How often do things break??

[J8manski]

New to campers here. About to buy a 2018 Cherokee Wolf Pup 18TO(USED), and and offered extended warranty. There is currently no warranty on the camper being used. I find myself to be a very handy individual and physically fit(28yo male who plays sports). I have replace head gaskets on my old truck just from watching utube and reading online, have done a ton of electrical and plumping in my house. I am very handy and can usually figuring out a lot of stuff on my own. I am a machinist who owns his own machine shop. However campers are new territory to me. I have done research into them to know how stuff works and how to keep it working as long as possible. But I still cant really find anywhere where people say how often things break. Like slide motors, do they break within 5 years usually? What about fridges, water heaters and heaters? If taken care of and always properly leveled, does this stuff tend to break? The fridge is the one item I am worried about as it is not some I can repair. I can replace it myself. But could cost $1500 in parts from what I read? But if fridges dont normally break within 5 years if properly cared for(leveled when used), then Id see no reason in a warranty. Do slides need to be removed to replace slide motors? Those are cheap items that may not be something I could replace if the slide needs to come out. I guess I am more worried about these BIG ticket items. Do they commonly break withing 5 years? I have seen campers where people have them for 15 years with no issues. I am trying to save money here, and Its hard to justify a $2k warranty that will be up near $3K after my 12 yr financing for a 5 yr warranty. Thats nearly 25% the cost of the camper. I know I will see people to say to buy it. But I also know a lot of people aren't as handy, or want to be handy, or can be handy due to physical constraints. I am willing to jump in head first with any repair. But, if it comes to a fridge, or a slide that needs to be removed, I may be out of luck. I hope this makes sense? I sort of was all over the place there lol

[B and B]

Don"t, the biggest item as you mentioned is he Fridge. On my last Fifth Wheel I just traded I bought 7 years and getting money back. I bought because of a large 18 cu ft Norcold that had known issues. New Fifth wheel we take delivery of Friday has residential refrigerator so I am not buying one. Slide motors are cheap to replace and you don't need to remove the slide. If Schwintek slide 1 screw does it. Make sure under your 1 year warranty you go though everything, I had bad harnesses on a 2012 Schwintek slide system they replaced twice.

Good luck and being handy is the best Insurance.

Camp On

[Iwritecode]

I know they've done studies and found that on average, warranties aren't worth it.

If you're fairly handy, take the money you would've paid for the warranty and stick it in a savings account. Then if something does happen to break, use that money for the repairs. After 5 years, you'll more than likely come out ahead.

[HangDiver]

Don't buy the warranty. Make any repairs yourself.

[bigmurph]

I would say no. You need to look at the fine print. A lot of times they dont cover the big expense items or only cover some cost of other items. Put the money you would have spent on the warranty in a camping savings account and let it be there when you need it. Fix the things you can or find a good local Rv repair facility near you for the other items. Happy camping.

[Bama Rambler]

X whatever! Don't buy the insurance contract, because that's all it is.

Besides the stuff listed above, those contracts usually require paid for maintenance at regular intervals done by authorized dealers and that adds even more expense to the contract.

We had our last RV 10 years and it had the original fridge and A/C in it when we sold it. They both still worked. So you never know how long they will last.

[oldsmasma]

I'd say don't buy the warranty. DH is like you - a tradesman who can figure just about everything out. In the 6 years since we bought our motorhome it has never been back to the dealer. We have 3 slides and he replaced one slide motor once. A pretty quick and cheap fix. A broken wire in the convection microwave was right up his ally and fixed over a beer. That's it! He's spent FAR more time on my wants (new flooring and backsplash for example) than on any moho needs.

[jtesta1]

Things will only break if you need to use them. I have a warranty but end up fixing what needs fixed by myself. It usually takes forever for warranty work to be done. Most everything is just common sense repairs. YouTube has a lot of self help videos for rv repair. Have fun camping.

[richp]

Hi,

Slightly off topic, but a purchase with that long a payment schedule is likely to seem like a millstone around your neck after a while.

Not saying not to do it, but think about how long you will be under water -- obligated to payments on an asset of continually declining value.

FWIW.

Rich Phillips

[GreenImp]

Another reason to skip the warranty and repair yourself (for those who can) is quality of work and waiting for service/parts. When you are doing your own work you don't have to wait for anybody and can get your parts from anywhere you choose. Some people have missed out on entire camping seasons due to warranty work.

[Bluepill]

I have calculated that I have saved ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS over the past 50 years ($2K a year) by not buying all the extended service plans offered on appliances and vehicles. Put that into a safe & simple investment and it comes out to maybe a quarter of a million dollars. My actual out-of-pocket expenses have been less than a thousand dollars during that time. Looks like I got all three of my RVs for free.

My Dad advised me "Always insure against the large loss, but self-insure against losses that you can pay for out-of-pocket"

Thanks for the good advice, Dad.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Since you are handy, young and know how to repair stuff from watching videos online, you probably don't need a warranty. As someone else said, warranty work will usually keep your rig in the shop for long periods of time.

That being said, it's a roll of the dice as to whether you'll need repairs on that rig. It really depends on how the previous owner treated the rig.

[Freetyme]

Not much a handyman can't fix on a rv. If major items failed that easily, I wouldn't even buy one. I'd keep my money. Inspect now and then. Tighten what's loose, lube what's needed , fix what's leaking before it becomes a problem.

[NMWildcat]

Well, there are several reasons RVs this new are sold as used. One is, the previous owner had issues with it and got rid of it. Another is that the owner quickly found they just needed something different. It's just a gamble for the next buyer, as you have no idea of the real history of the unit when buying from a dealer.

Being new to RVing, an extended warranty might be a good idea. But being handy at DIY, you might be able to fix everything yourself. Again, a gamble.

We usually stay away from extended warranties in all forms. I'm also an avid DIYer. We did chose to get an extended five year warranty from XtraRide, platinum version for our current RV, as it was new with lots of new tech. We did refuse the dealer related warranty with all the caveats. XtraRide worked very well, and more than paid for itself. We used it all over the country. Read all the fine print.

But another tidbit of advice, DO NOT take your unit to a dealer for service you can't do yourself, especially warranty. Take it to an independent service only shop. They will almost always work directly with the extended warranty service, and you will be much happier.

Oh, and stuff breaks or needs adjustment constantly

Good luck in your decision and enjoy your new RV!

[CincyGus]

I'm a 57YO who is handy but not as handy as you ( I can handle electrical and minor plumbing and decent carpenter) and I don't have shop to work out of.
I've never bought a warranty on two new and 1 used camper and have never regretted it. If you do things the right way, do your inspections quarterly or so, your likely to be just fine.

Check your roof about every 2-3 months. Catching potential leaks is the biggest thing that can turn your investment into a nightmare if you get water intrusion.
Monitor your batteries, condition your seals for your slideouts, lube your slideout and stabilizers, hitch, tongue jack and other moving parts a couple times a year. Clean everything outside (Frig compartment, water heater compartment, storage areas, etc.) once in the spring and once in the fall. I use a damp rag and compressed air generally.

Most of the stuff I've had to fix is small stuff. Door that won't latch and stay shut going tot he bedroom. Something out of alignment. Fuse for the radio blown due a s loose wire shorting out. screws backing out inside the camper that need tightening. Baby stuff. I've spent way more time and money putting in upgrades than doing repairs.

Overall, I'd say the the quality of the materials/appliances isn't bad. The problem is was it installed well? If it's a used camper and everything is working fine and operates correctly, you're likely safe from major component failure. Just check for water damage closely and hope nothing wears out.

[J8manski]

Thank you all for all the advice! This is more or less what I was looking for. Its hard search this question as most of the time when I see "extended warranty" in a search, its people who are set in buying one and are looking for the best one, or people who have extended warranties and are trying to use it. I am glad that so many people on here have not really had any issues that made them regret not buying the warranty. I read the fine print, and I see what "should" be covered, but I do know they still find ways around sadly. Aside from talking about if this warranty is like that or not, my main question was if I should get one. And it seems as if most people (who have responded so far that is), think I would be safe not getting one. Someone mentioned I do not know how well it was taken care of before by previous owner, which is a gamble; I agree. However only being 1 year old, I really hope they couldnt have messed it up that much...... guess I will see.

To the person who said that 12 years is a lot of time to finance and being upside down and what not. We plan to pay it off sooner then the pay date. We chose a cheaper price tag to keep payments low, but plan to pay more then that monthly towards principle to pay off sooner. But if anything were to happen to the wife or I, we can fall back to the lower monthly payment and not have to worry about late fees or losing our camper and hurting our credit score. We built in our own safety net I guess you could call it. Thank you though for the input, its nice to see people looking out for others.

I will still keep my eye on this and see what others chime in and say though. I just want to hear from a random assortment of people from around the country and not just from my in-laws and theyre friends. Not saying I dont listen to them or care what they have to say. But you get 1 person who has a bad experience with a camper, and itll turn the whole group of friends into insisting you NEED a warranty because JOE had a bad experience with his camper..... and they didnt mention that JOE doesnt know how to level his camper and thats why he bent his slide rack or something(not sure if thats a thing, but sounds like it could be hahaha). Thanks to everyone for your input so far!

[DouglasReid]

Originally Posted by HangDiver

Don't buy the warranty. Make any repairs yourself.

X2. My advice to you now is to save ur money and spend it when you NEED to on repairs.

Make sure on your PDR you do a VERY thorough inspection, including the roof, all the edges and all the seams/penetrations. Water is a HUGE enemy so stop problems before they become problems.

My previous camper needed a reefer when I bought it. The cooling unit and the board are the two items that typically fail. IF you are handy,, you CAN do the repairs yourself.

You can buy a cooling unit here for less than 1/3 the cost of replacement reefer:
https://www.rvcoolingunit.com/

They will send you a copy of their "How To" before you buy if you ask. The biggest deal is getting the unit sealed on the back of the box when you install it.

[Rookiewood]

Handy? do not buy !
Not handy? buy it !
I don't have one.....

[njfishing]

I’m with everyone else here. If you’re handy you can probably do a better job fixing things and fix them in a more timely manner then most RV shops. Save the money you’d have spent on the extended warranty and use that to insure yourself against any major appliance failures.

[pdqparalegal1]

Go into the F&I office with the idea of saying NO to everything they offer except the money you need to purchase the unit. Pay close attention yo thebinterest charged You may want to finsnce elsewhere.
Good luck