With second-hand car prices at an all-time high, it’s more important than ever before to buy a used motor that you can count on not going wrong and costing you even more money in repair bills.
If you are in a position of needing to replace your car and have little choice but to dip into the market now, this information will be vitally important to you.
It’s What Car?’s just-published results for its used car reliability survey, telling you which brands and models you can rely on to not encounter problems… and which to steer clear of if you want to avoid regular trips to a mechanic.
And this year’s results show that Suzuki cars are the most dependable, while Land Rover remains slumped at the bottom of the reliability rankings for yet another year.
Most reliable car maker: Suzuki topped the charts in 2021, with owners saying the brand has the highest dependability score of 97%. The Vitara SUV (pictured) had a flawless report
The latest mid-monthly update from Auto Trader shows the incredible rise in used car values in the last 12 months.
It claims that the average advertised price for used vehicles on its website last week reached £20,109, which is 28 per cent higher than a year ago, such is the massive demand for used cars in the wake of supply issues with the latest models.
For those with little choice but to replace their cars now, feedback from 16,328 drivers about the dependability of their older vehicle will be of huge interest.
And for anyone concerned about making the leap to an electric or hybrid model, there was reassurance – these types of car were rated as the most dependable, with an average class reliability score of 92.2 per cent.
The reliability data is for cars aged between six and 15 years and covers 27 brands in total and a whopping 139 mainstream models.
In spite of their advancing years, three models achieved a perfect reliability rating of 100 per cent: the current versions of the Ford Mondeo and Suzuki Vitara and the previous-generation Nissan Leaf electric vehicle (on sale from 2011 to 2018).
The Vitara spearheaded victory for Suzuki in the brand rankings, too, pushing the marque above dependability stalwarts Lexus and Toyota, with an overall rating of 97 per cent.
The Ford Mondeo, which was unceremoniously axed from showrooms this year, is proving very reliable, with owners saying not a single thing went wrong with this in the last 12 months
Another car with top marks for reliability is the original Nissan Leaf EV, which shamed other battery models that cost more than three times as much as this family hatchback
At the other end of the chart, Citroën and Land Rover received the lowest scores of 71.8 per cent and 65.3 per cent respectively.
However, these brands’ average reliability ratings paled in comparison to the low score of the worst performing model.
That unwanted award went to the petrol-variants of the 2009-to-2015 Vauxhall Astra, which scored a concerning 37.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, small is best if you’re after an SUV – small SUVs averaged 86.6 per cent, whereas luxury SUVs could muster only 69.5 per cent.
For the survey, owners were asked if their vehicle had gone wrong in the past 12 months, how long repairs took and how much they cost, with the overall score expressed as a percentage.
Rather unsurprisingly it was Land Rover that propped up the reliability table with a brand score of 65.3%. The Discovery (pictured) was the worst rated model, with a score of 43.4%
While the Land Rover Discovery scored poorly for reliability, it was nothing on the worst model – this Vauxhall Astra. Petrol versions were given a 37.9% dependability score from owners
The report showed that a quarter (26 per cent) of cars aged six to 15 years old had experienced a fault.
And just 15 per cent of faults were repaired free of charge, with the vast majority of these cars outside of their manufacturer warranty periods.
Although 56 per cent of repair bills were less than £500, 6 per cent (around one in 16 cases) of owners had to pay out more than £1,500 to get their cars put right.
And older cars weren’t always quick and easy to fix; faults rendered one in five cars undriveable and 23 per cent of those that went wrong spent more than a week in the garage.
Commenting on the survey, What Car? editor Steve Huntingford said: ‘Used car prices have been pushed up by increased demand caused by the computer chip shortage and other new car supply issues.
‘With many models costing a third more than they did a year ago, it’s more important than ever to pick a dependable model that won’t land you with a constant stream of expensive repair bills.
‘The What Car? Used Car Reliability Survey can help buyers pinpoint the best brands and models to spend their money on.’
The most and least reliable models in each category has been listed below:
SAVE MONEY ON MOTORING