Editing Extended warranty (section)

== By region ==

=== Canadian province of Québec ===
Based upon the Québec civil code and the ''Loi sur la protection du consommateur'' every merchant is responsible to uphold the legal guarantee of a product. This legal guarantee protects the consumer from: purposefully hidden malfunctions, defaults that could not be readily identified at the moment of purchase, the guarantee that the item purchased can be used for its stated uses and finally guarantees a reasonable life expectancy based on the price paid. This guarantee survives even when the initial purchaser sells his goods to another person. A merchant cannot ask a consumer to pay any fees or shipping charges in order to be eligible to receive their legal guarantee. The [[Office de la protection du consommateur|office for the protection of consumers]] does not take a particular stance towards extended warranties. However, they recommend that consumers should be vigilant and question themselves whether the warranty really adds anything to the already applicable legal warranty. Finally they point out that the number of consumers who go to court against merchants in order for them to apply the legal warranty is almost proportional to the number of consumers who take legal means against a merchant for failing to respect extended warranties they have sold.<ref>[http://www.opc.gouv.qc.ca/publications/dep_garantie_garantie.asp Office de la protection du consommateur] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070818163424/http://www.opc.gouv.qc.ca/publications/dep_garantie_garantie.asp |date=August 18, 2007 }}</ref>

=== United States ===
In the United States, extended warranties are regulated by many state insurance commissioners as "service contracts." Service contracts can cover automobiles, consumer goods (such as appliances, electronics, lawn equipment, etc...) and homes. The regulatory structure requires licensure or registration of the warranty providers, financial solvency regulation, and service contract consumer disclosures. Service warranty "providers" apply for licensure or registration, and then may sell their products, usually at the point of sale of the product, for example at the car dealership, or at the retail consumer electronics store, but some companies such as [[afterinc.com|After, Inc]], [[SquareTrade]], [[Warranty Direct]] and [[Motoreasy]] also sell directly to consumers. In the United States, a type of extended warranty called vehicle service contracts are typically regulated by the states as insurance.  At one point, California issued a cease and desist letter to several corporations which were selling the insurance illegally in the state; the corporations contended that it was not insurance because the contracts required that certain additives be used.<ref>[http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2010/release082-10.cfm Commissioner Poizner Orders Vehicle Warranty Company to End Illegal Telemarketing, Stop Operating as Unlicensed Insurance Company]. California Department of Insurance.</ref>

The [http://go-scic.com/ Service Contract Industry Council] was founded by [[Fredrick D. Schaufeld]] and Bernie Schermer in 1988 and is a [[trade association]] of members of the industry.

=== United Kingdom ===
The extended warranty market has been subject to several investigations. In 2002 the [[Office of Fair Trading]] decided that self-regulation of the industry had failed and passed the case onto the [[Competition Commission]]. This concluded that the market was not acting in the interests of consumers. The [[Citizens Advice Bureau]] have expressed concerns about extended warranties being mis-sold.<ref>{{cite web|author=Elise Cross |url=http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/pressoffice/press_index/press-050407.htm |title=New protection for consumers taking out extended warranties welcomed - but many offer little value for money says Citizens Advice |publisher=Citizensadvice.org.uk |date=2010-02-24 |access-date=2010-03-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091012141931/http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/pressoffice/press_index/press-050407.htm |archive-date=October 12, 2009 }}</ref> The Office of Fair trading investigated the extended warranty market again and published a [https://web.archive.org/web/20130816214032/http://oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/markets-work/othermarketswork/electrical-goods/#named4 market review] in 2012. They said that the UK market is worth an estimated £1billion<ref>The OFT has completed a [[market study]] of extended warranties which highlighted competition concerns in the £1 billion per year extended warranties market.</ref> a year. Out of this £1billion they estimate 75% of people do not compare prices before buying an extended warranty.