Good Sam Warranty: Good deal OR waste of money.

[csc]

Do many have and like this? Waste of money. We have an extended warranty on our Forest River Salem Cruise lite, but when that runs out.....THOUGHTS APPRECIATED.

[HappyCamper1962]

You will get a lot of opinions for and against the Good Sam Warranty, and if you are inclined to get it, check out all of the other options before doing so.

Having said that, I had the Good Sam Warranty on my last Starcraft, thinking it would be our last downsize for a long while. As it turned out, I hated that camper, it was the lowest quality Jayco product I'd ever had and that wet bath was a total dealbreaker. I was able to get nearly a full refund of my Good Sam Warranty when I traded it, so I have no complaints about that, but I will say that my service technician told me that the Good Sam Warranties are not worth the cost and that it is very hard for them to get a claim approved. And this technician is very knowledgable and was very Pro-CW, having worked there for many years. So take that for whatever it's worth.

When purchasing new, CW is very pushy about selling you the extended warranty when you sign your close-out papers but don't give in until you have had time to do all of your research and make your own decision.

[pgandw]

Any extended warranty is a profit-maker for the companies involved - or they wouldn't sell them. And it's enough of a profit-maker that the insurance company that backs the warranty can afford to pay commissions to selling groups and dealerships - and still make a profit.

How worthwhile the service (extended warranty) is depends on how the buyer uses it. Some factors to consider:

- What is actually covered by the policy? Some policies cover structural defects; some don't. Some require annual maintenance in addition to the premium at an authorized location to keep in force; some don't.
- How much warranty work are you going to end up doing yourself just because you fix things on your own when they break, or you make improvements that invalidate the warranty?
- Are you disciplined enough to self-insure? Take what the premium would cost you and set it aside in a savings account. Take out and pay cash for what would have been a covered repair. You will normally have money left in your savings account.

just our thoughts and experiences - we normally self-insure after the initial factory warranty
Fred W
2019 Flagstaff T21TBHW A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time

[HappyCamper1962]

[QUOTE=pgandw;1987528]- Are you disciplined enough to self-insure? Take what the premium would cost you and set it aside in a savings account. Take out and pay cash for what would have been a covered repair. You will normally have money left in your savings account.


Another thing to look for is what is required of YOU in order to keep the warranty intact. Often times there are requirements for maintenance or other items that you may or may not think to do or think is necessary, and yet when you attempt to make a claim against the warranty, it is not documented that you followed all the rules and hence no paid claim.

[spock123]

I brought a five year warranty from Camping World that was not any good, I paid two thousand bucks for nothing. I have brought warranties from the dealership that sold me my truck and they were great, saved me money. Forest River use to have the best warranty around but they stopped selling the second year warranty

[Oops]

We have always self insured and never paid for extended warranties on anything. There are times when I’m sure it has bit us but overall thru the years we come out way ahead!
They wouldn’t offer them if they weren’t planning they would make profit on them....
Several of your appliances etc will probably have a 2 year on them the manufactures also. No need for double coverage

[DKRITTER]

I haven't done any business with Good Sam/Camping World in a couple of years.

I have an extended warranty now and so far it's been a waste of money. I tried to get one of the a/c's replaced this last summer and it came in just below the limit so they wouldn't pay for it. I think in the future I'm going to pocket the $$ and use it as I see fit.

I heard somewhere that almost all of the money you pay for a warranty goes to marketing costs and only a little to repairs.

[denisgr]

I bought a new FR travel trailer in 2015 and it came with a lifetime warranty. Catch was you needed to have it inspected and repaired by either the dealer or a repair shop approved by the dealer. I took it back for the initial inspection and had a few warranty items repaired, however several items that I thought should have been covered were not. These items were cosmetic so I didn't get too worked up over it but when I finally read the warranty document I found that there are a lot of things not covered and some that will not be covered due to normal wear and tear. So I didn't keep the warranty, inspections costs and time in the shop didn't seem worth it to me.

Also, most of the repairs that I had to get done in the last couple of years came up were when we were on the road, couldn't find an approved repair shop so I did them myself.

[DKRITTER]

I just realized I too belong to the,

I did it myself extended warranty network.

[spudston]

I have been offered those extended warranties many times and have yet to be offered the written terms and conditions for one. The sellers know if you see the exclusions you probably won’t buy. Such as: The failure of a covered part due to the failure of a covered part. Think of the many was a part can fail and damage another part. Or sealants. Probably not covered at all. Or rot. The exclusion list goes on an on. Save your money.

[aceinspp]

Yep wast of money. Save the money you would have spent on the warranty and use it your self for any repairs you may need to do if your unable to do. Later RJD

[Mark S.]

So I guess you can cancel these at anytime and get your money back. The dealers never takes care of the warranty work for the first year anyway.

[Houston Remodeler]

We too had purchased the Ultra-Deluxe Platinum level Supreme Good Sam coverage.

We found it to be next to useless. We were told we would go directly to the front of the repair line when we needed service. After waiting 3 months to get our TT back we knew we had been hosed.

We found it far less stress, far easier, to make the repairs ourselves.

We will never buy an extended warranty again.