Community Forums

MaSchu · 03-12-2015, 06:43 PM

I just bought an eight month old travel trailer that was used twice. Of course, this trailer wasn't even used enough to be "broke in" so we are considering an extended warranty. We are not the original owner, so all warranties do not transfer. Is this a good idea?

jfran304 · 03-12-2015, 07:22 PM

Do a search and you will find all kinds of discussions on extended warranties. Some like them and some don't.

Personally I don't since they are in the business to make money and will try to decline any work for any excuse they can come up with. Put the money you would pay for the warranty in the bank.

Jon

MaSchu · 03-13-2015, 03:49 AM

The thing that concerns me is that this unit was never broke in and I have no manufacturers warranty. How many folks had things they have had to bring it back to the dealer to fix in the first year?

vsheetz · 03-13-2015, 06:53 AM

While typically I am not a fan of extended service agreements, as it's cheaper to be self insured in the long run. However, I do feel they can have a place when purchasing a used RV as a mitigation against latent and unknown issues. But a one year term agreement with a high deductible. At the one year point, and now having history and experience with the RV, decide whether to continue or not.

Cumminsfan · 03-13-2015, 09:56 AM

We are on our 3rd trailer. As far as issues go, we've had only a couple. The 1st TT we had had a small leak from poor caulking around the outside vent for the range hood.

2nd TT had minor issues that we took care of ourselves. The dinnete table came with a small crack where the wood was glued together. The dealer pointed it out to us during the PDI. They ordered a new one and I went and got it myself.

Our current 5th wheel had a very slow water leak after the 1st week. Since we bought from a dealer 300 miles away they allowed us to take it to an independent RV repair shop. Took 2hrs to fix because the tech guy needed to go to Home Depot to get some Pex fittings.

That's all the issues we've had in close to 6 years of trailer ownership.

Problem with asking who took their trailers back for work is that some will take it back for a loose screw and others will fix a noisy water pump themselves. I never take mine back for anything I can't fix myself. The time it takes to hookup and drive to the dealer and then go back and get it, hoping its fixed right, just isn't worth it if I can do it myself. It amazes me that some people have a list of 10-15 things they take them back for. Maybe we've been lucky but after owning 3 trailers and only needing to take one back for one issue, I tend to think those that take them back for multitudes of issue either aren't handy or are nit pickers. Yes there are those that have trailers with several major issues. But those are far and few between. If the majority of RV owners had catastrophic issue that needed to be taken back several times to fix, I really doubt RV's would as popular as they are. The majority have few if any issues that can't be fixed by the owner.

JMO but the trailer you're looking at is too new to get an extended warranty. If you bought it new you would only have a 1 year warranty any way. I would take extra time and run all systems thoroughly. That is run the water pump, AC, heater, run the slide in and out 10+ times. Climb on the roof and thoroughly inspect all the caulking. Look over each and every window. Check them for caulking issues. Have them start the fridge and let it run for a while. Also run the hot water heater on both elec and propane.

I wouldn't buy an extended warranty on a less than 1 yr old trailer unless I would've bought one when it was new.

Problem with extended warranties is that they have a lot of procedures that need to be followed to keep it viable. Like mentioned before will try and find a reason to not cover something. Like if you get a leak from window caulking and can't prove that you inspected the caulking then they won't cover it. Some extended warranties are better, but finding one could be tough. I see more negative reviews than positive. IMO they're more for catastrophic issues than minor ones. Also items such as the fridge, AC, water heater and even the water pump all come with manufacture warranties for 1-2 years. I can't say for sure but I would think those are not original owner items. Can't say for sure but it's something to check into.

Now the other side of the story is why they sold it. Did they trade it in because they didn't like it and wanted to get something bigger/smaller? Or was it having too many problems and they just dumped it?

If you're handy at all then IMO skip the extended warranty. It's highly unlikely that you'll have any catastrophic issues in the short time frame of a 2-5 year warranty.

Most everything can be fixed easily on RV's. Google is your best friend. Plenty of YouTube videos explaining repairs.

timetogo · 03-13-2015, 11:22 AM

Possible to spend more money on the warranty than you will on repairs, unless your trailer was in poor shape to begin with.

hogwyld · 03-13-2015, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cumminsfan

We are on our 3rd trailer. As far as issues go, we've had only a couple. The 1st TT we had had a small leak from poor caulking around the outside vent for the range hood.

2nd TT had minor issues that we took care of ourselves. The dinnete table came with a small crack where the wood was glued together. The dealer pointed it out to us during the PDI. They ordered a new one and I went and got it myself.

Our current 5th wheel had a very slow water leak after the 1st week. Since we bought from a dealer 300 miles away they allowed us to take it to an independent RV repair shop. Took 2hrs to fix because the tech guy needed to go to Home Depot to get some Pex fittings.

That's all the issues we've had in close to 6 years of trailer ownership.

Problem with asking who took their trailers back for work is that some will take it back for a loose screw and others will fix a noisy water pump themselves. I never take mine back for anything I can't fix myself. The time it takes to hookup and drive to the dealer and then go back and get it, hoping its fixed right, just isn't worth it if I can do it myself. It amazes me that some people have a list of 10-15 things they take them back for. Maybe we've been lucky but after owning 3 trailers and only needing to take one back for one issue, I tend to think those that take them back for multitudes of issue either aren't handy or are nit pickers. Yes there are those that have trailers with several major issues. But those are far and few between. If the majority of RV owners had catastrophic issue that needed to be taken back several times to fix, I really doubt RV's would as popular as they are. The majority have few if any issues that can't be fixed by the owner.

JMO but the trailer you're looking at is too new to get an extended warranty. If you bought it new you would only have a 1 year warranty any way. I would take extra time and run all systems thoroughly. That is run the water pump, AC, heater, run the slide in and out 10+ times. Climb on the roof and thoroughly inspect all the caulking. Look over each and every window. Check them for caulking issues. Have them start the fridge and let it run for a while. Also run the hot water heater on both elec and propane.

I wouldn't buy an extended warranty on a less than 1 yr old trailer unless I would've bought one when it was new.

Problem with extended warranties is that they have a lot of procedures that need to be followed to keep it viable. Like mentioned before will try and find a reason to not cover something. Like if you get a leak from window caulking and can't prove that you inspected the caulking then they won't cover it. Some extended warranties are better, but finding one could be tough. I see more negative reviews than positive. IMO they're more for catastrophic issues than minor ones. Also items such as the fridge, AC, water heater and even the water pump all come with manufacture warranties for 1-2 years. I can't say for sure but I would think those are not original owner items. Can't say for sure but it's something to check into.

Now the other side of the story is why they sold it. Did they trade it in because they didn't like it and wanted to get something bigger/smaller? Or was it having too many problems and they just dumped it?

If you're handy at all then IMO skip the extended warranty. It's highly unlikely that you'll have any catastrophic issues in the short time frame of a 2-5 year warranty.

Most everything can be fixed easily on RV's. Google is your best friend. Plenty of YouTube videos explaining repairs.

As long as you do a thorough test and inspection, you should be ok. Little stuff for me is DIY. All of the expensive stuff on the trailer, I haven't had issues with.

sprayman · 03-13-2015, 02:31 PM

have the dealer connect power and water and make sure everything works.

i mean everything. there is a list of things somewhere in this forum, make

a copy and take it with you.

Jim

MaSchu · 03-14-2015, 07:59 AM

Thanks for your suggestions! We do know this TT was traded in by a fellow who decided he should have bought a 5th wheel after only a couple uses. So it was hardly used and no warranties transfer; not even on the big stuff like the fridge. That's why we are considering this. The only new unit we ever owned was a pop-up which does not have nearly the amount of stuff that could break. So we are torn. That's why we were wondering what kind of experience others have had with relatively new units

Cumminsfan · 03-14-2015, 11:03 AM

Sounds like a good deal on the trailer. Some of this can be a little intimidating. But theses trailers aren't rocket science. It's just a house on wheels. If you're handy around your home then most of the fixes will be easy. Might be a little overwhelming at 1st but after you tinker on it a few times you'll realize that they're pretty simple.
Funny thing about warranties is the new ones are mostly 1 yr. After that you're on your own. So would you of bought it new with an extended warranty? Doesn't sound like it. Most issues are in the 1st year when you have to fix all the sloppy stuff the manufacture and the dealer didn't take care of. The normal items like the fridge, furnace, water heater, etc rarely break down in the 1st 5 years.