Extended Warranties - Are they worth it?

Allworth wrote:
$1700 for five years with a lot of exceptions: Sorta Expensive.

Preventing DW fretting about every little thing that might ever, possibly, in some other universe, go wrong: Priceless.

This x100. Peace of mind has a price, and for us it was $2k for the XtraRide Platinum super duper whatever warranty along with a policy that refunds the full price if we never use it. I looked it over pretty good and it covers a lot, but I haven't a clue on how they handle repair work. We've been pretty luck so far, 2 years in and we've only had a couple of minor issues that were far easier for us to fix than deal with anyone else (no parts required). We're hoping that the policy runs out in 3 years without needing it, but if we do it's there... Maybe. It would be nice to get the $2k back and use it for a nicer trip somewhere :)

Bumpyroad wrote:

et2 wrote:


You left yourself open on that one. There are some here that believe if you can't pay cash for the MH you shouldn't own one, much less finance the warranty. :B

well using that criteria, I dare say that about 90% of the RVs out there would not be in use if the owner's/users had to pay cash. I personally can't see a big difference between financing 70,000$ and 72,000 for your RV. if you can't afford it, don't buy it but $2,000 more won't make that much difference.
bumpy

using some SWAG figures I came up with it costing $15 a month more to have the warranty.
bumpy

Just skip it and don't worry about it.

et2 wrote:


You left yourself open on that one. There are some here that believe if you can't pay cash for the MH you shouldn't own one, much less finance the warranty. :B

well using that criteria, I dare say that about 90% of the RVs out there would not be in use if the owner's/users had to pay cash. I personally can't see a big difference between financing 70,000$ and 72,000 for your RV. if you can't afford it, don't buy it but $2,000 more won't make that much difference.
bumpy

Bumpyroad wrote:

edbehnke wrote:
simple answer in my opinion is no.

if you really want to protect yourself put $3000 in a separate bank acct. for your trailer.

If one has an extra $3,000 to put in a special account that might work. but I would assume the RV and warranty would be financed and the warranty wouldn't add that much to the monthly payment.
bumpy

You left yourself open on that one. There are some here that believe if you can't pay cash for the MH you shouldn't own one, much less finance the warranty. :B

I used to think the same way as those who say never buy an extended warranty. I did purchase one for our new TT. It will give some peace of mind. Don't forget we all have car insurance and hope to never use it.

I have done work for two extended warranty companies. Admittedly one was somewhat difficult to get approval, but once that was done, they paid with a CC right away. The second one approved and paid very quickly.

One was a Beaver class A with a Bose audio system. I replaced it with a different brand, but it was still over $1,500.

I never buy extended warranties on anything. Yes, it's possible that you might come out ahead on a single time you bought an extended warranty, but if you total up ALL the money you've saved by foregoing them, I'm pretty confident that you've come out ahead overall.

In other words, while you might have benefited from an extended warranty in an instance or two, overall you'll come out ahead by never buying them. Saying no is guaranteed money in your pocket. Buying the extended warranty is a bet that you might come out ahead.

Bumpyroad wrote:

edbehnke wrote:
simple answer in my opinion is no.

if you really want to protect yourself put $3000 in a separate bank acct. for your trailer.

If one has an extra $3,000 to put in a special account that might work. but I would assume the RV and warranty would be financed and the warranty wouldn't add that much to the monthly payment.
bumpy

That is where people throw away money. The monthly payment is not the concern but whether it makes sense to pay for an extra and hope that it will save money in the long run. Extended warranties are the single most profitable item that dealers and stores can sell to customers. Nothing else even comes close. They can get more dollars of profit from the extended warranty than they made on the sale of the product it covers.

With a used RV the most likely items to fail are the air conditioner and the fridge. Figure $1200 to replace one should it fail and compare that against the cost of the warranty and its duration. It is is a 5 year warranty and the fridge is 5 years old in the RV then it may be a good decision to buy the extended warranty. If the fridge is 3 years old and the warranty is extended by 3 years, then it is not nearly as likely to be a good use of ones money.

Only twice have I benefited from the purchase of an extended warranty and both items where products that I knew had reliability problems, one being an expensive inkjet printer where head replacements were common and expensive, and a DLP television where replacement lamps cost $400 and the special color wheels another $200 and the primary control boards cost $700 - so paying $300 for the extended warranty was an easy decision to make.

SteveRuff wrote:
I made my own extended warranty that pays for anything and everything I need done, including upgrades and modifications. .... I opened a new savings account and had $300 a month put into it automatically.

I think this is the best option to extended warranties. Just set aside what you can. Something is better than nothing. Worse case, after 5-10 years you can use the money as a down payment on a new camper. :)

$1700 for five years with a lot of exceptions: Sorta Expensive.

Preventing DW fretting about every little thing that might ever, possibly, in some other universe, go wrong: Priceless.