Wednesday, January 11, 2012

EXTENDED WARRANTIES…GOOD IDEA?

Tuesday, January 10 – Paul has been talking with Rick, a friend here at Leisure Valley, about extended warranties for the motor home. Rick blew a turbo charger on his MH last summer in Oregon, and it was an expensive repair. Fortunately, he has an extended warranty and most of the cost was covered by the insurance company.

With a big trip planned for this summer to Oregon and Washington, Paul is considering purchasing an extended warranty for our MH. It's a long way and will be our first trip in the Rockies! We usually aren't interested in purchasing extended warranties, but one of Paul's biggest concerns while traveling is a major breakdown. If purchasing the extended warranty would increase his enjoyment of traveling the big mountains and beyond, it might be worth it.

What do you think? Do you have an extended warranty on your RV? Have you found them worth the expense? Are they comforting? Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Hope you have a great day!

11 comments:

  1. Rockies? Washington and Oregon? depending on your route. If you are coming from the east.

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  2. It's an individual decision, to be sure.

    The only extended warranty we've ever purchased was for our motorhome. Like any insurance product, it was one of those things we hoped we'd never have to use. But, if we did, we'd sure be glad we had it.

    Last summer, the cooling unit went out on our 18-month-old Norcold. The extended warranty coverage on that not-so-little repair covered about half of our cost for the warranty. So, these days we're feeling pretty good about our decision.

    Good luck with yours!

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  3. Can you get it after you've had your MH for a while? I don't know. We do have one but have never had to use it. Thank goodness!!!

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  4. Since we have a fifth-wheel and don't have to worry about expensive items like and engine and transmission, I passed on the extended warranty for our new Heartland Big Country. But, it wasn't without a lot of soul searching and research. So far, so good for us.

    However, if we had bought a MH, I'm pretty sure I would have gone for an extended warranty but only if I was completely satisfied that the insurer actually lived up to their commitment to honor the contract.

    That to me is the big issue - getting a reliable and trustworthy insurer. With that, it sure takes away a lot of stress and concern and is probably worth the money.

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  5. We have an extended warranty on our MH and I wouldn't be without it. Our gas rig isn't as expensive to fix as a diesel but it definitely was worth it to us.

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  6. We had an extended warranty on the motorhome. You REALLY need to read the fine print on any of them that you buy. There are a lot of restrictions on aome of them. Be syre you know what it covers. When we had a problem with the vaccuum generator on the motorhome the extended would not cover it because we did not buy that part. They said Monaco should cover it, Monaco said the extended should. It took HOURS on the phone to get it straightened out. On the good side, repairs are very expensive on the motorhome so it's nice to know that you have it covered. Be SURE you know what your buying, that is most important thing.

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  7. We have an extended warranty on our 2009 Montana Fiver. So far:

    Replaced the converter two years ago (just AFTER the one year warranty was up) cost was #291.00.

    Repaired faulty electrical wiring (178.00)

    Replaced jack motor (428.00)

    And now we are waiting for parts to arrive for two more repairs:

    Gas valve for water heater (131.00) and

    ANOTHER converter - (340.00)

    Just got the above repairs approved this morning.

    Even Fifthwheels have issues. Two more years left on the warranty.

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  8. We purchased an extended warranty when we purchased our MH this past summer. I am usually against ext. warranties...figuring they could be a rip off...I drilled and grilled our dealer before purchase and it is a good one..if we don't use it (its for 2 yrs bumper to bumper)..we get some of the $ back I think its around 1/2...contrary to what I was thinking there is no catch..as long as its a certified repair service we pay 100 deductible and the repair place calls the ins co and they ins co provides the OK to fix and gives them a credit card number to charge the costs to...I rest easier knowing this diesel pusher is covered..ours also includes roadside assistance.

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  9. Like most insurances, they are great if you need them and they actually pay out- a big question with warranties.

    We have been full time with a diesel motorhome for over five years and by not buying any warranties we have saved over 6K in fees. Since we have been lucky enough not to have any big repairs so far, those fees can be applied directly to our repairs.

    Like all insurances, it is a gamble either way. We are happy with our choice-so far:)

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  10. We have 3 years left on our warranty and have already got our money back with all the leaks we had. For us it was worth it!

    Mike and Dee White
    gonerving.blogspot.com

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  11. Ahhhh...you're opening a can of worms here with many very dedicated worms on each side of the question!

    We did buy an extended warranty for our MH (Good Sam's), but it has NOT been worth it so far for us. All repairs we've done have been under the deductable & in retrospect I'm not sure I'd chose Good Sam again (even if I did decide to buy). You've got to read the details VERY carefully. Most extended warrenties only tell you what's *included* in the plan and that's very limiting (say, a gasket that's not covered blows and ruins a supposedly covered item...insurance can say they won't cover the item because it was caused by a non-insured item)!

    So...ideally what you want
    -> EXCLUSIVE POLICY - shows you what *isn't* covered specifically. This means everything else *is* covered
    -> CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGE – Reimbursement is provided in the event of a Breakdown of a Covered Part due to the failure of a non-covered part or a Breakdown of a non-covered part due to the failure of a Covered Part.

    Not all extended warranties provide this and they're usually more expensive, but it's something to think about.

    This thread on irv2 may give you some more food for thought:
    http://www.irv2.com/forums/f59/opinions-of-these-service-contract-providers-109409.html

    Nina

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