ok all you longtime experienced RVers, what kind of problems have you encountered with mechanical breakdowns that would make an extended warranty a good thing to have? i did get what i think is a really good offer from Wholesale Warranty from our web-site, but i fix just about everything myself. took the slide from our travel trailer completely off, installed new flooring re-installed slide,etc...... any advice on the subject will be greatly appreciated, thanks we have a 2011 Montana Mountaineer mark
Lucky Mike said
05:18 PM Nov 21, 2012
I Drive a D/P Coach so warranty wise my needs can get complicated quick, but to the "do it yourself Type" it probably doesnt seem cost effective.
When you do your own repairs , most do not keep track of time spent doing it.......nor do they take into account sitting on the side of the road with a broken spring or axle..............most campgrounds and RV parks frown on you doing major repairs........if you are fulltiming and end up in in a bad position it will cost big bucks if no coverage is available..
insurance is one of those things that you have to have but most of the time never get to use!
As your unit gets older its going to need more and more work......as you get older you are going to try to do less and less!!!
Raytronx said
06:19 PM Nov 21, 2012
One aspect of our extended warranty that I liked was it was transferable. So if we want to sell the rig it should help that there is some warranty on it. Also it is piece of mind that while traveling far from home base and something major fails it can be fixed. If I did a lot of local trips close to a home I may not have bought it given that I would have more time to fix it myself or at least shop around for the best price.
NorCal Dan said
09:16 PM Nov 21, 2012
Another DP owner, I can tell you that our extended warranty was well worth the price. The biggest and most expensive repair was replacing our Norcold 1210LRIM refrigerator. Total cost was well north of $5k. Another big ticket item was replacing the slide seal on our super slide that cost just under $3k. Plus many smaller fixes like new thermostats on the hot water heater, new control board for the rear furnace, new hydraulic reservoir and pump for the leveling system. Things do break and will need fixing. Some problems you can fix yourself if your handy, but most items for RV's are expensive to purchase even if you do the labor. I paid $50 for each fix I mentioned. I bet the thermostats for the HWH would cost more than $50 to buy.
I purchased the 7 year ext warranty just before the Monaco 1 year warranty expired and paid a little over $3k. It is also transferable if we sell the coach. As you can see it was a very good decision for us. Some people say to take the money you would spend on the warranty and put it in the bank and use it to fix things that break. That's fine if you have the knowledge of how all systems work on your rig and the tools to do the job and enjoy that kind of thing. I prefer to let the experts fix the expensive things on the coach.
vairman said
02:37 AM Nov 22, 2012
I have been struggling with the same decision. We just picked up a 2013 Lifestyle 5er. We traded in a Carriage Cameo with chronic slideout problems that seem to be very time-consuming (read costly) to repair which makes me a bit gun-shy. When you add other high cost items like generator, Frig and Washer/dryer an extended warranty seems to make sense. If I don't use it over the 7 year period, I think that I will consider myself lucky. My question is whether to get the coverage now or wait until the initial manufacturer warranty is ended. The 2 considerations for me is that the manufacturer slipped in a clause to the limited warranty to not cover slideout adjustments and the cost will almost certainly go up as the unit ages.
So I am anxious to hear the advice of the group.
Mark
Lucky Mike said
02:45 AM Nov 22, 2012
getting it now is cheaper......your original warranty will carry it full term and your extended picks up where that one ends..........but check other options besides the dealer , sometimes a little shopping gets better coverage and lower prices.
my suggestion would be to PM Howard and see what that warranty has to offer, at least it will give you something to compare it to!!
Racerguy said
02:48 AM Nov 22, 2012
Extended warranties are probably worth it BUT.....read every inclusion and exclusion very carefully. I got burned on one because I didn't read close enough and every Da** thing I filed a claim for was either not covered or covered at a reduced rate.To be clear this was not on an RV but a vehicle but the warning still holds.
Terry and Jo said
03:42 AM Nov 22, 2012
Racerguy gives good advice.
We have had extended warranties in the past on both vehicles and RV's. Like Racerguy, the one on the vehicle wasn't worth much. However, we found that the one on the RV was good for us. It was on a 26-foot fifth wheel and the television went out. The warranty covered it and when we got the repair receipt with the zero balance, it also showed that the television was very expensive (as many parts on RV's are) and we benefitted a lot. In addition, when we traded the 26-footer for our current 38-footer, we were refunded the prorated balance of the warranty.
Our current RV has a warranty and when we had problems with our RV refrigerator, we checked into the warranty and it would cover either repair or replacement of the refrigerator. As Norcal Dan mentioned, that would have been a lot. However, since we didn't want to have to deal with problems again with an RV refrigerator in the "not-too-distant" future, we opted to replace it with a residential refrigerator. Even though the residential refrigerators cost a lot less than the RV units, the warranty would not have covered replacement with a residential.
Considering the number of "systems" and appliances on an RV that would be expensive to replace, the warranty makes sense to us.
Terry
Mark Serley said
03:46 PM Nov 22, 2012
thanks for all the info, it is obvious that an extended warranty makes sense. i talked to the rep from Wholesale Warranty because i'm in florida, told him my mnfc warranty runs til feb '13, but he suggested getting warranty before end of year as rig will be considered one year older after jan 1. really great coverage, about $1500 for 7 years coverage and transferable too! seems like a no brainer. love this site! mark
Jo And Craig said
06:50 PM Nov 22, 2012
Mark, whatever you do, don't forget to mention "RV-Dreams"! Howard would very much appreciate that.
Correction: Oops! I see you are in Florida. Was just trying to help Howard get the credit.
Good luck!
-- Edited by Mary Sunshine on Thursday 22nd of November 2012 06:52:56 PM
53 Merc said
07:06 PM Nov 22, 2012
Search the forum, Howard put a lot of good information here about the value of extended warranties. The search engine is a valued tool. Howard is also a great tool. His middle name is Research you know.
Howard said
10:40 AM Nov 23, 2012
Check out our webpage on RV Extended Warranties. I'm not a fan of extended warranties in general; however, they can make a lot of sense on RVs as repairs can be quite pricey and it's difficult for folks to set aside that kind of money in savings.
I developed the page above to help provide information on extended service contracts, the pros, the cons, how they work, what expectations one should have, and how to get the most out of them. There certainly are profits built into the ones sold by dealers, but that's why we represent Wholesale Warranties as they eliminate a lot of the fluff profit and they have a back office to assist with warranty disputes.
So, an RV extended warranty can be great for peace of mind IF you get good value and you understand how they work and what they are supposed to cover.
Mark Serley said
11:01 PM Nov 24, 2012
yes, thanks howard,great info and pretty good deal with Wholesale Warranties, thanks for all of it. mark
ok all you longtime experienced RVers, what kind of problems have you encountered with mechanical breakdowns that would make an extended warranty a good thing to have? i did get what i think is a really good offer from Wholesale Warranty from our web-site, but i fix just about everything myself. took the slide from our travel trailer completely off, installed new flooring re-installed slide,etc...... any advice on the subject will be greatly appreciated, thanks we have a 2011 Montana Mountaineer mark
When you do your own repairs , most do not keep track of time spent doing it.......nor do they take into account sitting on the side of the road with a broken spring or axle..............most campgrounds and RV parks frown on you doing major repairs........if you are fulltiming and end up in in a bad position it will cost big bucks if no coverage is available..
insurance is one of those things that you have to have but most of the time never get to use!
As your unit gets older its going to need more and more work......as you get older you are going to try to do less and less!!!
I purchased the 7 year ext warranty just before the Monaco 1 year warranty expired and paid a little over $3k. It is also transferable if we sell the coach. As you can see it was a very good decision for us. Some people say to take the money you would spend on the warranty and put it in the bank and use it to fix things that break. That's fine if you have the knowledge of how all systems work on your rig and the tools to do the job and enjoy that kind of thing. I prefer to let the experts fix the expensive things on the coach.
So I am anxious to hear the advice of the group.
Mark
my suggestion would be to PM Howard and see what that warranty has to offer, at least it will give you something to compare it to!!
Racerguy gives good advice.
We have had extended warranties in the past on both vehicles and RV's. Like Racerguy, the one on the vehicle wasn't worth much. However, we found that the one on the RV was good for us. It was on a 26-foot fifth wheel and the television went out. The warranty covered it and when we got the repair receipt with the zero balance, it also showed that the television was very expensive (as many parts on RV's are) and we benefitted a lot. In addition, when we traded the 26-footer for our current 38-footer, we were refunded the prorated balance of the warranty.
Our current RV has a warranty and when we had problems with our RV refrigerator, we checked into the warranty and it would cover either repair or replacement of the refrigerator. As Norcal Dan mentioned, that would have been a lot. However, since we didn't want to have to deal with problems again with an RV refrigerator in the "not-too-distant" future, we opted to replace it with a residential refrigerator. Even though the residential refrigerators cost a lot less than the RV units, the warranty would not have covered replacement with a residential.
Considering the number of "systems" and appliances on an RV that would be expensive to replace, the warranty makes sense to us.
Terry
Mark, whatever you do, don't forget to mention "RV-Dreams"! Howard would very much appreciate that.
Correction: Oops! I see you are in Florida. Was just trying to help Howard get the credit.
Good luck!
-- Edited by Mary Sunshine on Thursday 22nd of November 2012 06:52:56 PM
Check out our webpage on RV Extended Warranties. I'm not a fan of extended warranties in general; however, they can make a lot of sense on RVs as repairs can be quite pricey and it's difficult for folks to set aside that kind of money in savings.
I developed the page above to help provide information on extended service contracts, the pros, the cons, how they work, what expectations one should have, and how to get the most out of them. There certainly are profits built into the ones sold by dealers, but that's why we represent Wholesale Warranties as they eliminate a lot of the fluff profit and they have a back office to assist with warranty disputes.
So, an RV extended warranty can be great for peace of mind IF you get good value and you understand how they work and what they are supposed to cover.