A survey of warranty benefits for 34 car brands on the Irish market have Kia, Lexus and Suzuki sharing the top spot for warranty offers. Second place goes to Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Jaguar, Mazda, Toyota and Subaru.
Daihatsu came bottom of the list, primarily because it is the only marque which doesn't offer a roadside assistance element to its package.
Warranties are not as much of an element of competition between car firms in Ireland as they are in other European states, notably Britain. Few Irish motorists pay attention to the detail of warranty rights and responsibilities, according to warranty managers and the AA. In other countries warranties are an important consideration for motorists buying a new car.
By not being aware of the terms and conditions underpinning their warranties, Irish motorists can find themselves in unnecessary trouble if they have a problem with their car.
"Most people have only a vague idea about their warranties, that they cover two or three years and may have a limit of so many miles," says Conor Faughnan of the AA. "Undoubtedly, they are pretty unaware of the detail in the small print."
This can cause problems in a number of ways - either owners can fail to get service or recompense they're entitled to, or they can compromise their warranties by not fulfilling service requirements properly, such as having their car repaired or serviced by unauthorised dealers.
"Warranties are generally a good thing," says Faughnan. "They do protect the motorist quite well in their ownership of what is a very technologically complex product. But they really do need to know both their rights and responsibilities."
Though there are essentially two basic elements to current manufacturer warranties - duration and mileage - the underlying complexities of different aspects of the warranty make assessing the value of the guarantee system quite difficult. Particularly in relation to "extra" benefits offered of different degrees of roadside assistance.
Still, the system does seem to work in Ireland without too much difficulty: the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs has had only two complaints about automotive warranties in the past 12 months, both of which were referred to civil legal remedy.
And the Competition Authority says that there are no complaints on file here about car warranties, though it could become an issue with interpretation of the new EU block exemption regulation, which will open up the opportunities for independent repair operations and producers of "original equipment" components to previously exclusive warranty work.
Our survey took into consideration the base warranty periods, mileage limits, paint and corrosion guarantees, and the duration of any roadside assistance which is part of a particular manufacturer's warranty package.
It was based on standard warranty conditions and did not take into consideration any extended "conditional" warranty systems or insurance-based extra covers. For instance, Mercedes-Benz offers an exceptional 30 years of free roadside assistance under its Mobilo-Life plan, but only the first four years are unconditional.
Emphasis was given to the roadside assistance element because, with warranty taking care of the repair side of any problems during a guarantee period, significant expenses can be incurred in vehicle recovery following a breakdown. Of the 34 marques studied, 15 provided three years or more of assistance, while a dozen offered two years.
Carmakers received extra points for 3 and 6-year paint warranties, as well as 12-year anti-corrosion cover. Seven of the marques offer only one-year paint guarantees, and 11 provide 12-year anti-rust cover on their most recent models.
Under mileage limits, 22 brands offer unlimited mileage cover. All of the others offer warranties up to 60,000 miles/100,000 kilometres.