What the local data says
Warranty break even in Utah
The Utah sample is narrow: Salt Lake City is the only mapped metro. Its $137 independent-shop midpoint lands $11 below the median across our 50 metros.
Moving from the independent midpoint to the $180 dealer figure adds $44 per hour. An eight-hour job absorbs roughly $352 of that difference before parts.
Weather moves between about 62 hot days and 112 freezing days in the mapped metros. I would use those figures to frame contract questions, never to assign a breakdown probability.
Local prices belong beside the contract's labor allowance. Giving the plan credit for the entire invoice before checking that allowance makes the warranty look better than the paperwork supports.