Archived Copies of Warranty Week

January 1, 2019 to today

U.S. Consumer Vehicle Makers: The nine-month financial reports suggest that the top U.S.-based passenger car, motorcycle and recreational vehicle makers have seen a slight increase in their warranty costs and a slight decrease in sales, resulting in an upturn in their claims rates. But it's nothing like what happened to them a decade ago, when sales plunged by unprecedented amounts and claims costs didn't.
December 5, 2019
Hornbeam Insurance Targets Small-Scale Deals: After all the recent industry consolidation, just a handful of very large insurance companies dominate the service contract industry. And their retail and manufacturing clients also tend to be large companies, leaving an opening for an insurance underwriter aiming for small-scale deals.
November 21, 2019
Louisville's Warranty Experts: Both GE Appliances and UPS Worldport are located there. Throw in nice weather, a good airport, and a central location, and you have all the ingredients needed to turn it into a major hub for warranty and service contract expertise.
November 14, 2019
Apple & Tesla Warranty Accounting: The third quarter numbers are coming in fast and furious now, and some investors and stock analysts are treating the warranty expense data as a leading indicator of a company's financial health. But there are limits to how quickly some bad numbers can turn into a trend or a scandal.
November 7, 2019
CCHS Changes Name to Cinch Home Services: Cross Country Home Services, a top home warranty provider, has changed its name to highlight its effort to leverage web and mobile technology to improve the customer experience and make its services a cinch to use.
October 31, 2019
Construction Equipment Warranties Worldwide: Unlike the automotive or civil aviation industry, a large chunk of the construction equipment industry worldwide does not report its warranty expenses. Still we did our best to fashion an industry estimate for their warranty expenses, relying on industry sales data to help plug the gaps.
October 24, 2019
Jet Engine Warranty Expense Report: On the one hand, the warranty expenses of the top engine makers are setting record highs. On the other hand, that increase could be caused by the non-aviation product lines of some of these conglomerates. But we might know the answer soon, as some of those product lines are spun off.
October 17, 2019
Worldwide Aviation Warranty Expense Report: Warranty accruals were up last year, but warranty claims continued to fall. It's still too early for the cost of grounding of the 737 Max to show up in the data, but why are Boeing's warranty costs always much larger than Airbus? Meanwhile, Bombardier and Dassault saw significant spikes in their warranty expenses last year, while Gulfstream and Embraer saw slight declines.
October 10, 2019
Midyear Homebuilder Warranty Report: At the midpoint of 2019, the U.S.-based homebuilders are seeing their warranty expenses decline a bit from their late 2018 peaks. It's nothing to worry about, or maybe it is? Last time it happened was late 2006, right before the boom turned to bust.
September 26, 2019
Why Direct Marketing Is Still a Highly Effective Channel for Extended Warranty Marketing Campaigns: Karen Clymer, Group Director of Client Services at After, Inc., explains the concept of "multi-channel marketing" and provides six data-backed reasons why direct mail should be incorporated into an extended warranty marketing campaign.
September 19, 2019
Auto Supplier Warranty Report: The data for the first half of 2019 is not looking so good for the suppliers of automotive parts and systems. Claims hit a new record high and so did warranty reserves. The silver lining in this cloud, however, is that rising sales have reduced the pain and have kept expense rates close to their historical averages.
September 12, 2019
U.S. Auto OEM Warranty Expenses: Now that the second-quarter financial reports are all in, we take a look at the warranty metrics of the U.S.-based industry that manufactures cars, trucks, buses, and all sorts of other vehicles, both large and small. And while the overall totals and averages didn't shift much, some companies saw big changes in their warranty costs.
September 5, 2019
Truck Extended Warranty Sales: New accounting rules require companies to disclose their "service-type warranty" sales. Last year, five of the top U.S.-based truck manufacturers sold more than $1.2 billion worth of extended warranties, a stunning 18% gain over 2017.
August 29, 2019
Worldwide Automotive Warranty Expenses: With reliable warranty expense data in hand from 24 of the world's largest carmakers, we have calculated some worldwide metrics: $46 billion in claims, $50 billion in accruals, $115 billion in reserves, 2.14% average claims rate, 2.53% average accrual rate, and $543 in accruals per unit sold.
August 22, 2019
Top Asian Automaker Warranty Expenses: The recent trend has been upward for the warranty metrics of these Korean and Indian car companies, with some of their expenses setting new record highs. Their warranty costs are far from out of control, but they're no longer low, which is bad for companies known for their lengthy warranties.
August 15, 2019
French Automaker Warranty Expenses: Renault has always kept its warranty expenses low, but three years ago PSA suddenly cut its costs by more than two-thirds. Now they're creeping up again as the makers of Peugeot and Citroen works to integrate the acquisitions of Opel and Vauxhall it made from GM.
August 8, 2019
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
Top Japanese Automaker Warranty Expenses: Toyota and Honda continue to recover from their recall-related spikes in warranty costs. But for Nissan Motor Company Ltd., there's not much change to report. The company's warranty expense rates have remained stubbornly close to one percent for more than a decade.
July 25, 2019
American Auto Warranty Expenses: While General Motors continues to recover from its massive ignition switch recall of 2014, the warranty expenses of Ford are creeping upward. Tesla, meanwhile, is in the strange position of having the lowest claims rate and the highest accrual rate in the U.S.-based portion of this industry.
July 18, 2019
European Auto Warranty Expenses: While Volkswagen continues to recover from a record-setting recent spike in its warranty costs, some of the other top European carmakers have continued to drive down their warranty costs. Six warranty metrics are detailed for four companies over the past 16 years.
July 11, 2019
Warranty Claims Rates by Industry: The collected industry average claims rates for 23 product warranty categories over 16 years are sorted into high, medium and low-cost buckets, revealing a peculiar relationship between where the group is in the supply chain and how high or low their warranty expenses are.
June 27, 2019
Preventing Warranty Fraud: Warranty analytics is the key to detecting and preventing dealer and servicer fraud. This article provides a complete guide to warranty fraud -- what it is, why it's happening, and how in-depth warranty analytics can address it.
June 20, 2019
Homebuilder Warranty Report: All the metrics were up in 2018, and the growth continued into the first quarter of 2019. Claims and accruals are back to pre-recession levels, and warranty reserves hit a new record high. Meanwhile, the level of warranty expenses per new home sold show some curious and sudden spikes for some builders and long-term stability for others.
June 13, 2019
Building Material Warranty Report: As we've seen in recent reports, warranty costs are generally far below their levels of 16 years ago. But in the building trades, depending how we break them into groups, the most recent expense rates of the top manufacturers are the same or slightly higher than they were in 2003.
June 6, 2019
Appliance & HVAC Warranty Report: The HVAC manufacturers have lower warranty expense rates but keep vastly more funds on hand in their warranty reserves. And while the HVAC system makers have seen a recent upturn in their warranty expenses, the appliance makers have seen their lowest expense rates in more than a decade.
May 30, 2019
Medical & Scientific Equipment Warranty Report: Though the systems that use lasers or radiation always seem to have higher warranty costs, most of the medical device and scientific instrument manufacturers have cut their costs considerably over the past 16 years.
May 23, 2019
Telecom Industry Warranty Report: While many of the top equipment manufacturers continue to lose business to, or get acquired by foreign firms, there are still several hundred U.S.-based telecom companies paying claims and maintaining warranty reserves. But there's no denying that the business isn't what it used to be a decade ago.
May 16, 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
Computer Industry Warranty Report: Though the totals and averages are declining, we can't be sure it isn't caused primarily by all the companies going private or getting acquired by non-reporting parents, and thereby dropping from the list of warranty expense report providers.
May 2, 2019
QuickReg Product Registration: QuickReg, the next-generation registration tool from After, Inc., incorporates proprietary cloud-based technology and the latest in artificial intelligence advancements to simplify product registration and deliver significant ROI for manufacturers.
April 25, 2019
Supplier Recovery Estimates: While automotive parts suppliers pay roughly 10% of the industry's warranty expenses now, their "fair share" could be as high as 37%. But there's no way to get them to pay that much, so supplier recovery efforts are stuck in a contentious standoff between the OEMs and their suppliers.
April 18, 2019
Automotive Supplier Warranty Report: For years, powertrain suppliers and other parts suppliers have more or less split the industry's warranty expenses 50/50. But in recent years, the powertrain segment's share has risen fast, thanks to emissions compliance trouble in California for some Cummins diesel engines.
April 11, 2019
Automotive OEM Warranty Report: Depending on the metric you look at, the makers of cars, trucks and other vehicles account for between 40% and 45% of the warranty expenses of all U.S.-based manufacturers. But despite their size, their claims and accrual costs have been relatively stable for the past few years.
April 4, 2019
Aerospace Warranty Report: Claims and accruals continue to fall for the top aerospace OEMs, though the warranty expense rates of aerospace suppliers has been rising for two years now. And the recent acquisition of Rockwell Collins by United Technologies has made the industry's largest warranty provider even bigger.
March 28, 2019
Sixteenth Annual Product Warranty Report: Warranty costs are rising but sales are rising faster, meaning that the percentage of revenue consumed by warranty expenses remains at the low end of a decade-long decline. But can expense rates go even lower, or are we at the bottom now? A look at the totals and averages in 2018.
March 21, 2019
Extended Protection Plans: While warranty data is the starting point, warranty analytics is what drives the business. Warranty analytics can be used to create an intelligent extended protection plan that identifies the types of failures, which customers are most impacted by them, and what the root cause might be. This, in turn, also helps determine the right level of coverage to meet the customer's risk profile.
March 14, 2019
WCM Conference Schedule:  Attendees have some tough choices to make between six different parallel conference tracks. Several continue to repeat the dual themes of warranty fraud detection and the Internet of Things, while many showcase the latest innovations that new technology has to offer to warranty professionals.
March 7, 2019
WCM Opening Keynotes & Closing Panel: For the 15th time, warranty industry professionals are heading to the annual WCM Conference, convening this year in Orlando, Florida. Over the course of three days, industry thought leaders are scheduled to delve deep into topics such as warranty fraud and the Internet of Things.
February 28, 2019
WCM Pre-Conference Workshops:  Warranty professionals heading to Orlando for the 15th annual Warranty Chain Management Conference could arrive a day early to attend any of six different workshops on topics such as fraud detection, claims handling, customer satisfaction, and how to launch or expand a commercial or consumer service contract program.
February 21, 2019
Early Look at Year-End Warranty Data: The Hewlett-Packard family of companies has filed their annual reports, as have a few others such as Deere and Navistar. While companies whose fiscal years end in December are just beginning to publish their warranty expense reports this week, many others with different fiscal years have already released the data.
February 14, 2019
Service Contracts and the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act:  This article, by two expert attorneys, is intended to help readers navigate the subtle boundaries between the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and the service contract laws of the U.S. states, and to help explain the key differences between product warranties, service contracts, and insurance.
February 7, 2019
PCMI Signs AmTrust for Reinsurance Software: As AmTrust looks for ways to boost its core insurance underwriting business, making it easier for clients to see the financial metrics of their reinsurance investments becomes a priority. And PCMI's modular approach to reinsurance reporting software makes it easier for AmTrust to implement.
January 31, 2019
Solar Cell Quality Trends: Demand is rising and prices are falling, yet most manufacturers have managed to increase product quality in recent years. That is, except for the U.S.-based producers, who come in last in a testing lab's new white paper.
January 24, 2019
Warranty Analytics: Three reasons why warranty analytics software solutions fail -- and how to address the gaps that hinder more widespread acceptance of these solutions.
January 17, 2019
The State of Warranty Chain Management: Results of annual survey suggest the global warranty services market appears to be moving toward a more expansive period of growth in 2019.
January 10, 2019
Home Service Technology: How Smart is Your Home? The Top 5 Ways Technology Will Transform the Home Warranty Business
January 3, 2019