News: Vauxhall withdraws 100,000-mile new car warranty

AGAINST THE clamour of the Paris motor show, and in the same week that it recalled 3,000 Corsa, Adam and Corsavan models over a potential failure of the steering system, the car maker has pulled the plug on its much-hyped, 100,000-mile new car warranty.

The cover, launched amid a blaze of publicity in August 2010, was available only to the first owner of the car. Unlike other warranties, that are typically much shorter, it was not transferable to subsequent owners if the car was resold.

Vauxhall says this was the warranty’s undoing since, increasingly, new cars are financed on schemes such as personal contract purchase where the first owner keeps the car for, typically, three years and 45,000 miles, before exchanging it for another.

As a result, the company is withdrawing the warranty at the end of the year and replacing it with a more traditional warranty valid for three years or 60,000 miles that it says it has benchmarked against rival schemes.

Explaining the decision, Tim Tozer, Vauxhall’s chairman and managing director, said: “In today’s market, 60% of retail sales are supported by a PCP. This has dramatically changed ownership patterns resulting in fewer customers retaining their cars beyond three years.”