Warranty

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has allowed Mitsubishi's conditional 10-year warranty offer to stand, ruling that it does not prevent competition in the automotive repair and servicing industry. The consumer watchdog announced that is had not objected to an exclusive dealing notification lodged by Mitsubishi in regards to its recently-announced 10-year, 200,000km extended warranty.

Mitsubishi has reverted to a five-year/100,000km warranty after offering seven-year coverage on its most popular models for almost two years – and will add 10-year/200,000km coverage to vehicles serviced within the dealer network from day one. Mitsubishi notified the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) of the change two weeks ago and the corporate watchdog is yet to announce any adverse findings.

Renault has made a five-year/200,000 kilometre warranty permanent across its commercial range. The five-year warranty was offered as a promotion until the end of August, but Renault has now added it as standard for all petrol and diesel light commercial vehicles.

EXCLUSIVE Swedish brand Volvo is the latest luxury car maker to introduce a five-year warranty, following in the tyre tracks of Mercedes, Jaguar and Land Rover who have increased their coverage in the past four weeks. A confidential dealer bulletin obtained by CarAdvice says Volvo Cars Australia has negotiated an increase in warranty coverage from three to five years from its Swedish head office.

Mercedes-Benz has become the first German luxury car maker to introduce a five-year warranty across its entire range – a move certain to put pressure on rivals such as Audi, BMW, Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover to increase their three-year coverage which is now well below the industry average. To date, 14 of the Top 15 car brands have introduced five-, six- or seven-year warranties over the past three years.