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3rd Party Extended Warranties | Bettering OEM & Dealer relationships

3rd Party Extended Warranties | Bettering OEM & Dealer relationships

In the construction equipment industry, OEMs and their dealers have long had the type of relationship that needed nurturing to thrive. Quite simply, it’s the nature of the business partnership as one organization builds the construction equipment and the other sells and services it.

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These relationships are getting more complex and challenging to maintain. Economic pressure on customers to get higher output and longer life out of their construction equipment has put a burden on OEMs and dealers for better equipment that’s easier to repair and cheaper to maintain. The result has caused a rift in the OEM/Dealer relationship. The OEM and dealer seem to be battling over a number of issues on a daily basis and instead of being true business partners they seem to be at opposite sides of the table, especially when it comes to repairs and warranties.

division-over-repairs-and-warrantiesExtended Warranties can help ease the battle between the two parties. Extended warranties on construction equipment will take away the finger pointing at each other over who is responsible for the repair and hand that responsibility over to a third party. The third party then would be responsible for the entire claims process.

The third party then would be responsible for the entire warranty process from the quote all the way the approval and denial of the claim.

Its important when researching and deciding which third party provider to use that they have some key features. For starters you will want to make sure that the third party provider has a user friendly state of the art user friendly software system. Most providers have software systems that allow for an OEM and a dealer portal but if you can find a provider that also has a portal for the end consumer it is even more beneficial. This way all three parties, the OEM, dealer and customer, can follow the warranty through the entire process, and not have to be constantly on the phone contacting one another on the status of the warranty.

A customer portal on the extended warranty system also allows for the customer to receive a quote 24/7 on their piece of construction equipment. From there they can either save the quote or purchase the warranty. The construction equipment dealer would then be able to automatically invoice the customer for their extended warranty. This allows for a seamless automated process. Finally the customer would also be able to initiate a claim and upload any pictures and documents that are needed if they had their own portal.

 

warranty-connect-panelAnother important feature to look into when choosing a third party extended warranty provider is their ability to generate adhoc reporting. This would allow OEMs to generate reports based on certain parts or models. There may be one particular part that continues to fail and the system should alerts the OEM of this so they can stay ahead of the problem. Think about how much that would help the OEM and dealer to work together before it becomes a major issue for the customer.

Another point of contention between the construction equipment OEM and dealer is the OEM process and procedure with entering the warranty claim. Some construction equipment dealers have multiple lines and each OEM has a different set of rules on entering a warranty claim which can cause a lot of frustration and confusion. With a third party extended warranty provider you will have one set of processes and procedures so there is no confusion over which machine follows what set of rules.

There are so many benefits to using a third party extended warranty provider than using the OEM extended warranty program. It takes the battle away from the OEM and the dealer and gives it to a third party. This allows the OEM and the construction equipment dealer to focus on building their relationship and making strengthening their brands.

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