Extended Warranty or Not

[Turbosix]

Dealer talked me into a 5 year extended warranty for about $2500 on our new TT. It says I can cancel within 45 days for a full refund. That's the route I want to go because I'm very handy.

I would to know if an extended warranty really did pay off for anyone. I would think for most it did not.

Thanks for the replies!

[Bmach]

Remember that a lot of the trailers components have a two year parts and labor and the third years is parts. Why pay for something that is already covered?

[mayorb]

we just bought new TT. Dealer wanted to charge me $ 2750 I said no. At closing they they had a special deal for $1500. I bought but had 60 days to get a refund if I changed my mind. I did change my mind ask for my money back, after several "put thrus" to the next higher up finally I got a person to email form for refund. It's been a week, I'll call again next week. Don't waste your money. Use it to have some fun RVing.

Mayor

[ReneeG]

pennysmom09 wrote:

SoundGuy wrote:

pennysmom09 wrote:
First time out the pantry shelves with sliders flew open, contents flew out, smashed the pantry door, guess what....not their problem.

Obviously none of us were there to witness this first hand so we really don't know all the details but I wouldn't automatically see this as "their problem" either, the argument being that if you had properly secured the cabinet for travel this wouldn't have happened. No doubt you don't agree but the real question is - was this a "manufacturing defect" that caused this to happen? - perhaps, but also perhaps not, in which case it may just been the result of operator error. Without further proof to the contrary it doesn't surprise me your claim was denied.

The door was properly secured with the hardware provided, which was obviously totally inadequate. We added magnets to the door and burglar type chain locks to each shelf to keep them from sliding and hitting the door.

In my opinion, you should not have had to do that. Our cabinet doors and shelves stay secure in route.

[pennysmom09]

SoundGuy wrote:

pennysmom09 wrote:
First time out the pantry shelves with sliders flew open, contents flew out, smashed the pantry door, guess what....not their problem.

Obviously none of us were there to witness this first hand so we really don't know all the details but I wouldn't automatically see this as "their problem" either, the argument being that if you had properly secured the cabinet for travel this wouldn't have happened. No doubt you don't agree but the real question is - was this a "manufacturing defect" that caused this to happen? - perhaps, but also perhaps not, in which case it may just been the result of operator error. Without further proof to the contrary it doesn't surprise me your claim was denied.

The door was properly secured with the hardware provided, which was obviously totally inadequate. We added magnets to the door and burglar type chain locks to each shelf to keep them from sliding and hitting the door.

[SoundGuy]

pennysmom09 wrote:
First time out the pantry shelves with sliders flew open, contents flew out, smashed the pantry door, guess what....not their problem.

Obviously none of us were there to witness this first hand so we really don't know all the details but I wouldn't automatically see this as "their problem" either, the argument being that if you had properly secured the cabinet for travel this wouldn't have happened. No doubt you don't agree but the real question is - was this a "manufacturing defect" that caused this to happen? - perhaps, but also perhaps not, in which case it may just been the result of operator error. Without further proof to the contrary it doesn't surprise me your claim was denied.

[time2roll]

myredracer wrote:
Our insurance policy covered expensive things like appliances in the 2nd year of ownership. Didn't need it but was there anyway just in case and is standard with our policy. Not sure if a policy like ours is available in the US.

Component warranties are often 2 to 5 years.
The purchased warranty just turns around and gets the parts etc reimbursed by the component manufacturer.

[rbpru]

Because of the constant complaints about quality you read about on this board, one would think an extended policy is a good idea. However, with over 400,000 TT and 5vers sold a year what are your odds of needing it?

The insurance companies think the odd are in their favor.

If it is not an undue burden, then it is worth the piece of mind. If you tend to fix problems yourself you may never need it. It is definitely a gamble.

In my case I purchased and extended warranty on my used TV because I intended to do a lot of towing, hence increasing the possibility of problems. I was also leaning towards the purchased of the insurance for my used TT for the same reason; I use them a lot. Finally, at the time I also asked the DW, "happy wife, happy life". She thought it was affordable and worth the peace of mind.

In my case it was a good gamble, after only 3 years and 25,000 miles of towing, I hit a road hazard, which broke a spring, taking out the tire, rim, axle, steps and stabilizer jack. The damage was covered under the road hazard option with no problems.

Who knows, if I only towed a couple thousand miles a year, I may never have needed it. Also I had a $500.00 deductible so minor repairs like the refrigerator igniter and shelf runner mounts I repaired myself.

Like my car insurance, I have paid for years and the amount I have paid in far exceeds the amount I have received for the dents and dings they have paid to repair, but I still need it.

Good Luck

[myredracer]

delwhjr wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
Forest River used to offer an extra year full warranty for I think $100. dealers would never tell you this because they wanted to sell you the more expensive one. Call Forest River and ask (not the dealer!).

They still do. You have to call and pay within the first 90 days of ownership.

Our insurance policy covered expensive things like appliances in the 2nd year of ownership. Didn't need it but was there anyway just in case and is standard with our policy. Not sure if a policy like ours is available in the US.

[delwhjr]

dodge guy wrote:
Forest River used to offer an extra year full warranty for I think $100. dealers would never tell you this because they wanted to sell you the more expensive one. Call Forest River and ask (not the dealer!).

They still do. You have to call and pay within the first 90 days of ownership.

Extended warranty is like any other type of insurance. You decide on the risk level you are willing to take. You can deposit the amount in a savings account and assume the payout risk yourself. You can buy the policy and have someone else assume that risk. You can even do nothing and trust to the laws of chance and Murphy that everything goes well. It all depends on the level of risk you want to take on.

I have done all of these over the years and it has worked out sometimes and not others. Just decide where you want to be on the risk level and go for it.

[Murphsmom]

We were also talked into the extended warranty, and we also talked ourselves out of it almost immediately and cancelled. It took four months of wrangling to get our money back, but we finally did.

[myredracer]

These warranties are a total waste of money. Take the refund now. What brand & model TT?

Read through all the fine print and you will find that things that rarely fail are covered and things that do often fail aren't covered. Even *IF* if something is covered, dealers are often inept at doing repairs. We had our TT into the dealer to fix things as many as 3 times for the same thing and they just didn't know how to fix them.

Most things fail within the first year of ownership. We had a 2 year warranty and didn't need anything fixed that required a trip to the dealer - the things that did need attention were done by me. Make sure you get the TT into your dealer just before the warranty to get anything needing attention taken care of. If some things are being disputed by the dealer, make sure to keep a "paper" trail of emails. Took us almost one full year before the dealer finally agreed to fix the brakes on our first TT and they ended up doing a total rebuild shortly after the warranty expired. If we hadn't had a record of emails, wouldn't have been fixed.

Taking a TT into a dealer for work can take forever, especially during the camping season. Can take many weeks while it just sits on their lot waiting for factory authorization, waiting for parts to arrive and after the parts arrive, only then does the dealer schedule the work to suit their schedule. Better to learn how to fix things yourself.

Use some of the $2500 to buy some tools to keep in the TT. Use the balance to buy some cool RV accessories and upgrade things.

[eluwak]

I'm in the don't bother camp. We bought our 5 year platinum super duper plan for $1600 plus a $400 policy for a full refund if we never use it. Everything that has happened wouldn't have been covered. We get our $2k refund this October, which will go into the next TT purchase in January.

[downtheroad]

...and don't let the dealer scam you into the paint and upholstery protection package either.

[bob_nestor]

There are two primary reasons things fail: Infant mortality and breakage due to normal wear and tear or abuse. Infant mortality refers to things that break early in their life due to a manufacturing defect or because something slipped thru a quality control check. Normal warranties are designed to cover Infant Mortality issues.

Extended warranties are written to cover the second area of failures but are normally written to try and give the insurance provider enough wiggle room to get out of paying. So if they can show or prove that the failure was due to abuse they probably won't pay. If they can show that the failed item worked past it's average/normal/expected lifespan and that it just "wore out" they probably won't pay.

Some folks get a certain level of comfort in buying extended warranties, I'm not one of them. If it fails during the Warranty Period then it's covered. If it fails after that I figure it's normal wear and tear or some stupid on my part and I accept responsibility. That approach has worked for me and I suspect I've saved a lot of money not buying extended warranties over the years.