Extended Warranty - is it worth it?

[me4us]

We just purchased a 2007 27' FB Classic. As new owners we didn't know if we should purchase an extended warranty and if so from where?

Any help or suggestions are welcome. We want to be protected, but not waste money on unnecessary expenses.

Thanks.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by me4us

We just purchased a 2007 27' FB Classic. As new owners we didn't know if we should purchase an extended warranty and if so from where?

Any help or suggestions are welcome. We want to be protected, but not waste money on unnecessary expenses.

Thanks.

In simple terms, HELL NO.

You do however, take the risk, that you could be one out of over perhaps hundreds of thousands of people that wasted the money, "PERIOD."

Extended warranties are designed to be a profit making gimmick. Rarely, if ever can someone really take the benefit from it.

In fact, many dealers will not accept a extended warranty program, since they will not pay, what they agreed to pay.

Those dealers will have you pay the bill, so that you can find out yourself, when you present your bill to the warranty insurance company, how very border line crooked they are, who have an excellent reputation for talking out of all three sides, of their mouth, including other body orifices as well.

If you wish, ask others on this Forums, if they ever had success with an extended warranty claim, and for how much. Or for that matter, how many of them would express themselves, as I have, about an extended warranty program, for Airstream trailers.

Generally speaking, if you can afford an Airstream trailer, you can afford those things that might go bad, and still save money.

There are a very very few things that can go wrong with an Airstream trailer to begin with.

Those insurance companies love to use the term, "FWT", which means fair wear and tear, which is specifically excluded.

The only advantage an extended warrant program has, is the legal ability for them to drain your pocket book.

That program is a huge money making deal, for them, not the consumer.

Sorry, but you asked.

Andy

[moosetags]

This is not on our Airstream, but I think that the story applies.

We purchased a brand new 2001 Chevrolet Suburban 2500 in December of 2000. We decided to purchase the extended factory warranty from GM. It was a 5 year/100,000 mile with no deductible. It cost $2500.00. We drove this Suburban 100,000 miles in about 4.5 years. The covered repairs that we performed after the 3 yr/36,000 mile free warranty came to $1770.00.

Moral of the story is that I was $730.00 behind on my investment in the extended warranty. Based upon this experience, I no longer purchase any extended warranties.

Brian

[tpi]

I also vote no.

I feel they are an insurance policy against something which doesn't need insuring-and that I can afford to fix. Sure some people come out ahead with the warranties-just like some people come out ahead with a slot machine...but the odds are in the house's favor.

Do you tend to do your own minor repairs? If so that warranty is even less desirable. Are you going to pull the trailer to a warranty station at your expense or handle minor items yourself? I didn't even use the factory warranty on mine..it was cheaper to fix it myself than spend the time, fuel to pull it to the dealer.

Many of the third party warranties do have excessive exclusions and other hassles which make them annoying at best. Pocket the money you would use for the warranty and use it for repairs.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by moosetags

This is not on our Airstream, but I think that the story applies.

We purchased a brand new 2001 Chevrolet Suburban 2500 in December of 2000. We decided to purchase the extended factory warranty from GM. It was a 5 year/100,000 mile with no deductible. It cost $2500.00. We drove this Suburban 100,000 miles in about 4.5 years. The covered repairs that we performed after the 3 yr/36,000 mile free warranty came to $1770.00.

Moral of the story is that I was $730.00 behind on my investment in the extended warranty. Based upon this experience, I no longer purchase any extended warranties.

Brian

Smart man.

Unfortunately, you learned the hard way.

But maybe back then, you were not aware of these Forums.

Andy

[Excella CM]

Article in yesterday's New York Times on that very subject. Their verdict? Save your money. If you just gotta have it, get a manufacturer's warranty and shop around for the the best price (they can be purchased online). Only 4% are ever used successfully. They're a fool's errand in my estimation.

[Jimandrod]

I rarely purchase extended warranties - but - the two times I did, they really paid off.

In 1993 we bought a new Ford Taurus station wagon. The car came with a decent warranty but for about $750 we were able to extend it to 7 years or 70,000 miles. During the extended period we had a couple of repairs to the electrical system done that were well in excess of the price we paid for the extension. The best part is that the engine blew about two months before the warranty expired. The cost of the engine replacement was completely covered. That extended warranty paid for itself many times over.

More recently I bought a warranty extension from Dell on my desktop computer. I have had two repairs done on it in the last 3 months (during the extended period.) The first involved the power supply. It was replaced at no cost and they sent a tech to my house to install it. The second problem was an issue with the CPU cooling fan. I spoke to them at about 5 PM through a Dell online chat support service. At about 10 am the next morning I received a phone call from a tech to make an appointment to come out to install the new parts. By noon, the repair was done! So, in about 18 hours after I contacted them the new parts were in my computer - and I live in rural New Mexico!. Now, dollar for dollar, I don't know if I came out ahead. However, the convenience alone was worth the cost.

Me4us, I can't really advise you to on getting an extended warranty or not. I will say that you should read every word of it and see what it will or will not cover. More importantly, find out if the place where you plan to have your unit serviced will honor it. If they say they will then get it in writing. If they do, then depending on the price of the extension it may be worth it alone for the peace of mind it brings.

Many extended warranties aren't worth the paper they are written on. A few of them can be really good - particularly if you have to cash in on them. But first, you need to do some homework. Good luck.

[mustang]

I have had it go both ways. 1 time it paid off because of cost and repaires. The other time I was off a few bucks. what ever you do get it from a dealer you will do business at so they honor it. Hope you dont need the warranty whether you get it or not.

[wahoonc]

IMHO...no

Jimandrod...you did better than I did with Dell. Daughter's laptop crapped out, four year bumper to bumper warranty. We fought them to have it replaced under warranty, they finally did, then would not transfer the remaining 2 years of the 4 year warranty to the new unit. 6 months later it ate the hard drive, called Dell and all they wanted to do was sell me another one. I bought a better and larger one from a different source. Purchase price and install cost was less than they wanted for their replacement.

Aaron