Tuesday 9 November 2010

New survey reveals most common component failures. Good Garage Scheme asks – have you checked your warranty to see what’s not covered?

New survey reveals most common component failures. Good Garage Scheme asks – have you checked your warranty to see what’s not covered?

Warranty Direct’s latest survey has revealed the top ten most common parts of your vehicle to fail first.

The most likely part to fail first was found to be suspension arms with an average cost of £230.60 and accounting for 5.86 % of all repairs.

The study also discovered that a third of all repairs performed on cars between three and seven years old will be as a consequence of wear and tear.

Ball joints were discovered to be the second most susceptible part to failure with steering racks following close on its heels. Ball joints are said to account for 3.89% of all repairs while faulty steering racks resulted in 3.88% of all repairs. The average repair costs of these two items was found to be £223.80 for ball joints and steering racks incurring an average £377.68 cost per repair.

Turbochargers appeared next in the list with a huge average cost of £794.78 to the motorist.

The top ten included both small and large items with both water pumps at £209.00 and automatic gearboxes at £1378.65 appearing. The full list appears below:

Top 10 car parts most likely to fail



Component                  % of all                         Average cost
repairs                         of repair

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%                           £1378.65


Warranty Direct advised motorists to check what is covered and what is excluded in their policies. Their managing director Duncan McClure Fisher advised: “The statistics highlight the importance of checking the small print on longer term new car warranties and after-market policies. Those with 'wear and tear' exclusions mean the consumer is left to foot the bill for worn out parts”. He added “It's not reasonable to expect manufacturer warranties to cover parts that wear out, but motorists are not necessarily aware that as their car gets older and wear-related failures become more frequent, they won't necessarily be covered unless they have a policy that covers wear”.

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