Archived Copies of Warranty Week

December 2002 to Today

Warranty in the Biden Administration: A new president from a different party brings with him not only a radically new set of policies, but also a completely new batch of policymakers. Though barely a week old, the new administration has already filled many of those job openings, and has already signaled some of its top priorities.
January 28, 2021
Top Chinese Automaker Warranty Expenses: Claims jumped but accruals fell. Automotive revenue rose but unit sales declined. The warranty metrics of the top Chinese OEMs are puzzling, and the amount of accruals they each set aside per vehicle sold is impossibly low. Something is just not right with these numbers.
August 1, 2019
Semiconductor Warranty Report: Companies that make the tools and equipment used to manufacture semiconductors and printed circuit boards spend more on claims, set aside more accruals, and shell out a larger chunk of their revenue on warranty expenses than do their customers who make the actual devices. But the companies that make the devices keep more warranty reserves on hand than do the companies that supply them with tools and equipment.
May 9, 2019
New Home Warranty Expense Rates: Some industry metrics are at their highest level in more than a decade, and one set a new all-time high. And none of the builders are using the sleight-of-hand accounting tricks they employed before the last recession. So is there any substance to these talks of an imminent industry downturn?
November 29, 2018
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.
July 6, 2017
Power Equipment Warranty Report: While the makers of electrical power generation equipment continue to adopt new storage technologies and new fuel sources such as solar and wind, the gap between the warranty expenses of the old and the new continues to narrow. But the makers of "green" and renewable energy equipment continue to set aside more money, just in case.
May 4, 2017
Service Contract Pricing: TVs: Although the average price of a TV service contract is 17% of the TV's price, there is a tremendous amount of variation. One administrator wants $30 to protect a $400 TV while another wants nearly 2/3rds the price of a high-end Sony set for a service plan.
October 6, 2016
Asian Auto Warranty Report: Honda sees its warranty costs soar because of air bag recalls, forcing it to set aside more money for warranty work than GM and Ford combined. Meanwhile, Toyota, Tata, and Hyundai struggle to maintain steady warranty expense rates for their nameplates.
July 7, 2016
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.
June 30, 2016
Automotive OEM Warranty Report: There were some big declines in warranty costs last year, but it was more a case of getting back to normal after a bad 2014 filled with recalls. Still, the carmakers set a new low for their expense rates, and many of the heavy truck and construction equipment companies also continued to push warranty costs lower.
March 31, 2016
Declining Accruals in Detroit: This news can't wait for summer: Ford and General Motors set aside less in warranty accruals per vehicle sold last year than ever before. Thanks to a well-timed coincidence of rising sales, falling warranty costs, rising reliability, and reduced recalls, the top two passenger car and light truck makers in Detroit are cutting their warranty expenses to just a few hundred dollars per vehicle sold.
February 25, 2016
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
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.
June 25, 2015
Home Appliance & HVAC Warranty Report: There are a few very large companies with operations in multiple industries that make it difficult to examine just the warranty expenses of the major appliance and HVAC companies. But if we set them off on their own, we can calculate industry averages for the expenses of others.
June 4, 2015
Warranty Accruals for New Homes: Sometimes they set aside too much and sometimes they set aside too little. All but a few homebuilders seem to lack any sense of aim when it comes to determining how much to accrue for each new home they sell.
July 24, 2014
Warranty Marksmen, Part 2: In high-tech industries, a few dozen companies have apparently learned how to expertly tune their warranty accrual rates and reserve fund balances, so that there's always enough money set aside to pay claims. Here are the top 20.
December 6, 2012
Warranty Marksmen, Part 1: Given the average duration of a company's product warranties and the predicted repair cost, a company should be able to accurately estimate how much they need to set aside. But some companies are better at it than others.
November 29, 2012
Warranty Estimates, Part 3: Companies in the building trades are supposed to carefully estimate the size of their warranty liabilities. But sometimes, their estimates are too low, and the amount they set aside is too meager to pay all their expected claims.
November 21, 2012
Warranty Estimates, Part 2: Automotive companies are supposed to carefully estimate the size of their warranty liabilities. But sometimes, their estimates are too low, and the amount they set aside is too meager to pay all their expected claims.
November 15, 2012
Warranty Estimates, Part 1: Companies are supposed to carefully estimate the size of their warranty liabilities. But sometimes, their estimates are too low, and the amount they set aside too meager to pay all their claims.
November 8, 2012
Warranty Reserves vs. Accruals, Part Two: A handful of computer, electronics and data networking companies have gotten very good at controlling their warranty funds, both in terms of how much they set aside and how much they keep on hand. Others just take their best guess and hope it all turns out well.
June 23, 2011
Auto OEM Accruals per Vehicle: Measured as a percentage of revenue or as an amount of money set aside per vehicle sold, warranty accruals have declined dramatically for Ford and GM. Some warranty metrics even put Ford slightly ahead of Toyota, though Honda remains the low-cost champ.
July 8, 2010
Additive Product Warranties: They may have found a loophole that allowed them to evade most service contract industry rules, but they couldn't escape the wrath of the customers they swindled, the regulators they duped, or the competitors their antics tarnished. Now a consensus is forming around the idea that everybody should play under the same set of rules.
April 22, 2010
Home Warranty Market Share: While American Home Shield continues to dominate, electrical and water utilities are shaking things up with the growth of their wire and pipe protection services. And despite a continuing multi-year dip in home sales, the home warranty industry set a record this year with $1.5 billion in premiums paid by consumers.
December 22, 2009
RV & New Home Warranties: Sales are declining so claims rates are rising. But a few homebuilders have radically cut the amount they set aside per unit sold, raising suspicions that they're intentionally estimating low. Meanwhile, homes on wheels continue to show higher warranty costs.
June 20, 2008
NEW Acquires ServiceBench: One is a leading service plan administrator and call center operator. The other is a major network hub for warranty professionals. Together they can set the standard for warranty claims processing, customer care, extended warranty administration, service dispatch, and end-of-life recycling.
January 23, 2008
Institute of Warranty Chain Management: The time has come for companies in the warranty industry to write a check to fund the launch of warranty management training and certification services. If the fundraising goes well, individual memberships are set to follow by year's end.
June 26, 2007
Early Warning Standards: Decades ago the AIAG helped set standards for electronic commerce when it developed new data interchange standards. Now it's doing similar work with warranty data communications standards, looking for ways to reduce delays, improve accuracy, and cut warranty claims costs.
March 14, 2006
Warranty Conference,
Part Eight: Behind the numbers used in warranty metrics, there's a lot that's left up to the discretion of each company. This makes comparisons somewhat unreliable without a standard set of definitions detailing what is and what isn't a warranty expense.
April 26, 2005
Extended Warranty Deception: Two companies misuse the power of the Web to set their bait for unsuspecting auto warranty shoppers
February 24, 2003