US Fidelis, the big Wentzville-based broker of extended auto service contracts, last week filed a federal copyright-infringement suit alleging that a competitor has swiped its sales pitch and and a portion of its trade name.

The suit, filed Thursday in St. Louis,…

Click on the image to check out our map of area service-contract brokers.

If you’re having a tough time following this newspaper’s stories about area brokers of extended auto-service contracts, we’ve got a new tool that might be able to help.

Then…

The St. Louis area’s big “extended warranty” firms are splitting hairs if they think they can avoid Missouri regulations on extended auto-service contracts by selling product warranties tied to the purchase of auto additives, said a spokesman for the state’s…

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At least 10 St. Louis brokers of extended auto-service contracts also sell a more complicated and less regulated type of vehicle protection that could represent the future of so-called “extended warranty” business.

The…

I wrote a story in Tuesday’s paper about cancellation penalties assessed by Mogi, a St. Charles-based broker of extended auto-service contracts. If you’re interested in more information about the allegations against the company, you’re in luck: here is the federal…

Add another lawsuit to those piling up for US Fidelis, the Wentzville-based broker of extended auto-service contracts. The latest attack on the self-described  faith-based company comes from an unexpected source: the New York State Catholic Health Plan Inc., a non-profit…

Carhill Enterprises will no longer mail postcards warning of vehicle recalls as a way to get consumers on the phone with sales agents selling extended auto-service contracts, the chief executive of the St. Louis company said Wednesday.

The announcement came on…

A recall postcard from Consumer Protection Services (P-D)

If you missed it, there’s a story in today’s paper about another area company that’s on the outs with the Better Business Bureau over its marketing of extended auto-service contracts. Here’s the lede:

A St.…

Indiana officials say some bad apples of the service-contract industry broke what ought to be the No. 1 rule in any telemarketing boiler room: don’t make an unsolicited sales call to the state attorney general’s cell phone — especially after…

Today’s New York Daily News includes an editorial about extended auto-service contracts that begins in the classic, understated style of that famous tabloid: “A special place in hell is reserved for the hucksters who barrage phone lines with one of the…