Improvements Needed in the Administration of the Army's Million-Mile Warranty on Trucks in Europe

In 1972, the Army purchased from International Harvester Company 656 commercial-type truck tractors with a "l0-year or million-mile" warranty on selected components. The warranty covers both parts and labor and specifies that the contractor will provide replacement parts within 15 days after warranty determination. If such parts are not provided, the Army can procure the parts from other sources and obtain reimbursement from International Harvester.

A review of the million-mile warranty by the Army Audit Agency in April 1975 reported many problems with the program. Two years later, the Army was still experiencing many of the same problems, including an average time lapse of about 228 days to receive replacement parts on approved warranty claims and the resolution of almost every disputed warranty claim in favor of the contractor. The U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Material Readiness Command agreed that it has been experiencing difficulties with the administration of this warranty and that the major problem has been the length of time International Harvester takes to replace warranted parts. The Command has recently taken several actions to improve warranty enforcement, support timeliness, and assure coordination with Army units in Europe. The replacement time has also been reduced from 228 to 90 days. It is extremely important that the Army develop procedures to obtain satisfactory service under such warranties because the Army's future plans may require buying large numbers of commercial trucks; these trucks will be covered by similar extended warranties, and it is likely that some of these trucks will be operated outside the United States.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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