Archived Copies of Warranty Week

December 2002 to Today

Service Contract Insurance Stocks: Though there are very few publicly-traded companies that derive most of their revenues from sales of extended warranties, almost a dozen public companies have a significant share of the business. Whether it's from home warranties, auto, electronics or mobile phones, the success of their protection plan sales efforts provide investment opportunities to outsiders.
September 28, 2017
Public Warranty: Of all the companies in the extended warranty business, most are either small units within very large companies, or they're family-owned or privately-held companies. Only one is publicly held, and lately that's been a problem for them.
November 16, 2004
Warranty Measures: Matching warranty claims and accruals to reserves has always been a balancing act. Now it must be done in public, making it harder to conceal raids on the reserve fund or spikes in claims. But it's also easier to see how a company's quality improvements and claims reductions can translate to bottom-line gains by reducing the need for reserves.
May 25, 2004
Don't TREAD On Me: NHTSA has announced that TREAD Act reports will be presumed to be confidential. If, as some expect, NHTSA won't be able to analyze the flood of data it's about to receive, and it won't release that data to the public, what's the benefit of compliance beyond penalty avoidance?
November 10, 2003
The Warranty Reserve Fund: Now that warranty accruals and warranty claims numbers are in the public domain, it's time to look at the differences in warranty reserve fund sizes and the estimates that are used to produce these differences.
July 7, 2003
Don't TREAD On Me: Automakers and consumer advocates argue over public disclosure of early warning report data.
April 14, 2003