Non-dealer warranty work

[LCrabtree]

Nearest dealer is a 2-hour drive (each way). :nonono: I called Keystone and they told me to have a local (15-minute drive) RV repair shop send them an estimate and they would approve repairs by that shop, up to what Keystone techs believe to be the proper $$ amount. When the local shop called Keystone he was told that they couldn't do the work, that it had to go to a Keystone dealer. :banghead:

When Owner Relations opens tomorrow I'm going to call them; however, does anyone have any ideas on how to get them to approve work by a non-Keystone shop? :confused:

Larry

[sourdough]

I'm sorry you're in that predicament but to my knowledge I've not seen or heard of Keystone allowing "non" approved dealers do authorized warranty repair work. Sounds like the first Keystone "rep" didn't have a clue - and from my experience, that is entirely possible.

[Pmedic4]

We faced a similar situation on a previous RV, where the closest authorized dealer was a 3+ hour trip away. Doing a little math, it doesn't take long to realize that at best towing my RV 6 hours and getting a wonderful 9 mpg, was going to cost me at least $125 in fuel just to fix several minor issues. This was assuming I was going to be able to stay locally using the RV, so add another $40 to the cost, and the if my typical luck held, they wouldn't have been able to get the work done in one day. Another alternative was towing there, leaving and returning home, only to go back a few days later to pick up the RV, which while give better fuel economy not towing, it still worked out to about $200 round trip.

A local shop charged $90 for the work, had it done in an hour and 15 minutes, and I was back home in 40 minutes afterwards. For the sum of, you guessed it, $125.

Personally I think it would have been worthwhile if the repair costs would have been up to $300 for my time and inconvenience hauling to the authorized warranty dealer.

[jbrosecity]

Yeah, we have a similar issue... Our 2019 Keystone Avalanche 382FL 5er takes a hefty truck to tow it and we don't own a pickup. We bought it on site about 3 months old. Keystone said the factory warranty is transferable, but I figured if we ever have any warranty issues, unless it is REALLY something major, it would be impractical at best to hire someone to tow it to the local dealer for warranty service, and KS said they do NOT pay for warranty work outside of authorized repair centers. Then it has be towed back when complete and carefully backed in up tight against the wood deck. No thanks... and we have to stay elsewhere in the meantime.

We have an excellent mobile tech here in the area, so I decided to purchase an Eagle Guardian Extended Warranty Plan from US Warranty Corp, one of the best (we have used them for 4 years on other rigs and always been extremely satisfied.) 7 year exclusionary coverage for $2145 and we can use it right from the get go and they will pay for the mobile tech, just not his small service call fee. Well worth the $$$, and if we sell the rig in less than 7 years, I can either get a pro rated refund or offer it to the buyer as a big incentive.