Archived Copies of Warranty Week

December 2002 to Today

Service Contract Pricing: Ranges: After looking at household appliances that clean clothes, wash dishes, and store food, we round out the major categories with a look at the classic range: a combination of a stove and an oven used to cook food. What do their service contracts cost? Does it vary by brand or product price?
January 26, 2017
Service Contract Pricing: Dishwashers: As we begin our analysis of major appliance protection plans, some of the same patterns that we saw with consumer electronics are popping up. And there is an even greater range of pricing and plan durations.
January 5, 2017
Service Contract Pricing: Electronics: Though the overall average is 17%, there's a wide range of pricing variation based on the duration of coverage and the inclusion of accidental damage coverage. And then there are retailers and administrators that price high because they can. A simple shopping survey of product and protection plan prices reveals the difference.
December 8, 2016
Automotive Supplier Recovery: Factors such as recessions and recalls seem to have as much influence as efforts by OEMs to recover larger reimbursements from their suppliers for warranty expenses. But no matter which factor contributes the most, the ratio between their parts of the total still seems to range between 80% and 90%.
August 25, 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.
July 14, 2016
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
Medical & Scientific Equipment Warranties: Though warranty costs have remained within a tight range for eight years, there's a definite seasonal pattern to the data that's tied into the school calendar. And though these equipment makers typically spend a small percentage of sales on warranty costs, some products have much higher averages.
December 16, 2010
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
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
The Warranty Reserve: With 18 months of data in hand, it's now possible to begin defining a normal range for the size of the warranty reserve fund, expressed as a multiple of the average amount spent per month on claims.
September 14, 2004