Car warranties can be confusing

Statutory Warranties

New cars all come with a statutory warranty - the average in Australia is three years and 100,000km, although some manufacturers offer a greater warranty (Hyundai, Kia and Mitsubishi offer five years, and Lexus offers four). These are a very good deal, but the car industry tries very hard to leverage the statutory warranty into the consumer perception that you need to get the car serviced at a 'factory authorised dealer' (ie franchised new car dealership) if the warranty is to be preserved. Many consumers understandably form the view that 'authorised dealer' service is a condition of the statutory warranty. This is absolutely not true, but the belief that it is true costs many people thousands of dollars over the term of their warranty - because 'authorised dealer' service is unquestionably the most expensive way to go.