Buy Extended warranty! Yes/No? Help!

My new trailer only came with a 1 year warranty so we bought an extended warranty for 2 years. The way these things break, I wouldn't be without one. Exclusionary is the way to go.

i brought a 2007 itasca with cornerstone 3 year warranty. already used it once. may have to again. deductible is 200 a visit one trouble or more.

I did purchase a Good Sam Extended Service contract when I bought our 2001 Beaver Contessa. My cost was close to $2100 yearly which I paid quarterly at $526.

I had the coverage for three years.

I had three claims with the first being for my Norcold refrigerator cooling unit not working. The service center said they had used GS for many cooling unit replacements before. When they turned in the paperwork to Good Sam for the ok they turned it down ($1800 +). They requested pictures of the cooling unit that failed, at which time refused to cover as tubes were rusty. Ended up $2000 out of pocket.

Next was a few items I took coach in for. Air horns inop(solenoid), abs light on(replaced abs connection), they did cover these two items. I paid the $500 deductible and saved about $300.

I figured after paying in $6000 in three years and saving only $300 I would be money ahead just banking the $526 quarterly and use that for repairs. Makes more sense to me. I had given them $5700 already!

If you have a major issue and they cover it , great....but with all the exemptions and exclusions they are in control of what they are willing to cover, or not!

I may be a fool, but I also bought an extended 3 yr warranty. Even though I've always had it on all my vehicles and never used it once. I just feel safer with it.

To me it is just an insurance plan. Just like insurance they will try anything to get out of paying you. I also feel that it is better to bank the money you save and use it to repair as needed yourself. JMO

My advice is to read the extended warranty before you buy it. Do NOT rely on the salesperson to tell you what is covered. Too many take the salesperson's word and wind up disappointed. Find out exactly what is covered, what your deductibles would be, what is the process to get something covered and where are repairs authorized. Then decide if what they are asking is worth the coverage offered.

The consumer help columns in the RV magazines every month have sad tales of woe from folks not reading the fine print and expecting coverage of items that are excluded or they didn't follow the repair procedures and so their claim was denied. There are also stories of folks following the letter of the contract and still finding their claim denied because the warranty company is avoiding their responsibility.

For me extended warranties aren't worth it. I'd rather bank the money and save it for if and when I need it down the road.

Extended warranties are a highly personal decision, based on your financial situation and fear of risk. You don't say if the class A you are looking at is a DP or not. An engine or transmission replacement for a DP can run as high $15,000.

Higher end coach repairs, especially on older models, can add up quickly. How would a $4,000 - $5,000 repair bill affect you? Will your coach end up sitting in the driveway, un-usable, while you continue to make loan payments on it? Will a $1,000 repair bill cause you the same financial difficulty? If yes, then you might consider an EW. It's a matter of how much risk you are willing to take and how comfortable you are with the condition of your coach.

All that being said, these policies, especially for older rigs, are quite expensive. The insurer is in it to make money and they price the policies to ensure that on average, they take in a LOT more money then they pay out. the odds are strongly in their favor that you will not recoup your policy cost in claims. Remember that, no matter how many people chime in and tell you they received way more in claims then their cost of coverage! Regardless of what they say, they are in the vast minority!

When we bought our first DP, we had no experience with them. It was a 2003 Monaco Executive, bought in 2010 with 62,000mi on it. As we were going into such an unknown, we did buy a 2 year EW. Over that two year period, the only thing we had replaced was the alternator, so we didn't come close to recouping our cost. BUT, we felt a lot more comfortable while we were learning exactly what we had for a rig. After the two years, we did not renew the EW. we had the rig for 2 more years with no issues.

Sorry for the long winded post, but this topic comes up often and so many people think it can be answered with a simple statement that the EW is either a wonderful or a terrible idea. It can be either, depending on the situation. One thing for sure however...... If you do decide to buy one, take lots of time to read the policy, understand the fine print on the coverage and ask questions. THIS IS CRITICAL!

I'm for them with RVs. Our extended warranty paid for itself with our Cyclone for the two years we owned it. Then it was a nice perk for the buyer since it was transferable.

No. Instead, put 2 times your per hour operating costs into a maintenance kitty and use than when things break. If nothing breaks, you have a good down payment on the next rig.

Figure your operating cost by taking 50 MPH / your MPG * average cost of fuel + 1 quart oil for every 5 hours.

BTPO1 wrote:
To me it is just an insurance plan. Just like insurance they will try anything to get out of paying you. I also feel that it is better to bank the money you save and use it to repair as needed yourself. JMO

That's *exactly* what they are. And yeah, they do the math. The company estimates how many folks will make a claim so they can make money.

I have no issues with the company trying to make a profit. That's about as American as you can get.

I've done an about-face on extended warranties. I used to never buy them but have bought them for some of our appliances. While I don't think I've come out ahead, money wise, I do like the piece of mind they can bring.