Archived Copies of Warranty Week

December 2002 to Today

U.S. & European Auto OEM Warranty Report: While Volkswagen and Fiat have seen their warranty costs rise significantly in recent years, BMW, Daimler and Tesla have driven their expense rates down. And somewhere in the middle this year are Ford and GM.
April 6, 2017
Warranty Accruals per Vehicle: The German OEMs still have the highest warranty costs worldwide, but the Japanese carmakers are no longer unopposed at the bottom. Both Fiat and Ford are cutting their warranty costs to within range of longtime low-cost leader Honda. And Toyota is well on its way to getting back to normal.
July 11, 2013
Warranty Cost per Vehicle: When it comes time to budget for warranty work, corporate planners apparently expect a Ford to cost twice as much as a Honda; a Fiat to cost twice as much as a Ford; and a Mercedes to cost twice as much as a Fiat. Currencies play a role in their planning, but so does selling price, parts cost and local labor rates.
July 12, 2012
European Auto Warranties: Their annual reports tell a simple story: Daimler and BMW are reducing their warranty costs. VW is doing just fine. And Fiat is now absorbing the warranty costs of Chrysler.
July 5, 2012
Worldwide Auto Warranties, Part Two: It turns out that Volkswagen, BMW, and Fiat do disclose their warranty data, if one knows where to look and what to look for. And thanks to the help of a reader who's fluent in five languages, we now have hard numbers for the warranty costs of more than half the world's vehicles.
July 23, 2009