Extended Warranties

[Coopjl]

Hi there! My wife Lisa and I are in the process of purchasing a 2020 BaseCamp X.

Would it be worthwhile to purchase the “60 Service Agreement” and the “60 Platinum Protection” packages?

Together, they add $4000 to the cost, but we plan to travel extensively as soon as we retire. Living in Fairbanks, Alaska we are quite far from the nearest Airstream dealer.

Your thoughts and experience please?

Thanks in advance!
Jeff & Lisa

[wulfraat]

It would not be worthwhile. Those plans are total robbery, and are simply a mechanism for the dealer to put more of your money in their pocket.

This has been discussed at length in the forum - if you use the search function you will find many many threads discussing this topic.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Simple answer - no

More complete answer - no, not ever.

You *have* a three year warranty on the trailer. That covers you at any Airstream dealer. Most of these add on warranty packages come with multiple restrictions.

Story as an example:

Once upon a time I stood in line at a (not Airstream) dealer while spending about $5 or some needed item. Most of my 15 minute wait was taken up by the counter guy reading a long list of repair items on an RV over the phone. Each item went like "needs the fridge door fixed, contacted your warranty outfit, they will not cover it, cost is $XXXX". The items and the prices changed, but the "they will not cover it" pretty much never did.

Put the money in a mutual fund and hope the market doesn't crash or burry it under a rock just in case it does. Either way, $4K will cover a lot of this and that.

Indeed you should carry insurance on your trailer. That's different than a warranty or protection package. Be sure that you are covered on the road, when at a campsite *and* when in storage. You also may want the contents of the trailer covered along with the trailer it's self. Yes, you pay for every single added item in this paragraph.

Bob