Archived Copies of Warranty Week

December 2002 to Today

Worldwide Heavy Equipment Warranty Report: Claims were down a bit in 2021, but accruals rose significantly, as did product revenue. The industry's average claims and accruals rates both fell in relation to total revenue, but the combined warranty reserve fund balances of the 56 companies we're tracking in this industry grew 11% to a record $10.81 billion.
January 12, 2023
Worldwide Heavy Equipment Warranty Report: Claims were up a bit last year but warranty accruals fell significantly, as did product revenue. As a result, the industry's claims rate was also up a bit while the average accrual rate fell. And the combined warranty reserve fund balances of the 52 companies we're tracking in this category grew five percent to a record $9.81 billion.
September 9, 2021
Truck & Heavy Equipment Warranties: As the lockdowns grew, some manufacturers reduced their warranty accruals drastically in the spring of 2020, but claims remained about the same anyhow. Some got it right, but most reduced their accruals by too much, while a few cut accruals even though sales rose.
February 25, 2021
Worldwide Heavy Equipment Warranty Report: Though the warranty expenses of the manufacturers rise and fall with the ebb and flow of construction and mining activity, many of the warranty managers have done a good job keeping expensed proportional to sales. Still, there are a few surprises in the worldwide data we've compiled.
October 1, 2020
Cybersecurity Law: Legal experts say New York-registered service contract providers must take immediate action to comply with the state's new Cybersecurity Regulation before the looming deadline at the end of next month, and before the state's regulators levy heavy fines and penalties to send a message to the industry.
July 13, 2017
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
Heavy Truck Warranties: Six companies have 12 brand names that account for almost all the heavy trucks carrying freight on the highways and motorways of North America and Europe. And while it's not possible to figure out how much warranty costs on a per-truck basis, all six parent companies do disclose their total worldwide warranty expenses.
September 3, 2015
International Heavy Equipment Warranties: Compared to U.S. market leaders, the top Japanese and European makers of mining, construction and farm equipment have generally lower warranty expense rates. But that seems to have more to do with the way they divide their revenue into warranted and non-warranted sources than it does with the actual warranty expenses.
July 23, 2015
Tavant Partners with Salesforce.com: As a platform heavy with sales force automation tools drives deeper into after-sales service and support, it gains a partner with a very deep base of knowledge in warranty management. And Tavant, gains a pathway into cloud computing and software as a service.
June 26, 2014
Farming & Mining Equipment Warranties: Some of the companies whose heavy duty equipment is used to move the earth exhibit an annual pattern closely tied to the growing season. Others have seen the same recessionary rise in claims costs as the passenger car companies. But a few have been able to consistently reduce their warranty expenses across all cycles, both astronomical and economic.
July 28, 2011
Security Equipment Warranties: The systems that scan baggage, cargo and passengers have to detect every single threat, every single time. And while these systems may require a lot of routine maintenance and warranty work to keep up with the heavy usage, they should never fail to do that job flawlessly. Lives literally hang in the balance.
November 11, 2010
Worldwide Auto Warranties, Part One: Why do Japanese automakers and heavy equipment manufacturers seem to have such low warranty costs? Though sales are down since last year, warranty costs remain under control, according to annual reports filed recently by Toyota, Honda, Komatsu and others.
July 2, 2009