NEW CAR WARRANTY:

Most cars have 3 years or 36,000 miles of warranty coverage--whatever occurs first--should your car break down through normal wear-and-tear. Some cars are covered for even longer periods, either 4 years/40,000 miles or 5 years/50,000 miles.
Most basic warranties will cover any mechanical failure as a result of mechanical breakdown during this period. The things that aren't covered are generally the parts of a car that require routine maintenance. It should also be noted that if routine maintenance has been neglected, your warranty is very likely to be voided. Your Owner's Manual should contain a detailed listing of what isn't covered under the manufacturer's warranty.

Parts that are generally not covered under a basic warranty include: filters, fluids, brakes, brake drums and rotors, wipers, belts, hoses and tires. Emissions, drive trains and rust are also usually covered under separate warranties, though they may come as a package with the new car warranty.

Warranties go into effect the date the cars were built, not the date that they were sold. It is perfectly possible for you to drive a car off a lot that has been sitting there for a year to only have warranty coverage for 2 remaining years. However, you will still have 36,000 miles within those 2 years


SECOND-HAND WARRANTY:

* Class A warranty: when the odometer reading is fewer than 160 000 kilometres, and the car was manufactured less than 10 years before the sale date, the warranty is three months or 5000 kilometres, whichever happens first
* Class B warranty: when the odometer reading is 160 000 kilometres or more, or the car was manufactured 10 years or more before the sale date, the warranty is one month or 1000 kilometres, whichever happens first.


DEFECTS:

A defect is a part of the vehicle that does not do what it is supposed to do, or has deteriorated to the extent that you cannot rely on it to work. A statutory warranty covers most defects.

However, it does not cover any defect in a vehicle's:

* tyres or tyre tubes, batteries, fitted airbags or radiator hoses
* lights (other than a warning light or a turn indicator light used as a hazard light)
* installed radio, tape recorder or CD player
* air conditioning system (for a Class B warranted vehicle)
* aerial, spark plug, wiper rubber, distributor point, oil or oil filer, heater hose, fuel or air filter
* paintwork or upholstery that should have been apparent before the buyer took delivery of the vehicle
* accessories that were not fitted to the vehicle when it was sold.

The warranty provided also does not cover any defect from accidental damage due to your misuse or negligence.

VEHICLE REPAIRS:

If you feel you are entitled to repairs under your warranty, you can not simply have your vehicle repaired and send the bill to the warrantor.

You must take your vehicle back to the dealer and give written notice of the defect to the warrantor. We will respond within 5 days with instructions for getting your vehicle repairs done. If the defects are covered by warranty, we will complete the repairs and return your vehicle within 14 days.

If your vehicle is more than 200 km from the warrantor when you give notice, you can take it to the nearest qualified repairer. The warrantor may decide to use another repairer, but they will have to pay for any delivery costs.

For every day your car is undergoing a statutory warranty repair, another day is added to your warranty period.

Before the warranty expires, have a full mechanical inspection done by an independent and qualified mechanic, so any problems can be identified and corrected within the warranty period.