Archived Copies of Warranty Week

December 2002 to Today

Retail Product Warranties: Though it's not common, there are some retailers, primarily in the auto parts business, that provide their own product warranties above and beyond what the manufacturers offer, and report those expenses in their financial statements. But it's likely to become more common in other lines of business, as more manufacturers open their own retail outlets or sell directly to consumers online, and more retailers begin to sell their own brands.
August 18, 2016
Warranty Mergers: Either because the acquisition wasn't big enough or the product lines are too similar, the merger of two warranty-providing manufacturers has little effect upon the baseline warranty expense rates of the combined companies. But sometimes it does, and here are seven examples where expense rates change noticeably.
August 11, 2016
Warranty & Corporate Inversions: Although warranty has an effect on taxes, the movement of a company's headquarters from a high-tax to a low-tax country doesn't seem to change its warranty claims or accrual rates. The merger of product lines has a much bigger effect, no matter what their nationality. But in at least one case, a company leaving the U.S. decided to cease complying with warranty reporting rules.
August 4, 2016
Consumer Electronics Warranty Report: The traditional radio and TV makers are gone, and even laptops are giving way to smartphones. So it's no surprise to see the bulk of the industry's warranty expenses shift from Hi-Fi to Wi-Fi. But that expansion also drags in lots of business-to-business sales as well as heavily-exported product lines into the analysis.
June 5, 2014
Warranty Acquisitions: Big companies are buying smaller companies all the time. But then they have to merge their product lines, combine their warranty reserves, and publish all the details. Divestitures, meanwhile, also happen once in a while, but not as often as entire companies are sold as a single unit.
October 20, 2011
Television Warranties: Bigger is usually better, when it comes to TV warranties. While the old tube TVs are more or less disposable, flat screen vendors usually either fix them in the home or send someone out to pick up the units that fail. And while a year is the most common warranty period, several TV manufacturers issue multi-year warranties on their premium lines.
September 7, 2006