DABAS blog post; 2021,
Car makers who offer the best Australian warranties in 2021.
Hello readers, hope all is going well. After the recent year’s significant upheaval due to the C19 lockdowns, restrictions, and associated manufacturing delays worldwide; many people, when thinking of updating their car, are now curious to know which vehicle manufacturer brands offer the best warranties, for their future motoring peace of mind. The good news is that, now in 2021, new-vehicle warranties are longer and more generous than ever, but which ones are the best? Brand-new vehicle manufacturers in 2021 have some of the best warranties ever offered, which certainly can give you significant peace of mind when making one of 2021’s bigger purchases: your brand-new car.
The most popular top-10 automotive brands now offer a new-vehicle warranty of at least five years, with Volkswagen, Subaru, Toyota and finally Nissan joining Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Subaru who offered this length in 2019.
Mitsubishi stipulates a distance limit (100,000km) for private and ABN buyers with its five-year warranty (the rest are unlimited kilometres). However, as of October 2020, Mitsubishi is now offering the Australian car industry’s first 10-year factory vehicle warranty, with a 10-year/200,000km plan available — if owners stick to Mitsubishi dealers for their 10-year capped-price service program.
Excluding the eight-year/160,000km warranty offered by Hyundai for its full-electric and hybrid models, the longest warranty previously available in Australia was the seven-year/unlimited-km warranty offered by Kia, but since matched by Haval, MG and SsangYong.
Toyota has a five-year warranty that extends to seven years* (but *only for the powertrain) provided the vehicle was “properly serviced and maintained”.
PS: Do not forget to get your logbook stamped by an authorised VACC mechanical services centre at service time.
Isuzu offer six years for its D-MAX and MU-X. Suzuki, Jeep and Renault now also offer a five-year/unlimited-km factory warranty.
Please note – Before listing exactly what each vehicle manufacture offers (see below), there are a few other important things you should know about what is in the chosen cars’ warranty fine print.
Commercial use notes – Some brands set a kilometre cap if you use your vehicle for commercial purposes such as a courier, taxi, hire car or a driving-school vehicle (but the warranty time-period does not change). Some examples are, Honda sets a 140,000km limit for vehicles used commercially, while Hyundai has a 130,000km limit (except iLoad, with its 160,000km cap); Kia’s is 150,000km, Mercedes’ is 200,000km (250,000km for its commercial vehicles), Nissan’s is 200,000km, Suzuki’s is 160,000km, Toyota’s is 160,000km and Volkswagen’s is 150,000km. Ford and Mazda each have the same unlimited-kilometre warranty regardless of use and Mitsubishi’s 100,000 and 200,000km caps apply to all buyers.
Read the warranty’s fine print, as there are plenty of warranty exclusions once the kilometres start to rise, even if you are well within your year timeframe. The obvious ones are any faults caused by abuse or neglect and fair wear and tear. There are also other exclusions that you must dive into the index of your vehicle’s warranty handbook terms and conditions to find. For example, Mitsubishi and others have a list of components they cover for only one year/20,000km such as glow plugs, shock absorbers and “any component subject to regular servicing”, (as do many other brands). Hyundai and Volkswagen cover paint defects for three years; Hyundai also puts a 100,000km distance cap on its paint cover.
Do you have a Hyundai or Kia audio/nav unit? Except for the MY18 Hyundai i30 onwards (which gets the full five-year cover), both manufacturers offer only three years of warranty cover for this equipment.
Most vehicle manufacturers’ warranties do not cover faulty tyres (referring you instead to the tyre manufacturer), although Ford does, including any same-specification replacements fitted within the warranty period.
Battery cover’s not all the same: Starting-battery warranty (for internal-combustion vehicles) often does not match the vehicle warranty. Ford, Mitsubishi and Nissan, for example, warrant the battery against defects for 12 months, whilst Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Volkswagen and Toyota offer two years (Honda will then pay up to 50 per cent of a defective battery replacement cost from 25 to 36 months). Unlike the others here, Hyundai also sets a 40,000km limit for its battery cover.
EVs and hybrids: For electric vehicles and hybrids, their battery warranty period is much longer and can exceed the vehicle warranty period. Most warrant the battery’s ‘state of health’ so, for example, the Nissan LEAF’s battery is guaranteed to not lose more than nine bars out of 12 battery capacity in eight years or 200,000km. Hyundai offers eight years/160,000km warranty for its electric and hybrid models batteries. Mitsubishi offers a five-year/100,000km on its EV or PHEV battery warranty. Toyota will extend its hybrid battery warranty from five to up to 10 years on the condition that annual hybrid health-check inspections are completed.
Warranty provisions cannot exclude your statutory rights – Australian consumer law gives you the right to a refund or replacement in the event of a major failure. Both Volkswagen and Toyota have potentially made this path easier for consumers – during the first two months of ownership, at least. And both offer a refund/replacement (or repair, if desired) where a car has suffered a manufacturing defect that renders it immobile and no longer driveable within 60 days of purchase (or has had repeated unsuccessful repair efforts in the case of the Toyota). Volkswagen stipulates it needs “a reasonable opportunity” to find what caused the defect, including confirmation that a manufacturing defect caused the failure. If a manufacturing defect renders the vehicle undriveable, some brands also offer free towing to the nearest authorised dealer as part of the warranty terms (Ford, Hyundai, Kia, and Toyota) and Toyota even offers a free loan car while yours is being fixed.
As for the luxury brands, Genesis was the first to offer a five-year/unlimited-km warranty when it launched in Australia in 2019. It was followed in March 2020 by Mercedes-Benz, a month later by Volvo and from April 2021 by Jaguar and Land Rover. Lexus offers four years and Audi, BMW, MINI, Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Ferrari offer three years, while Tesla halved its new-vehicle warranty to four years/80,000km in August 2019, but still offers an eight-year battery guarantee.
What warranty timeframes* do each vehicle manufacture offer now in 2021?
*Noting that information mentioned on this – and all – DABAS blog pages is to be considered as a general-in-nature summary and can be discussed and clarified – if needed – relevant to the timeframe and date stamp of your transition to becoming a client of DABAS.
Ten-year warranties
Mitsubishi = 10 years/200,000km (see conditions below).
Seven-year warranties
GWM = Seven years/unlimited km.
Haval = Seven years/unlimited km.
Kia = Seven years/unlimited km.
SsangYong = Seven years/unlimited km.
MG = Seven years/unlimited km.
Six-year warranties
Isuzu Ute = Six years/150,000km.
Five-year warranties
Citroen = Five years/unlimited km.
Ford = Five years/unlimited km.
Genesis = Five years/unlimited km.
Honda = Five years/unlimited km.
Hyundai = Five years/unlimited km.
Jaguar = Five years/unlimited km.
Jeep = Five years/100,000km.
Land Rover = Five years/unlimited km.
LDV = Five years/130,000km.
Mazda = Five years/unlimited km.
Mercedes-Benz cars = Five years/unlimited km.
Mercedes-Benz vans = Five years/250,000km.
Nissan = Five years/unlimited km.
Peugeot = Five years/unlimited km.
Renault = Five years/unlimited km.
Skoda = Five years/unlimited km.
Subaru = Five years/unlimited km.
Suzuki = Five years/unlimited km.
Toyota = Five years/unlimited km.
Volkswagen = Five years/unlimited km.
Volvo = Five years/unlimited km.
Four-year warranties
Lexus = Four years/100,000km.
Rolls-Royce = Four years/unlimited km.
Tesla = Four years/80,000km.
Three-year warranties
Alfa Romeo = Three years/150,000km.
Alpine = Three years/100,000km.
Audi = Three years/unlimited km.
BMW = Three years/unlimited km.
Bentley = Three years/unlimited km.
Chrysler = Three years/100,000km.
Ferrari = Three years/unlimited km.
Fiat = Three years/150,000km.
Fiat Professional = Three years/200,000km.
Lamborghini = Three years/unlimited km.
Lotus = Three years/unlimited km.
Maserati = Three years/100,000km.
MINI = Three years/unlimited km.
Porsche = Three years/unlimited km.
RAM = Three years/100,000km.
Noting that,
Audi — Three years paint and 12-year corrosion warranty in addition to three years/unlimited km.
BMW — Three years paint and 12-year corrosion warranty in addition to three years/unlimited km.
Citroen — Three years paint and 12-year corrosion warranty in addition to five years/unlimited km.
Fiat — Eight years paint and corrosion warranty in addition to three years/150,000km.
Fiat Professional — Eight years corrosion warranty in addition to three years/200,000km.
Honda — Six-year corrosion warranty.
Hyundai — Eight years/160,000km for full-electric and hybrid IONIQ models.
Kia — Seven years/unlimited km includes paint and corrosion.
Lamborghini — 12-year corrosion warranty.
Land Rover — Six-year corrosion warranty.
Lotus — Eight-year corrosion warranty.
Mitsubishi — 10-year/200,000km extended factory warranty only available to private buyers and small businesses (with up to five vehicles), and only if they service their vehicle at a Mitsubishi vehicle for the first 10 years; otherwise, the standard five-year/100,000km warranty applies.
Peugeot — Three-year paint, 12-year corrosion warranty, five-year/200,000km warranty for commercial vehicles (three-year paint, five-year corrosion).
Toyota — Seven-year corrosion warranty. Warranty extends to seven years for engine and driveline if vehicle is maintained and serviced as per the vehicle’s warranty and service book and up to 10 years Hybrid Battery warranty with unlimited kilometres with annual hybrid health check according to Toyota specifications.
Volkswagen — Three-year paint, 12-year corrosion warranty. Amarok corrosion warranty is six years.
Unless noted, paint and corrosion warranty periods do not have a kilometre limit.
So, when C19 restrictions ease, and the time comes update your car for a safer MY2020-21 brand-new car with a long warranty, or recent late-model used car – even a towing car, or 4WD – in post- C19 lockdown Melbourne. DABAS knows that buying a car to suit your needs can be one of the biggest purchases in your life. DABAS offers flexible personal assistance to clients on their car-buying journeys tailored to suit their individual budgetary needs.
DABAS services can be delivered in a vast variety of ways, including – but not limited to – phone consultation/s, zoom meetings, research emails, research links, LMCT yard email link referrals, face-to-face meetings at a caryard/s, in the cafe at an LMCT caryard or even in your home if required. The choice is totally yours, pending personal needs and the urgency timelines of being behind the wheel of your next car.
DABAS services are offered flexibly, as stages in a journey. You pick at what stage of your journey you may need DABAS’s assistance: maybe the full journey, or just vehicle selection/clarification, or maybe just providing a car-yard buffer zone and help with the yard process.
We hope this “general-in-nature information” page has provided some useful information to assist in you. By clicking on DABAS’s blog index link here you may find some guidance for your personal car-buying journey. The included highlighted links on this page may also provide other information that assists in selecting a suitable vehicle for your car-buying needs.
Please note any examples, options, pricing, and information mentioned in our blog pages is to be considered as a very general-in-nature summary. Any current applicable C19 guidelines and rules will be adhered to.
Whatever roads your life journey takes you on, DABAS can help you find a car to travel those roads.
Have a great day, Cheers, Tim.
Please note our disclaimer, as clients have individually tailored needs and stages on their DABAS automotive-buying journey, information mentioned on this – and all – DABAS blog pages is to be considered as a general-in-nature summary. Any vehicle pricing on our pages is general in nature and can be discussed and clarified – if needed – relevant to the timeframe and date stamp of your transition to becoming a client of DABAS.
