New Flyer Implements Online Warranty System

Jackie Marchman, Quality Assurance/Technical Support Specialist from Capitol Metro in Austin, Texas states, “We have been using iWarranty for eight months now and we are very happy with it. We use it on a daily basis to process claims and report on the status of claims with just a couple clicks of the mouse. Also, at anytime we can generate reports that tell us exactly how much money we have recovered on our claims, which we use for auditing purposes. This program is far better than anything we have tried in the past.”

In addition to delivering benefits to customers, New Flyer has also seen improvements in product reliability analysis.  Scott Halbesma, New Flyer’s Technical Services Manager states, “iWarranty gives New Flyer the ability to have real-time warranty-repair activity that allows us to recognize potential systematic issues more quickly, reduce the number of potential failures, and initiate campaigns faster.”

iWarranty users can manage and track all campaigns in real-time, eliminate paperwork by entering claims directly into the system, improve efficiency by responding with corrective action more quickly, receive payment faster as a result of reduction in processing time, and speed problem discovery with early warnings of possible product issues.

As well, customers have instant access to electronic copies of their warranty information, can run pre-built and custom reports, view a history of past claims, track the status of warranty claims and parts requests on a bus-by-bus basis, and see the date the claims were paid along with the check number.

“I like the system, it is an ideal tool,” said James Cato, Warranty Administrator for Via Metro in San Antonio, Texas. “Before using iWarranty we had to go through a number of steps and people to get our claims processed. Now we are able to bypass them all and enter the claims directly into iWarranty. Our claims get processed a lot quicker.”

King County Department of Transportation in Seattle, Washington was one of New Flyer’s first customers to go online with iWarranty. “iWarranty has provided a great improvement in claims processing with New Flyer and we have had a very positive experience,” said Lynn Matteoni, Vehicle Procurement Administrator. “iWarranty has enabled us to achieve both cost and time savings. Before iWarranty we would have to fill out our claims on a standard paper form, wait for our product support manager to be available to sign the claims, mail the claims to New Flyer, and then wait for New Flyer to process the claims. Now everything is done online in the iWarranty system and we have eliminated two weeks of processing time and saved on paper costs and postage fees. Additionally, processing “coach down” requests in iWarranty has expedited receipt of needed parts.  Retrofit claims are also submitted in iWarranty using a template format which saves an immeasurable amount of time when submitting claims for project work.  As a result, we receive our reimbursements from New Flyer more quickly.”

New Flyer provides a broad range of industry-leading services to its customers including customized maintenance information, service parts, on-site product training services, service support, product safety and compliance advice and engineering support for complicated projects such as overhauls and repower programs. “The investment in the iWarranty system is just another step forward in maintaining New Flyer’s customer service strategy of providing industry-leading support,” stated Hans Peper.

The New Flyer’s Customer Services Group worked closely with the iWarranty supplier, 4CS, to create a solution that was customized to meet both their needs and the needs of its customers.  New Flyer anticipates that all customers will be using this system by the end of 2009.