warranty

[Jcmohle]

I just bought my first Airstream. I live 330 miles from the dealer from whom I purchased the Airstream and 215 miles from the nearest dealer. Also most of my travel will be in the Inter-Mountan West - far from any Airstream dealer.


I would appreciate any comments on the advisability of buying an extended warrentee that lasts fro 6 years that also offer to pay for repairs at any RV dealer that Airstream would cover if i was at an Airstream dealer. Also covers all the appliances.

[robert claus]

I don't know what extended warranties are available on the market, but if they're like extended car warranties they're a bad buy, and expensive. You could put the same money in the bank, and draw from it as needed. If you don't need it, you still have the money.
Outside of the structure and furniture, there's little that's exclusive about an Airstream. All of the hardware and appliances are off-the-shelf, industry standard items, and generally available. Look through your manual, and you'll see that it's a collection of individual manuals for the components, and each has its own warranty and maintenance requirements.

[TBRich]

I am not a big fan of extended warranties, while others like them for the peace of mind.

Here's why I don't like them. We had an extended warranty on a small motorhome before we got our Airstream, which we bought new. The warranty was very expensive and every time we needed something fixed we had to fight like cats and dogs for it...it was like pulling teeth but more painful and it ended up ruining our relationship with the RV dealer we bought it from. Nobody wanted to honor it or fix things when they went wrong...we had to have them repaired at the dealer where we bought it unless we had prior authorization (good luck). We sold the motorhome and spent literally weeks trying to get a refund for the unused portion of the extended warranty. (The formula they use to determine the refund is stacked against the buyer.) We worked out most of the bugs on the Airstream within the first 2 years of factory warranty, and as mentioned above, all the major systems and appliances have their own warranties...and you can buy extended warranties on specific appliances if you want. That makes more sense. We keep the maintenance up on our Bambi and it's been relatively trouble free.

Everyone will have their own opinion on this, but mine is that they are not worth it, and they are a source of problems if something goes wrong. If you do get one READ THE FINE PRINT VERY CAREFULLY so you know what you're getting.

[zeke07]

We just purchased a classic from a Denver dealer and live just up the road from you on the western slope. We opted NOT to get the extended warranty. Way too expensive and as RC pointed out, you have the factory warranty and can fix a lot that goes wrong for less than the cost of the extended warranty.

Congrats,
Bruce

[Gene]

Extended warranties are generally high priced, very limited in what you get and a big part of the premium goes to the dealer, so the insurer gets little from it. It is in their interest to not pay.

We live 240 miles from the dealer (maybe the same one where you bought) where we bought it and found out quickly it was not the place to go. They had tried the hard sell on us about an extended warranty and no matter how many times I said "no", the obnoxious guy wouldn't stop trying to sell it. It got kinda ugly at that point.

Our options were like yours. SLC or Albuquerque. We knew nothing about either dealer, but we had heard good things about the service center at the factory. We made 2 warranty trips there before the warranty ran out and were treated well, much better than at the dealer we purchased at.

It helps if you can fix things yourself, and sometimes when you are far from a dealer, customer relations will authorize repairs from a local RV shop. Contact them and see what they will do for you. Check the Airstream website for contact info.

Gene

[ROBERT CROSS]

IMHO....The only Extended Warrantee Plan worth it's salt are the ones sold by the manufacturer as in, GM=GMPP.

So unless AS offers one......

Bob

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, if I said it once, I said it a thousand times; [exaggeration] NEVER buy any extended warranty unless it is from the actual manufacturer of the product, not the dealer.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, if I said it once, I said it a thousand times; [exaggeration] NEVER buy any extended warranty unless it is from the actual manufacturer of the product, not the dealer.

"no sir no approval yet...I still haven't heard back from Hertz, Star, Interstate, API, GE Capitol, Liberty, Universal, Wynn's, Wheels/Map and on and on...and on"

Bob

[dkottum]

These are a high-profit, low quality product. Usually the dealer will have the guy doing your paperwork with you, pressure you hard to buy this junk. "For only a few dollars a month you can have this peace of mind."

Peace of mind alright, until you try to use it, or try to find a repair shop out in the boonies who will accept it as payment.

doug k

[wahoonc]

Only bought one in my entire life...never again! They make the current dealings with health insurance companies look easy by comparison.

Aaron

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

"no sir no approval yet...I still haven't heard back from Hertz, Star, Interstate, API, GE Capitol, Liberty, Universal, Wynn's, Wheels/Map and on and on...and on"

Bob

Hi, and from my service advisor days, Your vehicle was torn down [disabled] at your cost until it is determined to be covered or not; Mostly not. Also I have personally spent more time on the phone with these companies than it would take for my mechanic to complete the repairs.