It’ll cost you up to £846 for a new headlight in these popular city cars – find out if your motor is one of them
Volkswagen charges nearly £850 for a Polo GTI's sealed headlight unit - and you can't just change a bulb when one blows
CAR MAKERS can charge you a small fortune if you blow an LED bulb if the headlights come as one sealed unit.
Volkswagen is the worst culprit with the highest cost for its Polo GTI model – setting owners back £846 just for the part.
Other manufacturers that have set extortionate prices for their headlights include Seat.
The VW sister brand charges £827 for its Ibiza’s LED unit on the FR, FR Sport, Xcellence and Xcellence Lux models.
Honda is just as bad, with Jazz EX and Sport owners having to spend £714 per sealed headlight.
Fellow Japanese car maker Suzuki charges £684 for HID (High Intensity Discharge) units on the SZ5 trim of its Swift.
The data was put together by consumer publisher , which looked into the cost of 13 popular small cars’ headlights.
Prices soar when replacing LED or HID headlights in comparison to halogen bulbs that cost as little as £4 on the Swift’s SZ3 and SZT models.
LED and HID bulbs are far brighter with a wider and whiter beam – they can also last up to a decade longer.
Even unsealed units are expensive to replace, with the Vauxhall Corsa Elite’s HIDs costing £317.
Despite their reliability, if a driver crashed their car and damaged the headlights – costs will soar for them or their insurers.
Claire Evans, What Car? consumer editor, said: “The longevity of HID bulbs makes them a viable option on a new car.
“However, if you are buying a used car as a second household vehicle or as a first car for a son or daughter, you – and they – could be landed with a massive repair bill for a blown bulb that could even render the car a write-off due to it being uneconomical to repair.”