Extended Warranties

[mtofell]

If you must buy any extended warranty/service contract do not agree to anything until you've watched the finance manager lose his/her mind and fall all over themself lowering the price. Get up and walk out after signing papers and go back and tell him you'll take it (trust me, they'll happily redo the paperwork). At least you know you got HIS/HER lowest price. To really do it right shop around yourself and find the lowest price.

I'm not saying yay or nay.... just pointing out how to get the best price if you must buy a warranty.

[Dave__C]

Originally Posted by rarebear.nm

I'm of the camp where I have insurance for the big stuff and I'll cover all of the smaller stuff myself. To each their own...

I think this is true. Insurance should be for the big and presumably, low probability things. That's how it can be affordable.

However, when it comes to health insurance, this tends to break down since they need to cover the maintenance side to be sure people stay healthy and don't incur the big things.

Now, if we could use the same approach for people as we do for vehicles, perhaps we just say "show us your receipts for those annual checkups and then we'll cover this cancer treatment."

Nah, won't work. People will care for their cars, but not their own bodies.

[Dave__C]

Very true. If I add up the proposed coverages based on the originally printed prices for the RV I just bought, it would be approximately $16,400

That's on a brand new 2020 RV selling below $90K.

What a joke!

[chunker]

First it's not a warranty, it's break down insurance policy. When we bought the 2007 Itasca in the summer of 2015 there were no service records with it. It was expensive but I got a 2 year service plan and used it a couple of times but what I paid for the repairs came no where close to what the service policy cost.I considered it to be "peace of mind insurance". When the 2 years expired I didn't renew because now I knew what condition the coach was in. When I bought the new tot hauler earlier in the year I didn't get any of the other service plans because I figure the vulnerable stuff will break during the real warranty. Other stuff I'll fix myself.

[rarebear.nm]

As I said above: to each their own...

One way to look at these policies/plans is: You've spend money to fix something that may never break or you have money in your pocket to fix something that may never break.

In six years with two RVs in the driveway, what i've spent to fix broken stuff would never come close to what a service plan would have cost. I'll continue to self insure.

Now roadside assistance is a different story. IF you can get a good plan that fits your RVing style. Never mind what someone else has for a plan unless you travel with them. Read ALL of the fine print to understand what what is and is not covered, like milage towed. If you have a trailer pay attention to trailer towing if the TV breaks down. Limits maybe different and you can wind up with the TV in one town and the trailer somewhere else.

This spring our truck blew a transmission while at a State Park. Got both towed to the same town and stayed in an RV park until the truck was repaired. However the tow company added this "vent" hole to my front camp while getting the truck hitched for the tow.




They paid me what I wanted in cash and I did the repairs myself at home. At time of this image I still needed to wash, wax and buff the rest of front cap to match the repaired area.

[chunker]

Getting an ESP or such also depends on a person's threshold pf pain. If the threshold is high and you have the tools and knowledge of the systems then certainly self insure. If a squeaky slide sends you into a panic, you, or they, might want to consider that outside maintenance help. Just have a big credit card limit.