The 50 biggest leasing...

The 50 biggest leasing companies in the country took part in the study, which also crowned Honda the most reliable motor manufacturer. It’s the third consecutive year the Japanese brand has managed to take top honours in the survey, which was commissioned by Fleet News.

Each make and model was judged on the number of breakdowns suffered per 100 cars – and the Accord wasn’t the only Honda to score well. The Civic took fourth position in the findings, behind the Volkswagen Jetta in third position. Second place went to the Toyota Avensis.

Further down the rankings was the BMW 3-Series. The default option for company car buyers who are looking to impress, it finished in sixth.

The firms taking part in the survey are responsible for 1.46 million fleet models. They typically cover a high annual mileage, making them more prone to reliability issues than vehicles owned by private motorists.

As our table shows, cars from German and Japanese brands dominated the top 10 listings, but popular models such as the Ford Mondeo and Peugeot 207 both featured – in seventh and 10th places respectively. Honda made it a clean sweep by topping the list of the most reliable manufacturers in Britain as well. Toyota and BMW came narrowly behind, while Volkswagen finished in an impressive fourth position overall.

Sister brand Audi was rated fifth most reliable, and Ford grabbed sixth place, ahead of luxury brands Lexus (seventh) and Mercedes (ninth).