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Which make of car is the most reliable?
Dear Chris, I’m planning to buy a second-hand car and want to minimise the risk of a roadside breakdown. Can you give me a steer on which make of car is the most reliable?
Mel, via email on 11 September 2010
Our Breakdown Expert says...
A used car is more likely to break down than a new one. But you can lessen the chances of requiring roadside assistance by buying from manufacturers with a good reliability history.
Second-hand car breakdowns
Honda has been named the most reliable car manufacturer for the past five years by What Car? magazine’s annual “reliability study”.
This year Subaru was named the second most reliable car manufacturer, closely followed by Mitsubishi and Lexus in third and fourth place, respectively. Toyota took fifth place in the magazine’s 2010 study.
Cars aged between three and 10-years old were considered in the study, which also used information from 50,000 breakdown policies. The study also considered a vehicle’s mileage, failure frequency, average repair time and cost of new parts.
For example, only 7% of Hondas needed repairs over the past 12 months. But 53% of Land Rovers needed repairs in the last year - the manufacturer was also named the least reliable car manufacturer by the study.
If your second-hand car does breakdown then it’s also important to know how much repairs could cost you.
Porsches and Mazdas cost the most to fix, the study found, with average repair bills of £717 and £481, respectively. Renaults and Fiats cost a mere £226 and £237 per repair, respectively.
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