Can today’s cars be cherished and remain reliable for much longer than seven years?

Remember the film ‘The Seven Year Itch’ with Marilyn Monroe when the faithful husband is tempted to wander? No I’m not that old really but I have seen the film and it seems to apply in other contexts too!

For example, put into a driving context I wondered if cars can reasonably be expected to limp along for a lifetime of low mileage and short local journeys (rather than 7 years)? Think about the engine wear and tear plus annual garage bills as the vehicles age…

If you haven’t got my gist yet, my apologies – I’m talking about the difference between Kia’s 7 year new car warranty versus Vauxhall’s new lifetime warranty offer.  Both are for a total mileage of 100,000 miles so you might say, what’s the difference?

Well the difference is to do with your annual mileage and whether a car can last long enough to benefit from a lifetime warranty.   But either way, before we look a bit deeper at these offers, these two manufacturers deserve a genuine pat on the back for offering a lot more than most other car manufacturers, so well done both.

And what will Ford follow in with I wonder?

I’m not sure if the Kia 7 year warranty is transferable to a second owner but the Vauxhall offer isn’t, so if you drive c5k miles a year and have your car serviced annually (by a VAT registered garage, not necessarily a dealership I believe) then a Vauxhall is a great buy that could last up to 20 years, assuming you do or want to drive the same car that long ;-).

But I imagine that this offer, linked to car models that women like, like the Picanto or Corsa, will appeal to foxy lady drivers who like great value for money supported by female friendly service levels.

And our advice to Club members will be to factor in the cost of the annual servicing that Vauxhall and Kia will require you to have, to maintain that warranty.

FOXY

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