Extended Warranties

[Arcrafts]

I recently purchased a 2021 Solitude 390RK. This was used for about 6 months by the precious owner. I am looking for advise for a extended warranty. I have gotten a quote from Good Sam and one from the dealer. I would appreciate any information one a warranty and are they worth purchasing. I have tried to contact Grand Design to see if the manufactures warranty is still in effect but have not had any contact back from them. Thanks in advance for any help.

[FT4NOW]

Welcome to the forum. You can search the forum for discussions on this, but I think the consensus is that you should put the money in the bank, not pay for an extended warranty.

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[Tuffy70]

I recently purchased a 2021 Solitude 390RK. This was used for about 6 months by the precious owner. I am looking for advise for a extended warranty. I have gotten a quote from Good Sam and one from the dealer. I would appreciate any information one a warranty and are they worth purchasing. I have tried to contact Grand Design to see if the manufactures warranty is still in effect but have not had any contact back from them. Thanks in advance for any help.

I recently recieved a quote from Wholesale Warranties. It is endorsed by Escapees. I'm still looking it over and I have not experience with estended warranties or if they are worth it. I generally don't purchase extended warrenties, but thought I would check them out.

Wayne

[Riverbug]

I suggest not buying one. They push them hard for a reason. Yes, some people get "lucky" and end up with a problem where the warranty actually paid for itself. But for most people they aren't going to get that "lucky", i.e., they aren't going to have a problem within the warranty period that allowed them to recoup what they put into it. Take your chances. If you have such a problem within what would have been the warranty term then just accept that the first $ hundreds or $ thousands you spend on the repair out of pocket would have been gone already if you purchased the warranty. Just my $.02.

[Redapple63]

I agree with the general consensus. Don’t buy one. Take that money and put it an account and let it work until you need it for a repair. I started with 1500 bucks, and added 100 bucks a month to it. Had plenty of money in place when I had to replace the cooling coils in the Dometic in my mh, or the fuel pump to the genny. It’s nice to have what I call the contingency cushion.

[Second Chance]

As @FT4NOW said, if you use the search function, you'll find many threads on this topic.

That said, my wife found a very good description of extended service plans a while back (they are not warranties, but rather insurance policies with lots of fine print). They are another form of legalized gambling. The company is betting that nothing breaks that would cause them to pay out more than you paid for the policy; you're betting it will. As in all forms of legalized gambling, the house usually wins. Otherwise, these companies wouldn't be in business or make a profit.

Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard have commented on these plans many times, too. The standard seems to be that 80% of extended service plan revenue goes toward commissions and marketing. Only 20% goes toward paying for actual repairs, which means most people are getting a really bad deal. We prefer to set money aside regularly (earning interest) and pay for repairs as they come up.

BTW - I see this is your first post. Welcome to the forum! You can create a signature block with your RV and tow vehicle information (see mine below). That way you won't have to repeat that information whenever you post or ask a question - and others won't have to ask. You can create a signature by going to:

Forum Actions (on menu bar) -> Edit Profile -> Edit Signature (under My Settings on the left)

Rob

[Overtaxed]

I agree with the others, but with one caveat. You have one important piece of information that the warranty company does not, how are you going to use your RV. If you're a typical user (a few weeks a year), the warranty company is basing their expected payouts on you, as others have said, you're gambling and the house will usually win. If you're going to use it 1 week a year, the house is going to almost always win.

However, if you're buying an RV and planning a 3 year, coast to coast, north to south extravagaza, well, in that situation, I'd probably buy a 3yr warranty. They don't know that you'll be using is 25X as much as a typical buyer, and their algorithms for expected repairs and costs will be incorrect in your use case. This situation is rather unique to towables, there's no odometer or "nights spent" counter, for an auto (or drivable), you'd find the warranty would be X years or Y miles. But without the "Y miles" part, you do have an opportunity to stack the deck in your favor for a towable. Again, this is going to be a tiny fraction of the population of warranty buyers, but, if it's your situation, I'd consider taking advantage of it.

You'll never beat the insurance company if you're a standard or rated risk. The only way to "win" is to have information they do not have that greatly increases their exposure but is still within the terms of coverage. A similar example would be homeowners insurance, if you know your neighbor likes to get really drunk and start bonfires that often are right on the edge of "out of control", you KNOW that you have a much higher risk of your house burning down than what the insurance company is expecting. You can use that to your advantage. But without that "insider info", it's almost always a bad deal for the consumer.

[goducks14]

Even if you do have a problem you have to prove that it wasn't your fault. Thats easy if a part breaks, like something in the slide out, but if you get roof, floor or wall issues then it's you against them as to what caused it.
Maintenance has to be up to their standards as well.

These companies don't go bankrupt very often.

[dryfly]

Please remember these RV extended warranties are not like factory automobile extended warranties. You can't just pull in to a dealer and say "fix it". If you have issues you have to find a service provider that will work with the warranty company. Or at least accept payment from you and then you have to deal with reimbursement from the warranty company.

I do not have first hand knowledge, but I would bet most dealer service centers are going to charge more for repairs than the warranty company deems fair and equitable. In addition, we have heard many stories on this forum about dealer service departments and mobile technicians being booked up on service work for months. I doubt if they have to deal with an extended warranty company they are going to put that customer on a high priority basis. They want to get paid their asking service price, as well as getting paid immediately.

[Arcrafts]

Thanks everyone for the information and insight. This helps me make a decision on the warranty.