The Toyota Yaris has been crowned the most reliable popular used car in Britain by a new study.

It topped the standings of the most-owned motors in Britain, scoring top results for a combination of suffering few faults and - if a problem does occur - low repair costs.

The nation's most bought car of the last 12 years, the Ford Fiesta, was second in the list.

Vehicle warranty specialist MotorEasy has crunched the numbers from its data to create a reliability index to recommend dependable models.

It has ranked the cars that are most commonly owned in Britain, based on the DVLA's licensed vehicle records as of the end of September 2020.

MotorEasy said the index 'reveals some of the hidden costs of ownership, as well as the likelihood of something going wrong'.

Each model is given a reliability score ranging from -100 for a high frequency and/or high cost of repair, through to +100 where there is a low frequency and cost of repair.

In number one spot is the Toyota Yaris, emerging with a score of +37.

The Japanese supermini, which has been on sale in the UK since 1999 across four different generations, fared best, with lower repair costs and a lower frequency for these repairs.

A breakdown of the data revealed engine repairs for a Yaris cost an average of £84 and have a 5.6 per cent frequency of claims made.