Although not a new concept, extended warranties on white goods are as popular today as when they were first introduced. Back then, the schemes were administered in much the same way as household insurance claims; the policyholder making their own arrangements for repair and then forwarding the receipt to the underwriters for re-imbursement.

This unsatisfactory state of affairs, where repair quality was sadly lacking and costs escalating, was soon abandoned for a more managed approach, with the insurance company validating each claim and signposting the policy holder to an authorised repairer in their part of the country.

But therein lay another problem. Take a stroll around any high street retailer of white goods and you’ll be confronted by a vast array of appliance types, manufacturers and models. And with no single company to carry out the work once a policy had been sold, insurance companies were forced to negotiate agreements with every manufacturer and service agent for every different brand sold.

Until Multibrand came along. We offered all brand repair capability coupled with cost conscious fixed rates and a high level of integrity, borne out of our manufacturer background. We also provided electronically produced invoicing (rather than hand scrawled receipts), management reporting that could be customised to client needs and the flexibility that an independent company enjoys over the bureaucracy of the brand giants.

Maybe that’s why some of the biggest names in the extended warranty business were quick to entrust their customers to us and have continued to do so.