The proof traps
Buried in the published terms of two chains is a class of denial that has nothing to do with your failed part: the companion-part conditions. The compressor, pump, or clutch may be warrantied on the shelf tag — but the claim dies because a drier, a filter, or a flywheel resurfacing isn't on your paperwork. Read them before they read you.
O'Reilly, published: A/C compressors carry NO warranty unless proof documents installation by a licensed repair facility, including replacement of the receiver-drier/accumulator and expansion valve/orifice tube, and a system flush. Advance, published: similar proof conditions — flush, new drier/accumulator, new orifice/expansion valve. A DIY compressor install without that paper trail is, under the written terms, an unwarrantied part from day one. If you're mid-claim: the fight is over what proof exists (the shop invoice that lists the companions; the receipts for the companion parts themselves) — assemble it before the counter conversation, not after.
O'Reilly: lifetime fuel-pump coverage requires the fuel filter and strainer replaced at install, with proof. Advance: the strainer and inline filter, plus the tank drained and cleaned. The logic the chains will state: debris killed the old pump and kills the new one. The customer-side fact: if the companions were done and the receipts exist, the claim is strong; if they weren't, the written terms are against you and the honest play is the discretionary one — manager, then corporate, with the pump's own failure documented.
Advance: clutch claims require a new pilot bearing and a resurfaced flywheel; an oil-contaminated disc is ineligible outright. Contamination is the argument to pre-empt: a rear-main or input-shaft leak that soaked the disc will be the finding — the repair paperwork showing the leak fixed (or its absence) is the evidence either way.
For any part with a system around it, the warranty quietly covers an installation, not an object. Before any install you'll someday claim on: photograph the companions, keep every receipt in one envelope, and write the install date and mileage on it. The setup checklist turns this into a habit that takes ninety seconds.
Not sure which wall you hit? The free checker sorts it in a few picks — chain, part, purchase date, your proof, and the store's own words — and gives you where you stand under the written policy, the proration math where it applies, the exact next counter move, and the ladder above the store. Run the checker →
The pages above are the map. The kit is the paperwork: the word-for-word counter scripts, the per-chain playbooks, the worksheets, and the complaint templates.
One payment, yours to keep. You do every step yourself — at the store, on the phone, in writing; we never call a store for you. See everything inside the kit →