Mini Tops BreakerLink’s 2015 Used Car Reliability UK Study

British car manufacturer Mini heads up the list of BreakerLink’s study into the reliable used cars on UK roads. Amongst the close finishers were popular makes like Toyota, Ford and Volkswagen in the top ten.

Mini has finished top of BreakerLink’s first ever Used Car Reliability Study, which examines and compares thirty of the leading car manufacturers producing vehicles on the UK roads. This new survey has been designed to use the amount of spare parts requested for each manufacturer as a measure of its reliability. Only 1 in every 1428 cars required a spare part during the 12 month study period over 2014.

Also featuring highly on the list were Landrover (1 in 1176), Jaguar (1 in 961) and Volkswagen (1 in 752) proving that some of the most popular manufacturers on the UK roads are also the most reliable.

At the bottom end of the scale Ssangyong were proven the least reliable with 1 part requested for every 76 cars on the road. Mitsubishi (1 in 250), Chevrolet (1 in 256) and Citroen (1 in 324). These are the vehicles that are more likely to need repairs and spare parts than any others on our list.

The calculations

Using the BreakerLink dataset, the study simply looked at the number of requests for spare parts for each manufacturer and compared this against the total amount of cars from each manufacturer aged between 3 and 8 years on the road. This produced a reliability percentage that allows the manufacturers to be rated against one another. It’s a simple system that works on the basis that the more reliable a manufacturer, the less spare parts will be requested.

The results

1 Mini
2 Land Rover
3 Jaguar
4 Volkswagen
5 Ford
6 Toyota
7 Skoda
8 Hyundai
9 Honda
10 Audi
11 Lexus
12 BMW
13 Nissan
14 Vauxhall
15 Peugeot
16 Kia
17 Volvo
18 Saab
19 Seat
20 Suzuki
21 Renault
22 Fiat
23 Mercedes
24 Chrysler
25 Mazda
26 Subaru
27 Citroen
28 Alfa Romeo
29 Chevrolet
30 Mitsubishi

Conclusions

Justin Smith, Director of BreakerLink said the following about the final results; “The top rated cars should come as no surprise. There are a number of top Asian manufacturers on the list including Honda and Toyota, fighting for places with the German producers responsible for Mini, Jaguar and Volkswagen. These big companies have a consistent commitment to quality and due to the large volumes of vehicles on the road it is relatively easy to find spare parts for them too.”

Comparisons

A number of other leading vehicle magazine brands have produced their own reliability indexes and studies. Amongst the most notable of these is the What Car? Reliability Index 2015. This was won for the ninth consecutive year by Honda, one of the top ten finishers in the BreakerLink survey. More interestingly however Mini and Jaguar were in the lower third of the What Car? listing. This could well be down to the fact this alternative survey also factored in the average cost of each fix, which may be more expensive on quality makes like Mini and Jaguar than economical brands like Toyota, Honda and Hyundai.

Our annual survey

BreakerLink will be running the Used Car Reliability Study on an annual basis. Be sure to check back next year to find out whether Mini can hold on to the top spot, or if Honda or any of the other highly rated front runners can take first place.