Europe’s most reliable car

Choosing a used car can be a difficult process, what brand do you want? what size? what body style? and even what colour? Many used car buyers base their decision on how reliable the car will be, no one wants to spend their hard earned money on a car that will keep breaking down and require more money spent on it to keep it on the road.

Luckily there are recognised industry bodies that carry out regular reliability surveys to determine what used car is the most and least reliable. Warranty Direct is an aftermarket warranty provider; hence they have a lot of information to hand on what car has the most claims made for repairs.

The 2012 Warranty Direct survey analysed approximately 20,000 live polices on European cars aged three to six years for its Reliability Index website. It was revealed that the 2006 Mercedes-Benz E-Class is the most reliable used car in Europe, with a breakdown rate of 1 in 10 on average each year.

Fellow German brand Skoda came in second place with the Fabia model – only 15% of Fabia owners will have to fork out for repairs in a year. On the other end of the list is the 2004-2009 model of the Land Rover Discovery – 85% of these models needed work carried out under warranty.

Warranty Direct managing director, Duncan McClure Fisher, said: “It is very interesting to see the Mercedes at the top of the pile for European cars. It’s big and it’s packed with technology, which is not usually the recipe for a reliable car, but it’s proved to be excellent.”​