Archived Copies of Warranty Week

December 2002 to Today

Warranty Claims & Reserves, Part 1: Using three metrics: claims, reserves, and sales, we can calculate which industries and even which individual companies are over or under the averages for both their spending on claims and the capacity of their reserve funds. And by charting the results, we can see which companies, industries or manufacturing sectors have the most consistent warranty expenses.
February 6, 2020
Data Storage Warranty Expenses: While the traditional hard drive makers have more predictable and stable warranty costs, the newer solid state and flash memory systems seem to have lower costs. However, their price per gigabyte of capacity is much higher.
December 11, 2014
Warranty Reserve Capacity: The ratio between warranty reserves and claims payments is always changing. But by measuring departures from the baseline average, we can detect which companies have either too much or too little money in their warranty accounts.
November 17, 2011
Warranty Cost Cutting: The warranty reserve balance rises and falls, along with claims and accruals, in reaction to changes in sales volumes and product quality. But merely measuring the balance doesn't provide as much insight as does using it to measure a company's capacity to pay claims.
November 26, 2008
Five-Year Warranty Trends, Part Five: American manufacturers now keep $41.1 billion in their warranty reserves, equal to 17 months' worth of claims paid. And it's been more or less steady at that capacity level for the past five years. Meanwhile, average accrual rates have stayed close to 1.7%, although different industries accrue for warranty at different rates.
April 29, 2008