Archived Copies of Warranty Week

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December 2002 to Today

Nine-Month Auto Warranty Report: Though the headlines warn of layoffs, neither the sales nor the warranty expense data of the industry suggest any sort of imminent slowdown. On the contrary, many truck, car, powertrain, and automotive parts manufacturers are cutting warranty costs while enjoying rising sales.

December 6, 2018

U.S. & German Auto Warranties: Car manufacturers based in Germany have the highest warranty expense rates in the industry. But that doesn't mean they make the worst cars and more than it suggests that China, the country with the lowest warranty expense rates, makes the best cars. Somewhere in the middle are the U.S. and Japan.

October 25, 2018

Chinese Auto Warranties: It's not a topic you hear much about, with good reason. While more new cars are now sold in China than in any other country, most of the top ten manufacturers report that warranty costs are a minor expense. And even though the competition is fierce, warranty remains a minor concern.

October 18, 2018

Civilian Aircraft Report: Warranty expense rates have been steadily declining since 2011 and are now at their lowest levels ever. That means the manufacturers of everything from biplanes to business jets are cutting their warranty costs by remarkable amounts. Meanwhile, per mile, air travel is even safer than walking.

October 4, 2018

Worldwide Automobile Warranties: Manufacturers representing well over 90% of the world's car sales now reveal their warranty expenses in their financial statements. So we've fashioned estimates for the remainder to create some benchmarks for the industry's warranty expense rates: 2.6% of revenue and $577 per vehicle.

August 16, 2018

Mobile Home Warranty Expenses: While much of the industry collapsed a decade ago, the five large manufacturers that remained in business have made a steady comeback. Last year, claims and accruals finally surpassed their pre-recession peaks, even while most of the remaining manufacturers have been able to keep those expenses steady as a percentage of sales.

Commercial Truck Service Contracts: At roughly one percent of revenue, commercial extended warranties for trucks represent more of a convenience for customers than a major additional source of profits for manufacturers. Still, we know they bring in more than a billion dollars a year just in the U.S., even though only a handful of truck manufacturers report the relevant metrics.

Warranty Accruals per Vehicle Sold: Once again, Tesla comes out with the most expensive warranty while Hyundai is the least costly. But the warranty cost rankings of the passenger car and light truck manufacturers in between have shifted somewhat, with the Asian carmakers seeing their accrual rates per vehicle rise and the North American manufacturers seeing their warranty costs drop.

Extended Protection Plans:
Breaking Down Risk Management Options: Service contracts sold by dealers or manufacturers to buyers of commercial products such as construction equipment can increase resale value, raise customer loyalty, boost uptime, and lower operating costs. But before extended protection plan sales can begin, the advantages and disadvantages of various risk management options must be considered.

Computer Industry Warranty Report: The warranty costs of the top U.S.-based computer manufacturers are declining, but not at the expense of their suppliers. Instead, their costs seem to be declining together in parallel, with their expense rates now roughly half as high as they were 15 years ago.

Aerospace Warranty Report: Unlike the automotive industry, the manufacturers of commercial airplanes do not have higher warranty expenses than their suppliers, and do not spend a larger percentage of their sales revenue on warranty claims. But just like those land-based vehicle makers, airplane and helicopter manufacturers have been cutting their warranty costs for more than a decade.

Automotive Supplier Warranty Report: Of all the companies that supply parts and components to the car and truck manufacturers, those making engines, axles and transmissions pay the most claims and see the highest warranty expense rates. Last year, in fact, they broke records for claims paid, accruals made, and reserves held.

Automotive OEM Warranty Report: The car manufacturers used to spend a greater share of their sales revenue on warranty work than the truck manufacturers did. But because of persistent cost-cutting, that is no longer the case. Last year, car manufacturers cut their expense rates to below-average levels, while the truck manufacturers were slightly above their long-term average at the end of 2017.

Managing Servicers and Dealers with Data: After, Inc. uses state of the art modeling techniques combined with industry know-how to help manufacturer's navigate the sometimes challenging relationship between manufacturers and TPAs with servicers and dealers. Implementing cost control changes with minimal friction is the goal.

Aviation Warranty Association: Commercial airline warranty managers met in Chicago to discuss issues with plane and parts manufacturers. Also, some tips on home warranty regulations, and links to a guide to how each U.S. state oversees consumer service contract companies operating within its borders.

December 14, 2017

Commercial Service Contracts, Part 1: The importance of extended warranties sold to commercial customers is steadily increasing, as measured by the percentage of revenue they represent for manufacturers, and by the amount of business they represent for insurance companies. And in response, industry leaders have launched a new trade association for commercial service contracts.

December 7, 2017

The 80/20 Rule of Product Warranties: Almost 80% of all the warranty claims and accruals reported by U.S.-based companies come from only 20 companies. Upwards of 500 other manufacturers account for only 20% of the total. But the expenses of the largest warranty providers are also a higher share of their sales revenue.

November 16, 2017

Midyear Computer Industry Warranty Report: Even though numerous industry players have been acquired or have gone private, the remaining manufacturers have continuously cut their warranty expenses from one year to the next. But then along came the iPhone, and now Apple's frequent ups and downs are dominating the industry's statistics.

November 2, 2017

Recreational Vehicle Warranties: If the old saying that no news is good news, then there's plenty of positive tidings coming out of the RV manufacturers. Homes on wheels, which fared much worse than either site-built homes or passenger cars during the last downturn, have nothing to say about the timing of the next one.

October 19, 2017

The A-Team of Extended Warranties: Ten companies, whose names all begin with the letter A, control at least 57% of the $40 billion U.S.-based and consumer-facing service contract industry. Most are administrators and/or underwriters of the protection plans, but a few are electronics manufacturers and/or retailers.

September 21, 2017

Extended Warranty Software: Unlike most other solutions, which are designed to integrate with passenger car dealer management systems or retail point of sale software, the new Mize offering is aimed at manufacturers engaged in the business-to-business sale of commercial service contracts.

September 14, 2017

Construction Equipment Warranties: While most of the top industry players are diverse manufacturers of a wide variety of products, some make little besides construction and mining equipment. And these "pure plays" can provide us with clues about the typical warranty expenses of those manufacturers that don't include any details about their claims and accruals in their financial statements.

August 17, 2017

Worldwide Aircraft Warranty Report: With warranty expenses that exceed a billion dollars annually, the manufacturers of airliners, business jets, and propeller planes are a major sector within the warranty industry. And over the past decade, they have learned how to reduce warranty costs while increasing revenue, as demonstrated by their declining claims and accrual rates.

Worldwide Automotive Warranty Report: With hard numbers in hand for the warranty costs of roughly 80% of the world's car and light truck manufacturers, we set out to create estimates for the remaining 20%. And not surprisingly, we find that the highest warranty costs are in Europe and North America, with the lowest in Asia.

Civilian Aircraft Warranties: The manufacturers of large commercial airliners seem to have lower warranty expense rates than the companies making smaller business jets or regional jets. Is that because their products are built better or is it a function of how most aircraft warranties are provided to customers in sections?

Electronics Warranty Report: Although not as pronounced as in the automotive industry, and not as unseen as in the aerospace industry, there is definitely a gap in the high-tech sector between the warranty expense rates of OEMs and their suppliers. Makers of computers, telecom equipment, and medical devices have much higher warranty costs than disk drive or semiconductor manufacturers.

Automotive Warranty Expense Report: While the individual manufacturers see their claims, accrual, and sales totals change up and down from year to year, some long-term trends are also evident. The carmakers are cutting costs the most and the longest, while the powertrain manufacturers are falling behind other types of suppliers.

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

Global Construction Equipment Warranties: Half the companies report warranty expense rates that range from 1.0% to 2.3%. The other half are either above or below that range, mainly because most of their revenue and therefore most of their warranty costs come from other industries. And though there's been a few anomalies over the past 13 years, most of these manufacturers report steady and consistent warranty expenses.

European Auto Warranty Report: Warranty expense rates are climbing for several manufacturers in Germany, Italy, and France. But Volkswagen has set a new record for warranty costs in the automotive industry as it prepares to clean up the diesel engine mess. Daimler is the only OEM showing any stability in its warranty metrics, let alone cost reduction.

New Warranty Providers: Before warranty management became a major undertaking in recent years, we suspect that even some large manufacturers didn't do a very good job of keeping their warranty expenses stable and steady. They learned on the job, without the benefit of metrics or industry benchmarks. But they did so without any outsiders able to see the numbers, a luxury that new manufacturers don't enjoy.

Appliance & HVAC Warranty Report: HVAC manufacturers have lower warranty costs but are more cautious than other kinds of appliance makers, keeping a much higher ratio between claims and reserves. But neither group has done much to reduce their warranty expenses, though some companies have cut their costs by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Medical & Scientific Equipment Warranty Report: Though product sales are down, warranty expenses are down by more. And while any equipment that uses lasers or X-rays has higher warranty expenses than units that don't, those manufacturers have cut their warranty costs significantly in the past decade.

Computer Industry Warranty Report: Though their warranties are usually shorter than those on cars and trucks, their expense rates are almost as high, as a percent of revenue. And despite their higher-than-average claims and accrual rates, many computer, disk drive, and printer manufacturers prefer to keep their warranty reserve cushions as slender as possible.

Aerospace Warranty Report: Unlike the computer and automotive industries, the aerospace OEMs do not pay a vastly greater share of industry warranty expenses than do their suppliers. However, like their parts and component suppliers, they tend to provide longer warranties and keep larger reserve balances than manufacturers in other industries.

Thirteenth Annual Product Warranty Report: As the latest charts clearly show, American manufacturers are spending less on warranty than they used to. But is it because of better products, less costly repairs, or fewer sales? Now that the 2015 warranty expense data collection is almost complete, it's time to figure out why claims and accruals are declining.

Appliance Protection Plans: When it's all counted together, a huge amount of money is being set aside to pay for product repairs. Manufacturers finance their warranties and consumers can purchase additional protection through either service contracts or home warranties. It all adds up to about $6.77 billion spent last year on protection plans.

January 28, 2016

VW's Emissions Warranty Scandal: Some students cheat on tests. But companies rarely do, because the cost of getting caught is very high. And in the long run, someone usually snitches. So isn't it ironic that a bunch of students caught one of the world's largest manufacturers cheating on a test?

October 1, 2015

International Aircraft Warranties: The bigger the plane, the higher the price, and the lower the warranty expense rate as a percentage of that average selling price. The products of the top seven aircraft manufacturers in the world can basically be ranked in size order, with the largest paying under 0.4% on warranties and the smallest paying 4% or more on warranties.

Electrical Power Equipment Warranty Report: While the warranty expenses of most of these manufacturers are generally low, there hasn't been much of an effort to drive them even lower. However, some companies that are seeing costs increase are still cutting the amount they set aside for the future.

Computer Supplier Warranty Report: Data storage system manufacturers have been steadily reducing their warranty costs for more than a decade. But the cost reductions seem to have slowed down in recent years. Meanwhile, for peripheral manufacturers, warranty expense rates are now almost back to normal, following years of elevated costs.

Computer OEM Warranty Report: As the industry shifts from desktops to laptops to smartphones, warranty expenses rise as the form factor shrinks. And after decades of competition, a few large players with huge warranty operations are left where once there were dozens of manufacturers.

Aerospace Warranty Report: Because a few big manufacturers dominate the industry, their problems or successes with warranty cost control can change the industry averages significantly. But over the long term, the trend is clear: aerospace suppliers have learned how to cut their warranty expenses and keep them low. The OEMs? Not so much.

Top 100 Warranty Providers of 2014: While we can't directly compare one company's warranty expenses to another's, we can compare each company to itself over time, and then compare the magnitude of the changes. What follows is a list of the manufacturers that have raised or lowered their warranty expense rates the most from 2013 to 2014.

Auto Parts Supplier Warranties: Of course the drivetrain component manufacturers pay more in warranty costs than other kinds of automotive parts suppliers. But who knew that the automotive electronics manufacturers pay out almost as much as the drivetrain companies?

December 4, 2014

Truck, Bus & RV Warranties: Most of the manufacturers are finding ways to reduce warranty costs, but some of the recent increases have been spectacularly huge. Still, the OEMs pay out more than their suppliers do, though the gap is narrower than it is in the passenger car industry.

November 20, 2014

Apple's Warranty & AppleCare Programs: It's not the kind of thing the consumer advocates like to report, but one of the world's leading electronics manufacturers and retailers is giving its customers a break, paying more warranty claims, keeping extended warranty prices steady, and giving customers a better value proposition on their product protection plans.

October 30, 2014

Appliance & HVAC Warranties: Expenses are down in early 2014, partially because of lower product sales and partially because of effective cost-cutting programs. But GE is leaving the business and the other top manufacturers are among the best cost-cutters. So expenses are likely to keep falling.

September 18, 2014

Aerospace OEM & Supplier Warranties: Unlike the automotive business, aerospace manufacturers seem to divide warranty expenses equitably between OEMs and suppliers, both as a percentage of their revenue and as a percentage of the total cost.

August 28, 2014

Asian Manufacturers' Warranties: While most consumer electronics products have relatively low warranty expense rates, as a percentage of revenue, computers generate as much warranty cost as passenger cars and major appliances.

August 14, 2014

European Manufacturers' Warranties: While most international manufacturers don't disclose their warranty costs, some of the largest European warranty providers do. And their warranty expense rates aren't tremendously different from those of their American competitors.

Auto Parts Supplier Warranty Report: Turns out it's the large truck and bus manufacturers and their engine, axle and transmission suppliers who haven't done much to reduce their warranty expenses over the past decade. Passenger car makers and suppliers of auto parts besides drivetrain components have done a much better job of cutting costs.

Eleventh Annual Product Warranty Report: While some manufacturers are having trouble with product reliability, others are seeing their warranty expenses rise simply because they're selling more product than ever before. Case in point: the new holder of the title of world's largest warranty provider.

The End of Warranty Cost-Cutting? For ten straight years, manufacturers steadily reduced their warranty expense rates from over 1.8% of their sales revenue to under 1.3%. But in the eleventh year, the declines stopped coming. Could it be that there's no more left to cut? And have manufacturers instead begun to spend more on the customer experience?

New Approaches to Warranty Management: For many years it was all about cost reduction. Now, there's little left to cut. And both manufacturers and retailers are looking for ways to improve the customer experience by launching new types of protection services and new generations of warranty automation systems.

Manufacturer's Warranty Conference: More than anything, the WCM Conference is a place for manufacturers to meet and talk about problems and projects -- to see what everyone else is up to. Beginners learn from experts, and the experts learn from each other.

February 20, 2014

Computer Warranty Report: Traditional laptop and hard drive sales are declining, while smartphone and solid state storage sales soar. However, the change in product mix is raising warranty costs for some manufacturers such as Apple.

January 23, 2014

Large Vehicle Warranty Report: There's only a very narrow gap between the warranty expense rates of large vehicle manufacturers and their suppliers. And while some manufacturers are reducing their warranty costs, many are simply returning to the expense rates they've had for most of the past decade.

January 16, 2014

Automotive Warranty Report: For the first nine months of 2013, claims are up a bit from 2012 levels while accruals are down. More importantly, the percentage of revenue spent on warranty work is down as well. That means manufacturers expect to see lower warranty costs in the future, as they make more reliable vehicles that cost less to repair.

January 9, 2014

Extended Warranty Image Problems, Part 2: More than a debate about terminology, what the industry needs is a spokesman (or woman) who can defend the value and convenience of protection plans. Service is becoming a major issue for both manufacturers and retailers, and letting attacks on the service contract industry go undefended is no longer acceptable.

September 26, 2013

Warranty Cost Reduction: Billions of dollars have been saved in the past decade as American manufacturers find ways to reduce their warranty expenses. Now we're naming names and showing the decline in charts that measure warranty expenses as a percentage of product sales.

Smartphone Warranties: As with luxury cars, we're finding that the smarter the phone and the more advanced its features, the higher the warranty costs. And some of the smartest phones with the biggest market shares are now driving up the warranty costs of their manufacturers.

Mining Equipment Warranties: Most of the larger manufacturers of drilling and digging equipment are in many more industries besides mining. They make everything from medical instruments and food handling equipment to road paving equipment and diesel generators. So it may not be possible to analyze them as a single group.

Medical & Scientific Equipment Warranties: Most of the manufacturers in this industry have low warranty expense rates, except for those whose products use lasers or X-rays. But while their expenses are higher, they've also done the most to reduce warranty costs over the past decade.

Automotive Warranty Report: Automotive manufacturers are cutting their warranty costs to the lowest levels of the decade. Sales are recovering from the depths of the recession but warranty expense rates are remaining low. However, some of the suppliers are paying more as the OEMs get better at seeking reimbursements.

Computer Warranty Report: In terms of streamlining the warranty process so it can be as efficient as possible while making more reliable products, computer manufacturers and their suppliers are doing a great job. But at the same time, they went from spending the least on warranty in 2009 to the most ever in 2012. How can both statements be true?

Tenth Annual Warranty Report,
Totals & Averages: The automotive manufacturers are cutting their warranty expenses while the computer makers are seeing higher costs. But put them together, and they're paying the smallest percentage of their revenue ever for warranty work on their products.

Top 100 Warranty Providers of 2012: While most of the largest manufacturers continued to reduce their warranty costs last year, some saw dramatic increases. Here are the top up and down percentage changes of the year for three warranty metrics: claims, accruals, and reserves.

Warranty Workshops: Three of the four pre-conference workshops at this year's WCM Conference are built around analytics, but none require much math. Instead, they lay out the business case for analytics, and the benefits the software and services can provide. Another workshop promises to show diversified manufacturers how to gain a global view of their warranty operations.

February 21, 2013

Most Improved Warranty Metrics, Part 2: Warranty expense rates have been on a downward trend for most of the past decade. And most of the manufacturers are reducing their claims and accrual rates year after year. Some, however, continue to cut costs faster than their peers.

October 25, 2012

Japanese Electronics Warranties: Four electronics manufacturers that are based in Japan but export their products worldwide show below-average warranty expense rates. Part of the reason is what they make. But could part of the reason also be where they make it?

Medical & Scientific Equipment Warranties: While it's true that systems using lasers or X-rays generate more than their fair share of warranty expense, it's also true that their manufacturers have been among the most successful warranty cost-cutters in recent years.

Top 100 Warranty Providers of 2011: While most of the largest manufacturers continued to reduce their warranty costs last year, some saw dramatic rises. Here are the top percentage increases and decreases of the year for claims, accruals, and reserves.

Warranty Success Stories: Major manufacturers will share their insights and experiences at the WCM Conference next week, detailing the highlights of their warranty journeys and business process improvement efforts. What follows are some previews from the presenters.

Consumer Electronics Warranties: Most of the best-known brands are imports. Most of the domestic brands are made by computer, appliance or telecom companies. Most of the emphasis is on sales of service contracts. So how can we analyze just the product warranty expenses of U.S.-based consumer electronics manufacturers?

January 26, 2012

Truck Warranties: Unlike passenger cars, the truck OEM isn't usually responsible for the vehicle's entire warranty. Instead, many of the suppliers and component manufacturers issue their own warranties, and pay their own claims.

January 19, 2012

Top 100 Warranty Providers: While most manufacturers keep cutting their warranty costs, some report massive spikes in their claims and accrual rates for the year ended in September. Others continue to recover from past spikes, with some of the largest declines of the year.

December 29, 2011

Solar Warranties, Part 3: What happens if my manufacturer goes under? Insurance carriers may have an answer for that question, both as backers for lengthy manufacturers' warranties and as underwriters for extended warranties. Homeowners want peace of mind and so do the investors behind the huge projects.

December 15, 2011

Solar Warranties, Part 2: How the manufacturers of photovoltaic systems themselves explain the risks and metrics behind their product warranties, and how a few are securing warranty insurance to help reduce those risks.

December 8, 2011

International Warranty Costs: What you make matters more than where you make it. As in the U.S., the makers of appliances, computers and telecom gear have significant warranty costs. But for most consumer electronics manufacturers, warranty is not such a significant burden.

WCM Conference, Part Three: The future of the consumer electronics industry was the subject of a panel discussion that brought together retailers, manufacturers, repair service providers, insurance underwriters and extended service contract administrators to talk about everything from OnStar to iPhone.

Aerospace Warranties: Unlike most other industries, aviation product manufacturers didn't see radical changes in their warranty costs during the recession. Yes, there were plenty of ups and downs, but they tended to be tied to new product cycles rather than to the economy.

November 5, 2010

Vehicle Service Contract Administrators: As we conclude our VSC industry tour, we take a look at the financial strength ratings of the underwriters, the end user revenue of the administrators, and the myriad of links they have with each other, with auto dealers, and with the vehicle manufacturers.

September 9, 2010

Retail Auto Parts Warranties: While many of the major auto parts chains are willing to go above and beyond the warranties that manufacturers offer on products such as batteries, most are reluctant to begin selling service contracts. But at least one retail chain has taken that step, and has also begun to offer extended warranties on its own labor services.

Fleet Warranties: Among companies that operate fleets of hundreds or even thousands of vocational vehicles, service contracts are rarely bought. Some ask their manufacturers for longer warranties, but most prefer to fix their trucks and buses themselves. And what they like to outsource isn't so much the repair labor as it is the labor associated with warranty claims submission.

Seventh Annual Warranty Report,
Totals & Averages: Claims are down. But accruals are down by more, and it looks like they're down by more than they should be. Ten charts provide a snapshot of the warranty landscape as manufacturers enter the recovery phase.

Telecom Equipment Warranties: Though industry sales are down in general, a handful of telecommunications, data networking and broadcast equipment manufacturers have managed to reduce their warranty costs and increase their sales at the same time. But as dramatic as some of the recent cost reductions are, the companies rarely mention either the cause of the initial problem or how they solved it.

October 15, 2009

Medical Equipment Warranties: Doctors, hospitals, and laboratory technicians want sturdy and reliable medical systems, and for the most part the manufacturers that supply them have been steady and predictable. But every once in a while, a massive recall or a production glitch causes warranty costs to spike. And it's when the trend line leaves its historical range that we know there's something wrong.

October 8, 2009

Worldwide Auto Warranties, Part One: Why do Japanese automakers and heavy equipment manufacturers seem to have such low warranty costs? Though sales are down since last year, warranty costs remain under control, according to annual reports filed recently by Toyota, Honda, Komatsu and others.

Warranty Service Providers: It's all mixed up. Retailers are selling products under their own brand names and manufacturers are selling their own service contracts. Bankruptcies have exposed how precarious product warranties can be, while insurance has demonstrated how extended warranties can survive even a liquidation. Perhaps it's time for OEMs to think about partnering with administrators and insurance companies?

Early Warranty Data: While only a few dozen of the hundreds of warranty reporting manufacturers have filed their year end 2008 financial reports so far, very few of these early filings reflect the turmoil one would expect, given the gloom of recent headlines. Are these early filers the exceptions? Or are things really not as bad as they seem?

January 29, 2009

Sports Equipment Warranties: Everything from StairMasters to snowmobiles carries product warranties, and cost their manufacturers a significant amount of money for warranty work. But compared to the billions spent by GM, HP and others, it's easy to overlook their corner of the warranty industry.

December 11, 2008

Warranty Software: SigmaQuest debuts a new root cause analysis module that helps manufacturers reduce the scope of product recalls and cut warranty costs. It's also priced by the month and uses a Web interface to reduce the cost, time and effort needed to begin using it.

November 6, 2008

Top 100 Warranty Providers: Compared to a year ago, much has changed in terms of warranty claims, accruals, and reserves. Key ratios suggest that some companies are enjoying vastly reduced repair costs thanks to quality gains. However, for the largest manufacturers, the percentage of sales they spend on warranty hasn't changed much.

September 5, 2008

Top 100 Warranty Providers: Key ratios show how some manufacturers have made fairly radical changes in their warranty finances over the past year. But, like a dog that doesn't bark, what's remarkable is how few of the biggest warranty providers have seen relatively big increases or decreases since March 2007.

Green Warranties, Part Four: Solar cell manufacturers betray their youth and inexperience when it comes to warranty accounting. Very long warranties, new technology and rapidly increasing sales don't make their jobs any easier.

Green Warranties: As the price of traditional fuels soar, the alternatives are becoming more viable. And manufacturers are promoting the growing viability of electric and biofuel-powered vehicles through longer warranties. Government is also getting involved by mandating higher fuel efficiency, new fuel blends, lowered emissions levels, and longer warranties.

Five-Year Warranty Trends, Part Six: The total balance in all U.S. manufacturers' warranty reserve funds first surpassed $40 billion in 2007. The total is up 4.3% since 2006 and is up 16% since 2003. But while balances in some industry sectors are soaring, in others they're actually shrinking from year to year.

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.

Five-Year Warranty Trends, Part Three: Measured in dollars, claims were up by only $400 million last year (+1.4% since 2006) while accruals rose $1.5 billion (+5.5%) since 2006. But Microsoft's Xbox 360 debacle accounted for much of those increases in a year that saw warranty expenses decrease or remain the same for manufacturers in many industries.

Top 100 Warranty Providers: Though total warranty claims were up only slightly in 2007, some manufacturers saw massive changes up or down. While we can't compare companies directly to each other, we can compare each company to itself. And we can measure those rates of change, detecting both improving and deteriorating warranty circumstances.

Automotive Warranties: What once looked like a trend turned out to be a temporary spike. So the gap between the warranty costs of OEMs and their suppliers remains close to 2% wide. But the good news is that warranty expenses are no longer soaring for automotive manufacturers.

January 31, 2008

Top 100 Warranty Providers: While manufacturers' warranty costs shouldn't be compared directly against one another, they can be compared against themselves over time. And when one looks at those with the biggest percentage increases and decreases, one sees the biggest warranty winners and losers of the past year.

January 10, 2008

Warranty Benchmarks: Graphs of all manufacturers' claims and accrual rates don't follow bell curves. They're Pareto distributions, where lots of companies spend small amounts on warranty and a few heavyweights spend a lot.

October 24, 2007

Warranty Definition: Rather than counting what warranty costs a company internally, manufacturers should instead look at what it costs the customer and the brand image externally. Warranty is an opportunity for a company to listen to its customers, and improve the integrity of its brand image.

Extended Warranty Solution: ServiceBench aims new service contract solution at manufacturers, retailers, dealers and distributors of appliances, HVAC, fitness equipment, and other underserved markets. Goodman Manufacturing and Icon Health & Fitness are the first to sign up. Rainmaker Systems to help with telemarketing.

HVAC, Appliance & Building Material Warranties: Since so many manufacturers straddle the plumbing, appliance, and HVAC industries, we're profiling them together. But warranty occurs at very different rates for each product type. And some of the most expensive products from a warranty point of view seem to be small kitchen and personal grooming appliances.

Consumer Electronics Warranties: While most of the brands are imports, there is a short list of American CE manufacturers. But while the Japanese brands have relatively low warranty expenses, the American brands pay claims at rates more like those seen in the computer and automotive businesses.

Product Warranty Claims, 2003-2006: Signs are emerging that suggest a peak in warranty spending by American manufacturers. Is it better management? Shorter warranties? Or could it be nothing more than sales rising faster than costs? With four years of data to examine, there's evidence for each scenario.

Warranty Spending in 2006: With the total over $28 billion and climbing, warranty claims reported last year by US-based manufacturers have never been higher. But while some companies pay out more of their sales in warranty claims, others have cut some key ratios significantly.

Warranty & the Law: Some laws that affect warranties go back decades. Others are just a few months old. At the recent WCM Conference, three lawyers provided some perspective on how they see these laws affecting both manufacturers and extended warranty providers who find themselves in court defending against a breach of warranty lawsuit.

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

Digital Media Warranties: Digital music players and digital cameras, despite prices that sometimes surpass several thousand dollars, are never warranted for more than a year. Some manufacturers will cover labor charges for only the first 90 days, which pushes these units right to the edge of disposability, given the cost of repairs.

August 15, 2006

Automotive Warranties: While GM and Ford spend the most on warranty, other types of vehicle manufacturers pay out a greater share of their total revenue on claims. And while most parts suppliers have relatively low claims rates, those in the aftermarket report some of the highest rates of all.

Top 50 Warranty Providers: While most large manufacturers saw warranty claims rise in 2005, most also saw sales gains that helped relieve the pain. Even GM and Ford saw only modest upticks in the percentage of sales they pay in claims. And some such as Boeing saw claims plummet.

Extended Warranty Advice: An industry expert tells retailers and manufacturers how to get more value from their extended warranty data, possibly helping them to decide what to sell and how to price it based on how much it costs to repair.

Manufacturer's Extended Warranties: Although retailers dominate the business, a handful of manufacturers do very well for themselves in the extended warranty business. Now a major bank's insurance unit wants to help more of them to launch service plan sales efforts.

February 14, 2006

Customer Recovery: While efforts to push warranty costs back onto suppliers have met with limited success, a handful of manufacturers have pushed most if not all of their warranty expenses back onto their customers.

January 24, 2006

Product Warranty Trends: 2005 is shaping up to be a $27 billion year for the warranty industry, though claims still represent only 1.7% of sales. More than a dozen companies have cut their claims rates. Some manufacturers, however, have seen their claims rates soar into the danger zone.

January 10, 2006

Appliance Warranties: As with computers and cars, warranty claims in a range of 2% to 3% are typical for most appliance brand names. But unlike cars or PCs, warranty costs for appliance and HVAC manufacturers appear to be highly seasonal.

November 22, 2005

Automotive Warranties: As seen by its third quarter financial statements, Ford is catching up to GM, both in terms of revenue and warranty spending. Ford has now become only the second American manufacturer to ever pay out $1 billion or more in warranty claims per quarter. Meanwhile, other U.S.-based vehicle manufacturers have their own warranty ups and downs to report.

November 15, 2005

Extended Warranty Income: Though most extended warranties are sold by retailers, a few computer manufacturers continue to make a killing by selling their own service contracts. Extended warranties can account for a significant slice of profits, and sometimes can actually be the difference between profit and loss.

October 25, 2005

Warranty Webinar: Early warning systems allow manufacturers to detect emerging issues before they become major liabilities. In a roundtable discussion, experts suggest the best strategies for implementing these systems, and how to use them to reduce warranty cost, boost product quality, and increase customer satisfaction.

October 4, 2005

Warranty Management Conference: If the WCM show in March drew heavily from Silicon Valley, last week's warranty show in Chicago attracted a mainly Midwestern crowd of manufacturers, who came to hear about the best practices of their peers. What they heard instead was lots about service and quality and other topics at the periphery of warranty.

September 27, 2005

Top 50 Warranty Providers: Manufacturers spent more than $25 billion last year on warranty claims, but sales rose a bit faster, so claims as a percentage of revenue fell slightly. Most of the top 50, however, saw their claims rates fall more.

Warranty Conference,
Part Seven: Warranty fraud is a big problem for both manufacturers and warranty administrators. What's surprising is how deliberate and organized their schemes have become.

Extended Warranty Administrators: While auto and PC manufacturers have the top spots, insurance companies and third party administrators grab the bulk of the pie.

January 19, 2005

Product Warranty Trends: Manufacturers seem to pack their end-of-year reports with as much warranty expense as they can find, creating a kind of step function in the quarterly data.

January 11, 2005

Product Warranty Providers: Gateway holds onto the title of most improved for 2003-2004, but almost three-quarters of the top 50 manufacturers are seeing their warranty claims rates decline year over year.

January 5, 2005

Extended Warranty Profits: For many manufacturers, the sale of extended warranties contributes heavily to net income. But only a handful of companies have made the financial disclosures needed to figure out how important it really is to them.

October 26, 2004

Warranty Promotions: Once an afterthought for both manufacturers and customers, warranty is becoming the simplest way to express the quality of a product. Lengthened warranties, which began as a bid for market share by certain auto importers, are now spreading to computers and home electronics.

September 21, 2004

Warranty Claims & Accruals: While some U.S. manufacturers are still preparing their latest financial statements, most of the largest warranty providers have already announced their second quarter claims and accruals. While some of the top 50 are spending more on warranty than a year ago, most are spending less, and a few are spending a lot less.

August 17, 2004

The Accidental Warranty Software Developer: Manufacturers pressure an electronics testing software vendor to do more to help them avoid warranty costs. As has happened to so many others, they find themselves pulled into an industry they barely noticed was there all along.

Warranty Claims: While some U.S. manufacturers are still preparing their latest financial statements, most of the largest warranty providers have already announced their first quarter claims and accruals. Half of the top 50 are spending more on warranty than a year ago while half are spending less.

Telecom Warranties: While the ups and downs of the heavyweight manufacturers throws off the averages, it appears that TV and radio broadcast equipment generates half as much in warranty claims as newer technologies such as cellular and Internet gear. Are telecom warranty rates related to the maturity of the technology or the age of its manufacturers?

Warranty Reserves: While the average manufacturer spends 1.9% of product revenue on warranty claims and keeps a little over a year's worth of funds in reserve, each industry is different. Computer manufacturers and automakers fund their warranty programs at different levels than telecom or aerospace manufacturers. But in any group, as with any trend, there's always the odd man out.

Warranty by Industry: While automotive warranties continue to account for half of all claims, a diverse mix of other industries makes up the balance, from air conditioning to airplanes. Manufacturers grouped by the types of products they make exhibited distinct personalities during the past year.

Top 50 Warranty Providers: The data is in, and there are four new names on the list of companies with the largest warranty programs. American manufacturers reported more than $23.675 billion in warranty claims during 2003, a rate very close to $2 billion a month.

Business Jet Warranties: Unlike the airlines, the owners of corporate jets expect the white glove treatment from manufacturers. While they'll gladly bring their jets to an authorized service center for warranty work, they'll never try to do their own repairs. And while they expect their planes to be fixed fast, they'll almost never have their own spare parts on hand.

Jetliner Warranties: In the good old days, the airlines and aviation parts manufacturers already swamped by regulatory paperwork had little time for the additional bother of warranty claims. But in an era of falling revenue and rising costs, warranty has suddenly become very important to both operators and their suppliers.

FASB Non-Compliance: While most of the major US-based manufacturers now include the warranty tables mandated by FASB FIN 45, at least one-in-five have chosen non-compliance. What happens to them? FASB says they can be called non-GAAP companies, but the SEC says little about enforcement plans.

December 29, 2003

The Warranty Reserve: Manufacturers apparently allowed their reserve fund balances to shrink by some $2 billion during the third quarter, not only because of a 4% rise in claims but also because of numerous downwards changes of estimate and cuts in accrual rates.

December 22, 2003

Warranty Claims: While hundreds of manufacturers have now filed financial reports detailing their warranty activity during the third quarter, it remains unclear why claims rose by more than five percent. Is it a seasonal fluctuation? Or is it proof that the recession is finally behind us? Here's a down payment on the answer, highlighting trends among the top 50 warranty providers.

December 8, 2003

Responding to the
European Commission's
WEEE & RoHS Directives: Electronics & appliance manufacturers must consider environmental impact beyond the point-of-sale.

November 24, 2003

Don't TREAD On Me: Estimates of the cost of TREAD Act compliance vary all the way from the U.S. government's own $89 million figure up to a $1.7 billion estimate recently published by AMR Research. While small manufacturers continue to count their actual costs, the government continues to insist those costs will be close to zero.

November 3, 2003

Don't TREAD On Me: While the top tier of automotive manufacturers fumes about the burden of TREAD Act compliance, a group of small trailer manufacturers mounted a grassroots effort to gain an exemption for themselves from Congress.

October 27, 2003

The Warranty Reserve Fund: Given the availability of six months of data detailing changes in the warranty reserves of more than 600 U.S. manufacturers, what trends are becoming visible so far?

October 6, 2003

Warranty in the IT Industry: Spending on warranty claims for everything from handheld computers to television transmitters showed a very slight increase during the second quarter, while both claims rates and reserve fund balances were down. Collectively, some 259 IT equipment manufacturers spent almost $2 billion honoring warranty claims during the period.

September 22, 2003

Warranty Services: While most of the service providers in the warranty industry focus exclusively upon the sale and administration of extended service plans, a handful of intrepid companies have outsourced product warranty claims processing for manufacturers in the consumer electronics industry, where repairs can be performed by any of tens of thousands of service centers.

August 11, 2003

Warranty Software: In the automotive market, sooner or later virtually every software package has to interact with warranty data. And why not? Warranty is a $9 billion activity for vehicle manufacturers, with a direct impact on the bottom line. It's also one of the best available measures of a product's quality and reliability, and it could be as useful to the engineers as it already is to the accountants.

Warranty Software: There's no heading in the software catalog for it, yet all manufacturers of warranted products have to use it. At Hewlett-Packard, two companies that don't even call themselves warranty software vendors are helping the company manage its warranty costs with analytical tools that weren't designed with warranty in mind.

Windfall for Warranty Managers: FASB requires U.S. manufacturers to include never-before-seen details on product warranty costs and reserve fund balances.

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