Warranty
The wife and I are starting the process of finding a travel trailer. We where wondering which ones have the best warranty. We thought that would be a good place to start.
Forum Discussion
Warranties with RVs are kind of tricky. The warranty isn't a complete bumper to bumper warranty like what you get with a new car. The standard warranty only covers the box that the RV manufacturer built. Things like the walls, roof, wood work, plumbing, floor, electrical, etc are covered in the event of a failure. Failures with the appliances, HVAC equipment, chassis and its components, even the tires are covered by their own separate manufacturer's warranty. The RV manufacturer has no obligation to repair or replace an item that's covered by separate manufacturer's warranty and often times they'll defer you to that manufacturer to get service. Your better companies will actually step up and just replace the part without putting you through that hassle.
The best manufacturers warranty is the one that you never have to use. Having a 2 or even 4 year warranty is great, but it's not so great if you're frequently using it. It's great that you don't have to pay for the repairs, but when your rig is in the shop for weeks on end throughout the year then it's no benefit to you. Once the warranty period expires and the failures continue, you'll be wishing that you never purchased the trailer. In other words find a better built trailer so that you don't have to use the warranty. You don't really know what to look out for now, but heavily educate yourself. Asking questions, as you have done here, is a good first step.
Also, the length of warranty doesn't necessarily equate to quality. Before we bought our Coachmen last year, we looked at a manufacturer that offered a longer warranty. We consistently found quality issues in every unit we went in. Almost all were minor, but the issues were blatantly visible. If they had not paid enough attention with the simple stuff, I'd hate to find out how they screwed up the big stuff. With Coachmen, every unit we went in, big or small, was made right as far as we could see. We opted to take a standard 1 year warranty in the hopes that we would rarely have to use it. Our warranty just expired and we only had one claim during the entire period. We had a lock that got stuck and it was replaced.
One last thing, the question you should ask yourself is what warranties should I avoid. Some companies have a history of hampering the warranty process or unfairly denying claims. Some would rather keep money in their pockets rather than stepping up and doing the right thing. I'm not dropping any names. Those owners can speak for themselves and they're pretty easy to find the stories if you search the forum. Find out which companies you should avoid.
The best manufacturers warranty is the one that you never have to use. Having a 2 or even 4 year warranty is great, but it's not so great if you're frequently using it. It's great that you don't have to pay for the repairs, but when your rig is in the shop for weeks on end throughout the year then it's no benefit to you. Once the warranty period expires and the failures continue, you'll be wishing that you never purchased the trailer. In other words find a better built trailer so that you don't have to use the warranty. You don't really know what to look out for now, but heavily educate yourself. Asking questions, as you have done here, is a good first step.
Also, the length of warranty doesn't necessarily equate to quality. Before we bought our Coachmen last year, we looked at a manufacturer that offered a longer warranty. We consistently found quality issues in every unit we went in. Almost all were minor, but the issues were blatantly visible. If they had not paid enough attention with the simple stuff, I'd hate to find out how they screwed up the big stuff. With Coachmen, every unit we went in, big or small, was made right as far as we could see. We opted to take a standard 1 year warranty in the hopes that we would rarely have to use it. Our warranty just expired and we only had one claim during the entire period. We had a lock that got stuck and it was replaced.
One last thing, the question you should ask yourself is what warranties should I avoid. Some companies have a history of hampering the warranty process or unfairly denying claims. Some would rather keep money in their pockets rather than stepping up and doing the right thing. I'm not dropping any names. Those owners can speak for themselves and they're pretty easy to find the stories if you search the forum. Find out which companies you should avoid.
