Do Parts & Service Department Gaps Hold Back Warranty Reimbursements? Press Services

Imrpove Your Dealerships Warranty Reimbursements for 2026

West Palm Beach, United States - January 30, 2026 / QB Business Solutions /

Warranty reimbursements are supposed to be one of the safest revenue streams in a dealership. The work gets done. The manufacturer sets the rules. The claim gets paid. Simple enough, right?

In reality, many dealerships are leaving thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands, of dollars on the table every year because of small gaps inside their Parts and Service departments. These gaps don’t always show up as obvious problems. Service advisors continue to write repair tickets, ensuring that customers are still being served and their cars are being fixed, so it’s easy to not notice an issue.

But behind the scenes, warranty money is leaking out slowly and consistently.

QB Business Solutions has worked with dealerships across the country and seen this pattern repeat itself over and over. Stores don’t usually have one massive issue causing warranty losses. Instead, they have a collection of small breakdowns that add up over time.

This article walks through the most common warning signs that Parts and Service department gaps are holding back warranty reimbursements, why those issues happen, and what dealerships can do about them.

Key Takeaways

Warranty reimbursement issues are rarely caused by one major problem. They usually stem from multiple small gaps across Parts and Service that compound over time.
Incomplete or unclear repair orders and technician notes make it harder for claims to meet OEM requirements, leading to reduced payments or rejections.
Poor alignment between Parts and Service can result in part mismatches, documentation errors, and denied claims.
Late submissions and ignored rejected claims are some of the easiest ways dealerships lose warranty money without realizing it.
Without regularly reviewing warranty performance metrics and OEM policy changes, dealerships may fall out of compliance and increase audit risk.
Strengthening warranty processes or outsourcing support can help dealerships get paid accurately, consistently, and with less strain on internal teams.

Warranty Reimbursements Are More Fragile Than Most Dealers Realize

Most dealership leaders assume warranty is under control if claims are being submitted regularly and the money is coming in, but manufacturers don’t pay based on effort. They pay based on accuracy, timing, and compliance.

The truth is that the landscape of warranty service is constantly shifting. OEM policies and labor time allowances evolve, warranty rules change frequently, documentation standards become stricter, and manufacturers conduct aggressive audits.

QB Business Solutions regularly sees dealerships that think their warranty process is “fine” until they dig into the numbers. Once the warranty claims are reviewed closely, patterns start to appear, like the approved amounts don’t match what was submitted, claims are paid short, while others never get submitted at all because they fall through the cracks.

The first sign of trouble usually isn’t a rejected claim. It’s inconsistency.

Warranty Claims Are Paid, But Rarely in Full

One of the most overlooked red flags is when warranty claims are technically approved, but the payment is lower than expected.

This happens more often than dealers think.

Common causes include:

Labor operations not matching OEM standards
Missing sublet documentation
Incorrect causal parts
Labor times exceeding allowed limits
Overlapping operations that aren’t allowed together

Many advisors and warranty administrators are so busy pushing claims through that they don’t take the time to compare submitted amounts to paid amounts. A few dollars lost here and there doesn’t seem like a big deal, but over hundreds or thousands of claims per year, those small shortages add up fast.

QB Business Solutions often helps dealerships identify these trends by reviewing warranty payment reports side by side with repair orders. In many cases, the store had no idea they were being paid short until someone took the time to look.

Service Advisors Aren’t Writing Repair Orders with Warranty in Mind

Service advisors are under pressure. They’re juggling phones, customers, walk-ins, upsells, and CSI. Warranty documentation is rarely top of mind.

But how an RO is written has a direct impact on whether a warranty claim gets paid correctly.

Some warning signs include:

Vague customer complaints
Missing symptom descriptions
No information from the technician, or incomplete notes
Poor cause-and-correction language

Manufacturers expect clear, specific documentation that tells a complete story. When that story is missing or unclear, claims are more likely to be rejected or paid short.

QB Business Solutions frequently sees dealerships where advisors were never properly trained on how their RO writing affects warranty outcomes. They’re not doing anything wrong intentionally, they simply weren’t taught what OEMs look for.

When advisors understand how to write clean, compliant ROs from the start, warranty claims become smoother and more profitable.

Technicians Are Doing the Work, But Not Documenting It Properly

Technicians are another critical piece of the warranty puzzle. Even when the repair is done correctly, missing or incomplete technician notes can sink a claim.

Common issues include:

No diagnostic steps listed
Missing test results
Skipping required measurements or scans
Copy-and-paste notes across multiple ROs

From a technician’s perspective, the job is to fix the car and move on to the next one. From the manufacturer’s perspective, the job is to prove the repair was necessary and performed according to policy.

QB Business Solutions has seen many dealerships where warranty administrators spend hours chasing technicians for missing details. In some cases, they give up and submit weak claims just to get something filed.

That approach almost always leads to chargebacks or reduced payments later.

Parts and Service Are Not Aligned

One of the biggest hidden warranty killers is poor communication between the Parts and Service departments.

Warranty claims live at the intersection of both teams. When they aren’t aligned, problems follow.

Some common disconnects include:

Incorrect or outdated part numbers
Parts billed that don’t match the repair performed
Core charges not documented properly
Superseded parts not updated on the RO

Manufacturers pay close attention to parts usage. If the causal part doesn’t match the failure or if the part billed isn’t required by the labor operation, the claim is at risk.

QB Business Solutions often sees dealerships where Parts and Service are doing their jobs independently, but no one is responsible for making sure everything lines up for warranty purposes.

That gap costs money.

Warranty Claims Are Submitted Late or in Batches

Timing matters in warranty.

Every manufacturer has submission deadlines. Miss them, and the claim may be denied automatically.

Some dealerships wait days or weeks to submit warranty claims. Others batch them at the end of the month. This increases the risk of:

Missing deadlines
Losing paperwork
Forgetting details that were clear at the time of repair

QB Business Solutions encourages a process where warranty claims are reviewed and submitted as close to repair completion as possible. The longer a claim sits, the more likely something goes wrong.

Late submissions are one of the easiest ways to lose warranty money, and they’re completely preventable.

Rejected Claims Are Rarely Appealed

A rejected claim shouldn’t always be the end of the story. Many rejections can be corrected and resubmitted successfully.

The problem is time.

Dealerships are busy. Warranty administrators are stretched thin. When a claim gets rejected, it often goes into a “deal with later” pile that never gets revisited.

QB Business Solutions regularly recovers money for dealerships by auditing old rejected claims and resubmitting them correctly. In many cases, the rejection was due to something simple that could have been fixed with the right documentation.

If rejected claims are being ignored, there’s almost certainly money being left behind.

One Person Is Responsible for All Warranty Tasks

In many dealerships, warranty lives with one person. That person handles submissions, follow-ups, audits, training, appeals, and reporting.

That’s a lot to ask of anyone.

When one person owns the entire warranty process, things tend to break down when:

They go on vacation
They get overwhelmed
They leave the dealership

Warranty works best when it’s treated as a system, not a single role.

No One Is Reviewing Warranty Performance Metrics

Many dealerships track sales numbers daily and CSI constantly, but warranty performance often gets very little attention.

Key metrics that are frequently ignored include:

Average warranty dollars per RO
Percentage of claims paid short
Rejection rates by labor operation
Time from repair completion to submission

Without reviewing these numbers, it’s impossible to know if warranty is performing well or quietly bleeding revenue.

QB Business Solutions helps dealerships build visibility into these metrics so leadership can spot issues early instead of reacting after an audit or chargeback with their dealer analytics and warranty services.

OEM Policy Changes Aren’t Being Actively Monitored

Warranty policies are constantly changing, as manufacturers regularly update documentation requirements, labor times, and often quietly introduce new rules.

If no one is actively reviewing OEM communications and updating internal processes, the dealership falls behind without realizing it.

QB Business Solutions frequently works with dealerships that are following outdated warranty practices simply because no one had time to keep up with changes.

Staying compliant requires ongoing attention, not a one-time setup.

Audits Feel Like a Constant Threat

When warranty processes are weak, audits feel stressful. Dealerships scramble to gather documents, defend claims, and respond to questions.

When warranty processes are strong, audits are much less intimidating.

QB Business Solutions helps dealerships build clean, compliant warranty systems that hold up under audit scrutiny. That peace of mind alone is worth addressing the gaps before they become expensive problems.

The Root Causes of These Persistent Issues

Most of these issues aren’t caused by bad intentions or lazy employees. They’re caused by:

High staff turnover
Increasing OEM complexity
Time pressure in fixed ops
Lack of specialized training

Warranty has become more complex over the years, but many dealerships are still trying to manage it with the same structure they used a decade ago.

That mismatch creates gaps.

How QB Business Solutions Helps Close the Gaps

QB Business Solutions specializes in helping dealerships strengthen their Parts and Service operations by taking warranty and related administrative burdens off internal teams.

By outsourcing warranty administration and fixed ops support, dealerships can:

Improve claim accuracy
Increase reimbursement amounts
Reduce rejections and chargebacks
Free up advisors, techs, and managers to focus on customers

QB Business Solutions doesn’t just submit claims. They review processes, identify breakdowns, and help dealerships build consistency where it’s missing.

Their goal is simple: help dealerships get paid what they’re entitled to without adding stress to already busy teams.

Final Thoughts

Warranty reimbursements shouldn’t feel like a guessing game. When processes are clean and departments are aligned, warranty claims processing becomes predictable, profitable, and manageable.

If a dealership is seeing any of the signs above, it’s likely not a single issue causing the problem. It’s a series of small gaps working together to hold back revenue.

QB Business Solutions believes that once those gaps are identified and addressed, warranty can become a strength instead of a frustration.

And in today’s fixed ops environment, that can make a meaningful difference to the bottom line.

Are you ready to take your dealership to the next level? QB Business Solutions is ready to help. Contact them anytime to get started.