Auto dealer and OEM warranty claims between agents

When a car under warranty comes into a franchised dealer, the dealer fixes it and the manufacturer (OEM) pays. Between those two steps sit a repair order, labour operation codes, part numbers, diagnostic data, sometimes a pre-approval, and a claim the OEM can adjust, reject or audit months later. An agent-to-agent version lets the dealer’s service agent and the OEM’s warranty agent settle coverage, evidence and parts questions while the car is still on the lift.

How it works today

1. The service advisor opens a repair order with the customer’s complaint.
2. A technician diagnoses the cause and the correction, reads diagnostic trouble codes, and notes the labour operations and parts used.
3. The dealer checks coverage and open recalls or campaigns for the vehicle, usually in the OEM’s dealer portal.
4. For expensive or unusual repairs, an OEM’s warranty policy may require technical assistance or prior approval before work starts.
5. The dealer submits the claim from its dealer management system or the OEM portal. The OEM pays, adjusts, or rejects it, and may audit and charge it back later.

STAR, the nonprofit standards body for automotive retail whose members include dealers, manufacturers and system providers, publishes XML Business Object Documents (BODs) for these exchanges. Its Service Processing Advisory BOD carries the OEM’s advisory to a dealer on the status of a submitted warranty claim; the Service Advisory Receipt Acknowledgment BOD confirms receipt of the request for payment; the Repair Order BOD covers the repair order process between dealer and OEM.

State franchise laws govern the money. Florida’s statute 320.696 is one example: the manufacturer must pay warranty claims within 30 days, reimburse parts and labour at rates derived from the dealer’s retail work if the parties cannot agree, audit a dealer no more than once a year, and apply the same claim-processing policies to all its dealers. Other states have their own versions.

Right to repair sits beside all of this:

• Under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, a warrantor may not make a warranty conditional on using a branded part or service, unless it is provided free under the warranty or the FTC grants a waiver (15 U.S.C. 2302(c)).
• In Massachusetts, chapter 93K gives owners of model year 2022 or later vehicles with telematics the right to access the vehicle’s mechanical data through a mobile app, and to let an independent shop or dealer access it for diagnosis, maintenance and repair. The Attorney General announced in February 2025 that a federal court had dismissed the automakers’ lawsuit against the law.
• The federal REPAIR Act (H.R. 1566) was forwarded by a House subcommittee to the full committee in February 2026 and has not passed.
• In Canada, CASIS is a voluntary agreement from 2009 under which manufacturers share service and repair information with the aftermarket at a level equivalent to their dealers. Bills C-244 and C-294, both given royal assent on 7 November 2024, amended the Copyright Act for diagnosis, maintenance and repair and for interoperability.

The agent-to-agent version

Illustrative. A dealer’s service agent asks the OEM’s warranty agent to pre-approve a transmission repair:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 3,
  "method": "SendMessage",
  "params": {
    "message": {
      "messageId": "msg-ro-55812-1",
      "role": "ROLE_USER",
      "parts": [
        { "text": "Pre-approval request: harsh 2-3 upshift, valve body replacement proposed." },
        {
          "data": {
            "dealerCode": "D-40417",
            "repairOrder": "RO-55812",
            "vin": "EXAMPLE0000000001",
            "odometerKm": 48210,
            "complaint": "Harsh 2-3 upshift when warm",
            "cause": "Shift solenoid C sticking; code P0761 stored",
            "proposedCorrection": "Replace valve body assembly",
            "labourOps": ["TR-4410"],
            "parts": [{ "partNumber": "EX-24251-VB", "quantity": 1 }]
          },
          "mediaType": "application/json"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Then:

1. The OEM agent confirms the VIN is within powertrain coverage and finds a published service campaign for a software update that addresses this symptom.
2. It moves the task to TASK_STATE_INPUT_REQUIRED: flash the update first and report whether the fault returns.
3. The dealer agent reports the result after the road test. The fault persists.
4. The OEM agent approves the valve body up to a stated amount, checks parts availability, and returns an approval number and a delivery date for the part as artifacts.
5. When the claim is submitted, it references the approval number, and the OEM’s STAR advisory confirms the claim status as it does today.

What has to be true

Identity. The OEM must know the calling agent belongs to a franchised dealer in good standing, identified by its dealer code, and not an independent shop or an impostor seeking free parts. The dealer must know it is talking to the OEM’s real warranty system.

Authority. Each side’s agent needs limits. The dealer’s agent may request pre-approval and submit claims; it should not accept an adjusted payment below what state law requires without a person. The OEM’s agent may approve up to an amount set by its warranty policy; larger or unusual repairs go to field staff. Customer consent matters when telematics or diagnostic data about a specific owner is shared.

Record. Claims can be audited and charged back after payment, and state laws limit how audits work. Both sides need the diagnostic evidence, the approval and its conditions, and the claim, linked by repair order and approval number. A record that neither side can alter shortens the argument during an audit.

Standards involved: STAR BODs, the dealer management system and OEM warranty system interfaces, state franchise statutes such as Florida 320.696, Magnuson-Moss, and A2A for the exchange.

Where Emissar fits

• Verify (in development) checks that a calling agent belongs to the dealer it names.
• Mandate (spec in progress) is a proposal for the approval limits each side’s agent works within.
• Ledger (spec in progress) keeps a signed record of evidence, approvals and conditions for later audits.
• Handoff (in development) routes repairs above the limit to field staff with the full exchange attached.

Settle does not apply: warranty reimbursement runs through the OEM’s dealer accounts.

Open questions

• Would OEMs expose a warranty agent to dealers only, or also a repair-information agent to independent shops, as right-to-repair rules push toward?
• How do STAR BODs and A2A tasks divide the work: BODs as the payload, A2A as the conversation?
• Photos and diagnostic logs are evidence. How are they protected against editing between capture and audit?
• State franchise laws differ. Should an OEM agent’s behaviour vary by the dealer’s state?
• How is a vehicle owner’s consent recorded when their telematics data is part of a claim?