The Dilemma between Quality Reputation and Risk Prevention: Warranty Provisions of Car Manufacturers

Car manufacturers are playing a major role beneath the most promising industries for investors. But the changing environment of political decisions and moving values of customers influence the strategies of the OEMs. The quality strategy of the car brand plays an enormous role. The increasing trend of major recall initiatives of vehicles is part of the daily press and harms the quality reputation of the car makers. But how can the analyst give a statement about the quality performance with the public information provided by the OEMs? One possibility is the evaluation of the provision for warranty which is part of the liabilities in the annual report. This book compares the applicable requirements like laws and reporting standards which have to be followed. It shows calculation methods to make the impact of laws and reporting standards visible. In respect to the estimation of the failure probability statistic methods are explained. Finally the annual reports of the biggest car manufacturers are compared with each other in regards to the available information about warranty provisions and key figures are analyzed.

Daniel Siebert was born in Frankfurt-Main in 1974. After his apprenticeship in Industrial Electronics and first work experiences on the shop floor in the automotive industry he continued his education with studies of Mechatronics. After some years in the supplier quality and purchasing departments of an automotive company he spent three years as an Expatriate in Mexico being in charge for the development of suppliers. After his return to Germany he continued his career in the quality department of an automotive company being responsible for quality audits, process management and quality costs. Due to his intercultural experiences in Mexico and the increasing responsibility for financial figures he decided to study International Management beside the job and graduated as Bachelor of Arts in 2014.