Ana Mićković

2017

Many companies nowadays not only sell their products; they sell their products together with a
promise: The product will do exactly what you bought it for! They do this by offering additional
services, like extended warranties or service contracts. As these services can have a significant effect
on economic success, the estimation of the corresponding costs is crucial. In this thesis, a cost
estimation framework which accounts for all occurring costs that such a promise generates is built.
This is done with a hybrid cost estimation approach, where multiple cost estimation techniques are
combined. A literature study is done to show the current state of research. Analyses are conducted
with data from Mercedes-Benz Vans, where historical service contract information for countries all
over Europe is available. These analyses yield into the definition of the framework which is also
implemented in Microsoft Excel. A test of the implemented framework is done with real market data
and the results prove the applicability of the hybrid cost estimation framework. The results of this
thesis are discussed and further research possibilities are shown.