A POTENTIAL minefield of terms and conditions awaits fleets that do not stick strictly to the letter of the law on vehicle warranties. Company car drivers ignoring servicing schedules, or leaving servicing too late, will make almost all three-year warranties void.

Dealer-backed warranties have been identified as the strictest and include demands that all work is done by franchised dealerships, that receipts are kept and that servicing is done to a tight timescale. If any of these conditions are breached, the warranty can become invalid. Fleets will then either be faced with the prospect of paying for any work which would normally be covered by a warranty, or having to pay for the warranty to be reinstated.

Danny Liebman, operations manager of Derby-based Eurolease Car Contracts, said: 'Sometimes I think the 'goodwill' you get from the major manufacturers who are sticking to one-year warranties is worth far more than any three-year warranty. You do not get the same letter-of-the-law approach from the likes of Ford and Vauxhall as you do from many manufacturers supposedly offering far more warranty cover.'