Archived Copies of Warranty Week

December 2002 to Today

Medical & Scientific Equipment Warranty Report: The amount of warranty expense reported by these manufacturers has never been lower, but their expense rates have been slowly rising for the past few years after more than a decade of cost reductions. Even though it's last year's data, the importance of low failure rates has never been higher.
May 7, 2020
Top 100 Warranty Providers of 2019: Though the very largest manufacturers and warranty providers rarely report massive changes in their warranty metrics from one year to the next, at least a few of the mid-sized companies always seem to report cutting their claims and accrual expenses in half. And 2019 is no exception, with major warranty cost reductions reported by several manufacturers.
April 9, 2020
U.S. Commercial Vehicle Makers: The warranty expense data in their latest financial reports suggest that the top U.S.-based truck, bus, construction equipment, and agricultural vehicle makers are doing just fine, with relatively stable amounts of claims and accruals, after several reported noticeable expense spikes in previous years.
December 19, 2019
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
Home Warranty vs. Homebuilders' Warranties: When it comes to protection plans, consumers spent over $2 billion on home warranties last year while builders spent roughly $1.5 billion on warranty claims. Home warranties are an essential part of a sales transaction in some states, and homebuilder warranties are a major attraction for new home buyers. But most existing homes aren't covered by a protection plan, and the warranty costs for most new homes aren't reported publicly.
January 21, 2016
Early Look at Annual Warranty Data: About half the big companies have now reported their year-end 2014 warranty expense data. And while little has changed for most of them, a few are now getting back to normal after seeing expense rates soar in 2013 and earlier last year.
February 19, 2015
Appliance & HVAC Warranties: With huge amounts of warranty cost-cutting reported by United Technologies and others, the industry trend for expense rates is now firmly downwards. But HVAC and household appliance makers used to spend even less on warranty a decade ago.
May 16, 2013
Handheld Warranty Costs: While RIM's costs rise, Apple's costs fall. And while other smartphone makers have reported high warranty costs, Nokia's are only half as high. Is there something about being small and smart that drives up warranty costs?
June 14, 2012
Appliance & HVAC System Warranties: While they haven't made much progress with warranty cost-cutting, they also haven't seen much increase. And given all the financial problems reported by builders lately, merely staying the same looks good in comparison.
May 17, 2012
Toyota's Warranties & Recalls: For the first time ever, the automaker's worldwide recall costs have exceeded its warranty costs. And that has changed both what Toyota reports and how it gets reported in the company's financial statements.
June 30, 2011
Top 100 Warranty Providers of 2008: Of all the companies spending the most on warranty, none of the largest reported massive percentage changes in 2008, which confirms the stability of their warranty programs. But there were plenty of big changes in claims and accrual rates further down the list, some for the better and some for the worse.
March 13, 2009
Xbox Warranty Costs: For a company that's never reported a warranty expense, Microsoft sure has a problem on its hands, now that it lengthened the Xbox 360 warranty to three years and took a billion-dollar charge to finance those repairs. But outside of the warranty community, does anybody really care?
July 10, 2007
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.
April 3, 2007
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.
March 23, 2004
The Warranty Week 500 Most of the major players in warranty claims management recently reported details about their warranty reserve funds, claims and accruals during the second quarter. Here are the summary results.
September 8, 2003
Home is Where the Warranty Is: Most of the major homebuilders recently reported details about their first quarter warranty spending. Here are the results, organized into segments for site-built homes, motorized recreational vehicles, and prefabricated/manufactured homes.
June 16, 2003
Introducing the Warranty Week 500: Most of the major players in warranty claims management recently reported details about their first quarter spending. Here are the results, organized by industry.
June 9, 2003