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Warranty System

The warranty system manages manufacturer warranty claims from end to end — from the moment a dealer performs a warranty repair, through review and settlement by the distributor, all the way to reimbursement by the manufacturer. It is the hub that connects the three parties of an authorized distribution network.

flowchart LR
    D["<b>Dealer</b><br/>Performs the warranty<br/>repair and submits a claim"]
    S["<b>Distributor</b><br/>Reviews, certifies, invoices,<br/>and forwards claims"]
    M["<b>Manufacturer</b><br/>Settles claims through<br/>its warranty system"]
    D -->|"submits claim"| S
    S -->|"reimburses dealer"| D
    S -->|"exports claims"| M
    M -->|"Payment Advice"| S
    classDef dealer fill:#fef3c7,color:#78350f,stroke:#f59e0b,stroke-width:2px
    classDef dist fill:#e0e7ff,color:#1e3a8a,stroke:#6366f1,stroke-width:2px
    classDef mfr fill:#ede9fe,color:#4c1d95,stroke:#8b5cf6,stroke-width:2px
    class D dealer
    class S dist
    class M mfr

The system runs two settlement legs back to back: dealer ↔ distributor (the distributor reimburses the dealer for approved repairs) and distributor ↔ manufacturer (the manufacturer reimburses the distributor once the claims are processed on its side).

The parties

  • Customer — the vehicle owner, who receives the warranty repair at no charge.
  • Dealer — the authorized service point that carried out the repair and is owed its cost.
  • Distributor — owns the warranty program, reviews every claim, and settles with both sides.
  • Manufacturer — receives claims through its own warranty system and reimburses the distributor via a Payment Advice.

Not to be confused with Claimable Items

This module covers manufacturer warranty claims — repairs against the vehicle's defect warranty, settled in labor / parts / sublet amounts and ultimately reimbursed by the manufacturer. The separate Claimable Items module covers free and paid services (the standard maintenance bundle, extended warranty, promotions) that the distributor reimburses. The two share vocabulary ("claim", "certificate", "invoice") but are distinct pipelines.

The Claim Lifecycle at a Glance

Every warranty claim travels the same six stages. They map one-to-one onto the two settlement legs above.

flowchart LR
    subgraph LEG1["Dealer ↔ Distributor"]
      direction LR
      S1["<b>1 · Submission</b><br/>Dealer files the claim"]
      S2["<b>2 · Review</b><br/>Distributor accepts / rejects"]
      S3["<b>3 · Certificate</b><br/>Claims certified per dealer"]
      S4["<b>4 · Invoice</b><br/>Certificate is invoiced"]
    end
    subgraph LEG2["Distributor ↔ Manufacturer"]
      direction LR
      S5["<b>5 · Export</b><br/>Upload to manufacturer"]
      S6["<b>6 · Reconcile</b><br/>Payment Advice received"]
    end
    S1 --> S2 --> S3 --> S4 --> S5 --> S6
    classDef dealer fill:#fef3c7,color:#78350f,stroke:#f59e0b
    classDef dist fill:#e0e7ff,color:#1e3a8a,stroke:#6366f1
    classDef mfr fill:#ede9fe,color:#4c1d95,stroke:#8b5cf6
    class S1 dealer
    class S2,S3,S4 dist
    class S5,S6 mfr
# Stage Driven by What happens Claim status after
1 Dealer Claim Submission Dealer Repair captured as a claim (labor, parts, sublet) and submitted Draft → Pending
2 Review by Distributor Distributor Claim accepted, bounced back for correction, or rejected Accepted / Error / Rejected
3 Dealer Certificate Distributor Accepted claims grouped onto a per-dealer certificate Certified
4 Dealer Invoice Distributor The certificate is invoiced for settlement Invoiced
5 Export & Upload to Manufacturer Distributor Claims exported as a manufacturer CSV + invoice Manufacturer status → Exported
6 Reconciliation Distributor The manufacturer's Payment Advice imported and matched Manufacturer status → Paid / Rejected

Two Status Tracks

A claim carries two independent statuses at all times. Keeping them separate is what lets the dealer↔distributor leg settle before the manufacturer has even seen the claim.

flowchart TB
    C(["A Warranty Claim"])
    C --> A["<b>Claim Status</b><br/>The internal dealer ↔ distributor<br/>lifecycle (stages 1–4)"]
    C --> B["<b>Manufacturer Status</b><br/>The manufacturer-side<br/>lifecycle (stages 5–6)"]
    classDef root fill:#4f46e5,color:#fff,stroke:#4338ca,stroke-width:2px
    classDef facet fill:#f1f5f9,color:#0f172a,stroke:#cbd5e1
    class C root
    class A,B facet

Claim Status — the internal lifecycle

stateDiagram-v2
    direction LR
    [*] --> Draft: dealer creates
    Draft --> Pending: Submit to Distributor
    Pending --> Accepted: distributor accepts
    Pending --> Error: distributor returns with error
    Pending --> Rejected: distributor rejects permanently
    Error --> Pending: dealer corrects and resubmits
    Accepted --> Certified: grouped onto a Certificate
    Certified --> Invoiced: Certificate invoiced
    Rejected --> [*]
    Invoiced --> [*]

Only Draft and Error claims are editable by the dealer; once Certified or Invoiced, a claim is locked. (A distributor-created claim skips Draft and starts at Pending.)

Manufacturer Status — the manufacturer lifecycle

stateDiagram-v2
    direction LR
    [*] --> NA: not yet exported
    NA --> Exported: uploaded to manufacturer
    Exported --> Paid: Payment Advice — settled
    Exported --> Rejected: Payment Advice — nothing settled
    Paid --> Exported: settlement reversed
    Rejected --> Exported: settlement reversed
    Paid --> [*]

Defined but currently unused

The manufacturer track also defines Downloaded and On Hold states for completeness with the manufacturer's system, but the current flow never sets them — claims move straight from Exported to Paid or Rejected.

Stage 1 · Dealer Claim Submission

The dealer captures a completed warranty repair as a claim. Saving creates it as a Draft with an auto-generated claim number; Submit to Distributor then advances it to Pending.

Anatomy of a claim

A claim is a header (the vehicle, the defect, the dates) plus three kinds of repeating cost lines. The totals roll up automatically from the lines.

flowchart TB
    H["<b>Claim Header</b><br/>VIN · Warranty Type · Brand · Dates ·<br/>Odometer · Repair Order · Defect (Condition / Cause / Remedy)"]
    H --> L["<b>Labor Lines</b><br/>Operation no. + hours<br/>(one flagged as the main operation)"]
    H --> P["<b>Part Lines</b><br/>Part no. + qty + price<br/>(one flagged as the failed part)"]
    H --> S["<b>Sublet Lines</b><br/>Sublet type + invoice + amount"]
    L --> T["<b>Total Claim Amount</b><br/>Labor + Parts + Sublet"]
    P --> T
    S --> T
    classDef head fill:#e0e7ff,color:#1e3a8a,stroke:#6366f1,stroke-width:2px
    classDef line fill:#fef3c7,color:#78350f,stroke:#f59e0b
    classDef total fill:#dcfce7,color:#14532f,stroke:#16a34a,stroke-width:2px
    class H head
    class L,P,S line
    class T total
  • Labor is valued as hours × labor rate. Hours auto-fill from the flat-rate catalog by operation code and model year.
  • Parts are valued as price × quantity, with prices resolved from the part-lookup service. Parts are further weighted by the parts reimbursement rate (PRR) on the distributor side.
  • Sublet captures outsourced work (paint, towing, electrical, etc.) as flat amounts.

Claim categories

Each claim declares a warranty type — the category the manufacturer settles it under. A typical configuration covers:

Category Covers
Vehicle Warranty The standard defect warranty on the vehicle
Service Parts Warranty Parts replaced during a workshop repair
Counter-Sales Parts Warranty Parts sold over the counter
Accessory Warranty Fitted accessories
Counter-Sales Accessory Warranty Accessories sold over the counter
Campaign Recall / field-action work

The exact set is configurable per distributor. The form adapts to the chosen type — a counter-sales (non-vehicle) type hides the VIN and repair fields, a parts-warranty type captures the previous repair, an accessory type captures the install date and mileage, and a campaign type resolves its campaign code automatically from the labor operations. An orthogonal Operation Type (General, Paint, Noise, Rain, Campaign, Dealer / Distributor Stock Disposal) classifies the nature of the work.

Claim numbering

flowchart LR
    A["Claim saved"] --> B["<b>Claim Number</b><br/>the canonical reference<br/>used everywhere downstream"]
    A --> C["<b>Dealer Claim Number</b><br/>the dealer's own<br/>running sequence"]
    classDef a fill:#e0e7ff,color:#1e3a8a,stroke:#6366f1
    classDef b fill:#dcfce7,color:#14532f,stroke:#16a34a
    class A a
    class B,C b

The Claim Number is generated from the claim year, a per-dealer code, and a running sequence. It is immutable once assigned and is the key used everywhere downstream — on the certificate, in the manufacturer export, and when matching the Payment Advice.

One delivery date per VIN

A vehicle's Delivery Date is treated as a property of the VIN, not the individual claim — all claims for the same VIN must agree on it. Once any claim for the VIN reaches a verified state (Certified, Invoiced, or Manufacturer Paid), the date is locked and propagation can never overwrite it. Editing the date on an unverified claim offers to align its siblings. See the Warranty Dates behavior specs.

Stage 2 · Review by Distributor

The distributor works the queue of Pending claims. Review actions are taken on a selection of claims at once and drive the claim status.

flowchart LR
    P["<b>Pending</b><br/>claim awaiting review"]
    P -->|"Accept"| A["<b>Accepted</b><br/>eligible to be certified"]
    P -->|"Error"| E["<b>Error</b><br/>returned to dealer<br/>with a message, editable again"]
    P -->|"Reject"| R["<b>Rejected</b><br/>permanently closed"]
    E -.->|"corrected and resubmitted"| P
    classDef pend fill:#e0e7ff,color:#1e3a8a,stroke:#6366f1
    classDef ok fill:#dcfce7,color:#14532f,stroke:#16a34a
    classDef warn fill:#fef3c7,color:#78350f,stroke:#f59e0b
    classDef bad fill:#fee2e2,color:#7f1d1d,stroke:#ef4444
    class P pend
    class A ok
    class E warn
    class R bad
  • Accept — the claim is sound and ready to be certified.
  • Error — a correctable problem; the claim is bounced back to the dealer with an error message and becomes editable again for resubmission.
  • Reject — the claim is permanently declined.

While reviewing, the distributor can also adjust the settlement: per-claim labor / parts / sublet adjustment percentages, the distributor's own line amounts (distributor-adjusted hours and purchase prices), the parts reimbursement rate, and the settlement-currency exchange rates used later in the export.

Stage 3 · Dealer Certificate

The distributor groups Accepted claims into a Certificate — the document that certifies a dealer's claims for a billing period and moves them to Certified.

flowchart LR
    subgraph DEALER["One dealer · one period"]
      C1["Accepted claim"]
      C2["Accepted claim"]
      C3["Accepted claim"]
    end
    C1 --> CERT
    C2 --> CERT
    C3 --> CERT
    CERT["<b>Warranty Certificate</b><br/>per-dealer no. + distributor no.<br/>period start → end"]
    CERT --> X["all claims → <b>Certified</b>"]
    classDef acc fill:#dcfce7,color:#14532f,stroke:#16a34a
    classDef cert fill:#e0e7ff,color:#1e3a8a,stroke:#6366f1,stroke-width:2px
    class C1,C2,C3,X acc
    class CERT cert

Grouping rule: every claim on a certificate must belong to the same dealer, and the certificate covers a period (defaulting to the previous calendar month). A certificate carries two numbers: a per-dealer running Certificate Number, and a distributor-wide number that runs per year. Certifying locks the underlying claims; removing the certificate reverts them to Accepted.

Stage 4 · Dealer Invoice

An Invoice is a Certificate that has been given an invoice date. It is the same document — invoicing is the act of stamping an invoice date on an existing certificate, which advances its claims from Certified to Invoiced.

flowchart LR
    A["<b>Certificate</b><br/>no invoice date<br/>claims: Certified"] -->|"set invoice date"| B["<b>Invoice</b><br/>invoice date stamped<br/>claims: Invoiced"]
    B -.->|"delete invoice"| A
    classDef cert fill:#e0e7ff,color:#1e3a8a,stroke:#6366f1
    classDef inv fill:#dcfce7,color:#14532f,stroke:#16a34a,stroke-width:2px
    class A cert
    class B inv
Certificate Invoice
State No invoice date Invoice date set
Meaning Claims certified for the period Claims billed for settlement
Claim status it sets Accepted → Certified Certified → Invoiced
Number Certificate Number + distributor-wide number Reuses the same number
Editable Yes, until invoiced No (system-generated)
Reversible Delete → claims back to Accepted Delete → claims back to Certified

Both documents are per-dealer and per-period, and both can be printed. Their totals (labor, parts, sublet, grand total) are summed from the linked claims in local currency.

Stage 5 · Export & Upload to Manufacturer

To bill the manufacturer, the distributor exports a batch of claims to a CSV in the manufacturer's format and uploads it to the manufacturer's system. The distributor supplies the manufacturer invoice number and the settlement-currency exchange rates (parts reimbursement rate, plus labor / parts / sublet rates) at export time.

flowchart LR
    SEL["Selected claims<br/>(Certified / Invoiced)"] --> GEN["<b>Generate Export CSV</b><br/>+ Manufacturer Invoice"]
    GEN --> CSV[("warranty-claims-<br/>{timestamp}.csv")]
    GEN --> ST["each claim → <b>Exported</b><br/>+ invoice no. stamped"]
    CSV --> CR["Uploaded to the<br/><b>Manufacturer's system</b>"]
    classDef sel fill:#e0e7ff,color:#1e3a8a,stroke:#6366f1
    classDef gen fill:#ede9fe,color:#4c1d95,stroke:#8b5cf6,stroke-width:2px
    classDef out fill:#f1f5f9,color:#0f172a,stroke:#cbd5e1
    classDef ok fill:#dcfce7,color:#14532f,stroke:#16a34a
    class SEL sel
    class GEN gen
    class CSV,CR out
    class ST ok
  • The export produces a wide, fixed-layout flat CSV in the manufacturer's exact column order. Because a single claim can have many lines, it is paginated across CSV rows (a fixed number of labor, sublet, and part slots per row), with the header fields repeated on each page.
  • A few values are translated for the manufacturer: the brand becomes a numeric code, campaign claims are emitted under the vehicle-warranty type, pre-delivery dates emit a sentinel, and amounts are switched to their settlement-currency equivalents.
  • Alongside the CSV, a manufacturer invoice (PDF, in the settlement currency, grouped by invoice number) is produced for the same batch.
  • Each exported claim's manufacturer status becomes Exported. Claims already marked Paid cannot be re-exported.

Stage 6 · Reconciliation

After processing the batch, the manufacturer returns a Payment Advice — a settlement file stating what it paid (or rejected) per claim. The distributor uploads it as a Manufacturer Settlement Sheet, and the system matches each row back to its claim.

flowchart TB
    PA[("Payment Advice<br/>CSV from manufacturer")] --> IMP["<b>Manufacturer Settlement Sheet</b><br/>upload + exchange rate"]
    IMP --> MATCH{"match on<br/>Claim No. + Invoice No."}
    MATCH -->|"amount settled"| PAID["<b>Paid</b><br/>settled labor / parts / sublet<br/>stored, converted to local currency"]
    MATCH -->|"nothing settled"| REJ["<b>Rejected</b><br/>reason code + comment stored"]
    MATCH -->|"no matching claim"| UNK["Unrecognized<br/>(warn and abort, or skip)"]
    classDef src fill:#f1f5f9,color:#0f172a,stroke:#cbd5e1
    classDef imp fill:#ede9fe,color:#4c1d95,stroke:#8b5cf6,stroke-width:2px
    classDef dec fill:#e0e7ff,color:#1e3a8a,stroke:#6366f1
    classDef ok fill:#dcfce7,color:#14532f,stroke:#16a34a
    classDef bad fill:#fee2e2,color:#7f1d1d,stroke:#ef4444
    class PA src
    class IMP imp
    class MATCH dec
    class PAID ok
    class REJ,UNK bad
  • Only rows the manufacturer marks Processed are acted on. Each is matched to a claim on the composite key Claim Number + Invoice Number.
  • A non-zero settled amount marks the claim Paid: the settled labor / parts / sublet amounts (in the settlement currency) are stored and converted to local currency using the sheet's exchange rate. A partial payment is simply a lower settled amount on a Paid claim — there is no separate status for it.
  • A zero settled amount marks the claim Rejected, recording the manufacturer's reason code and comment.
  • Unrecognized claim numbers either abort the whole import with a detailed warning, or are skipped — the operator chooses per upload. A guard also blocks silently overwriting an already-reconciled claim with different amounts.

Reconciliation is reversible

Deleting a settlement sheet un-reconciles its claims: the settled amounts are cleared and the claims revert to Exported, ready to be reconciled again from a corrected Payment Advice.

Status Reference

Claim Status

Value Display Meaning
0 Draft Created but not yet submitted
1 Pending Submitted, awaiting distributor review
2 Accepted Reviewed and accepted; ready to certify
3 Error Returned for correction (editable again)
4 Rejected Permanently rejected
5 Certified Grouped onto a certificate (locked)
6 Invoiced Certificate invoiced for settlement (locked)

Manufacturer Status

Value Display Meaning
0 N/A Not yet exported
1 Exported Uploaded to the manufacturer
2 Downloaded Acknowledged by the manufacturer (reserved, unused)
3 Paid Settled by the manufacturer
4 Rejected Declined by the manufacturer
5 On Hold Pending further review (reserved, unused)