Audit of the National Center for Dispute Settlement Automobile Warranty Arbitration Program

United States Federal Trade CommissionNational Center for DisputeSettlementAutomobile Warranty ArbitrationProgramAuditJanuary - December 2004 Prepared by: Claverhouse Associates 937 Roxburgh Avenue East Lansing, Michigan 48823 Table of ContentsPAGEINTRODUCTION ......................................................3I . C O MP L I A N C E S U MMA R Y .............................................. 4I I . D E T A I L E D F I N D I N G S .................................................. 5III. FIELD AUDIT OF THREE GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS ......................27A . MI N N E S O T A . .............................................. 27B . N O R T H C A R O L I N A ......................................... 32C . O H I O . ..................................................... 37I V . A R B I T R A T I O N T R A I N I N G ............................................. 42V. SURVEY AND STATISTICAL INDEX COMPARATIVEANALYSES ..........................................................45VI. AUDIT RELATED REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS .......................62VII APPENDIX/CODEBOOK ...............................................63IntroductionThis 2004 audit of NCDS’ Arbitration Process is performed pursuant to the 1975 federalwarranty law, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Federal Trade Commission Improvement Act andRule on Informal Dispute Settlement Procedures, 16 C.F.R. Part 703 (hereafter ...