Extended Warranties - Are they worth it?

I made my own extended warranty that pays for anything and everything I need done, including upgrades and modifications. The cost of the extended warranty was to be about $3000 a year. That would add roughly $250 a month on to the contract. Since my coach was new, I felt I could take the chance to not have any major issues not covered by the manufacturers warranty that first year. I opened a new savings account and had $300 a month put into it automatically. My coach is a 2006 and I have paid for all work including two King Domes and the Winegard Traveler to replace them both! I bought and had the Splendide Combo installed, I have had various minor repairs done over the years including new day/night shades, new water pump, and 6 brand new tires plus all my maintenance for the motor and generator and too many other small things to mention. In addition, I use that account to help pay for trips and special tours, even an Alaskan Inner Passage Cruise. I still have money enough in that account to put in a new refrigerator, new transmission, and new microwave/convection if they were needed. I have been religious about adding the $300 a month and I also put any "extra" money we get into it. For us, holding our own extended warranty account was well worth the money.

Extended Warranties are a sucker bet. You have to lose to win!
The Company is betting that you will pay them a lot of money, and have no claims.
You are betting that you will have all kinds of problems that will be covered by the policy, and will therefore get your money back in claim payments.
Remember, the Company will always make a profit. ALWAYS! If they don't, they will go out of business!
Of course, there is the "Peace Of Mind" aspect to consider.
How lucky do you feel?

This all depends on the warranty purchased...The first one was one by XtraRide or Prism as known then as a bankruptcy settlement from Monaco..it cost me virtually nothing and it covered many items, no questions asked, just ge authorization...The one I just purchased from wholewalewarranties.com (Jeff Shelton), I was referred to him and wife insisted we protect our investment...cost for 4 more years was close to 4000....three weeks after the LCI pump suffered a catastrophic failure and I had to get a full mechanism which was about 1600 for the part plus 3.5 hours of labor (rightfully so) plus tax and shipping....my cost was the 200 deductible...so right now I have to say that for me, it was worth it and more importantly it is an exclusionary contract (only those items in the contract are NOT covered) wverything else IS covered...I highly recommend wholesalewarranties.com and Jeff..you will be treated fairly and it's at a fair price rather than inflated dealer prices.

All good points. I would also find out or get a statement of what is not covered. Maybe talk to someone with the company that is providing the warranty. You should also ask where service can be performed. Someone just posted about an extended warranty not covering a repaint of a fronnt cap that was a factory defect.

The real answer is MAYBE..... The decision to buy or not to buy an EW is highly dependent on your financial situation and risk aversion. You don't say what you've been quoted for an EW, but look at the cost vs what might go wrong with your vehicle. You mentioned you have a Class C.

The biggest ticket item would be a catastrophic tranny or engine failure, requiring replacement. Odds are slim, especially of the rig has a good documented maintenance history and decent mileage.

If your financial situation would be crippled by a $3000 repair bill, it MAY be better to have an EW, then to risk having your rig sitting dead in the driveway, un-usable, while you continue to make bank payments on it.

Lastly --- I would NEVER finance the EW as part of the RV loan. Assuming your EW term would be 3-4 years, you'll be paying for it over the entire length of the loan. So if you renew, you'll be double paying, racking up additional interest, etc.....

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

simple answer in my opinion is no.

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

I made a mistake ,, 500 deductable. Get a 100 deductable and feel better when you get the bill.
MY 2.85 p

a lot depends on the cost. the initial offer can be discounted significantly.
bumpy

It was worth it for us, the refrigerator went out at about 3 years and we got a complete new fridge which would have cost us more than the extended warranty did. :)