Guide · HVAC dealers
How co-op advertising funds work, and how to claim yours before they expire
If you sell equipment through a distributor, your manufacturers have probably been crediting your business advertising money all year. Industry estimates put 20 to 35% of those funds unclaimed annually. This guide explains where the money comes from, why so much of it lapses, and exactly what a claim needs.
Where the money comes from
Most equipment brands run cooperative advertising programs. When you buy equipment, the program accrues a fund for your business, typically 1 to 6 percent of your net purchases (exact rates vary by brand, dealer tier, distributor, and year; some premium lines accrue more). When you advertise that brand, the program reimburses part of the cost from your accrued fund, commonly 25 to 75 percent of an eligible placement.
Two things follow. First, the money is earned by buying, so if you bought equipment this year, a balance probably exists whether or not anyone told you. Second, it is collected by claiming, and unclaimed balances lapse back to the manufacturer's pool.
Why so much goes unclaimed
- Deadlines are short and quiet. Many programs close a claim window within 30 to 60 days of the ad running, or at program year-end. Missed deadlines are the most commonly cited reason dealers forfeit funds.
- The paperwork is exacting. Programs require pre-approval for some media, itemized invoices, and proof-of-performance. A claim missing one item can be rejected outright.
- The rules are unpublished and vary per brand. Each program has its own accrual rate, eligible media list, and proof spec, usually living in a distributor portal or a PDF nobody rereads.
- It's nobody's job. In a 5 to 30 person shop, co-op claiming lands on whoever does the books, in whatever time is left. The rational result is exactly what the industry numbers show: the smaller the dealer, the more likely the money lapses.
A dealer buying $500,000 of equipment across their brands accrues roughly $5,000 to $30,000 of co-op money in a typical year, depending on the brand mix. At the industry unclaimed rate, thousands of it quietly expires. Every year.
What a claim actually needs
Programs differ, but nearly every claim packet is built from the same parts:
- Pre-approval confirmation, where the program requires media to be approved before it runs. Skipping this is the most common hard rejection.
- An itemized invoice from the publisher or platform, showing dates and amounts.
- Proof-of-performance: a tear sheet for print, dated screenshots for digital, an air check or affidavit for radio, photos for vehicle wraps or signage. Brand logo usage usually has to be visible and compliant.
- Run dates matching the invoice and the claim window.
- The claim form, filed where the program says: sometimes a brand portal, often your distributor's own form.
How to stop forfeiting it
- Find your number. Ask each distributor for your co-op balance and accrual rate, or estimate it from your purchases. You cannot manage a number you have not seen.
- Keep receipts as they happen. A shoebox (or a forwarded-email folder) beats reconstructing a campaign in the last week of a claim window.
- Write down every brand's deadline. The claim window, not the ad date, is what kills most claims.
- File per campaign, not per year. Small claims filed on time beat one big claim assembled at year-end against a closed window.
Or let us do the paperwork
CoopReclaim computes your accrued balance per brand, tracks each program's rules and deadlines, and assembles the claim packet so you file on time. Flat $99/month in early access, you keep every recovered dollar. See the demo dashboard or start recovering.