Brand new - "AS IS" ??

billb800si · 05-25-2013, 03:07 AM

Here's a new twist on buying a brand new RV. Yesterday I pick up our new 2014 Cougar H.C. 321RES and when signing the paperwork I'm handed a sheet entitled, "Service Call Agreement". In the body of this letter I'm required to sign is says,
" It is important for you to be aware of the Manufacturer's warranty policy regarding your recreational vehicle/unit since General RV sold it to you "AS IS" and since General RV does not issue any warranties whatsoever, express or implied, and because all warranties received by you are solely issued by the manufacturer of your recreational vehicle/unit"..
Now this is from the largest family owned RV Dealer in the U.S. (offices in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Utah and Florida)

So when purchasing from General RV be aware of your rights or lack thereof.

Happy trails,
Bill B. (Michigan)

Lost · 05-25-2013, 03:29 AM

Congratulations on your new Cougar

The "Service Call Agreement" that you signed sounds to me that General RV wouldn't cover something that is already covered by a manufacture warranty such as your heater, frig, awnning, etc.. I do question the "AS IS" part, but you only posted a small insert of the service call agreement that you signed.

Bob Landry · 05-25-2013, 03:52 AM

I would be a little concerned. When you buy a vehicle from a dealer and there is a sticker that says "As Is", that generally means that there is no warranty whatsoever. I'm wondering why this dealer feels compelled to emphasize the warranty is from the manufacturer.

jsmith948 · 05-25-2013, 05:25 AM

Agree with Bob - I think I would have left the trailer there and looked elsewhere. Although, maybe it's better to have the dealer tell you uo front that he isn't going to honor the warranty

Festus2 · 05-25-2013, 06:56 AM

My interpretation of the "AS IS" document tells me that if there is something wrong with your new Cougar RES, you'll have to go talk to Keystone, the manufacturer, about getting it fixed, not us. While it is true that RV dealerships don't hand out warranties, it seems unusual that they would require you to sign something in which you acknowledge that they don't warranty the unit.

From what I see here, it doesn't say that they won't do any required warranty work but I would certainly want to know if they will do it if they get approval from Keystone. Since you bought the Cougar from them, you should expect that they would do any warranty work.

MISailor · 05-25-2013, 07:11 AM

General RV in Wayland has done warrantee work for me even though we did not purchase our TT from them. In fact, they did so cheerfully and promptly. So as odd and scary as the agreement may have sounded, now that the deal is done I would not lose sleep over it.

**hankpage** · 05-25-2013, 07:31 AM

It sounds like some form of legalese to me. I am sure that they will honor Keystones warranty as long as Keystone pays them. If Keystone denies a claim they assume no responsibility. As long as you received the written warranty from Keystone and all the components, I would not be concerned. The dealer has no control over a manufacturer going out of business or not honoring it's warranty. JM2¢, Hank

Javi · 05-25-2013, 07:42 AM

Sounds like they are gun shy and want to provide legal documentation releasing themselves from any implied or legislated responsibility to the buyer in regard to the serviceability, cosmetics, or functionality of any part of the RV....

Probably been sued at least once by some customer that wasn't satisfied with the outcome of a warranty issue from the manufacturer and the customer took it out on the dealer...

Doesn't mean they won't warranty any work they perform, just that they won't be held legally responsible for the workmanship of others...

**JRTJH** · 05-26-2013, 06:33 AM

It does sound like some kind of "legaleze" in which the dealer is trying to get you to sign a document that you acknowledge that the warranty is not from them but from Keystone. So..... when (if) something happens and the RV can't be repaired satisfactorily, should you hire an attorney and sue, you'll be suing Keystone, the entity that provided the warranty, not General RV, the entity that sold the vehicle.

Probably, they have some past experience where they got sued because of a problem with an RV and wound up with Keystone getting out of the suit and General RV wound up footing the bill and having to repair/replace the RV without any financial help from Keystone.

I'd think it's a double edged sword. It protects General RV, gives you notice not to sue them if the RV fails somehow and points you to Keystone for any help. I'm not sure that's the kind of dealer I'd want standing behind me, making thousands of dollars from my purchase and then having me sign a document acknowledging that they don't have any responsibility to help me fix my broken RV if Keystone skips town.......I don't think I'd sign it and I'd probably check out the competetion to see what kind of documents they have in their final customer sales agreement.

howdy · 05-26-2013, 07:46 AM

Did you ask them to explain that form to you before you signed it so you understood what you were agreeing to?

theeyres · 05-26-2013, 08:53 PM

So did you sign? What did they say that phrase meant? Sounds to me like they are just saying that they offer no warranty. Period. They will honor Keystone's warranty but they won't pick up anything that Keystone denies.

Javi · 05-27-2013, 04:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theeyres

So did you sign? What did they say that phrase meant? Sounds to me like they are just saying that they offer no warranty. Period. They will honor Keystone's warranty but they won't pick up anything that Keystone denies.

I would not expect them to, they did not manufacture the product... All I would expect is timely service and that they go to bat for me with the manufacturer, but when the claim is denied and the dealer has expended all avenues available, they have met any responsibility to me....

Now if it was work they performed such as installation of roof vents, jacks, levelers or awnings then I would expect that the actual labor be covered if the installation was incorrect. But if the product fails, that is the fault of the manufacturer and all the dealer owes me is to act as an agent to facilitate the warranty process..

billb800si · 05-27-2013, 03:03 PM

Well, I guess it's like the car dealers. They don't warranty the car the manufacture does.
Does seem ironic that they get a big commission for taking an order and not warrantying what they sold.
Oh well such is life..
As long as someone does the warranty work I'll be happy.
Happy trails,

tileman · 06-02-2013, 05:37 AM

We got our new 5th wheel last may 2012 from General RV here in fl.
Been happy with what they have done for me so far.

Had the unit for maybe 6 months and about 4,600 miles on it and the rubber roof had to be replaced. I took it back to the dealer and took maybe 4 weeks to fix and they or keystone replaced some wet wood and the whole rubber roof.

I would buy from them again.

Here's a link to my roof fix.
http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7832

billb800si · 06-02-2013, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tileman

We got our new 5th wheel last may 2012 from General RV here in fl. Been happy with what they have done for me so far.
Had the unit for maybe 6 months and about 4,600 miles on it and the rubber roof had to be replaced. I took it back to the dealer and took maybe 4 weeks to fix and they or keystone replaced some wet wood and the whole rubber roof.I would buy from them again.
Here's a link to my roof fix.
http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7832

===========================
Tileman,
Glad to hear they did right by you. I'm working with two branches of General RV ( Birch Run & Wixom, Michigan). Both have so far went out of their way to accommodate. Looks like General has greatly improved their customer service.
Happy trails,
Bill B. (Michigan)

Lost · 02-02-2014, 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billb800si

Here's a new twist on buying a brand new RV. Yesterday I pick up our new 2014 Cougar H.C. 321RES and when signing the paperwork I'm handed a sheet entitled, "Service Call Agreement". In the body of this letter I'm required to sign is says,
" It is important for you to be aware of the Manufacturer's warranty policy regarding your recreational vehicle/unit since General RV sold it to you "AS IS" and since General RV does not issue any warranties whatsoever, express or implied, and because all warranties received by you are solely issued by the manufacturer of your recreational vehicle/unit"..
Now this is from the largest family owned RV Dealer in the U.S. (offices in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Utah and Florida)

So when purchasing from General RV be aware of your rights or lack thereof.

Happy trails,
Bill B. (Michigan)

I just found out from a friend of mine that he bought a NEW trailer and they signed the "AS IS " amendment. Just after the initial one year warranty ran out they found a major issue with their new trailer. Come to find out the trailer was repaired from a vehicle (trailer) accident and the repair failed over time. The trailer was sold as new without disclosing any repair work what so ever. The repair was fixed for free, but beware of buying a new trailer if they require you to sign a "AS IS" amendment.

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