3 Rivet Member
2000 25' Excella
Northern
, California
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 247
|
This is a $64 question: To buy insurance or self-insure. It’s impossible to assess your specific situation, particularly not knowing what is covered, and what’s really included (excluded) in all those “after-market” extras such as solar, and the deductible. There’s a lot of fine print in many extended warranty contracts, and numerous hoops to jump through in order to obtain payment on what would seem to be a covered event, particularly 3rd party insurance providers. The industry does not have a great reputation for a variety of reasons, some of them well-earned, including non-payment, slow payment, unresponsive to service requests, excessive exclusions, confusing language, and bankruptcy to name a few. Nevertheless, many people have navigated these shoals successfully, while others have walked away frustrated and several thousand dollars poorer. It’s important to look at the financial capacity of the provider, their history of payment or payment denial, as well as the extent of the coverage and the deductible. If your internet search shows a debris field of customer complaints against the company due to payment denial, unresponsiveness, financial alerts, etc., then run, don’t walk, in the other direction. On the other hand, if you find that you’re dealing with a reputable concern, you may be able to purchase a policy that will afford you the protection you want/need without costing your first-born child. It’s important to remember the true purpose of insurance, viz., protection against large, serious, and catastrophic loss, rather than simply as a pre-payment mechanism for what would ordinarily be routine maintenance. You can buy insurance to do either, but there’s a considerable price associated with the latter. In other words, a zero-dollar deductible, bumper-to-bumper policy is going to be costly, while a much higher deductible will have a dramatic impact on premiums. With a higher deductible, you’ll eat the nickel and dime stuff, maybe even the $100-$200 stuff, but you can have a bit of a safety net for the catastrophe, such as the AC, the fridge, etc. Personally, I have an affordable, $200-deductible plan with Good Sam’s CSP, and I’ve been pleased with their performance. I don’t have an extensive claim history because most of my events have been under the deductible radar, or within a couple of hundred dollars of the deductible, so I’ve been eating the petty stuff. Nonetheless, I continue to renew it because that refer and that AC are getting long in the tooth, and one day, my premiums will come roaring back. Meanwhile, they’ve behaved in a professional manner, and I haven’t had to arm wrestle them for payment (my dealer does that without incident). So, having said all this, your numbers sound on the high side, though I haven’t priced them lately, plus you’re financing the entire 7-year policy, paying interest on $3,400 for 7 years (actually, you’re paying on $1,700 for 7 years, or $3,400 for 3.5 years). I’m not in the insurance business, but rather than dismiss the warranty concept out of hand, I would look around for a reputable firm that offers a monthly/quarterly/annual affordable program with a deductible to see if that suits your risk/benefit tolerance as to what might give a measure of protection for those “large, serious, and catastrophic” losses. I have my standards, and sometimes I buy them, and sometimes I don’t. In part it depends upon my assessment of the complexity of the insured item, my view as to the probability of both getting my premiums back (in effect) and a very large claim. I can tell you that I purchased the longest extended warranty they would sell me, directly through GMC on my 2003 Yukon, then extended it just prior to expiration. There have been several big-ticket claims, and since it is the GM plan, authorization and payment is smooth as silk. Trust me: I’m working on their money. Whew! Sorry for such a windy response, I hope it helps.
|