Purchase extended warranties, yay or nay??

[Maggot]

I think of it like this.


If you can not or do not like to work on a variety of systems and if you're not comfortable with ripping into something with no clue of what to do then a extended thingy may be good. I also think with the extended you need a mindset to deal with almost bureaucrat type people and be willing to hook up pull your rig to a strange lot and let it sit then have strangers do stuff vs just doing it yourself in your own driveway.


It also depends on how complex your rig is, a good old stick and tin rig is much doowaddle (jack of all master of none) friendly than one of the decked out fully loaded new fangled rigs.



Bottom line is this it is your money and if it helps you sleep at night the extended deals may be for you. It is a gamble one way or the other and only you know what you are willing, capabale and comfortable with.




Maggot
02 Chevy half ton

20 Puma 257RESS

[Vince and Charlette]

Put the money in the bank! Extended service plans (which aren’t warrantees) make a lot of money for insurance companies because their well researched statistics show you’re not likely to ever need it.

[moose074]

I bought the warranty not because I can’t fix my own trailer but because I usually don’t have the time or place to do bigger repairs. My thoughts are it added like $12 a month to my loan payment. We all know that recreational RVers never get all the money back. From August to November I will be making trailer payment, truck payment ( I wouldn’t own a diesel or Dually if I didn’t have the 5er) insurance on both plus storage fees and not get to use it once. Just those 4 months of payment could pay for really nice vacation. So for me not about the extra 12 a month it’s about peace of mind and having options.

[Retired1stTimer]

Originally Posted by Stlcaly

Got Good Sams 5 year deal but stopped paying after two. The two issues we had to pay for were not even close to the extended warranty cost.

we purchased the road hazard warranty from CW when we bought our TT in Feb 2018. we ended up having to use it 2 weeks ago when we had a blowout on the way back from tennesse on I-475 north of macon, ga. we also had road side assistance. got that taken care of and went to CW here south of ocala, fl and explained the situation, showed them my warranty papers. also informed them that I wanted to upgrade all 4 tires to goodyears. so they replaced the crap a** castle rocks and gave me a new GY as a replacement for the blown tire. yeah!!! the tire blowout did break my black water valve t-handle and had them replace that while it was there in service, so I paid for that. have to applaud this CW dealer, from the cost of the wdh to replacing the new tires, my unit was well taken care by these folks. a 3 day turn around for this service.

[txredfish]

I have owned different RV since 1997 and new cars since 1960. Never had an extended warranty on anything and never will. I feel I am way ahead.

[kenginn]

Ours has definitely paid off. When the extended warranty expires, the RV goes as well.

[Robo313]

I tried to use our warranty when the bolt holding one of our leaf springs separated from our trailer. The rear axle was loose and the chassis was rubbing on the tire and slide arm for unknown # of miles. We were returning to Michigan from Texas. I was told by the warranty people that the repair was not cover because- bolts and fasteners are NOT covered. I about fell over seeing that bolts and fasterners hold the unit together. Cost me 1200.00 for the repair.

[Northofu1]

Nay

[Daxinarian]

Buying a warranty is like going to the casino, some people really make good and “win” more than they paid, but most don’t. If you don’t look at individual cases and look at the bigger picture, the warranty company makes more money than they pay out (the house always wins). I would also suspect that even in incidents where an $1800 warranty pays for a $4200 repair, the warranty company probably didn’t actually pay $4200, but something much less due to an agreement with the repair facility in the form of discounts and/or rebates.
You are usually better off taking the money and putting it in the bank.

[Freetyme]

Never believed in extended warrenty on anything I've purchased. Had them on a couple things years ago and didn't need it. Any decent mfg is most likely to work with you on a componant complaint anyways. Probably an independent insurance co that gives dealers incentive to push their x-warrenty.

[nrkmann]

Normally do not buy any warranty as in general QC on most products is good. TTs have such poor QC that when we bought our used TT I bought the warranty. Two axels, four tires, a refrigerator, water leaks, etc. made it well worth the expense.

[Philkaty]

Originally Posted by Daxinarian

Buying a warranty is like going to the casino, some people really make good and “win” more than they paid, but most don’t. If you don’t look at individual cases and look at the bigger picture, the warranty company makes more money than they pay out (the house always wins). I would also suspect that even in incidents where an $1800 warranty pays for a $4200 repair, the warranty company probably didn’t actually pay $4200, but something much less due to an agreement with the repair facility in the form of discounts and/or rebates.
You are usually better off taking the money and putting it in the bank.

your right, sometimes it will pay off and sometimes not. you pay insurance on your cars and nothing happens, you don't get any of it back. I have used GS on our old RV and it paid off. I buy them on things for the house also and it paid off when the TV went out. It is a crap shoot...

[Daxinarian]

Originally Posted by Philkaty

your right, sometimes it will pay off and sometimes not. you pay insurance on your cars and nothing happens, you don't get any of it back. I have used GS on our old RV and it paid off. I buy them on things for the house also and it paid off when the TV went out. It is a crap shoot...

I have insurance on my house because of it’s value and how financially devastating it would be to loose it. Car insurance is similarly due to the extreme expense related to accidents (damage and personal injury) and I need a vehicle to go to work. I have insurance on the camper, too, based on the large expense of theft or an accident. A warranty is a different thing. If my refrigerator craps out I can pay to replace it out of pocket, or limp along with coolers and ice until I can afford to replace it. That’s true of almost everything a warranty would cover, and it doesn’t take very long for the saved premiums to cover the likely expenses.

[NewBlackDak]

I had it on my first(current) trailer. I was apprehensive about it having never owned on one. I saved about $1700 since I needed the 18’ awning replaced, the front axle, and all the brakes replaced in that time frame. It ran out last year, and I have since upgrade to a nicer converter, rebuilt a dinette booth, added shelving, added outlets, etc. I’m confident about working on it now, so I won’t get it on the next one.

[NMWildcat]

We usually dont buy extended warranty on anything. We did buy one for our current RV as we knew we were going to keep it awhile and it had all the bells and whistles (meaning more to break).
Did our research on 5 year policies. Figured the way RVs are built today, the chances of it paying for itself over 5 years were close to 100%.
Never buy a dealer related policy, especially one they are pushing. If you did buy one, you can usually get out of it.
Read ALL the fine print. A lot of them have clauses that make it easy for them to deny any claims. Like required maintenance at that particular dealer, and excluded groups of items.
We bought a five year Platinum policy from XtraRide. A true bumper to bumper. Covered everything but normal maint items like tires and brakes. And it did. They paid to repair/replace everything from trim and cabinets, to slide seals, hydraulic leveler jacks, cracked back bumper weld, failed electric recliner, to the air conditioner. We used it all over the country at dealers and independent shops. We never had a problem using it and I have never heard anything bad related to them. It paid at least double its cost.
So, it's like everything else, some folks have great experiences with a product, others despise them. Sometimes it just boils down to how much research you do ahead of time.
XtraRide Platinum worked for us and I would use them again.

[scottnlindsay]

We bought the 5 year warranty and glad we did. Payed for itself. It is not so much sometimes the cost of parts needed, it is the labor that adds up. $125-$150 HR, get costly.

[dougschne]

Typically don't purchase extended warranties but did purchase one on our current 5er and have used it to replace a leveler jack motor, $500 with $50 deductible. Wish I had purchased on my last truck. Would have saved about $14K. Just purchased a new truck with factory warranty. Dealer of course wanted to sell extended warranty @ $4k. Why would I buy something that I couldn't use for at least 3 years and up to 5 years and 100K miles. I'll wait and see before the warranty runs out. I would recommend on any used unit like an RV or truck. Yes, you never know, but if it does happen, can save big time.

[dcheatwood]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

No extended warranties for me. Perhaps OK for those who don't have the skills or desires to perform their own repairs but I prefer to do my own work wherever possible. This way I can get the work done according to MY schedule, not the Dealers.

A little secret (if you didn't already know), Extended Warranties and all the other add-on's the Salesman pushes when you buy your RV all put extra money in his/her pocket when added to the sale. Salesmen are even evaluated by their managers on their "Add-On Percentage" because it adds profit to the Dealer.

Bought mine 11 months after the RV so salesman didn't make anything. Of course someone did, but I expect someone to make money when I buy something. I didn't get it so someone else could do the work. I got it so I wouldn't have to pay $5000 for a new fridge, or $1000s more for converter, ac, hydraulic Jack's, v10 engine, transmission, etc. Most of which I could not do myself anyway. Its great that some people are wealthy enough to pay outright for these high dollar items and then repair or replace them, but for others of us $1800 is cheap insurance.

[Oaklevel]

We have never had use for an extended warranty. We bought our 1988 and spent $0 after the factory warranty, our 2006 spent $0 after the factory warranty, the 2013 sent $0 after the factory, 2017 spent $200 so far after the factory warranty so far.

[babock]

Originally Posted by dcheatwood

Bought mine 11 months after the RV so salesman didn't make anything. Of course someone did, but I expect someone to make money when I buy something. I didn't get it so someone else could do the work. I got it so I wouldn't have to pay $5000 for a new fridge, or $1000s more for converter, ac, hydraulic Jack's, v10 engine, transmission, etc. Most of which I could not do myself anyway. Its great that some people are wealthy enough to pay outright for these high dollar items and then repair or replace them, but for others of us $1800 is cheap insurance.

If you have enough money in the bank to replace these items, then you self insure. If you don't, you buy the insurance. It's a math problem! Probabilities vs cost of policy vs how much you can absorb risk.


Consumer reports did a survey and found that 65% of consumers spent more on the extended warranties than the cost of repairs. Have read that some extended warranties are 80% profit!