Extended Dealer Warranty

Most appliances don’t cost very much. I doubt you’d ever use it, but if you did, I’m concerned with how long the claim process would be.

Most new campers have a 1 year "bumper to bumper" warranty. Plan a bunch of camping trips... if you camper lasts the season, it will probably be fine for years to come without an extended warranty.

Having said that... many people like the "piece of mind" that comes with a warranty. Bargain for the warranty! Don't pay the first thing the dealer says. Look around, call some other dealers, see if you can get a warranty over the internet.

I've done this when buying my last few vehicles. I still buy a warranty from my dealer, but I bargain them down after showing what I could get elsewhere.

Good luck!

See what's excluded as in many cases those are the items that fail. Also check out what is covered by home owners insurance or separate insurance on the RV.

About 85% of the cost of extended warrantees are pure profit for the seller.

specta wrote:
About 85% of the cost of extended warrantees are pure profit for the seller.

IMHO ,The exclusions and fine print exceptions make warranties a financially poor choice for the consumer. Take the $3000 cost for the warranty and put it into a separate bank account to be used in an emergency when needed. You have to be a lawyer to be able to read and understand extended warranty benefits. Most RV manufactures offer a 1 yr. warranty to cover the repair and replacement of products.

specta wrote:
About 85% of the cost of extended warrantees are pure profit for the seller.

YEP!!

No, I won't buy one. There's a lot of exclusions. Some even require you to bring the RV in every year for an annual inspection, which of course the charge for. They then try to up-sell you on more maintenance, like roof resealing, etc.

The only thing I would consider extended warranty are water damages.
TC are build to leak at most of the factories, so unless you have the newer technology fiberglass shell, you will have frame damage due to water penetration.
In such case $3000 stashed on saving account will not go very far.
Than having factory warranty for a year, you can do extensive tests for the issue, therefore extended warranty will not be needed.
But extended warranty is only good when company writing it is still in businesses after few years, so checking how reliable they are should be part of the process.

You have to realize that these warranty companies would not exist if they paid out more than they collect, so buying a policy is going against the odds. I look at extended warranties as lack of confidence in your purchase. If it is built properly, you will not need one. If you are concerned about that random failure that may be costly, put away the money you spend on that warranty and use it for repairs if required. Otherwise, you will have a good reserve building up for your next purchase - How you use that money will not be directed by contract.

I think big part of 6-years warranties profit is like prepaid burial service.
When the time comes to use it, people forget they have it, papers got lost and lot of other things can happen.
Then when claims become bigger than profit- they go bankrupt.

I've bought two truck campers in my life time. While I mostly forget the details of the first transaction (I did not get a extended warranty) I do recall being hard sold a $3200 policy on the second one.


Since the dealer in question is 2hrs (and a tank of fuel) from me they countered with a $1800 offer. I declined.


The going thought is that these 'warranties' are not worth the paper they are printed on given: the cost of RV appliances, all the possible ways you can void it and last but not least, what might be actually covered in the first place.

Most (if not all) RV appliances come with a 1yr factory warranty that you can use at ANY authorized dealer of that appliance.


- Mark0.