Top Ten Parts Likely to Wear Out

According to a study performed by Warranty Direct - an established extended vehicle warranty company - the most prone car parts to wear out within a typical manufacturer's warranty period are the suspension arms, accounting for 5.86 percent of all repairs under warranty. The average cost for such a fix is GBP 230.60

The research was performed on the British market based on service repairs and maintenance and it revealed that one in three repairs to cars aged between three and seven years old was due to a wear related failure.

Following closely in 2nd and 3rd place are ball joints and steering racks, accounting for 3.89 and 3.88 percent of warranty repairs with average repair costs of GBP 233.80 and GBP 377.68 respectively.

The most expensive repair is the replacement of an automatic gearbox, which has a tremendous cost of GBP 1,378.65 and is the tenth most likely component to wear out.

Most car manufacturer's warranties last for three years, though some, such as Kia, offers increased periods of 7 years or more.. Vauxhall recently announced lifetime warranties for its cars up to a maximum of 100,000 miles.

Warranty Direct expert Duncan McClure Fisher warned that not all manufacturer warranties cover wear and tear. "The statistics highlight the importance of checking the small print on longer term new car warranties and after-market policies. Those with wear and tear exclusions mean the consumer is left to foot the bill for worn out parts," argued Fisher.

Here is the list of the top ten most common wear and tear repairs and their costs:

Component / Percentage of all repairs / Average repair cost
Suspension arms 5.86% £230.60
Ball joint 3.89% £223.80
Steering rack 3.88% £377.68
Turbo 2.18% £794.78
Water pump 2.07% £209.00
Wheel bearings 1.86% £150.31
Fuel pump 1.38% £415.30
Flywheel 1.05% £630.92
Injector 0.86% £400.26
Automatic Gearbox 0.38% £1,378.65