Japanese manufacturers may still hold sway when it comes to building the most reliable cars but, if you want a vehicle that’s cheap to repair, buy European.

That’s the message from automotive insurance company, Warranty Direct, as it unveiled its manufacturer reliability index of the most dependable used cars (three-six year old) for 2009.
Warranty Direct studied the reliability and cost of repair of 250 of the most popular models during the last 12 months. A total of 30 manufacturers from a database of 50,000 policies were analysed.

Honda claims top spot as the brand least likely to break down with fellow Far East manufacturers Mazda, Toyota, Subaru, Nissan and Mitsubishi close behind in the Top 10. At the other end of the table, off-road favourite, Land Rover, records failure rates of 47% in an average year.

Top 10 most reliable brands by manufacturer and incident rate

1 Honda 10.59%
2 Mazda 13.03%
3 Toyota 13.08%
4 Subaru 13.92%
5 Smart 16.67%
6 Nissan 16.79%
7 Mitsubishi 17.18%
8 Lexus 19.01%
9 Mini 23.16%
10 Porsche 24.34%

 

Top 10 least reliable brands by manufacturer and incident rate

1 Land Rover 46.74%
2 Renault 38.54%
3 Saab 38.03%
4 Jeep 36.39%
5 Audi 32.74%
6 Seat 32.04%
7 MG 31.47%
8 Chrysler 30.14%
9 Volvo 28.65%
10 Mercedes-Benz 28.6%

Although Porsche is the 10th most reliable car on the road, the German marque has the most expensive average repair bill (£793.05) of the 30 manufacturers analysed by Warranty Direct.

In comparison, Skoda, is the cheapest to repair, boasting an average yearly garage bill of £215.94. With the exception of Honda, the Czech manufacturer is joined by a clutch of popular European marques – Citroen, Renault, Peugeot, Ford, Seat, Vauxhall, Volkswagen and Fiat - in the 10 least expensive brands to repair.

Top 10 average repair costs

1 Skoda £215.94
2 Citroen £228.32
3 Renault £249.51
4 Peugeot £251.34
5 Ford £256.03
6 Seat £266.15
7 Vauxhall £269.10
8 Volkswagen £285.41
9 Honda £295.42
10 Fiat £296.20

Bottom 10 average repair costs

1 Porsche £793.05
2 Jeep £541
3 Jaguar £484.46
4 Subaru £479.67
5 Mitsubishi £454.22
6 Chrysler £450.23
7 Mercedes-Benz £447.73
8 Land Rover £438.38
9 Audi £414.74
10 MG £400.98

Warranty Direct’s reliability index uses a formula to calculate overall vehicle reliability, taking into account each car’s rate of failure, average mileage, age and repair cost.