Warranties

Owned by Enoch Poston
Last updated: Nov 29, 2017
7 min read

Most new vehicle purchases, if not all, include bumper-to-bumper warranties. In addition, extended warranties can often be purchased to extend the coverage on the power train or transmission. Taking advantage of these warranties can save your fleet hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, but in order to do so you must have a good system for tracking all the warranties. Trying to manually keep track of which vehicles have which warranties is a tedious task that's nearly impossible to keep straight considering the number of vehicles in the fleet, the number of warranties, the various expiration dates, etc.
That's where the Warranty Tracking feature in the RTA Fleet Management Software comes in. This feature is extremely easy to set up and use, and it will save your fleet money! Once a warranty is set up, the RTA system handles the rest-there's no need for you to ever have to research whether a repair is covered under warranty; if it's covered, the RTA system will let you know.
The following types of vehicle warranties can be tracked:

  • Bumper-to-bumper offered by original equipment manufacturers (OEM)
  • Extended warranties offered by OEMs and dealers
  • Service warranties for jobs performed by commercial service shops (e.g., transmissions, brakes, and tires)

The Setup:

  • Review the warranty flag in the VMRS code file (one-time setup).
  • Set up vehicle records for tracking warranties.

The Procedure:

  • Use the Work Order and Paperless Shop modules in the usual manner.
  • Warranty notifications display for repairs covered under warranty.
  • Post warranty credits received from dealers or vendors. Refer to "Posting Work Order Transactions" for instructions.
  • Print the Warranty Activity report.

Tips for Implementing Warranty Tracking

  • Start out by adding warranties for newly purchased vehicles. Then, as time permits, enter warranties for the existing vehicles in your fleet. Before you know it, the warranties will be set for all your vehicles.
  • Use templates when adding warranties for vehicles of the same make and model. This greatly speeds up the process of adding warranties into the system because all the data from the template vehicle is copied to the new record. OR
  • Use the Copy Vehicle Warranty program available in the Utilities 2 add-on package. Contact RTA for more information about this option.
  • A warranty PM can be assigned. This ensures that an inspection is done prior to the warranty expiring. Past due PM's indicate the warranty period is already expired, so warranty PM's "due soon" must be monitored and acted upon.

Checking the VMRS Code Warranty Flag

Bumper-to-bumper warranties cover most repairs but they don't include preventive maintenance or non-repair type of jobs such as new vehicle prep, bodywork, and washes. In order to prevent warranty notifications from appearing when work orders are created for non-warranty work, the Warranty checkbox in the VMRS code must be deselected.

  1. Select Master > VMRS Code > File Maintenance from the RTA main menu (MRM).
  2. Enter a VMRS code for a non-warranty job or press F1 to select a VMRS code from the lookup list.
  3. Deselect the Warranty checkbox.
  4. Save the record.
  5. Repeat steps 2 – 4 for all non-warranty jobs.

This process only has to be completed one time; once all existing VMRS codes have been flagged appropriately, you don't have to redo it each time you add a vehicle warranty. When adding new VMRS codes to the system, be sure to mark the warranty flag appropriately.

Adding a Vehicle Warranty

Vehicle warranties can be added directly in the vehicle record or through the warranty system program; the processes are the same once the vehicle has been selected. To add a vehicle warranty record, do the following:

  1. Select Master > Vehicle > File Maintenance or Master > Vehicle > Warranty System > File Maintenance from the RTA main menu (MVM, MVWM).
  2. Enter a vehicle number or press F1 to select a vehicle from the lookup list.
  3. If you're adding through the vehicle record, select Edit > OEM Warranties from the menu or click on the OEM Warranties icon in the toolbar.
  4. Choose Use Template and specify the template vehicle number or choose Add Warranty to add the warranty record from scratch.
  5. Add the warranty information OR modify the template warranty information as needed.
  6. Save the record.


Warranty Record Field Descriptions

  • VMRS Code: If this is a bumper-to-bumper warranty, choose Add Bumper; the VMRS code field will be filled with 000-000-000, indicating all jobs are covered under warranty (unless flagged otherwise in the VMRS code). If this is not a bumper-to-bumper warranty, enter a VMRS code to identify the specific repair covered under warranty. If a three-digit VMRS code is entered here, any repairs falling under that major VMRS code will be treated as warranty work. For example, if 026-000-000 is entered for the VMRS code, repairs using 026-000-000, 026-001-000, 026002-000, or 026-017-001 are covered. If a six- or nine-digit VMRS code is entered, the VMRS code on the work order line must be an exact match in order to qualify as a warranty repair.
  • Warranted Months: Select a radio button indicating the date tracking type for this warranty. If this warranty is covered for a specific period of time, select Active and then enter the beginning date for this warranty and the number of warranted months. The ending date is automatically calculated. If this warranty is good for the life of the vehicle, select Lifetime. If this warranty is not tracked by date, select Disabled.
  • Warranted Mileage: Select a radio button indicating the mileage tracking type for this warranty. If this warranty is good for the life of the vehicle, select Lifetime. If this warranty isn't tracked by mileage, select Disabled. If this warranty is covered for a specific number of miles, select Active and then enter the beginning mileage and the number of warranted miles for this warranty. If warranty coverage started when the vehicle was new, press F2 to use 0 life miles as the starting mileage. Note that this is different than keying in a 0 meter reading. Pressing the F2 key accounts for odometer changes that may have been processed for this vehicle due to meter rollovers or replacements. The ending units are automatically calculated after the starting mileage has been indicated.
  • Vendor: Enter the vendor facility and number to specify the dealer or vendor providing service for this warranty.
  • Contract Vendor and Manufacturer: You may enter up to 15 characters as needed for each field. These fields are provided for your benefit and are not used by the RTA system.

Changing a Warranty

To change a warranty record, do the following:

  1. Select Master > Vehicle > File Maintenance or Master > Vehicle > Warranty System > File Maintenance from the RTA main menu (MVM, MVWM).
  2. Enter a vehicle number or press F1 to select a vehicle from the lookup list.
  3. If you're changing through the vehicle record, select Edit > OEM Warranties from the menu or click on the Warranties icon in the toolbar.
  4. Highlight the warranty line to change and choose Edit Warranty.
  5. Make the changes as needed.
  6. Save the record.

Creating a Warranty PM

To create a PM for warranty expiration, do the following:

  1. Select Master > Vehicle > File Maintenance or Master > Vehicle > Warranty System > File Maintenance from the RTA main menu (MVM, MVWM).
  2. Enter a vehicle number or press F1 to select a vehicle from the lookup list.
  3. If you're changing through the vehicle record, select Edit > OEM Warranties from the menu or click on the Warranties icon in the toolbar.
  4. Highlight the warranty line to change and choose Edit Warranty.
  5. Choose the Wrnty PM button.
  6. Answer Yes to the prompt to add a new PM.
  7. The one-time PM checkbox, PM interval and due date fields are automatically set up for you.Fill out the remainder of the fields as necessary (PM Code, VMRS code, Description).

Note: You may need to create new VMRS codes for bumper to bumper warranties and major warranty tracking categories such as Transmission or Engine.
Now, you will be alerted via RTA's PM notification features when a warranty is about to expire so that a comprehensive inspection of the vehicle can be performed.

Deleting a Warranty

To delete a warranty record, do the following:

  1. Select Master > Vehicle > File Maintenance or Master > Vehicle > Warranty System > File Maintenance from the RTA main menu (MVM, MVWM).
  2. Enter a vehicle number or press F1 to select a vehicle from the lookup list.
  3. If you're deleting through the vehicle record, select Edit > OEM Warranties from the menu or click on the OEM Warranties icon in the toolbar.
  4. Highlight the warranty line to delete and choose Delete Warranty.
  5. Choose Yes to confirm the deletion.

Warranty Notification

NOTE:This feature is only available through the Work Order module and Paperless Shop add-on option (WW, WB, WP); the Misc WOs option does not check warranty coverage (WM).
After warranty records have been added, the RTA system does the rest. Each time a work order line is added, the system checks to see if a warranty record exists for that vehicle. If so, the length of time, VMRS code, and vehicle mileage are compared to the vehicle warranty. If the warranty is still in effect, a notification message is displayed.

Warranty Reports

Warranty Listing

The Warranty Listing shows the vehicles that have been set up for warranty tracking. This report lists the jobs covered in the warranty or extended warranty and includes the warranty status and information. To generate the Warranty Listing, do the following:

  1. Select Master > Vehicle > Warranty System > List from the RTA main menu (MVWL).
  2. Select a radio button indicating the sort order. Select Vehicle to sort by the vehicle number. Select VMRS to sort by the VMRS code and vehicle number; this sort option is handy when you want to see which vehicles have a particular type of warranty.
  3. Enter the starting and ending vehicle(s) and/or the starting and ending VMRS code(s) or press F1 make a selection from the lookup list.

Warranty Activity Report

The Warranty Activity report lists warranty costs posted to vehicles; it should be printed weekly or monthly to assist in filing and recouping your warranty dollars. All repairs flagged by the system as being covered under warranty are automatically written to the warranty activity file. Jobs that are added and manually flagged as warranty repairs also appear on this report. To generate the Warranty Activity report, do the following:

  1. Select Reports > Warranty > Vehicle Activity Rpt from the RTA main menu (RWV).
  2. Enter the starting and ending facility number(s) to include in the report or press F1 to select the facility number(s) from the lookup list.
  3. Enter the starting and ending date(s) or press F1 to select the date(s) from the calendar.
  4. Select a radio button indicating the sort order. Select Unit VMRS to sort by VMRS code and vehicle. This option is handy when you want to see what type of activity has been occurring for a particular type of warranty-is the extended warranty worth the price?

Select WO Date to sort by the work order date and work order number; this option is handy for checking to see what new warranty items occurred and which warranty reimbursements came in. Another nice feature with this sort option is that a subtotal is provided for each work order, so you can see the actual repair cost at a glance.