Straightforward guides to vehicle warranties.

Our warranty products help protect eligible mechanical and electrical components depending on your chosen plan. That includes the engine, gearbox, turbocharger and electrics, and for EV and hybrid vehicles the specific drive components.

Yes. ClearPath Protection offers dedicated warranty options for electric and hybrid vehicles, with EV-specific wording for the drive motor, inverter, onboard charger and high-voltage battery.

All three plans offer the same comprehensive cover — the difference is the term length. The 2-year plan is our most popular, and longer terms carry a discount against the equivalent annual price.

Contact our claims team before any repair work begins so we can guide you through the process. We have a nationwide network of approved garages, and we can discuss your options.

£100 per valid claim, as set out in your policy documents.

Claims are covered up to £3,000 per claim, with a labour rate of up to £100 per hour and a £100 excess per valid claim. There is no cap on the number of claims during the policy.

Both — choose a one-off annual payment or spread the cost monthly. Annual payments are also eligible for Klarna’s pay-in-3 or pay-in-6 instalments.

Yes. You have a 14-day cooling-off period to cancel for a full refund if you haven’t made a claim.

Eligible claims can include a vehicle hire allowance and recovery cost reimbursement, subject to the limits set out in your policy documents.

Yes. Cover extends to the EU for up to 60 days in any 12-month period.

A car warranty is a contract that covers the cost of repairing certain mechanical and electrical failures during an agreed period. It is not insurance and it does not cover accident damage, servicing or parts that simply wear out.

You report a fault before any work starts, an approved repairer diagnoses it, the claim is assessed against your policy terms, and authorised repairs are paid up to the claim limit less your excess.

Mechanical breakdown warranty is the correct industry term for what most drivers call an extended car warranty. It covers the sudden failure of a covered component rather than gradual deterioration.

Insurance covers damage from accidents, fire and theft. A warranty covers mechanical and electrical failure. They protect against different risks, which is why most drivers hold both.

Wear and tear is the gradual deterioration expected from normal use — brake pads, clutches, tyres, wipers and similar consumables. It is different from a sudden mechanical failure, and it is normally excluded.

Most policies cover the engine, gearbox, drivetrain, turbocharger, cooling system, fuel system, steering, suspension, braking components and electrics. The exact list is set out in the policy wording, and it varies by plan.

Routine servicing, consumables, cosmetic damage, accident damage, pre-existing faults and anything caused by neglect or modification are excluded on virtually every policy in the market.

It should. Labour is often the larger half of a modern repair bill, so check the hourly labour rate the policy will pay before comparing on price. ClearPath covers eligible labour up to £100 per hour.

Contact the claims team before any repair work begins, have the fault diagnosed by an approved repairer, and wait for authorisation. Work carried out without authorisation is not normally recoverable.

The usual reasons are missed servicing, a pre-existing fault, wear and tear rather than failure, an excluded component, a modification, or starting the repair before authorisation was given.

Compare the covered component list, the claim limit, the excess, the labour rate and the claims process — not the monthly price on its own. A cheap policy with a low claim limit can cost more when something actually fails.

Neither wins automatically. Dealer cover is often short and may tie repairs to the selling dealership; independent extended cover usually runs longer with more repairer flexibility. Compare the wording rather than the label.

Look for engine, gearbox, drivetrain, cooling, fuel system, steering, suspension, braking components, electrics and air conditioning — and check the financial limits attached to each.

Yes. Aftermarket warranty cover can normally be arranged at any point, subject to the vehicle’s age, mileage, condition and service history, and to any waiting period in the terms.

It depends on the car, its age and how much an unexpected repair would disrupt you. The honest answer is that cover buys predictability rather than guaranteed savings.

A manufacturer warranty comes with the car and is limited by age and mileage. Extended cover starts where that ends, and is a separate contract with its own limits, exclusions and servicing conditions.

Ask what is excluded, what the claim limit and excess are, what labour rate is paid, whether you can use your own garage, what servicing is required, and how to complain if something goes wrong.

The clearest signals are the manufacturer warranty ending, mileage passing the 60,000–80,000 mark, the car reaching three to five years old, rising repair frequency, or a model with known expensive failures.

Price is driven by the vehicle’s age, mileage and fuel type, the level of cover and the term length. Longer terms usually reduce the effective annual cost.

It comes down to the likely cost of a repair against the cost of cover, and how comfortable you are absorbing a sudden four-figure bill. The guide walks through the maths.

If you bought from a UK motor trader, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 says the vehicle should be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described, judged against its age, mileage and price. Those rights sit alongside any warranty.

No. The Act creates statutory rights against the trader who sold you the car. A warranty is a separate contract covering eligible failures during a set period. A warranty cannot remove your statutory rights.

Having a warranty does not by itself cancel a trader’s legal responsibilities. If the issue relates to the condition of the car at the point of sale, that may be a matter for the seller.

Usually yes. High mileage narrows the options and affects the price, but it does not automatically rule out cover. Service history and current condition matter more than the odometer alone.

Often yes, subject to age and mileage limits and to the car being free of pre-existing faults. The guide sets out what providers look at first.

EVs have fewer moving parts, but the parts they do have — drive motor, inverter, onboard charger, high-voltage heater — are expensive once manufacturer cover ends.

Cover normally extends to the drive motor, inverter, onboard charger, high-voltage cabling and thermal management, with separate terms for the traction battery. Always read the EV-specific section.

It varies enormously with pack size, chemistry, brand and whether a new, remanufactured or module-level repair is possible. A full pack replacement is not always necessary.

Remaining traction-battery warranty, a state-of-health report, AC and DC charging performance, the 12-volt battery, tyres and suspension, and what cover is available once manufacturer protection ends.

Hybrids carry both an engine and an electric drive system, so there is more to go wrong. Cover exists, but the wording around the hybrid battery and power electronics needs reading carefully.

Typically as the manufacturer warranty ends, or when the car reaches the age and mileage where component failures start to cluster. The guide sets out the timing.

DVSA data shows lighting and signalling, suspension, brakes, tyres and driver visibility account for the large majority of first-time failures.

Consistent servicing, fluid changes on schedule, addressing small faults early and driving sympathetically do most of the work. Several popular ‘life-extending’ products do very little.

Not as such. An MOT tests roadworthiness — brakes, tyres, lights, emissions, suspension condition — and most items that fail an MOT are wear or consumables, which every policy excludes. If an MOT advisory uncovers a genuine mechanical failure of a covered component, that part may be claimable, but the MOT itself and the work needed to pass it are not.

Clutch friction plates are a wear item and are excluded on essentially every policy, because a clutch is designed to wear out. Related components that fail rather than wear — a clutch slave or master cylinder, a dual-mass flywheel failing prematurely — are treated differently and may be covered. Check the wording for your policy.

On ClearPath cover, yes — the turbocharger is an included component. It is worth checking this specifically when comparing policies, because some cheaper products exclude the turbo or apply a separate, lower limit to it despite describing themselves as comprehensive.

It depends on the cause. A diesel particulate filter that has blocked through short-journey driving is treated as wear and is normally excluded. A DPF that fails because of a covered component failure elsewhere — a faulty injector or sensor, for instance — may be claimable as consequential damage from that failure.

Yes. Manual, automatic, DSG and CVT internal components are covered, along with torque converters and drivetrain parts such as driveshafts and differentials. Gearbox repairs are among the most expensive on a modern car, which is why the claim limit matters as much as the component list.

A cambelt is a scheduled service item, so replacing it is your cost and skipping it can invalidate a claim on the engine. A timing chain that fails prematurely is usually a mechanical failure rather than wear, and may be covered — though the assessment will look closely at service history.

Compressors, condensers and related components are covered. Re-gassing is not — that is routine maintenance, in the same category as an oil change.

Yes. Alternators, starter motors, sensors, control modules and wiring looms are covered. Electrical diagnosis on a modern car can take hours, so it is worth knowing that diagnostic time is normally covered only where it leads to a valid claim.

Steering racks, power steering pumps and suspension components are covered where they fail. The wear items inside those systems — bushes, drop links, worn shock absorbers — are excluded, as they are on every policy in the market.

A conventional 12-volt battery is a consumable and is not covered. On an EV or hybrid the high-voltage traction battery is handled separately, with its own limits — £1,500 per cell replacement on an EV, £1,000 on a hybrid, and battery cover ending at 9 years or 70,000 miles.

Contact the claims team before any work begins and they will confirm where the car should go. In many cases your own garage can carry out the repair provided it is VAT-registered and can supply a written diagnosis. What you must not do is have the work done first and ask afterwards.

On most authorised claims ClearPath settles directly with the repairer and you pay only your £100 excess. Some arrangements ask you to pay and be reimbursed — confirm which applies before the work starts, because it affects your cash flow rather than just the paperwork.

The policy pays up to £3,000 per claim and you cover the balance. That is why the claim limit matters more than the length of the covered-parts list when you are comparing policies.

Usually only where the diagnosis leads to a valid claim. If the fault turns out to involve an excluded component or a pre-existing issue, the diagnostic cost falls to you. This is standard across the market but it does catch people out.

Straightforward claims are often authorised the same day once the repairer has submitted a written diagnosis. More complex ones may need an independent engineer to inspect the vehicle, which adds time. The delay is almost never the payment — it is establishing what failed and why.

You need evidence that the vehicle has been serviced in line with the manufacturer's schedule. Stamps alone are weaker than stamps plus invoices. If you bought a used car with a patchy history, that gap is now yours, so it is worth knowing before you need to claim rather than after.

It puts a claim at risk — including a claim on a component unrelated to the missed service, because the provider cannot establish the car was maintained as required. If you are running late, get it done and keep the invoice rather than skipping it.

Yes. Cover can normally be arranged at any point, subject to the vehicle's age, mileage, condition and service history. What it cannot do is cover a fault that already exists, and most policies apply a short waiting period at the start for exactly that reason.

Most policies apply a short one. It exists to stop cover being bought on the way to the garage — without it, a warranty would be paying for faults that were already there when the policy was sold.

Tell us and we will confirm your options. Depending on the policy you may be able to transfer the remaining cover to the new owner, which can be a genuine selling point, or cancel and be refunded for the unused portion. What you should not do is simply sell the car and assume the policy follows it.

Transferable cover is often possible and is worth asking about before you advertise the car, since remaining warranty is a real advantage in a private sale. Contact us with the policy details and the new owner's information and we will confirm what applies.

You have a 14-day cooling-off period for a full refund provided no claim has been made. After that, contact us — a refund for the unused part of the term may be available depending on the policy terms.

Yes. Cover extends to the EU for up to 60 days in any 12-month period. Contact the claims team before authorising any work abroad, exactly as you would in the UK.

On an authorised claim ClearPath reimburses vehicle hire up to £45 per day for up to seven days, and recovery up to £60 including VAT. Both sit within the £3,000 claim limit, so arrange them through us rather than booking privately and hoping.