module, Clutch pack, engine(!).

I've had two Mazda one needed gas struts and the Media unit replacing, my current CX5 needed a new brake sensor switch replacing.