Extended Warranty - Yes or No?

[cdady]

Hello all. First time RV owner, and excited to be a part of that community.
We've just bought a new Keystone Hideout. My question is this:
When trying to decide weather or not to buy a TT, I spent several days reading forums and almost decided not to purchase due to all the problems I've read about.
It seems most of you are seasoned vets at this and so I value your opinions.
I did not purchase the extended warranty the dealer offered, but it is available to purchase for up to one year after my purchase.
It's expensive, (in the $2000.00 range), and I'm wondering if it would be prudent to purchase.
How many of you have purchased the ex. warranty, and will it pay for itself as my dealer has suggested?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

[THedges]

I personally wouldn't buy the extended warranty. You will be able to get all of the bugs out during your factory warranty period. I bought an extended warranty 2 TT's ago and never used it. I think the Keystones are well made.

Good Luck!

[jq1031]

Ok Mike, you asked! DON'T DO IT !!!!! If it were a motorized RV that may be different. For $2 grand you can fix or change out alot of small items. Like was said earlier, the first year is the time to "bitch" & get it fixed.
An extended waranty in my opinion for a TT is a waste of your hard earned dollars. JOE

[Maxzd]

Originally Posted by cdady

Hello all. First time RV owner, and excited to be a part of that community.
We've just bought a new Keystone Hideout. My question is this:
When trying to decide weather or not to buy a TT, I spent several days reading forums and almost decided not to purchase due to all the problems I've read about.
It seems most of you are seasoned vets at this and so I value your opinions.
I did not purchase the extended warranty the dealer offered, but it is available to purchase for up to one year after my purchase.
It's expensive, (in the $2000.00 range), and I'm wondering if it would be prudent to purchase.
How many of you have purchased the ex. warranty, and will it pay for itself as my dealer has suggested?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

So I did purchase extended Warranty, and did on my last new trailer. Mine was over $2000 dollars just under 5% of total purchase price. I bought extended warranty for four reasons.

1) I do sometimes on big ticket items where I plan to keep it longer than standard warranty and the potential for an expensive issue is there. I can fix things myself, but again it's an insurance policy just in case.

2) The Extended Warranty Company I purchased from offered an Optional Price Rebate for a slight premium. If no claims are made during the policy I get almost the entire amount back. So again for me, it will have to be something big or I'll fix it myself vs risking the price rebate.

3) Warranty is transferable. When we sold our last trailer (which was only 2 years old and had 5 years left on the extended warranty) I had more calls asking about the extended warranty then anything else. I guess for those new to RV's it was a comfort thing.. It sold fast, so I felt it was a selling feature over other people selling the same model on craiglist at the time.

4) Policy has Technical Service Hotline for issues, Trip Interuption insurance, towing, road service, lockout service. Again I don't plan to use any of them but it's there..

So for me, I felt it was justifiable. I plan on keeping the unit for up to 10 years but I said that with last trailer and it was less than 3. I have a payout if I don't use the warranty or I can apply the balance to the next new unit warranty. There are many purchases where I would never EVER consider it. I have bought it on a couple of electronics and it paid off. I bought it on a couple of electronics and it was overkill. The next RV purchase who knows if I will or not but like I said made sense to me but not for everyone.

[DTJ9610]

We just purchased a Laredo 303TG and bought the extended warranty as well. Our last trailer was a Jayco 17C (hybrid) and we didn't bother: 1) we didn't plan on owning for more than a few years (turned out to be 7mo..lol) and 2) just about everything on it was manual. The new traily is fully automated and I didn't want to take the chance of something going as we are planning on kepping this for quite a while (went big so we could grow into it).

[rturriff7]

We just bought the extended warranty on our Laredo 291TG. It's for 5 years, and fully refundable if not used (yes 100%). It was through RV wholesalers and they were asking 2299 for it and I ended up negotiating them down to 1799 which seemed much more reasonable.

[bmac2602]

We just bought a 2012 Passport 2580RL and we purchased the extended warranty. I normally don't buy the extended warranty, but figured that with all the bells and whistles this TT has on it, I'll eventually need it.

[Johnnyfry]

Frankly, I advise against all extended warranty packages ( except for Apple computer, for other reasons it is a good deal ).

I purchased the warranty on my 318SAB because my other half liked the idea that she would be covered if I met my untimely demise. Couldn't much argue that but overall it is a screw job. Limited coverage conditions and overall not likely to be collected upon.

These policies usually have a lot of conditions and legalese in the fine print making collection for any given fault unlikely without a lot of screaming, yelling and threat of a lawsuit. Not my cup of tea. They are also a big profit point for the dealer, especially after they have dropped their pants on the selling price!

It certainly gives some peace of mind, and if it accomplishes that, so be it.

John

[jaeloco]

Well, we bought it (new trailer yesterday). We didn't get it on our last trailer but we did only have it 3 years and used it only a handful of times each year. We plan to use this a lot and it makes us more comfortable knowing we have it just in case. Seems like on other items, whenever we pass it up, something expensive goes wrong so we didn't take the chance this time. LOL

[BWD]

Bump......one of my outside kitchen door struts ripped off the door during out last outing last year and I figured I'd wait to get it fixed as I was hurrying to winterize as I was cutting it close.

Same issues as described in this thread - http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/sho...ighlight=291tg

Now - I purchased the "Diamond" warranty which I believed was "bumper to bumper" coverage - to the tune of $2376.

I just got off the phone with my dealer - Windish - and it is NOT covered. The service guy explained to me that the warranties do not cover such things as doors. So - I called my salesman and asked what the deal was.

He explained to me that my "Diamond" warranty covers such thing as the AC burning up, Fridge going out, Range not working properly - mainly big ticket items. It does not cover things such as doors, bowed walls, roofing materials, sheet metal and fiberglass......

Apparently any coverage you get from Interstate Star RV - Platinum, Platinum Plus or Diamond - you may get the inclusions of the slide-out room, or water heater, but things like ceilings, cabinets, floors, walls, windows, caulking, all hardware, explosion/lighting/riot/acts of god......you get my drift......is not covered.

I will be doing my own check out of the entire camper in a few weeks before our first trip of the year. Water heater, furnace, AC etc............when im satisfied that everything is in working order, I am for sure cancelling. if something isnt working, we'll warranty it - then cancel.

I will bank the the payout from my warranty - and use it when something else breaks.

Just thought I would share my opinion about Extended Warranties. I totally feel like I had the wool pulled over my eyes and was lead to believe things that weren't true.

I will fix the door myself, which will probably be a better fix anyways.

Thanks guys - Ben.

[gkainz]

While I am personally very against extended Warranties, I'm sad to hear you feel Windish duped you into buying it. They offered the extended warranty to me when we bought ours, and provided a full packet of information on it. I declined and didn't get any pressure to purchase.

If I would have been even remotely interested in purchasing it, I would have scoured the coverage and exclusion information that was in the packet.

Sorry for your issues.

[Festus2]

Most of the appliances, water pump and heater and the A/C found in RV's already have a 2 or 3 years warranty from the factory resulting in coverage within that time frame should something go wrong. Many people set aside so much money each month or whatever and keep those funds for RV repairs and purchases rather than spending $2000 or more on an extended warranty, which as you so rightly pointed out, has more exclusions than inclusions.

[BWD]

Originally Posted by gkainz

While I am personally very against extended Warranties, I'm sad to hear you feel Windish duped you into buying it. They offered the extended warranty to me when we bought ours, and provided a full packet of information on it. I declined and didn't get any pressure to purchase.

If I would have been even remotely interested in purchasing it, I would have scoured the coverage and exclusion information that was in the packet.

Sorry for your issues.

Thanks for the kind words - I also edited my post. I dont believe it is overall Windish's fault - Bobby was an awesome salesman! I believe that it was the Finance guys fault and feel I was mislead. Oh well, whats done is done.

So to clarify - I'd buy again from Windish/Bobby personally, but would definitely NOT buy anything but the RV.

[gkainz]

Originally Posted by BWD

Thanks for the kind words - I also edited my post. I dont believe it is overall Windish's fault - Bobby was an awesome salesman! I believe that it was the Finance guys fault and feel I was mislead. Oh well, whats done is done.

So to clarify - I'd buy again from Windish/Bobby personally, but would definitely NOT buy anything but the RV.

Understood. As I read what I wrote, I now wonder if I would have caught all those "what's covered and what's not" in the info, or if I would have ended up in the same predicament as you?

I can commiserate, however, as my aversion for extended warranties is based on a very similar situation I found myself in. Transmission failure on a truck that was in some gray area between mfg drivetrain warranty and aftermarket extended warranty where somehow the weasel-wording of the contract turned a $0 deductible into a $500 deductible.

I was not amused.

[smiller]

Another problem with extended warranties for towables is that they often don't cover the problems that are most likely to give you headaches. Your refrigerator or converter or A/C might fail, but probably not, more likely issues are things like leaks, peeling decals, etc., and these types if items are usually not covered. Plus you have to consider the cost of the policy into any repairs, meaning that if you pay $2000 for a warranty and your air conditioner needs $500 worth of repairs and your refrigerator needs $1000 worth of repairs you haven't 'saved $1500', you spent an extra $500.

[SAABDOCTOR]

Hi all Having been in the automotive industry for ever,yep i am old, most dealers sell the after market warranties for 2+grand they pay less than 700. for that. it is one of the highest singel point proffets a dealer can make. I think hank said it earlier that take the 3 grand stick it in the bank and finance your own warranty repairs after the factory warranty expires. that money will go along way if you can do the repairs. just my opinion

[f6bits]

I bought my trailer slightly used. I had the dealer throw in the extended warranty after we agreed on a price for the trailer. During negotiations, I constantly brought up my concern of something failing as soon as I drove off the lot. I probably won’t need the warranty, but it’s much better than buying a practically new trailer with no warranty coverage.

My extended warranty is one year. I figure that if there aren’t issues in the first year, then I’m good to go.

[CincyGus]

I think the main points made are

1) Read the exclusions and inclusions of the warranty. Since this was not my first rodeo, I asked the saleman to provide me (he had to go get it from the finance guy) a copy of the contract I would be signing along with any other paperwork regarding the extended warranty for me to review prior to meeting with the finance guy. I had two days to review this before I went back in to meet the finance guy and knew more about what was covered and what was not than he did. I declined and when he started trying to talk me into it, I told him no thanks, it doesn't cover most of the things that it would likely be used for and the big ticket items are already covered under manufactures warranties.

2) Really evaluate if the cost/reward are worth it knowing the most expensive stuff is already covered for a year or 3 under the manuafactures warranty. Some people want that piece of mind or as one poster pointed it, it may be a selling feature if you plan on only holding the trailer for a year or two.

3) Don't be afraid to negotiate the price down. Or better yet, negotiate the extended warranty into the deal as the last trigger for you to say yes, we have a deal. Myself, I think I'd rather have a $200 shopping spree at the RV Parts store than an extended warranty but to each their own.

[smiller]

Originally Posted by CincyGus

... it doesn't cover most of the things that it would likely be used for and the big ticket items are already covered under manufactures warranties.

Bingo, that's the gist of it right there.

[jje1960]

We are on our third unit, have not purchased the extended warranty. They are expensive, almost prohibitive to us. Frankly, when we bought our current unit, they asked about the extended warranty... All I could think about was how we were dragged through the glass for making claims with our extended home warranty and they would not replace a dryer that required like 6 service calls.... by the time it was all done, we were just plain wore out, damage to our laundry room floor from a ya-hoo dropping a motor.... on n' on....Ended up just buying a new dryer ourselves and yelling 'UNCLE'.... Sooo, we continue to say no thanks to the extended warranty. That would include our 'Beast', the TV that we love!