Another clause in the contracts that benefits the company as opposed to the consumer is a maintenance clause. You will most definitely find some sort of reference to maintenance requirement in most contracts, but some companies have stronger requirements then others. Do not get me wrong, it is important to keep up with regular maintenance on your vehicle, and everybody should do this regardless of if they have a factory warranty or third party warranty. It is probably safe to say that most people fall behind on their vehicle's regular maintenance or they extend the maintenance intervals.

     Warranty companies include a maintenance clause in the contract which will basically state that the vehicle must be maintained regularly and up to manufacturer specifications or else the contract can be voided. While the companies do need some sort of safety net that prevents them from being liable to repair a car that has been severely neglected, this clause can also be used against the consumer in the event of a hefty claim.

     If you are a customer of a dishonest warranty company and you put in an expensive claim, they may have the ability to deny your claim under the maintenance clause in the contract if you can not prove that the car has been kept up to date. I cannot comment on if and how often something like this occurs, or even how relaxed any specific company is on their practices regarding the relationship between proof of maintenance and paying out a claim. All I am trying to do is inform the consumer that they need to be aware that these loopholes exist. Obviously a large warranty company cannot request and review maintenance records for all the claims they are paying out, which leads me to believe this clause is a safety net against neglected cars more then anything.

     I have reviewed contracts that explicitly state that the customer must keep proof of maintenance and have even seen contracts outline their own intervals for how often this maintenance should be performed. You may ask, what kind of proof do they need? Well, many contracts will call for proof from a commercial repair facility that the maintenance has been performed. Essentially, you would be unable to do your own basic maintenance under the terms of some contracts. I personally have a problem with a clause like this. I do my own oil changes, brake jobs, coolant services, and if I purchased a warranty contract that had these requirements without knowing it, I could be out a lot of money come claim time.

     It is not to say that you would void your contract by not keeping these documents. I am sure that most people do not even know that their contract contains these explicit instructions, and they probably receive payment on claims just fine. A company that consistently denied payment of claims due to undocumented maintenance would not have a very good reputation and not stay in business very long.