Archived Copies of Warranty Week

December 2002 to Today

Warranty Expenses When Conglomerates Break Up: In early 2020, two diversified companies spun off product lines to become "pure plays" in specific industries. And now, seven quarters later, the warranty expense metrics of the five new companies, which were previously blended together, have diverged in very distinct ways.
December 2, 2021
Worldwide Construction Equipment Warranties: With hard data covering almost three-quarters of the construction machinery sold worldwide, we manufactured an estimate of $2 billion for the entire industry's annual warranty costs. But we also found that sales are falling while warranty expense rates aren't changing much at all.
August 24, 2017
Supplier Recovery: If all the warranty expenses that were caused by suppliers were paid by suppliers, what would the industry split be between them and the OEMs that they supply? And are the OEMs now recovering a quarter of what they could, half of what they could, or three-quarters of what they could?
April 11, 2013
Warranty Reserves vs. Accruals, Part One: With 32 quarters of data, it's becoming easier to see which companies carefully calibrate their warranty budgets and which make it up as they go along. Here are the "scores" for the top three in each of six industries.
June 16, 2011
Warranty Claims & Accrual Rates: Half the industry segments follow seasonal patterns, with claims and accrual rates peaking during the same quarter every year. Four segments are following downward trends while two are on upward slopes. But what's most surprising is how small the fluctuations have been over the past 15 quarters.
January 17, 2007
Warranty Claims by Industry: Over the past ten quarters, warranty claims patterns have remained remarkably consistent in numerous industries. Those closest to consumers in the supply chain seem to experience the highest claims rates.
September 7, 2005
Warranty Claims & Accruals: Ten quarters of data for the top ten U.S.-based warranty providers show just how variable and seasonal claims rates can be for some companies and how consistent they've been for others.
August 23, 2005
Product Warranty Providers: Gateway holds onto the title of most improved for 2003-2004, but almost three-quarters of the top 50 manufacturers are seeing their warranty claims rates decline year over year.
January 5, 2005
Auto Warranties: While the Big Three sold two-thirds of the vehicles purchased in the U.S. in 2003, they settled three-quarters of the warranty claims. On average, Detroit pays twice as much in claims per vehicle as Toyota and Honda. But that's not the only quality gap. Recent research finds striking gaps between perceived and actual quality levels.
January 27, 2004
Warranty in the Air, Sea, and Ground: Compliance with FASB FIN 45 rules concerning product warranty disclosures has spread tremendously in just the first two quarters of 2003, making it possible to find ranges and averages for warranty accrual and claims rates in numerous market segments. In addition to the automotive and IT industry sectors detailed in the past two issues, here are charts for six more market segments.
September 29, 2003