warranty-vault

Warranty Vault

Overview

Your dishwasher dies 20 months after purchase. Does anyone cover it? The manufacturer warranty was 12 months — gone. But: the retailer's extended plan you vaguely remember… the credit card's extended warranty perk you forgot existed… and if you're in the UK, the Consumer Rights Act presumption that a fault within 6 years was inherent. Most people recover exactly none of this money, not because they weren't covered but because they couldn't marshal the facts: purchase date, price, where the receipt is, what the terms said.

Warranty Vault is the filing system you needed: a JSON vault of purchases with warranty terms, receipt locations, and registration status; a coverage engine that layers manufacturer warranty + extended plan + card perk + statutory rights and tells you what covers a broken item today; expiry alerts so you schedule the repair you've been tolerating before coverage lapses; and a claim letter generator with the documentation checklist per jurisdiction.

When to Use

• Something broke → covered — what layer applies, what evidence you need, next steps
• Just bought something → add it while the receipt is still in the bag (30 seconds)
• Quarterly → report / expiring — audit coverage, catch unregistered products, see lapses
• Filing a claim → claim — generates the letter with statutory citations
• Selling used gear → remaining coverage is a selling point; covered quantifies it
• Moving / insurance review → report doubles as a priced possession inventory
• Don't use for: insurance claims (different animal — see home-inventory skill), service contracts you pay monthly (subscription-slayer territory), or legal advice — this is organized knowledge, not a lawyer.

Coverage Layers (the order that matters)

1. manufacturer warranty      — free, from purchase, typical 1–5 yr
2. statutory rights           — jurisdiction-dependent, FREE, from purchase:
     UK: Consumer Rights Act 2015 — 6 years to claim (England/Wales/NI; 5 Scotland);
         fault within 6 months presumed inherent (reversed burden), so ≤6mo = retailer
         refund/replace almost automatically
     EU: 2-year legal guarantee (Directive 1999/44/EC + national law); 12-month
         presumption of non-conformity
     US: no federal repair right; UCC implied warranty of merchantability
         (duration varies by state, often 4 yr UCC statute of limitations);
         "full warranty" terms under Magnuson-Moss bind the maker
3. extended plan (retailer/3rd party) — terms + deductible + claims phone
4. credit card perk           — extends manufacturer warranty (US: Visa Infinite
     +2yr on 3yr-or-less warranties, many World Elite Mastercards +1yr, Amex up to +1
     year matched up to $10k); ALSO purchase protection (90–120 days, theft/damage)
     and return protection (90 days). Requires the card you paid with.

The covered command evaluates layers in this order and prints what's live, what's expired, and what evidence each needs. Default lengths, caps, and exclusions are editable defaults — your plan's T&Cs override; the vault stores per-purchase terms exactly for this.

Commands

# Record a purchase (do this the day you buy)
python3 scripts/warranty_vault.py add --id dishwasher --name "Bosch SMS machine" \
    --category appliance --price 749 --purchased 2024-11-03 \
    --warranty-mo 12 --receipt "email from Appliances.co 11/03" \
    --card "Amex Gold" --registered 2024-11-10 \
    --notes "Model SHEM63W55N; serial in manual p.2"

# Same but with an extended plan
python3 scripts/warranty_vault.py add --id tv-oled --name "LG C4 55\"" \
    --category electronics --price 1299 --purchased 2025-03-14 --warranty-mo 12 \
    --extended-mo 36 --extended-by "Geek Squad" --extended-deductible 0 \
    --receipt "paper, fireproof box" --card "Visa Infinite"

# What covers my broken dishwasher today? (jurisdiction matters)
python3 scripts/warranty_vault.py covered dishwasher --jurisdiction UK
python3 scripts/warranty_vault.py covered tv-oled --jurisdiction US

# What expires in the next 90 days? (schedule tolerated repairs NOW)
python3 scripts/warranty_vault.py expiring --days 90

# Full audit: coverage table, unregistered items, vault health
python3 scripts/warranty_vault.py report
python3 scripts/warranty_vault.py report --category appliance --json

# Claim letter with statutory citations + document checklist
python3 scripts/warranty_vault.py claim dishwasher --fault "Won't drain; E25 error" \
    --jurisdiction UK > claim-letter.txt

# Edit / remove / list / export
python3 scripts/warranty_vault.py update dishwasher --mark-registered
python3 scripts/warranty_vault.py list
python3 scripts/warranty_vault.py export --json

Vault file: ~/.warranty-vault.json (--file to override). Back it up — it IS the system.

How the Coverage Engine Works

For each layer, coverage = purchase_date + term ≥ today (computed per jurisdiction):

• Manufacturer: warranty_mo months.
• Statutory: UK 6y / EU 2y / US none-default. UK ≤6-months-old faults flip the burden of proof to the retailer — the letter says so.
• Extended: extended_mo from purchase (most run concurrently, some from manufacturer-expiry — store which in notes if the latter).
• Card perk: +12 or +24 months added AFTER manufacturer expiry, only if card is set and the base warranty was ≤ the card's eligibility window (Visa +24 mo needs base ≤36 mo, etc.).

expiring scans all layers for end-dates within --days and names the action ("register", "report fault", "schedule repair"). report also flags: items never registered (manufacturer registration sometimes extends coverage — e.g., some brands +3 months), items with no receipt location recorded, and total vault value by category.

Claim Letter Notes

claim prints a ready-to-edit letter to the right party: manufacturer for warranty claims; retailer for statutory claims (UK/EU — your contract is with the seller, not the maker); plan administrator for extended plans. It cites the statute, states purchase facts from the vault, describes the fault, and requests repair/replacement/refund with a 14-day response window. The printed checklist reminds you what to attach: proof of purchase, photos/video of fault, serial, registration confirmation, card statement line.

Common Pitfalls

1. Claiming from the manufacturer in the UK/EU. Statutory rights are against the retailer. The letter generator targets correctly — don't reroute it.
2. Assuming the receipt is "in email somewhere." When you need it, you need the date AND price. Record the receipt's location at add time even if you don't file the PDF.
3. Forgetting card perks. Extended-warranty and purchase-protection benefits die with the card's terms — but for old purchases, the card you PAID with governs. Vault stores it per purchase.
4. Missing registration windows. Some manufacturers require registration (or dangle +3 months for it). report flags unregistered items under 90 days old.
5. Letting a tolerated fault ride past expiry. The rattle you've ignored for 6 months is a claim until the day coverage ends. expiring --days 90 is the nag.
6. Extended plans on cheap items. A $90 plan on a $300 printer is usually negative EV; self-insure small stuff, vault the savings. The report totals make this visible.
7. UK 6-year ≠ 6-year warranty. It's a right against inherent faults (must have been present at purchase), with burden shifting after 6 months. Older items need the "fault was inherent" argument; the letter includes the presumption language for ≤6mo items.

Verification Checklist

• Every purchase >$100 with a warranty >90 days is in the vault
• Each entry has receipt location + price + purchase date (report flags gaps)
• Jurisdiction set correctly for statutory layer (UK/EU/US)
• expiring --days 90 run quarterly alongside other home maintenance checks
• Claim letters name the correct counterparty (retailer vs manufacturer)
• Vault file backed up (it's JSON — copy it with your documents)