When it comes to the cost of motoring, most women drivers have a breakdown policy in place, just in case. If you’d like to have the same peace of mind when your car needs an expensive repair doing, you may choose to budget for this by buying a car warranty product.
According to car warranty provider Warranty Direct, one in three* repairs to vehicles aged between three and seven-years old will be due to a wear-related failure which is fairly obvious when you think about it. And new car warranties only cover material or manufacturing defects.
Their repair data shows us which parts are most likely to wear out over time. Smaller parts like bearings in a water pump could cost c£200 to fix whereas larger components like automatic gearboxes cost on average £1,378.65 but are thankfully very rare.
TOP TEN* parts that fail due to ‘wear & tear’
Component/Percentage of all repairs/Average repair cost
Suspension arms/ 5.86%/ £230.60
Ball joint/3.89%/£223.80
Steering rack/3.88%/£377.68
Turbo/2.18%/£794.78
Water pump/2.07%/£209.00
Wheel bearings/1.86%/£150.31
Fuel pump/1.38%/£415.30
Flywheel/1.05%/£630.92
Injector/0.86%/£400.26
Automatic Gearbox/0.38%/£1,378.65
As in life, it’s important to read the small print with so many warranties on the market. Vauxhall offers a lifetime warranty, restricted to 100,000 miles and one owner; Kia has a 7 year one (same mileage but more reliable cars), Hyundai offers 5 years and the more typical warranty is a 3 year term.
But don’t expect the car warranty salesman to explain your choices or help you find the best for your circumstances because commission is involved! You must do your homework for yourself and be aware that some warranty policies include a low hourly rate payable to garages, meaning you might decide to top this up to use one you would prefer, based on measurable quality reasons, as explained in FOXY Good Garage Guide for example.
Where ‘wear and tear’ is excluded the motorist will be required to pay for worn out parts which are normally related to heavy mileage, the car’s age or a change in any existing warranty terms as the car gets older.
*figure of one in three based on total failures due to wear and tear (34.4%). Top 10 accounts for 23.4% of all failures
Warranty Direct cover starts from £15 a month.
FOXY
NB: FOXY Choice lists female friendly garage repairers that won’t overcharge, patronise or sell women services they don’t need.