10 best used cars for high reliability and low repair costs revealed

New used car reliability and repair cost data has ranked the UK’s 10 most reliable models, with the Toyota Yaris taking first place, followed by three other Toyotas, two Kia, a Suzuki, Mazda, Honda and Peugeot.

Notable by their absence from the top 10 are best-selling cars from brands like Ford, Vauxhall and Volkswagen, or premium brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Volvo.

The data, supplied by used car warranty provider, Warrantywise, is based on average repair cost claims between 1 January 2020 to 30 September 2023, measured by average vehicle age at time of fault, average mileage and average labour time for cars between three and 10 years old (minimum eligible sample size of 250 required).

With an average repair claim of value of £604.50 (and highest of £2,887.20) the Toyota Yaris achieved a score of 89 out of 100 in the Warrantywise scoring system. Not far behind it in second place was the Suzuki Swift (87.8), with the Mazda 2 and Toyota Auris in joint third place (85.9) just ahead of two other Toyotas (Aygo and Hilux) in fifth place (85.3). That left the Kia Ceed in seventh place (84.6), the Honda CR-V and Peugeot 107 in joint eighth (83.4), and another Kia in 10th, the Rio (82.1).

1. Toyota Yaris

2. Suzuki Swift

3= Mazda 2/Toyota Auris

5= Toyota Aygo/Toyota Hilux

7. Kia Cee’d

8= Honda CR-V/Peugeot 107

10. Kia Rio

From that list, the car with the highest repair warranty claim was the Mazda 2 at £3,636.34 and the lowest was the Toyota Hilux at £1,004.00.

Some of this year’s top 10 most reliable used cars and manufacturers also ranked highly in last year’s results which had the Honda Jazz in top place followed by the Mazda 2, Toyota Auris, Mazda MX-5, Toyota Aygo, Kia Ceed, Kia Rio, Suzuki Alto, Hyundai i20 and Peugeot 107.

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