Repairs carried out under warranty extend the cover to the whole vehicle

To understand how the two disciplines interact, two aspects of the defect must be considered:

- the nature of the fault (i.e. whether it is an original lack of conformity or one that has arisen as a result of wear and tear, incorrect use, poor maintenance or accidental damage);

- the time at which it occurs (whether within the statutory warranty period or after).

Three distinct hypotheses arise from the combination of these factors.

1. Original defect within the statutory warranty period. This is the classic scenario governed by Articles 133 et seq. of the Consumer Code: the consumer may contact the seller to request repair or replacement of the goods, or a price reduction or termination of the contract. If the consumer opts for repair, the new provisions of Legislative Decree 176/2026 also apply, and the warranty period is automatically extended by a further 12 months. This extension is granted only once, regardless of the number of subsequent repairs, and is added to the two-year guarantee period, thereby bringing it to three years (two, in the most common case for second-hand vehicles). The new law does not specify whether the extension is calculated from the date of repair or from the date of delivery of the goods, but most consider the latter interpretation to be more in line with the EU text.

2. An original lack of conformity that became apparent after the statutory warranty had expired. The new regime for repairs set out in Legislative Decree 176/2026 applies (see the next chapter), which was designed specifically for this purpose. Take care when calculating the expiry date: if the same item had already been repaired under warranty (for a different fault that arose before the expiry of that cover), the duration of the statutory warranty shall be deemed to be three years rather than two, for the reasons already set out above.

3. Faults arising from wear and tear, incorrect use, poor maintenance or accidental breakage. No statutory warranty applies; only the new ‘transparent’ repair scheme introduced by Legislative Decree 176/2026 and described below may be applied.

The new Article 127-bis of the Consumer Code – introduced by Legislative Decree 176/2026 for those who need to have repairs carried out – distinguishes between two different levels of protection depending on whether or not the item to be repaired falls within one of the product categories specifically listed in Annex II-decies, which has also now been added to the Code itself.

For these products, manufacturers are obliged to provide free repairs or, in any event, at a reasonable price and within a reasonable timeframe, whilst also ensuring the availability of spare parts. The categories currently included are washing machines and washer-dryers, dishwashers, fridges and freezers, electronic displays, welding equipment, vacuum cleaners, servers and data storage systems, smartphones, cordless phones and tablets, batteries for light vehicles, and domestic heating appliances.

For all other goods (including vehicles), however, only transparency rules apply to repairers. The most important of these is the option to provide a specific ‘European’ information form, setting out the price, timeframe and conditions of the forthcoming repair. The form is merely optional, but once handed to the consumer, it binds the repairer to the stated terms for at least 30 days; should the repairer then fail to carry out the promised repair, the consumer would be entitled to at least a refund of the diagnostic costs.

The right to transparency also applies to cases not covered by the statutory warranty. In the case of vehicles, this includes wear and tear on components such as the clutch, brakes or tyres, as well as damage resulting from misuse or a lack of maintenance.