Warranty Program Research Articles

Cost-Effectiveness of Caplacizumab in the Warranty Program in Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura in the USA

Background Immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP) is a rare, life-threatening thrombotic microangiopathy. Caplacizumab is a humanized nanobody that inhibits formation of microthrombi in iTTP by disrupting binding of von Willebrand factor to platelets. It is the only treatment approved in combination with plasma exchange therapy (PEX) and immunosuppression (IS) for the treatment of iTTP. The United Kingdom National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) committee reviewed cost-effectiveness of caplacizumab. The committee concluded that addition of caplacizumab to PEX+IS is cost-effective and recommended that the drug be reimbursed in the UK. The Sanofi Promise Warranty Program ® (SPWP) was introduced in January 2023 in the US. It refunds the full cost of caplacizumab to the hospital when treatment is discontinued due to non-response defined as refractoriness (patient with platelet counts <50 × 10 9/L after 4 days of combined treatment with caplacizumab and PEX+IS; up to 6 doses are refunded), or exacerbation (new drop in platelet count after initial platelet count normalization [>150 × 10 9/L], necessitating re-initiation of PEX after ruling out any causes for the drop in platelet count other than iTTP pathophysiology, up to 12 pre-exacerbation doses are refunded). Objectives To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of adding caplacizumab to PEX+IS from a US perspective within the context of SPWP. Methods The NICE model was adapted to the US setting by replacing UK costs with US costs and discount rates. All clinical assumptions and structure remain unchanged. Clinical inputs were derived from the HERCULES trial (NCT02553317) intent-to-treat population (mean age: 46 years; females: 69%, exacerbation rates: 4.17% during double blind phase and 12.50% in total; refractoriness: 0%). The model consisted of a 3-month decision tree, which captured patient treatment and outcomes over the acute iTTP episode, followed by a long-term Markov model (time horizon: up to 55 years; 3-monthly cycles; Figure 1). An annual discount rate of 3% was applied for both costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). Under the SPWP, the cost of caplacizumab was assumed to be $0 for refractory patients and those who exacerbate early, no discount was applied for patients who experience exacerbations after drug discontinuation, however, clinical outcomes were captured. Results Prior to the SPWP, caplacizumab addition to PEX+IS delivered a gain of 1.75 QALYs (2.96 life-years [LYs]) as compared with PEX+IS alone, at an increased lifetime cost of $256,000. The incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER) was $146,350 per QALY and $86,420 per LY gained ( Table 1). An estimated 4.17% of treated patients qualified for the SPWP. With this outcomes-based program, the ICER improved to $138,480 per QALY and $81,780 per LY gained, respectively ( Table 1). Conclusion Based on these analyses using the UK NICE model adapted with US costs, caplacizumab is cost-effective considering WTP threshold of $150,000 to $200,000 and has improved cost-effectiveness when the warranty program is taken into account. Outcomes based programs can improve the cost effectiveness of a treatment in addition to mitigating concerns of perceived uncertainty of efficacy in treating patients with iTTP in the US.

Use of Customer Satisfaction to Measure Performance of Systems and Contractors: Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) Method

A roofing manufacturer wants to differentiate themselves from other roofing manufacturers based on performance information. However, construction industry has revealed poor performance documentation in the last couple of decades. With no current developed performance measurement model in the industry, two roofing manufacturers approached the research group to implement a warranty program that measures the performance information of their systems and applicators. Moreover, the success of any project in the construction industry heavily relies upon the capability of the contractor(s) executing the project. Low-performing contractors are correlated with increased cost and delayed schedules, resulting in end-user dissatisfaction with the final product. Hence, the identification and differentiation of the high performing contractors from their competitors is also crucial. The purpose of this study is to identify and describe a new model for measuring manufacturer performance and differentiating contractor performance and capability for two roofing manufacturers (Manufacturer 1 and Manufacturer 2) in the roofing industry. The research uses multiple years of project data and customer satisfaction data collected for two roofing manufacturers for over 1,000 roofing contractors. The performance and end-user satisfaction were obtained for over 7,000 manufacturers' projects and each contractor associated with that project for cost, schedule, and quality metrics. The measurement process was successfully able to provide a performance measurement for the manufacturer based on the customer satisfaction and able to identify low performing contractors. This study presents the research method, the developed measurement model, and proposes a performance measurement process that entities in the construction industry can use to measure performance.

Optimal Warranty Policy for Consumer Electronics with Dependent Competing Failure Processes

This study considers warranties for consumer electronics with multiple dependent competing failure processes, including minor, over-degradation and catastrophic failure. Furthermore, the two alternative warranty programs are investigated: (1) a long-range warranty at a fixed lump-sum price and (2) a monthly warranty plan that can be either extended for the next month by continuous purchasing or terminated at the end of the current month. A designed dynamic programming approach is employed to obtain optimal solutions for warranty programs. Moreover, consumers with different attitudes toward risk are taken in consideration, and sensitivity analyses are performed to investigate the effects that the related factors have on profit. Integrating all issues, the study proposes extended warranty programs of lump-sum or monthly payment to different risk attitudes consumers with different attitudes toward risk with consideration of multiple dependent competing failure processes. The results indicate that high repair and replacement costs favor the monthly warranty program for firms. In addition, when there are more risk averse consumers in a market, there will be fewer purchases of a monthly warranty program, and it would thus be more profitable for firms to offer the one year warranty program.

Laboratory Reconstructions of Real-world Bicycle Helmet Impacts.

The best way to prevent severe head injury when cycling is to wear a bike helmet. To reduce the rate of head injury in cycling, knowing the nature of real-world head impacts is crucial. Reverse engineering real-world bike helmet impacts in a laboratory setting is an alternative to measuring head impacts directly. This study aims to quantify bike helmet damage using computed tomography (CT) and reconstruct real-world damage with a custom, oblique test rig to recreate real-world impacts. Damaged helmets were borrowed from a helmet manufacturer who runs a helmet warranty program. Each helmet was CT-scanned and the damage metrics were quantified. Helmets of the same model and size were used for in-lab reconstructions of the damaged helmets where normal velocity, tangential velocity, peak linear acceleration (PLA) and peak rotational velocity (PRV) could be measured. The damage metrics of the in-lab dropped helmets were quantified using the same CT scanning process. For each case, a multiple linear regression (MLR) equation was created to define a relationship between the quantified damage metrics of the in-lab tested helmets and the associated measured impact velocities and kinematics. These equations were used to predict the impact kinematics and velocities from the corresponding real-world damaged helmet based on the damage metrics from the original damaged helmet. Average normal velocity (3.5 m/s), tangential velocity (2.5 m/s), PLA (108.0 g), PRV (15.7 rad/s) were calculated based on a sample of 23 helmets. Within these head impact cases, five notes reported a concussion. The difference between the average PLA and PRV for concussive cases versus other impacts were not significantly different, although the average impact kinematics for the concussive cases (PLA = 111.4 g, PRV = 18.5 rad/s) were slightly higher than the remaining cases (PLA = 107.1 g, PRV = 15.0 rad/s). The concussive cases were not indicative of high magnitude impact kinematics.

Comparative case study research: an international analysis of nine home warranty schemes

PurposeConstruction defects in residential buildings are causing significant impacts both on consumers and the industry. As a consequence, several countries have established new home warranty schemes. However, designing a public policy for domestic building warranties can become a difficult task. In fact, many of these programs in the past have failed, collapsed or gone bankrupt. Therefore, the purpose of the current research is to provide a systematic comparative representation of various active programs internationally.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology relied on a multiple-case study research design. The case selection covered a total of nine jurisdictions with compulsory home warranty programs. Those included Japan, France, United Kingdom, three provinces in Canada (Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta), and three states in Australia (New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland). The study applied a data collection protocol to gather all the evidence in a replicable manner for each individual case. Subsequently, a cross-case analysis was conducted to identify similarities and variations between programs.FindingsThe findings unveiled institutional practices that aimed to resolve, compensate, or rectify defects in residential constructions within these countries. The review mostly suggested that every home warranty program presents certain unique characteristics. At the end, this paper proposed an analytical illustration representing the diversification of components adopted by each jurisdiction.Originality/valueNowadays, there is still not a consensus within the academic community on what is an optimal solution when conceiving a new home warranty program. Hence, the current study aims to fill this knowledge gap by presenting the plurality of methods employed by several countries. This paper seeks to help policy makers and industry leaders to improve their home warranty scheme based on awareness derived from observations and analyses of what has been accomplished elsewhere in the world.

Rebuilding the Distress Thresholds for Pavement Warranty Program in Mississippi

Pavement warranty is an innovative contracting procedure increasingly adopted by state transportation agencies to protect investment in pavement construction and maintenance. In Mississippi, the pavement warranty program was initiated in 2000 and the pavement distress thresholds were set based on the deduct points calculated by conversion equations from distress measurements of unacceptable pavement conditions. The conversion of distress measurements into deduct points using empirically regressed conversion equations has been questioned, however, on the grounds that it actually reduces the accuracy of the objective distress measurements by adding subjective and random errors. Moreover, the validity and applicability of continual use of these conversion equations has become problematic with time, because the equations were empirically developed in the 1990s, reflecting the data, experience, and technologies at that time. This research aims to develop analytically new distress thresholds based on direct measurements of pavement distresses for the pavement warranty program in Mississippi. The bootstrapping method was employed to process the skewed historical distress measurement data into normal distributions. The upper bound of confidence interval or standard deviations of the normalized distress measurement data was determined as an alternative method to rebuild the threshold for each distress type. The confusion matrix was employed to consider a smooth transition of updating the thresholds from the current deduct point based system to a new measurement based system. This study provides a practical procedure for developing a set of measurement based thresholds to renew the pavement warranty program using the available pavement management system data.

New Global Warranty Program by Axalta for Architectural Powder Coatings

New Global Warranty Program by Axalta for Architectural Powder Coatings

The Dreaming-Sharing-Excitement Model of K-Management and K-Entrepreneurship

1960년대 세계에서 가장 가난한 국가의 하나였던 한국이 가장 빠르게 경제적으로 성장한 국가로 세계의 주목을 받고 있다. 지난 60년간 경제성장의 주역이었던 한국 기업들의 경영성과를 어떻게 설명할 것인가? 이것이 본 연구의 배경이다. 한국 기업들은 흔히 스피드경영, 신바람경영, 파괴적 혁신, 창조경영 등을 K-경영의 특징으로 한다. 그러나 이들은 조직구성원들의 행동의 표면적 양상일 뿐이다. 그러면 이러한 양상을 만들어내는 원인변수와 메커니즘들은 무엇일까? 본 연구는 사회심리학적 접근을 통해 한국조직원의 행동을 끌어내는 ‘꿈’과 ‘흥’을 중심으로 K-경영모델을 설계, 제시하고, 이 모델에 근거하여 현대자동차의 글로벌 성장 과정 사례를 분석해 보고자 한다. K-경영모델은 위기 속에서 꿈을 가지고 미래를 향해 지속적으로 도전해가는 정신인 K-Entrepreneurship을 바탕으로 하고 있다. 본 연구의 사례 대상 기업인 현대자동차는 1998년 IMF금융위기이후 경영위기의 상황 속에서 1999년 미국에서의 10-10선언(10만마일 10년 보증 프로그램)을 통해 조직의 역량을 결집한 결과, 2004년 넘어설 수 없는 경쟁자처럼 보였던 도요타의 품질을 극복하고 GT5(Global Top 5)의 목표를 향해 도전하는 과정을 보여주고 있다. 2004년 저가차량만으로 인식되었던 현대자동차의 소나타가 경쟁차종인 캠리, 어코드를 밀어내고 JD 파워의 세그먼트 품질(IQS) 1위를 차지했을 당시 Automotive News(April 28, 2004)는 사람이 개를 물다(Man bites dog)라는 표현으로 현대차의 빠른 품질개선에 대한 놀라움을 표했다. 이후에도 디자인혁명, 전장화 등을 통해 현대자동차는 현재의 상태에 안주하려는 현재의 저주현상을 극복하고 창조성, 시장성, 생산성의 3대 지속성장 요인을 높여가고 있다. 본 연구는 ‘꿈-흥’(DSE)모델을 바탕으로 현대자동차의 창조성, 시장성, 생산성의 변화과정을 종단적으로 보여주면서 기업진화의 과정을 설명하고 있다.BR 이러한 접근은 1980년대 일본기업의 경쟁우위를 공동체주의를 중심으로 분석하는 윌리엄 오우치(William Ouchi)의 Z이론(Theory Z)이나, 카이젠 중심의 도요타 방식 등 일본식경영(Japanese Management) 연구와 비교될 수 있다.

Axalta Develops Warranty Program for its Alesta® Architectural Powder Coatings Line

Axalta Develops Warranty Program for its Alesta® Architectural Powder Coatings Line

Círculos de Calidad como una Estrategia para alcanzar la Calidad en la Universidad

El presente artículo, muestra la metodología de implantación de un programa de garantía de calidad, mediante círculos de calidad en la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. Se destaca los efectos en la estructura organizacional, es la optimización de recursos; en el propio proceso de la atención, en la satisfacción de los clientes-usuarios y es la captación de esta tecnología al ambiente universitario. Conduciendo a la utilización de los círculos de calidad como técnica participativa de control de calidad y como eje de los programas de garantía de calidad de la Facultad

Post Construction Quality Evaluation – A Manufacturer’s Use of the End User to Minimize Risk

A roofing manufacturer is motivated to increase accountability, minimize risk and differentiate themselves from other manufacturers to increase their sales. In order to achieve this, the manufacturer approached the research group to implement a warranty program that measures the performance information of their systems and applicators. The manufacturer submits a list of warranted jobs to the researchers, researchers perform a satisfaction check by calling the end users and report back to the manufacturer. Concepts utilized by the manufacturer include the use of warranty to ensure performance decreases risk, transparency is the best way to mitigate risk and risk can be mitigated before it happens. The research revealed that warranty program minimizes the risk for manufacturer and clients and helps differentiates the manufacturer by identifying end users that are not satisfied, applicators that are low performing, jobs that are leaking, customer retention rate and having a running log of satisfaction rating for every warranted job.

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Mississippi's Pavement Warranty Program

More and more state highway agencies have adopted pavement warranty programs in their project contracting to foster contractor innovation, enhance pavement performance, reduce agency costs, and preserve the investment in pavement construction. The Mississippi Department of Transportation (DOT) initiated its pavement warranty program in 2000. This study evaluated the effectiveness of that program on the basis of the international roughness index and data on rutting, cracking, and other typical surface distresses collected and stored in the database of the agency's pavement management system. The distribution of this pavement performance data at different lengths of service was developed for both warranted and nonwarranted projects to reveal the pavement performance characteristics under the two contracting methods. Pair-wise comparison of the distribution of the pavement performance data at different lengths of service was conducted to investigate pavement deterioration patterns over time for both warranted and nonwarranted pavements. Finally, two-sample t-tests were performed to compare the performance of warranted and nonwarranted pavements at the same length of service. The results of the study showed that the deterioration rate of the warranted pavements was slower than that of the nonwarranted pavements and that the performance of the warranted pavements was superior to that of the nonwarranted pavements at the same length of service. On the basis of the statistical analyses, it could be concluded that the pavement warranty program in Mississippi can effectively improve the pavement performance for the state.

A framework for warranty management in industrial assets

The objective of this paper is to suggest a management framework for a better organization of warranty assistance, using engineering techniques already developed for similar processes and according to a process-based quality management system. Therefore, a generic framework is presented that integrates management methodologies which will be gathered in four sequential steps, where each different technique will play a crucial role.Following this scheme, a supporting framework for the management of a warranty program is defined. This offers a practical vision of the set of activities that each warranty management process consists of and focuses on the relationship between manufacturer and user. By reengineering managerial processes and/or by the application of a correct warranty management system it is possible to have a greater influence on product design and manufacturing, increasing product quality by sharing and boosting the information flow about product defects, their sources and possible solutions.The result of the study is, in short, a classification of different engineering tools, focused mainly on warranty and product management. In addition to this it also demonstrates how aspects of maintenance and manufacturing can be enhanced before finally discussing briefly the proper use of each tool according to the available data or information. All this is illustrated through a comprehensive representation that will help the reader to understand in a practical way, the different information inputs/outputs among the proposed steps.

Practical application of an Analytic Hierarchy Process for the improvement of the warranty management

PurposeThis paper will be focused in one of the stages included in a reference framework proposed for the improvement of the warranty management. Particularly, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a multi‐criteria decision‐making method that will be depicted throughout this document and applied to a particular case study.Design/methodology/approachOnce the warranty program objectives and strategy are defined, the referred stage here considered will be the Criticality Analysis. Those decisions and actions taken from the warranty program will involve the possibility of a certain deviation from business objectives in terms of profit losses, redirection of resources, possible delays etc., or the use of assembly pieces as spares, among others.FindingsThe application is required of a technique which helps systematically to decide which assets should have priority related to the management of the warranty program, in accordance of course with the existing program strategy.Practical implicationsThe paper will show how this method can help and improve the decision‐making related to some aspect of the warranty management, obtaining as a result a criticality matrix, which offers a prioritized view of warranty issues, which allow us to align after sales actions with the business targets.Originality/valueThis paper aims to explore different aspects related to the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which can influence in the management of warranty assistances. In the process of warranty management for a specific product, many decisions and actions appear presenting a great impact on the total cost of the product warranty service. The paper contains an example study where AHP concepts are applied in a simple way in order to provide a practical application view of the theoretical development, useful to after sales managers as a decision‐making tool.

On the Risks and Costs Methodologies Applied for the Improvement of the Warranty Management

This paper deals with the problem of efficiency in warranty management programs, where efficiency is understood as provisioning an effective product warranty service to the lowest cost. For that purpose, this paper first defines the con-cept of warranty and its interaction with other disciplines. It introduces all the necessary stages that should be included within a framework for warranty management. This brief introduction will help the reader to place the work presented in this paper within a context of tools and methods already developed in the literature for similar areas management. Later on, an analysis on risk and cost is presented applying these methodologies to the development of a warranty pro-gram. We show how generic tools developed for project management can now be adapted, in a very useful way, to or-ganize and control the technical assistances to customers during the warranty period. Finally, conclusions of the work are presented, where the main concepts of the paper are summarized and further potential research is suggested.

Patient response to a mandatory single blastocyst transfer policy

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether infertile couples are supportive of a mandatory single blastocyst transfer policy (mSBT). DESIGN: Survey of all infertile patients undergoing embryo transfer at University of Iowa after implementation of a mSBT policy, which requires women 37 and younger to transfer only one good quality blastocyst if available. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients completed an Internet-based survey immediately following their embryo transfer procedure. Couples were approached only once during the study period. Variables used for comparison included age, education level, religion, previous pregnancies and deliveries, past IVF success, duration of infertility, warranty program participation, insurance coverage, personal and societal concerns regarding multiple gestations. Level of support was evaluated both as a dichotomous yes/no and as a continuous response on a 4-point scale ranging from unsupportive to extremely supportive. Subgroup analyses were then performed to assess support specifically among patients who qualified for single blastocyst transfer. χ2, t-test and 1-way ANOVA analyses were done where appropriate to test associations. RESULTS: 216 couples were approached and 210 participated in this survey (response rate = 97.2%). 92% of couples were supportive of mSBT. Preliminary results show that among couples favoring the mSBT policy there is a higher personal and societal concern about multiple gestations (p < 0.0001 and p <0.015, respectively). Support for mSBT was not significantly different in women who qualified for the policy vs. those who did not qualify for the program (p=0.135). CONCLUSIONS: The majority of patients were supportive of our mSBT policy regardless of whether they qualified for this policy. Personal and societal concerns for the increase in multiple gestations were the only variables significantly associated with support for this policy. A single blastocyst transfer policy is an acceptable and effective way to reduce the number of multiple gestations resulting from IVF/ICSI.

Small is Transient: Housebuilding Firms in Ontario, Canada 1978-98

The North American housebuilding industry has been neglected in urban and housing studies. Its firm size structure and instability have long been cause for concern, but have rarely been given more than anecdotal treatment. This paper examines the transience of housebuilders in Ontario from 1978 to 1998. Using a census of builders provided by the Ontario New Home Warranty Program, the industry's firm membership is found to be extremely transient. Most transience comes by way of new firm formation and permanent firm exits from the market, while a small cohort of builders withdraw from and re-enter the market on a regular basis. The business cycle speeds and slows these processes but flux is due primarily to the annual turnover of small builders. To reduce transience, policy makers must decide between slowing entry and perhaps raising industry concentration or allowing continued firm entry and probably transience.

Guidelines for Warranty Contracting for Highway Construction

This paper presents guidelines for implementing the construction warranty contracting method in the highway construction industry. A logical, step-by-step method for effectively applying the warranty contracting program for use in the highway construction industry is developed. Relevant issues that may present obstacles to the implementation are addressed, while the best practices, compiled from an evaluation of the current industry's state-of-the-art practices, will assist an interested state highway agency in creating a warranty specification. In performing this research, the current use of warranty specifications among state highway agencies was examined, and an in-depth case study of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's warranty program was conducted.

Firm Size Structure in North American Housebuilding: Persistent Deconcentration, 1945–98

In this paper I document and analyse the evolving firm size structure of the housebuilding industry in North America since World War 2, and place it in a wider context of industrial organisation. This is done first by synthesising the literature on housebuilding, particularly secondary data, to outline the industry's firm size and market share distributions. Second, the literature is extended with new and original data on the housebuilding industry for the province of Ontario, supplied by the Ontario New Home Warranty Program. The data are a complete annual census of builders in the province from 1978 through 1998. Using standard measures of industrial concentration and firm size classifications common to the housebuilding literature, Ontario is placed in the Canadian and North American contexts, to outline how housebuilding has evolved since World War 2. The main findings are that housebuilding shows no long-term trend toward rising market concentration. Rather, the industry's structure appears to change in cycles, while the largest firms have neither the growth rates nor the longevity to produce high levels of concentration common in other industries. On the basis of these findings, I suggest how insights into the firm size structure of housebuilding may benefit from, and contribute to, our understanding of social systems of production and discuss directions for future research.

Extended Warranties, Adverse Selection, and Aftermarkets

ABSTRACT This article investigates whether the contractual exclusion of third-party extended warranties should be legally permissible, using a model incorporating consumer heterogeneity. The welfare effects of competition in the market for extended warranties are shown to depend on the degree of competition in the product market. In contrast to the approach typically adopted by the courts, the article argues that manufacturers should not generally be permitted to practice requirements contracting in extended warranties, even when the product market is competitive. INTRODUCTION Competition authorities and economists have recently been wrestling with the question of whether manufacturers should have the right to monopolize aftermarkets for their products. An important class of such aftermarkets, characterized by adverse selection, is extended warranties and service contracts. This paper investigates the problem of whether the contractual exclusion of third-party extended warranties should be legally permissible. Consumer heterogeneity sometimes leads manufacturers to offer a menu of warranty contracts, typically implemented as a base warranty and an optional extended warranty. For most products on which a manufacturer offers an extended warranty, it faces competition from third-party service contracts. Some manufacturers, however, make it a condition of supplying a retailer that she carry only the manufacturer's extended warranty. A recent case is typical of the legal dilemma. Ford of Canada announced that as a condition for the use of its financing plan, dealers had to commit to exc lusive sales of Ford's extended warranty program. When the Federal Automobile Dealers Association threatened to take it before the Competition Bureau, Ford withdrew the condition, leaving dealers free to continue selling third-party extended service contracts. Should manufacturers generally have the right to impose such exclusivity conditions on retailers? This article argues that competition in extended warranties has an important effect on the base warranty, and therefore on welfare. In both the United States and Canada, the legality of such requirements contracting is still uncertain, despite the magnitude of the extended warranty and service contract markets. Extended warranties are one of the most commonly purchased forms of insurance and marketed along with most large and many small appliances. Sears alone is reported to have sold over $1 billion worth of extended warranties in 1991 in the United States. Ford recorded profits in excess of $100 million from sales of extended warranties in 1988, despite fierce competition from independent insurers. [1] Around 40 percent of all automobiles and major appliances are sold with some form of extended warranty, typically with a large profit margin. [2] For retailers of products carrying extended warranties, the profits can be significant: Some analysts estimate that around half of operating profits for big consumer electronics chains come from sales of extended warranties. [3] Although extended warranties are a form of insurance, they have quite unique features. Unlike most other forms of insurance, warranty contracts do not usually vary by amount of insurance but by duration instead. The reason for variation in the duration could be heterogeneity in consumer risk aversion or heterogeneity in the consumer's expected intensity of use. I model it as the latter in this article. This suggests that there will be opportunities for third degree price discrimination and the resulting welfare losses that come from distorting contracts for low intensity users to keep high intensity users from buying those contracts. The presence of third party extended warranties complicates the situation and may increase or decrease welfare. What is critical here is that because the warranty contract varies by duration and not by amount of coverage, the standard screening analysis employed in most insurance problems (beginning with Michael Rothschild and Joseph Stiglitz (1976) and Charles Wilson (1977)) doe s not apply directly to the warranty case. …