Americare cover delamination?

[Rugged Lilac]

I'm going to pick up my new trailer this weekend or next week. It's a GD 2660 SB. I know they're going to try and sell me an extended warranty which I will probably turn down. I'm not too old to do the repairs yet and I'm very handy at electrical, woodworking, structural, etc. However the only thing I'm concerned about is delamination of one of the big walls. However I cannot find anywhere online or on the company's website to see if they cover delamination. Does anybody have any experience?

 

[sande005]

If they won't share the entire policy and coverage details/exceptions before you sign, of course walk away.
Delamination with no cause is an extremely rare situation. It almost always is due to water getting in - sometimes a defect in manufacturing, more often a failure with maintenance. The first can be hard to prove, the second may entail greatly increased, expensive, visits to a dealer to keep the warranty in force (far more than the manufacturer advises). They will use any failure on their mandated schedule to deny a claim. One I looked at demanded dealer maintenance every three months - with a denial to cover forever if there was even a slip of a day in the schedule. Good luck on getting dealer appointments that frequent and on time!
Spend the money on a certified RV inspector to check things out BEFORE accepting delivery of the vehicle to reassure yourself about the manufacturing defect potential. Then be rigorous about maintenance yourself (or at a dealer, but on your determined schedule to your specifications).
My out-of-warranty fifth wheel suffered a roof tear from a branch, that went unnoticed by me until a slight ripple in a sidewall was seen. The quote to repair just that and the roof, was far more than the value of the RV. With a potential of more damage discovered as the repair progressed.
My insurance company paid, since it was caused by "being struck by". But the RV was totaled. My coverage was present value, and not replacement cost. Consider that second option with your insurance, although it is many times pricier.

 

[huntr70]

I have yet to find any insurance company or extended warranty company that will cover delamination unless it was a result of an accident.

Sealant is a maintenance item, and not covered under any warranty.

 

[dryfly]

Amazing how manufacturers/dealers will tell you how well built the trailers are during the sales process, yet when it comes to selling extended warranties, the message becomes how fragile they are.

My suggestion: pass on the 3rd party warranty and use the funds for repair should they occur. As you can tell from the above posts delamination of GD products is rare.

 

[goducks14]

Delam seems to be rare these days. GD sells a but load of RV's every year and delam is not a topic that shows up on FB or here very often. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen since there's lots of GD owners that don't belong to FB or here. I've had 3 brands in the last 14 years and none had delam. Owned the last two for 6 years each. No delam.
Factory delam problems are rare so IMO most delam problems are owner caused.

As far as an extended warranty is concerned, I've never had one and never needed one. I'm also quite handy so that reinforces my decision not to get one. Youtube, FB and forums like this go a long way to getting the needed help.

 

[bobmerriken]

You might want to consider purchasing an extended warranty. I owned a truck camper for almost 20 years and before that a pop-up camper. I am relatively handy and perform most if not all of my own maintenance and repairs.

After moving up to a 2021 Grand Design fifth wheel, my unit had a slide out issue last year. I had the rack replaced over this past winter and unfortunately the slide is again acting up. I took the unit back to the dealer this fall and the dealer now says that I need a whole new rack, again. I have an extended warranty, so this work will be covered. The down time is the big draw back, but I would have had that anyway if I was doing the work. Looking at doing the repairs when researching on line, it looks like something I could do with an assistant and a lot of work on my part, but that is not what I bought the camper for.

When researching the issue, the technician found a broken "shoe" in the forward end of the slide, something I did NOT find when I was researching the problem myself. The technician also noted some squeaking noises that concerned him. This particular technician seemed particularly knowledgeable about slides and asked me specific questions about my maintenance and use as he looked at the system, which backed up my research following the replacement of the slide the first time.

The slide is a Schwintek by the way.