What does a warranty actually cover? And what…

A customer asks: one year of warranty — is everything that breaks in that year yours? The question cannot be answered in one line. What drives the cost is not the length but the boundary.

A warranty is not "it breaks, you fix it". It is three lists: what is covered, what is excluded, and who decides. The term written into the contract is only the headline; the other two lists decide who pays.

✓Covered, excluded and decision-maker each written out

Specific clauses are easier to negotiate, and both sides have a basis when something fails

!Only "one year warranty"

No scope and no decision-maker, so every failure restarts the argument

!"AS IS"

In a market like Kenya it does not defeat latent defects (Best Cars [2025] KEHC 474), and the clause may be void

×Promising "full cover"

Consumables, accident, modification and out-of-term repairs all sit outside any scope; the promise cannot be kept and invites a misleading-advertising claim

How the three lists split

The Chinese three-guarantee rule is a domestic rule. Article 2 limits it to passenger vehicles sold inside the People's Republic of China, so exported cars fall outside it. Article 18 sets the floor at a guarantee term of not less than 2 years or 50000 km and a repair term of not less than 3 years or 60000 km, whichever comes first. Article 32 lists five exclusions: defects disclosed in writing at the time of purchase, damage caused by use or servicing that does not follow the manual, damage caused by modification or dismantling that the manual prohibits, damage caused by the buyer's own handling after a fault appears, and damage caused by force majeure. The same article carries the sentence most often written wrongly: an operator may not restrict the consumer's free choice of servicing provider and refuse the guarantee on that ground.

Category	Typical items	How to write the boundary	Where disputes start
Warranty	Body, chassis, powertrain	Define it by "quality defect", fix the start date and a mileage cap	Counted from the invoice date or from handover at destination
Warranty	Wear parts: filters, brake pads, wipers, bulbs, tyres	List them separately, each with its own quality period	An incomplete list lets the buyer read it as full-vehicle cover
Not covered	Accident, flooding, fire, unauthorised modification, overloading	State "non-quality causes" and list as many as possible	Who carries the burden of proof
Case by case	Parts that have been dismantled; knock-on damage from non-genuine parts	Decide "on the inspection finding" and name the inspector	Who inspects, and against which standard
Case by case	Damage occurring in transit across borders	Set a claim window and an arrival inspection method	How many days the buyer has to raise it

Ghana has no Consumer Protection Act 2023. The bill went to Parliament in 2014 and had still not passed by October 2026; the current basis is the Sale of Goods Act, 1962, sections 53 and 54 of Act 772, and case law. Never put "under section X of the Ghana consumer protection act" in a document — that act does not exist. The Chinese three-guarantee rule works the same way: domestic sales only.

Mandatory rules abroad can override the contract

Kenya's Consumer Protection Act 2012, section 5(3): any term that negates or varies the implied guarantee of reasonably merchantable quality is void. In Best Cars Ltd t/a Impact Motors v Omoke & another [2025] KEHC 474 the buyer had driven the car 50 metres and it needed major repairs the next day; the court held the vehicle was not of merchantable quality, and that an "AS IS" clause did not release the seller from liability for latent defects.

Nigeria's FCCPA 2018, Part XV (sections 114 to 133), carries implied warranties. In Dike Geo Motors Ltd v. Uchenna Nwosu (Federal High Court, Enugu Division, 2023) a new car failed on engine, gearbox and electrics within 45 days and the dealer would repair but not refund. The court ordered a refund, held an FCCPC order binding and added a fine of NGN 5 million for non-compliance.

Ghana has no single statute, yet the High Court in Zonda Tec Ghana still held the seller liable on the contract and the Sale of Goods Act, 1962.

Who decides, where it is inspected, who pays the freight

There are three ways to name the decision-maker, with very different consequences. "The seller or its authorised workshop decides" is the easiest to draft and the least accepted; in Kenya and Nigeria it reads as a unilateral determination. "A third party agreed by both sides gives the final assessment" costs more but is the most enforceable; add "the finding is final save for fraud or manifest error" and most of the arguing disappears. "The manufacturer gives the technical opinion, a third party issues the inspection report" splits the two roles, which works only if the division is written into the contract.

The place of inspection is also a three-way choice: local inspection in the destination country is cheap and fast but applies different standards; a third country is a compromise; return to the factory is the most accurate and the slowest and dearest, with round-trip freight counted in months. Freight follows the finding: for a quality defect the seller bears round-trip freight, inspection and labour; for misuse or a non-quality cause the buyer bears all of it; until responsibility is fixed, the party raising the claim usually advances the cost.

Four steps to fix the boundary

Define "quality defect" first

Say what counts and what does not, not just "quality problem"

Then list the exclusions

Consumables, accident, modification and out-of-term, item by item

Name the decision-maker and the inspection location

A named body, or "a third party agreed by both sides"

Fix the cost and the finality

Who advances, who bears, whether the finding is final

Five traps

✓Treating the Chinese three-guarantee rule as an overseas warranty — exports are outside it
✓Writing a term with no scope, so every failure is renegotiated
✓Writing "servicing at an authorised outlet is a condition" — Article 32 forbids it, and in Kenya the whole clause may be void
✓Writing "AS IS" or excluding implied warranties wholesale — void in Kenya, and Nigeria already has a refund judgment
✓Writing "all disputes to be decided by the seller's inspection" — a unilateral clause that rarely holds

The cost structure of the three warranty models is set out in "How does a Chinese car warranty work in Africa? The real cost of three models"; this piece stays on the boundary. To put warranty cost into a landed price, start from the site's import duty calculator at CIF (/en/duty-calculator).

Position verified on 5 November 2026. The Chinese three-guarantee text follows SAMR Order No. 43 (in force 1 January 2022); destination-country rules follow the legislation, case law and written confirmation from the local agent current at the time.