It's always something

[JCat]

MY RV is 11 years old this year.
Only has 58,000 miles on it.

But this year it seems like I spent a fortune maintaining it and upgrading it.

Here is what I did:
Replaced 2 existing AC units $3000
Added a 3rd AC unit $2000
Replace engine batteries $250
Replace house batteries gel cell $1100
Fixed oil leak and changed oil $500
Replaced coolant $100
Fixed drawer slides $250
Replaced slideout Awning $300
Replaced in dash GPS with XM/FM/Ipod Radio - $500
Replaced front tires - $1500 (michelin)

$9500 total that I can recall, I am sure there were other things as well.

I hope next year will be better

[gemert]

JCat wrote:
People's posts are always interesting, they make assumptions in the absence of facts in the original posts, and make statements based on their experience, which may not work for the OP. But in the end its good to get all info.
A misstatements:

1. AC units are $700
2. If you don't do any maintenance in 11 years this is what happens
3. You should fix your RV and not outsource it

Dometic 15000 AC units are $1450
Do you really think I could go 11 years and not change batteries (3 times) house and engine, tires 2 times, oil changes every 1 to 2 years ?
I have fixed and continue to fix the little things, the items on my list were outsourced as I can't do them, and the RV resort I stay in won't allow it.

Thanks

You can't tell but I'm mashing the "like" button!!

[JCat]

People's posts are always interesting, they make assumptions in the absence of facts in the original posts, and make statements based on their experience, which may not work for the OP. But in the end its good to get all info.
A misstatements:

1. AC units are $700
2. If you don't do any maintenance in 11 years this is what happens
3. You should fix your RV and not outsource it

Dometic 15000 AC units are $1450
Do you really think I could go 11 years and not change batteries (3 times) house and engine, tires 2 times, oil changes every 1 to 2 years ?
I have fixed and continue to fix the little things, the items on my list were outsourced as I can't do them, and the RV resort I stay in won't allow it.

Thanks

[tropical36]

Flanz wrote:

tropical36 wrote:

mariontl wrote:
Hello, Sorry to hear you have had such an expensive year.
Husband and I are in the process of buying our first RV - Class A Itasca Sunova 2005. Husband wants to buy the extended warranty the dealership is trying to push, at a cost of $4,300 Canadian, for 4 years of coverage. They are also saying if we get our financing through them instead of our credit union they will knock off 500 dollars from the cost of warranty. Staying with our own financing though. Husband wants to get the extended warranty and I am leaning towards not wanting to.
Your post here tells me the warranty is most likely not worth the money,because your $10,000 expenses for one year is only covered by warranty for $ 2,000 of it. The dealership is doing the inspection right now (RVDA Canada certified) and I am thinking we should trust this but husband thinks we should hire a mechanic at a cost of probably $ 500. We are new to RVíng and we are not mechanically inclined.
My guess would be that you would not advocate buying a warranty that is only good for 4 yrs, at a cost of $4,300 ? ( That coverage cost is for the drive train and coach)

Put your money in the bank and start funding your own private warranty company. Be careful of financing also and make sure you know the bottom dollar when it's done and over with.
I hate both warranties and financing, but that's just me and so far it's worked out in my favor.
Wouldn't be so terrible with the warranties, if they didn't deny coverage so much and to the point of forcing you to call a lawyer. I would rather pick and choose my work with either doing it myself or shopping around vs the aggravation and upset that's sure to be forthcoming with these so called extended warranties.
Even new car warranties have ended up with a lot of displeasure for me and those that came with the vehicle. Example....needed a tire sensor and have both certified and drive train warranty left of the Jeep. Still not covered and the Dealer wanted over $300 for just one wheel, when tire shops will replace one with better than OEM, for about $90.

I agree with this theory, but you still need to add to it every year. Especially when using it. This way your building an "emergency fund" for repairs and maintenance. We have an emergency fund that has over 10K in it. Now it didn't get there overnight we just continue to add a little at a time and use it when needed.

-paul

I agree and thought I implied that in my first statement with.....start funding.....

[Flanz]

tropical36 wrote:

mariontl wrote:
Hello, Sorry to hear you have had such an expensive year.
Husband and I are in the process of buying our first RV - Class A Itasca Sunova 2005. Husband wants to buy the extended warranty the dealership is trying to push, at a cost of $4,300 Canadian, for 4 years of coverage. They are also saying if we get our financing through them instead of our credit union they will knock off 500 dollars from the cost of warranty. Staying with our own financing though. Husband wants to get the extended warranty and I am leaning towards not wanting to.
Your post here tells me the warranty is most likely not worth the money,because your $10,000 expenses for one year is only covered by warranty for $ 2,000 of it. The dealership is doing the inspection right now (RVDA Canada certified) and I am thinking we should trust this but husband thinks we should hire a mechanic at a cost of probably $ 500. We are new to RVíng and we are not mechanically inclined.
My guess would be that you would not advocate buying a warranty that is only good for 4 yrs, at a cost of $4,300 ? ( That coverage cost is for the drive train and coach)

Put your money in the bank and start funding your own private warranty company. Be careful of financing also and make sure you know the bottom dollar when it's done and over with.
I hate both warranties and financing, but that's just me and so far it's worked out in my favor.
Wouldn't be so terrible with the warranties, if they didn't deny coverage so much and to the point of forcing you to call a lawyer. I would rather pick and choose my work with either doing it myself or shopping around vs the aggravation and upset that's sure to be forthcoming with these so called extended warranties.
Even new car warranties have ended up with a lot of displeasure for me and those that came with the vehicle. Example....needed a tire sensor and have both certified and drive train warranty left of the Jeep. Still not covered and the Dealer wanted over $300 for just one wheel, when tire shops will replace one with better than OEM, for about $90.

I agree with this theory, but you still need to add to it every year. Especially when using it. This way your building an "emergency fund" for repairs and maintenance. We have an emergency fund that has over 10K in it. Now it didn't get there overnight we just continue to add a little at a time and use it when needed.

-paul

[Flanz]

LVJ58 wrote:
Over the 15 years we've owned our coach the cost for maintenance; repairs;add-on's & upgrades has averaged $1,967 annually.

This makes sense and is what I've figured. So, what we do is take money that we would use for maintenance, used or not, and put it away so that over a 5yr or so period we would have the money to do repairs/maintenance. BUDGET YOUR MONEY and if you don't use it put it aside for when you do need it. Pretty simple logic.

-paul

[Mr_Mark1]

mariontl wrote:
Hello, Sorry to hear you have had such an expensive year.
Husband and I are in the process of buying our first RV - Class A Itasca Sunova 2005. Husband wants to buy the extended warranty the dealership is trying to push, at a cost of $4,300 Canadian, for 4 years of coverage. They are also saying if we get our financing through them instead of our credit union they will knock off 500 dollars from the cost of warranty. Staying with our own financing though. Husband wants to get the extended warranty and I am leaning towards not wanting to.
Your post here tells me the warranty is most likely not worth the money,because your $10,000 expenses for one year is only covered by warranty for $ 2,000 of it. The dealership is doing the inspection right now (RVDA Canada certified) and I am thinking we should trust this but husband thinks we should hire a mechanic at a cost of probably $ 500. We are new to RVíng and we are not mechanically inclined.
My guess would be that you would not advocate buying a warranty that is only good for 4 yrs, at a cost of $4,300 ? ( That coverage cost is for the drive train and coach)

If you decide to go with an extended warranty, read exactly what is covered and what is not. When we bought our previous coach ('08 Monaco Dynasty-new), the dealer offered a bumper to bumper warranty for over $8,000.

I took the information home and was shocked at what was NOT covered. What gets me, is that some parts are not covered if a non covered part causes the failure of a covered part.. WHAT? We said no.

Luckily, in the 7.5 yrs. that we owned the coach, I don't think we had $8,000 in repairs (not counting regular maintenance, tires and batteries).

I also don't like the delays and hoops that the extended warranties make a person go through (that's just me). You read about that stuff all the time. I know there are people here that have had good luck with warranties but I really believe that they are the exception rather than the rule.

Since you are looking at a 10 yr. old coach, I can't imagine what the extended warranty would cover so read it VERY carefully.

Good luck,
MM.

[mike_brez]

It sounds like we were pretty lucky with our old 1994 PaceArrow that we had for 14 years. If I didn't do all the chassis work(bell cranks,inner&outter tie rods,drag link,Henderson super steer rear trac bar,larger ipd front sway bar with poly bushings front and rear,Henderson super steer front coil springs,Koni shocks,steering dampner)luckily I did all work myself. We maybe had $3000.00 in repairs in the 14 years. Rust in fuel tank that we had re lined and while I had tank out replaced fuel pump,altenator,headers.water heater limit switches some bulbs and faucet washers.

[Houston_Remodel]

The first thing that broke on our RV was my wallet.

Its been broke ever since.....

[gemert]

mariontl wrote:
Hello, Sorry to hear you have had such an expensive year.
Husband and I are in the process of buying our first RV - Class A Itasca Sunova 2005. Husband wants to buy the extended warranty the dealership is trying to push, at a cost of $4,300 Canadian, for 4 years of coverage. They are also saying if we get our financing through them instead of our credit union they will knock off 500 dollars from the cost of warranty. Staying with our own financing though. Husband wants to get the extended warranty and I am leaning towards not wanting to.
Your post here tells me the warranty is most likely not worth the money,because your $10,000 expenses for one year is only covered by warranty for $ 2,000 of it. The dealership is doing the inspection right now (RVDA Canada certified) and I am thinking we should trust this but husband thinks we should hire a mechanic at a cost of probably $ 500. We are new to RVíng and we are not mechanically inclined.
My guess would be that you would not advocate buying a warranty that is only good for 4 yrs, at a cost of $4,300 ? ( That coverage cost is for the drive train and coach)

To be clear, in a year the Warranty has paid 3k. I paid 4K for it and I have about 3 years left. But my overriding desire is to not have to worry about replacing an engine because a fuel injector broke and destroyed the engine at a cost of 20K. Your 4K in the bank better be earning a lot of interest! It's like life insurance, not worth it if you live but if you die, your family will sure be better off because you have it. Same here, 4k over the life of the loan is peanuts.

[tropical36]

mariontl wrote:
Hello, Sorry to hear you have had such an expensive year.
Husband and I are in the process of buying our first RV - Class A Itasca Sunova 2005. Husband wants to buy the extended warranty the dealership is trying to push, at a cost of $4,300 Canadian, for 4 years of coverage. They are also saying if we get our financing through them instead of our credit union they will knock off 500 dollars from the cost of warranty. Staying with our own financing though. Husband wants to get the extended warranty and I am leaning towards not wanting to.
Your post here tells me the warranty is most likely not worth the money,because your $10,000 expenses for one year is only covered by warranty for $ 2,000 of it. The dealership is doing the inspection right now (RVDA Canada certified) and I am thinking we should trust this but husband thinks we should hire a mechanic at a cost of probably $ 500. We are new to RVíng and we are not mechanically inclined.
My guess would be that you would not advocate buying a warranty that is only good for 4 yrs, at a cost of $4,300 ? ( That coverage cost is for the drive train and coach)

Put your money in the bank and start funding your own private warranty company. Be careful of financing also and make sure you know the bottom dollar when it's done and over with.
I hate both warranties and financing, but that's just me and so far it's worked out in my favor.
Wouldn't be so terrible with the warranties, if they didn't deny coverage so much and to the point of forcing you to call a lawyer. I would rather pick and choose my work with either doing it myself or shopping around vs the aggravation and upset that's sure to be forthcoming with these so called extended warranties.
Even new car warranties have ended up with a lot of displeasure for me and those that came with the vehicle. Example....needed a tire sensor and have both certified and drive train warranty left of the Jeep. Still not covered and the Dealer wanted over $300 for just one wheel, when tire shops will replace one with better than OEM, for about $90.

[mariontl]

Forgot to mention, our 2005 Itasca Sunova has 97,000 km

[mariontl]

Hello, Sorry to hear you have had such an expensive year.
Husband and I are in the process of buying our first RV - Class A Itasca Sunova 2005. Husband wants to buy the extended warranty the dealership is trying to push, at a cost of $4,300 Canadian, for 4 years of coverage. They are also saying if we get our financing through them instead of our credit union they will knock off 500 dollars from the cost of warranty. Staying with our own financing though. Husband wants to get the extended warranty and I am leaning towards not wanting to.
Your post here tells me the warranty is most likely not worth the money,because your $10,000 expenses for one year is only covered by warranty for $ 2,000 of it. The dealership is doing the inspection right now (RVDA Canada certified) and I am thinking we should trust this but husband thinks we should hire a mechanic at a cost of probably $ 500. We are new to RVíng and we are not mechanically inclined.
My guess would be that you would not advocate buying a warranty that is only good for 4 yrs, at a cost of $4,300 ? ( That coverage cost is for the drive train and coach)

[RayChez]

gemert wrote:

JCat wrote:
MY RV is 11 years old this year.
Only has 58,000 miles on it.

But this year it seems like I spent a fortune maintaining it and upgrading it.

Here is what I did:
Replaced 2 existing AC units $3000
Added a 3rd AC unit $2000
Replace engine batteries $250
Replace house batteries gel cell $1100
Fixed oil leak and changed oil $500
Replaced coolant $100
Fixed drawer slides $250
Replaced slideout Awning $300
Replaced in dash GPS with XM/FM/Ipod Radio - $500
Replaced front tires - $1500 (michelin)

$9500 total that I can recall, I am sure there were other things as well.

I hope next year will be better

$10,219.93 for me, about 2.3k covered by extended warranty. I feel your pain!

That is what happens if you had not done nothing to it in the last eleven years. I bought mine in 2003 and have changed chassis batteries twice and house batteries three times. But those are regular maintenance things that have to be done on any coach. Just like oil changes once a year, oil filters, fuel filters. Topper awnings every twelve years. But if you spread it out over several years it is not bad. When you wait until everything hits at once, it can get a little expensive.

[frankdamp]

Our (recently sold) '02 Georgetown, which we bought when it was 8 years old, cost 6 new tires immediately (about $2400), then a replacement Dometic fridge after two years ($1800). After that the generator quit and so did we. It needed a new electronic controller (around $600), so I understand from the consignment dealer who sold it.

It was something of a money pit, and though we miss the life-style, we were glad to see it go.