Used Car of the Year Awards: Used car scheme

The Lexus and Toyota Service Activated Warranty is one of the very few to provide cover for cars up to 10 years old and very much does what it says on the tin, by offering buyers of eligible used Lexuses and Toyotas almost unparalleled peace of mind.

Somewhat confusingly for our purposes here, there are actually two complementary schemes – one for Lexus and one for Toyota – but they come from the same parent company and are identical in every way, so they’re joint winners.

The length of the warranty is linked to your car’s service schedule. Take it to a franchised dealer every 12 months for a service and you’ll be rewarded with another 12 months’ worth of warranty and UK-wide roadside assistance courtesy of the AA, until the car is 10 years old or has covered 100,000 miles. The scheme covers the same parts and labour as the three-year Lexus/Toyota new car warranty. What’s more, the hybrid batteries that help to power most Lexus and Toyota models are covered separately for 15 years.

Used cars don’t have to be bought from a Lexus or Toyota main dealer or have been serviced by one in the past to be eligible for the Service Activated Warranty. Nor do they need to have a full service history. A 145-point vehicle health check is part of the service package, and this covers all mechanical and electronic parts, helping to detect potential problems at an early stage. Any existing defects that are present at the time of each service will be excluded, though, and as with other similar warranties, wear-and-tear items are not covered.

It’s worth pointing out that this level of cover doesn’t affect the prices of individual services; the costs are transparent and no higher than they would have been otherwise. That means they’re very competitive, particularly in Toyota’s case. Given how comprehensive this scheme is, that annual outlay seems like money well spent.

Runner-up

Suzuki

Also offering cover for up to 10 years or 100,000 miles on the proviso that you have your car serviced every year at a franchised dealer, the Suzuki scheme finishes second here by the narrowest of margins. In truth, there’s little to separate it from our highest-rated used car scheme – and that’s hardly surprising when you remember that Suzuki and Toyota share much of their expertise in small cars and electrification respectively.

The only differences we could find were that the Suzuki scheme offers a ‘comprehensive’ check but not a specified number, like Lexus/Toyota’s 145-point check, and it doesn’t offer the 15-year hybrid battery warranty like the Lexus/Toyota scheme does.

Also consider...

Kia

Several manufacturers, including Dacia, MG and most of the newer Chinese brands, now offer seven-year transferable warranties from new.

However, it’s the one from Kia that stands out. If you buy a used car up to 20 months old from a Kia main dealer, it will top up the warranty to a full seven years, the same as you would get if you were buying the car new. True, we’d like it even more if it applied to slightly older cars, but that’s still a healthy chunk of cover.

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