COMPANY cars with one-year warranties are costing fleets on average £143.35 more per vehicle in unreliability than those protected by three-year/60,000 mile guarantees. And with the three-year warranty battle hotting up as Ford this week followed Vauxhall and dipped its toe into the three-year warranty arena, new figures from Fleet Management Services reveal it would not cost manufacturers much to extend the increased warranty cover to fleets.

FMS figures reveal that it would cost Vauxhall a maximum £90-£120 a model to introduce three-year cover and £93-£129 for Ford. FMS's average calculation of £143.35 is split into £93.85 for the average cost of second and third year maintenance work related to unreliability plus £49.50 for the cost of providing breakdown cover.