# How Car Dealerships Sell Extended Warranties Online

A franchise dealership can sell its OEM-branded vehicle service contracts (often called extended warranties) online to owners nationwide, within its program's rules and each owner's state requirements. It takes a storefront, real-time pricing for the owner's vehicle, a purchase the owner can finish online, and advertising that brings owners to it. Because the storefront depends on several integrations that all have to work together, most dealerships use a managed platform rather than building one.

## The short answer

Yes. A franchise dealership can sell the manufacturer-branded service contracts it is approved for online, and it is not limited to the customers who bought a vehicle from it. Within its OEM program's rules, a dealership can offer that coverage to owners across the country through its own online storefront.

In everyday speech most owners call these products extended warranties. Providers, regulators, and the contracts themselves call them vehicle service contracts. Good online stores use both terms so owners recognize what they are buying.

## Why dealerships are selling online

Owners research coverage the way they research everything else: online, usually as their factory warranty is running out. Most of that demand goes to national warranty companies selling under their own names, often by phone and mail.

A dealership brings something those companies cannot: a franchise dealer's name and the manufacturer-branded coverage owners recognize. An online storefront makes that available to owners wherever they live, and turns a sale that used to happen only in the F&I office into one that can happen any day, from anywhere.

## What it takes

An online store for service contracts has to do more than show a price:

- **Know the vehicle.** Owners enter a VIN and see only the plans their vehicle qualifies for.
- **Price it in real time** from the dealership's OEM programs.
- **Finish the sale online**, including payment and a signed contract, without a trip to the store.
- **Follow the rules.** Each sale has to stay within the OEM program's rules and the owner's state requirements.
- **Be found.** The dealership needs a marketing plan that brings owners to the storefront, and pages built for owners searching for coverage for their vehicle.

## Why dealers use a managed platform

A storefront like this depends on a half dozen integrations that all have to work, all the time: vehicle data, provider rating and contracting, payments, electronic signature, email, and chat. Building and maintaining that in-house is not practical for a dealership. A managed platform provides and runs the technology, the owner follow-up, sales support, and customer support, while the dealership focuses on the part only it can own: its advertising.

## Mistakes to avoid

- **Sending buyers somewhere else to finish.** A checkout that carries another company's brand gives the customer away with the sale.
- **Stopping at a quote.** A price that ends in "call us to finish" loses most owners who were ready to buy online.
- **Pressure language.** Avoid "urgent," "final notice," and any claim that coverage is guaranteed or free. It hurts trust, and providers and regulators pay attention to it.

## Where DealerMenuOS fits

DealerMenuOS is a fully managed, dealer-branded online storefront for selling your OEM-branded vehicle service contracts to owners nationwide. We manage the technology, owner follow-up, sales support, and customer support, and can design and monitor your marketing plan; your dealership runs its advertising and earns on every contract. See [how it works](/platform), or [request a demo](/#demo).

*This guide is general information, not legal advice. Service contract rules vary by state and by provider program.*

---

Source: https://dealermenuos.com/guides/how-dealers-sell-extended-warranties-online