Managing risk for auto warranties
International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management
ISSN: 0265-671X
Article publication date: 5 August 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to analyse the existing work of warranty risk management (WaRM); second, to develop a generic WaRM framework; and third, to design a generic taxonomy for warranty hazards from a warranty chain perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
To understand the top warranty hazards, the authors designed a questionnaire, received 40 responses from the warranty decision makers (WDM) in the automotive industry in the UK and then analysed the responses.
Findings
The assembly process capability at suppliers is the top contributor to warranty incidents from the suppliers’ and original equipment manufacturers’ (OEMs’) viewpoints. The human error at different stages of the product lifecycle contributes to the occurrence of warranty incidents. The collaboration among parties, particularly, the accessibility to warranty-related data between parties (i.e. suppliers, OEM and dealers), is limited. Customers’ fraud contributes more to warranty costs than warranty services providers’ fraud. The top contributors to customer dissatisfaction relating to warranty are the warranty service time and service quality.
Research limitations/implications
The questionnaires were used to collect data in the UK, which implies the research outcomes of this paper may only reflect the UK area.
Practical implications
The WaRM framework and taxonomy proposed in this paper provide WDM with a holistic view to identifying the top contributors to warranty incidents. With them, the decision makers will be able to allocate the required fund and efforts more effectively.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature by providing the first work of systematically analysing the top contributors to warranty incidents and costs and by providing a WaRM framework.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The second author would like to acknowledge support from Grant No. ES/L011859/1, from The Business and Local Government Data Research Centre, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council to provide researchers and analysts with secure data services.
Citation
Aljazea, A.M. and Wu, S. (2019), "Managing risk for auto warranties", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 36 No. 7, pp. 1088-1105. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQRM-08-2018-0221
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited