Good Sam Extended service

[Mortgagehomes]

Does anyone have experience with extended service by Good Sam? We are considering purchase of a New Motorhome now "Orphaned" by the manufacturer going out of business. I have heard good and bad about different extended service cantractors but dont know who does it better than others.

[EngineerMike]

Chuck- in addition to the great advice no doubt forthcoming, you'll want to read this post, and the article to which it links.

Our mfgr went under and we had the choice of then-existing policies, which excluded warranty periods from the mfgr whether or not the mfgr was doing business as a going concern! Since that meant paying for something for which zero coverage was provided till the mfgr's 3 year warranty ran out, we opted to go "bare." So far that's been a smart decision. There are other stories, however, like a guy on the Monaco fourm who had major roof rebuild (which Monaco authorized to the tune of $22k and then bailed on thru BK court); he's not so happy about that, although even w/the above type policy he'd be footing that bill himself anyway.

I hear that some warranty sellers have responded to the clever public getting wind of these mass exclusions (via forums like this, and sadly from early screwees) and offering real OEM warranty replacement coverage, for an additional fee of course. Hopefully you'll get plenty of timely feedback on how that's working. Of course you cannot expect this type of insurance coverage to be cheap. OEM warranty work is frequently in the thousands of dollars, and it wouldn't surprise me to find out it runs several thousand per coach average, and insurance companies will fair worse than mfgr's who can press component suppliers to share the grief (even tho many claims arise from shoddy installation of components). Insurance companies have no ongoing business w/Norcold, SmartWheel, radiator mfgrs (btw- look for a radiator exclusion outright in some policies)... So true mfgr's warranty replacement insurance will likely be pricey.

[blacktie.shooter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mortgagehomes Does anyone have experience with extended service by Good Sam? We are considering purchase of a New Motorhome now "Orphaned" by the manufacturer going out of business. I have heard good and bad about different extended service cantractors but dont know who does it better than others.

I can't tell you which is best, or worst, for that matter, but having owned three, I can at least offer you a few thoughts to consider:

• Any after market warranty is a profit center, designed to make money,
• If you are buying a defunct marquis, you had better be getting it at a huge discount, specifically because you are losing all of the benefit of OEM backing, service centers, parts availability, etc.,
• You also losing the benefits of a slightly used coach, in which you avoid the anguish the original owner has gone through to address the issues that all new coach owners go through. You not only are not going to avoid them, you're going to be going through it with some faceless being on the other end of a phone line, not even the original coach builder,
• Before you look for a warranty, you might want to try to quantify the need for one, by identifying the brand name to other members of that forum, if there is one, to solicit their recommendations and experiences,
• Then bear in mind that all builders use the same component suppliers for chassis, engines, appliances, etc.

I hope I have helped a little, fear I may have confused a lot, so I'll quit talking, wish you great luck, and welcome you to the world of RVers - it's a fun place to be!

[TexasPhil]

I can tell you this much about the Good Sams Extended Warranty. We bought a used coach from an individual. Besides being the coach we were looking for, the price being where we wanted to be, there was a transferable GSEW on the coach.

Shorty after acquiring the coach, and having the warranty transferred to us, we had a problem with the one of the slide outs. Sheared a pin and the controller box went out. The warranty covered the repairs without any hassles. We paid the deductible, which was considerably less than the repair bill.

We have since renewed the policy for another year, hoping of course that we don't need it. But if we do, it's there.

thanks,

[Mortgagehomes]

The coach we have been looking at is a 2008 Alpine. Lots of systems and many of them seem to be unique to Alpine.

[Gary RVRoamer]

Lazy Days RV in Seffner, Fl, is selling a 12 month, 12000 mile extended warranty for new Monaco/Holiday Rambler/Beaver/Safari and Country Coach orphans at a very good price - think it is $310. And they will sell it whether you buy the coach there or not. For more info you can contact Judy Bolton at 1-800-282-7800, ext. 4272 or jbolton@lazydays.com.

[teofff]

I had a bad experience with GSEW...bought an 01 Monaco Dynasty, and bought the GSEW...about 3 months later, the hydraulic pump went out...$1400 repair....GSEW denied the claim...reason given: it leaked out of a seal, and that is an exclusion. I recommend that whatever policy you buy, read the policy carefully and understand EXACTLY what is and what is not covered....I cancelled my policy and have gone bare since...I have had repairs, but beleive I am about even with the cost of the policy....

[faye]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blacktie.shooter I can't tell you which is best, or worst, for that matter, but having owned three, I can at least offer you a few thoughts to consider: Any after market warranty is a profit center, designed to make money, If you are buying a defunct marquis, you had better be getting it at a huge discount, specifically because you are losing all of the benefit of OEM backing, service centers, parts availability, etc., You also losing the benefits of a slightly used coach, in which you avoid the anguish the original owner has gone through to address the issues that all new coach owners go through. You not only are not going to avoid them, you're going to be going through it with some faceless being on the other end of a phone line, not even the original coach builder, Before you look for a warranty, you might want to try to quantify the need for one, by identifying the brand name to other members of that forum, if there is one, to solicit their recommendations and experiences, Then bear in mind that all builders use the same component suppliers for chassis, engines, appliances, etc. I hope I have helped a little, fear I may have confused a lot, so I'll quit talking, wish you great luck, and welcome you to the world of RVers - it's a fun place to be!

what is your opinion in purchasing a used motorhome whose manufacturer has gone out of business// specifically national. thanks

[Gary RVRoamer]

An "orphan" is only slightly more risky than any other used RV. If you had major damage to a front or rear cap you might not be able to get a replacement made, but those are usually repairable in a fiberglass shop anyway. Most everything else came from a third party, e.g. appliances, chassis & engine, etc., or are standard hardware items (plumbing, electrical, whatever). And Rv manufacturers never stocked parts for older models anyway. If what you needed was no longer used in production, you were pretty much out of luck.

One drawback is that the dealers are no longer available as a ready source of expertise on the brand. f course, the same technicians are still around somewhere, but they may be harder to locate if you need an expert.

All in all, buying an orphan is not a terrible risk. I'd try for a bit of a price reduction because of it, but not lose a lot of sleep over it if I really liked the coach.

[easyryder01]

I recently have purchased my m/h and an GSES plan and I had not recieved the policy as of yet in the mail, so as I was coming back from a trip this past weekend and with the vibration of the road to the coach the tv strap ripped off of the lazy susan it was on and the tv fell along with pulling on the reciever too. Enough damage to the coach that warranted a claim. Now I am Insurance Adjuster by trade so I believed based on the little I new on M/H ES plans and the little I was told by the sales rep (first mistake) I would be covered. So I contacted them just a little while ago to be told that they were sorry that I have not recieved my policy info as of yet but that I was not covered due to " failure was caused by a non-covered item on the coach ". So in better explanation is that what ever caused the damage is not a covered area all other insuing damage is not covered either. So in my case the tv nor the receiver is not covered either. On property insurance claims in my field it is quite the opposite, the insuing damage is covered and the culprit which caused it is not. Althought the service to repair it is covered. Go figure whom ever wrote these policies was aimed to always screw the public in my opinion.

[DAN L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by easyryder01 I recently have purchased my m/h and an GSES plan and I had not recieved the policy as of yet in the mail, so as I was coming back from a trip this past weekend and with the vibration of the road to the coach the tv strap ripped off of the lazy susan it was on and the tv fell along with pulling on the reciever too. Enough damage to the coach that warranted a claim. Now I am Insurance Adjuster by trade so I believed based on the little I new on M/H ES plans and the little I was told by the sales rep (first mistake) I would be covered. So I contacted them just a little while ago to be told that they were sorry that I have not recieved my policy info as of yet but that I was not covered due to " failure was caused by a non-covered item on the coach ". So in better explanation is that what ever caused the damage is not a covered area all other insuing damage is not covered either. So in my case the tv nor the receiver is not covered either. On property insurance claims in my field it is quite the opposite, the insuing damage is covered and the culprit which caused it is not. Althought the service to repair it is covered. Go figure whom ever wrote these policies was aimed to always screw the public in my opinion.

imho you got THAT RIGHT!

[Gary RVRoamer]

Like most any product advertising, they focus on what the product does do and leave it to you to read the fine print about what it does NOT do. In the case of extended warrantys (repair insurance), there are some major exclusions that many people miss and "consequential damages' is one of them. Body and structural repairs is another. Make no mistake - an extended service plan is nothing like a factory bumper-to-bumper warranty.

On the other hand, few of us could afford the premiums if it covered everything that conceivably could go wrong, so there has to be some give and take.

[PASODAVE]

Blacktie.shooter is absolutely correct. The ONLY reason extended warrantees exist is to make money; big money. You will find that they all have loop holes in that seals, gaskets and the like are never covered.
Insurance companies frequently claim they save customers a lot of money when damage is paid for, but in fact those payouts only account for a small portion of the revenues collected. These policies are not in existance to protect you, but to make money for the insurance companies.

Also, in the case of older RV's, unless you can PROVE that any underlying issues related to any damage did not exist before the actual failure of any item, be prepared to pay out of pocket.

[georgetown350]

There is enough covered by the extended warranty to justify the cost. If you own a lemon you are going to save alot of money.