Running a car isn’t exactly cheap these days and the last thing any young driver wants is to have to shell out money on unexpected repairs because their car isn’t very reliable. Fortunately, various organisations put a lot of effort into crunching real-life data to tell the British public which car brands and models really are the most and least reliable. As an insurer specialising in telematics products for young and newly qualified drivers, we wanted to report back on the latest findings, with the usual focus on smaller, more affordable cars.

The most reliable makes

According to WarrantyWise, one of the UK’s leading used car warranty providers fronted by former Top Gear presenter Quentin Willson and whose clients include ex-Dragon Theo Paphitis, the top 5 most reliable car brands are:

• Honda (1^st place)
• Toyota
• Suzuki
• Mitsubishi
• Hyundai

The Japanese can give themselves a pat on the back, as four out of the top five car makes in terms of reliability are from Japan, the fifth being a Korean firm well-known for the 5-year warranty provided for many of its models.

The WarrantyWise Dependability Factor Top 10 table, compiled based on their warranty claims and repairs data, shows that the five least reliable car brands in the UK are:

• Maserati (last place)
• Jaguar
• Porsche
• Alfa Romeo
• Chrysler

The good news that emerges for young drivers is that they probably won’t be able to afford to own a car from the three worst offenders, which are all typically considered to be ‘premium’ brands. The middle of their 36-brand reliability table includes more popular makes such as Renault, Ford, Vauxhall and Peugeot – which is positive, as most young or newly qualified drivers tend to own small cars built by companies like these.

Their research also included surveying 750 people over which brands they think of as being the most reliable, and although the people who took part correctly named Honda and Toyota as the most reliable makes, many of them also thought German brands BMW, Audi and Mercedes would score highly for reliability. They’re wrong, though, with the Germans ranked 27^th to 29^th in the table.

The most reliable small cars