# Extended Warranty



## Devildog (Sep 8, 2005)

I did not find a thread talking specifically about this, so here it goes! I as well as I am sure everyone else was offered the extended warranty when I bought my 25RSS last month.

The details: 7 Year warranty from date of purchase, covers basically everything, including the tires, $50 deductible for each claim, except if I have it serviced at my dealer, they waive the deductilbe.

Grand total of the warranty = $1695

It could be just me, but this seems like a "no brainer" to me, I mean one problem with the AC or heating unit could cost substantially more than the cost of the warranty, and look how long it is for, 7 years in my opinion is a great deal!

Just wanted everyone's $.02 and opinions on this, I am about to send a check in the mail to the dealer for it this weekend!


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Most extended warranties are not very good, too many exclusions or limited locations for the repair. I suggest you walk away from this and you will most likely get a much lower offer from the dealer if he thinks you are the least bit interested. Many people are getting them for as low as $500 after walking away from the first offer.

These are major cash cows for the dealers.

Put the money in the bank in a warranty account. Add money to it every time you want to get an extended warranty for each new toy. You will see the account grow.

Things to think about. How long do you plan on keeping the trailer? How often do you use it? How handy are you?

Use the trailer as much as possible in the first year and see what breaks. At the end of the factory warranty if the failure rate is high you can do one of two things. Dump the trailer or buy the extended warranty at that time if you think it is worth keeping the trailer.


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Devildog,

This issue was difficult for us to come to grips with. As a practical matter, I am very anti-extended warranty. As Andy says, they are primarily a pure margin sale for the dealer. I have never bought one in the past, and am not inclined to in the future.

However, when it came to the trailer, it just seemed to make sense. There are a lot of different systems on board (of dubious quality), and they exist in a pretty harsh environment, so the likelyhood of failure seems high. Our decision, by the way, was made before ever talking to the dealer about it. So there was no influence there.

Time will tell if we made the right decision in buying the warrranty, but in this one case it seemed worth it.









Happy Trails,
Doug


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## nascarcamper (Jan 27, 2005)

Very rarely do they pay off and when they do the paperwork and procedures are enough to make it not worthwhile. I like to have the option to have repairs done where I see fit and most have pretty severe restrictions. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.


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## snsgraham (May 18, 2004)

I normally do not opt for the extended warranty stuff. I did buy one on ours because it came with a condition of "If you don't use it your money is refunded at the end of the term". I do agree about the high cost of these warranties but thought it made sense this time.

Scott


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

Stay away from the Extended Warranty -- its there to pad the pockets of the dealers...

Take the 1695 you are going to spend -- put it in a mutual fund -- draw from it when you need it --

I mean -- if you buy the 1695 warranty you have ALREADY spent 1695 !!! Even if you bought a new fridge, new stove, and new AC you would not spend 1695!!!....

Ask around .. maybe i am wrong -- but has OUTBACKER spent over 1695 out of his own pocket so far on anything that was not covered under warranty after it expired...??


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## snsgraham (May 18, 2004)

I hope your right Ghosty, the refer and the AC is what worried me most. I have a buddy who has two refer's go bad on him and they are really spendy before the labor to install it.

I am not trying to sway Devildog, I would not have paid for mine had it not had the refund clause.

Scott


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

I bought on on our Outback, no regrets. I didn't use it of course, but when I went to sell it I believe it was a better deal for Jim and gave them some peace of mind too. You can often negotiate with the dealers on these, but most don't get the opportunity to.


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

Thanks Devildog - excellent post & perfect timing. We're doing the "signing thing" this weekend and have gone back & forth on the extended warranty position - for all of the reasons cited here (+ & - ). Thought we'd made our decision - now I'm confused again.









DOES IT NEVER END?


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

I have never taken an extended warranty. I have save big $$ of the years. In this case I would say is how handy are you? If you are able to do minor repairs than my 2c is to save your $$.

Thor


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## Devildog (Sep 8, 2005)

Well to clear things up on my end, I have NEVER bought an extended warranty on anything, but this one seems to really make sense to me. Yes, I am like most in here, I am usually anti-warranty on anything, but this is for 7 years, and as Doug said above, the harsh environment that we keep these TT in, it seems like a smart decision in my opinion.

Also, by the way, my dealer never pushed it on me by any means, I actually called them back up yesterday after purchasing a month and a half ago inquiring on it. I do know it is also transferrable, which is definitely a selling point as Y-Guy mentioned. I will weigh my options over the weekend, I appreciate everyone's input, but like wolf said, it makes the decision even more difficult!


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

OK there DevilDog since i have a few minutes before heading home let me put my work hat on...

1. You are assuming that you are going to have the deductible waived ($50) .. thats great -- if

a. Your dealer stays in business
b. Your trailer breaks down by your dealer and does not need to be seen by another dealer.

If either that changes then you add 50 bucks every time you have any occurance... make sure that you get his guarantee in writing and understand that the moment the dealer changes owners that that agreement is voided.

2. The only thing that is truly expensive on these trailers that is likely to go out after warranty is over is the circuit board on the AC/Heater. The boards run 217 dollars and 137 doallrs labor to put in ...

And 1695 is actually 3,303.08!! If you take 1695 and put it in a Mutual fund that is making 10% APR then over the next 7 years it will accumulate to 3,303.08.

Personally -- if you are still sitting on the fence -- why dont you wait to the fatory warranty is about to go out ... if you have a lemon then the 1695 may be well spent -- if you have had no probelm -- well the 1695 can buy allot of gas and vacation days...

and finally -- if you do go with the warranty -- search around -- find a cheaper one -- where I work its the 1/4 1/4 1/2 (quarter-quarter-half) rule as we call it ... it goes like this ...(works the same on trailers, RVs, boats, cars)

Your warranty cost 1695 to you. 
The dealer actually gets it for 425.00 from his warranty wholesaler. 
The dealer gives his finance guy that sold it to you $425.00 also.
They remaining $900 goes into the dealer pockets.

anyway .. good luck....


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## qgallo (Jul 2, 2005)

When I bought my 21rs I was given the $1695 warranty for $990 since I was buying the trailer new from the dealer. But after receiveing the 21rs , I started reading over the manuals for everything in the camper. What I was finding out was that most of your high dollar items was already covered by 2-3 years. Most of your electronics if they last 3 yrs then they will probably last another 3 yrs. Its like a Television , most problems will happen during the first year. So with that said , If I keep my camper 6 years I am probably ready to upgrade. So anyway I canceled my contract. Like others have said , take your $1695 and save it for a rainy day or in 6 years you will have a (extra) chunk of money for that upgarde.


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## 7heaven (Jun 4, 2005)

Next time I go by my dealer, I'll have to ask him why he didn't offer to rip me off for $1695...


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## ee4308 (Aug 23, 2005)

Ghosty made lots of good points in post #12 I think. I didn't take the warranty either. I know for a fact that auto dealers/sales personnel







make a bundle when they sell the extended warranty and I am sure that TT dealers are about the same.


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## Devildog (Sep 8, 2005)

Thanks Ghosty, I appreciate the good points there, and I totally agree with all of them! And I am all about mutual funds, that is why I have a nice chunk deducted from my account every month, it is the best investment tool out there, next to real estate that is.

Now as far as the costs of fixing the AC/Heater, I will be honest, I had not a clue. Seemed to me like everyone was talking big bucks to have these done. Gees, if the primary problems are only the circuit boards, I will replace it myself if it is out of warranty.

It does seem the overall consensus is to stay clear, so I am going to go against that little voice in the back of my head telling me to "get it", and turn it down!

Thank you all, and especially Ghosty, all those points you made are things I preach all the time about finances, this deal was just very sugar coated and almost lured me in as well.

Matter of fact, I am going to do exactly what you said, and put that money in my mutual fund. Now whether or not it is earning 10% right now is another discussion, I have not checked it in a while. Thanks again!


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

Just so you know about the AC...and the cost

Its a Carrier Air V.

One of the best units on the market. Unfortunately the OUTBACK design team did a poor job in the venting design so we lose about 20% of the cooling capacity through ceiling heat loss.

NOMINAL BTU COOLING CAPACITY 13,500

ELECTRICAL RATING 115V,60 CYCLES, 1 PHASE

LOCKED ROTOR COOLING AMPS: 64.5

APPROX. FULL-LOAD AMPS/COOLING : 12.8 amps

RUNNING WATTS COOLING: 1450-1820 watts

RUNNING WATTS HEATING: 1800 watts

EVAPORATOR AIR DELIVERY: 380 CFM

Cost brand new - from Carrier in a box with everything -- to include Ceiling unit, white, ducted, cool/heat is 499.00. (So of course that means that you can probably get it cheaper from a Carrier wholesaler ...


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## Devildog (Sep 8, 2005)

Very good information Ghosty, thanks a lot! I guess that is why we are members of the best RV club on the net, to help each other make smart decisions!


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

Not to argue with anyone, but for a different point of view...

It's not like most of us have $1700 that we're deciding what to do with... hmm, should I get that extended warranty or a mutual fund. The reality is that it's offered at sale time and rolled into the deal, costing something like $15 a month.

Which is to say, from a cash flow perspective, it's just another insurance policy. For some people even coughing up $400 for a repair at an unexpected time could be problematic, especially if they don't like to use credit cards.

Every time you buy insurance, whether it's full coverage on your car, your homeowners policy, or life insurance on your kids, you hope not to have to use it. Even expect to never use it in some cases. But we all buy it anyway because the consequences of getting caught without it, however small the likelihood of that, is too great.

So, IMO it largely depends on whether you're in cash-flow mode or investment mode. There's no question that if you have $1700 cash buying the extended warranty is downright foolish, but not everyone is in that position.


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

BoaterDan ..

good point .. but let me take it one step further ...

since $1695 for 7 years comes to $20 dollars a month and rolled into your payment -- do this --

don't roll it into your payment -- take the 20 a month and put it in a bank account EVERY MONTH -- AND EVEN AT 4% interest on the bank account -- YOU and not the fatwallet of your dealer -- will have 1997.34 at the end of 7 years ...

and if you had an emergency during that time you have money avail .. and if you dont have an emergency then you have one hell of a camping trip at the end of year 7...


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