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Post Info TOPIC: Extended Warranty


RV-Dreams Family Member

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Extended Warranty


I know this has probably been beaten to death in this forum but I do have a question about extended warranties.  We have decided to get one, have already started one with Wholesale Warranties, but now we have heard some horror stories about how companies will deny claims if you don't have written proof of maintenance being done.  We have a 2016 Bighorn.  I asked our salesman at Wholesale Warranties specifically and here was his response.  Has anyone had a claim denied or had issues with a claim due to not having the paperwork they required?  We just want to be sure we are covered if we ever need it.

These are all very good questions and I would want to know the process if it were my RV. Our policy does not require routine maintenance from a service center or mechanic. Unlike most policies we give our customers the flexibility to do their own routine maintenance,  we only require you to do what the owner component manual requires and write it down in a note pad as a reference. So ,if you have a claim you can demonstrate that all maintenance was done as required as your log book would show. The notes will only be used if you require a second opinion from the administrator.

 

Additionally, we do not haggle with claims. Once we perform the preexisting damage inspection we will process a claim so as long as its covered under the agreement rest assured it will be covered.

 

Please see your owner's manual for all routine maintenance requirements.

 

Las, we have an internal Claims Department available to help you if you have any questions or concerns when processing a claim. If you need help please don’t hesitate to give them a call.



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2013 Keystone Sprinter



RV-Dreams Family Member

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So the question is, as I see it, in your unidentified state would be salesman's response bind Wholesale Warranties?

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RV-Dreams Family Member

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Although this wasn't directly asked, extended warranties are rarely a good idea. The warranty company intends to make money and like other "gambles", the house usually wins. I carried an ESP for a couple of years and decided that it was increasing my repair costs, not decreasing them ... so I cancelled. I was with Good Sam's company. Everyone sees things thru their own lens, so this is just my opinion.

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Ron and Janice

 

2016 Ford F350, King Ranch, DRW, 4x4, CC, 6.7 PS Diesel, remote control air lift system

2017 Durango Gold 381REF, Lambright furniture, MCD shades, morRYDE IS, 8K Disc brakes, GY G114  LR H Tires, 27,320 lbs CGVW

FT class of 2016



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I am a firm believer in putting money aside for repairs. They will come. Extended Warranties are not cheap. Put that money in an account. Add to it. If you don't need it, good. No lost.

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2003 Teton Grand Freedon  2006 Mobile Suites 32TK3 SOLD     2006 Freightliner Century 120 with Detroit 14L singled, ultrashift,  hauling a 2016 Smart Passion



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Hate to pop your collective bubbles. I purchased an extended warranty from Route 66 when I bought my new 5er back in 2013 for just over $1,700 and have recouped that cost at least 3 times over. A broken mega-slide costs between $2,500 and $3,000 to repair (happened to each of the Schwintec slides) and a new axle (wheel bearing burnout) would have cost me about $1,500 to repair but I only paid a $150 "out-of-network" deductible. Worth. Every. Penny.

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Ann and Steve
2012 Silverado HD3500 Crew Cab, Long Bed, Dually
2013 Dutchmen Infinity 3850RL



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Ann and Steve,

Glad that you were able to recoup the cost of your extended warranty. BUT, most people will not save money - the companies make money when they PAY OUT LESS than they take in.



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Barb & Dave O'Keeffe

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RV-Dreams Family Member

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No knowing your financial position makes this question somewhat difficult to answer. I will just pass along something my dear departed father told me way back last century: You insure for the losses you can't afford to cover yourself. Over the long term insuring for every little eventuality will make the insurance companies rich and you poor. Your call.

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Agree with the majority so far. Anne and Steve's situation has had Lady Luck smile upon them and we are happy that she has, but.... their experience is most definitely the exception and not the rule when it comes to extended warranties(EW). Self insure if you can afford to, if not... it would be prudent to consider making some changes so that you can. If money is no object then whatever lets you sleep at night is just peachy. For me, figuratively speaking, I worked hard for my money so I'd rather keep it until it's needed when it comes to expensive repairs. If not then it's still in my pocket and not connected to an external insurance siphon. Your mileage may vary as they say. Life is full of choices and what works for one may not for another.

Many people fail to set aside sufficient money for such things and find themselves in a jam when they pop up. Some people also mistakenly believe that an EW covers everything... it if did the premiums would be significantly higher than what is typically being advertised. Caveat Emptor. As has been said already, the insurance companies are NOT interested losing money thus want to pay out as little as possible.

JMHO



-- Edited by BiggarView on Tuesday 1st of May 2018 07:48:39 PM

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RV-Dreams Family Member

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The nice thing about self insuring is that you never have to WAIT until something breaks. If something looks worn, if there is any doubt, if one of a pair breaks, you can take care of it at an appropriate time and place. Now, not saying that everything will give you warning, but we've learned that with our coach, if it is a system, then replace the whole system, not just the single part in that system that cracked, etc. If there are multiples (like the springs for our jacks) then when one needed replacing, all were replaced. Yes, it may be more preventative maintenance than some will do, but we feel it works for us.

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2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID

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RV-Dreams Family Member

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Ann and Steve wrote:

Hate to pop your collective bubbles. I purchased an extended warranty from Route 66 when I bought my new 5er back in 2013 for just over $1,700 and have recouped that cost at least 3 times over. A broken mega-slide costs between $2,500 and $3,000 to repair (happened to each of the Schwintec slides) and a new axle (wheel bearing burnout) would have cost me about $1,500 to repair but I only paid a $150 "out-of-network" deductible. Worth. Every. Penny.


 You were struck by lightning ... or hit the lotto.  The ODDS are very against you ... so no bubble popping going on.  Considering only your transaction, if that was the norm, you do realize that the company would soon go broke.  Given the $150 you paid ... how much were the premiums?  That is a part of the equation that must also be considered.



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Ron and Janice

 

2016 Ford F350, King Ranch, DRW, 4x4, CC, 6.7 PS Diesel, remote control air lift system

2017 Durango Gold 381REF, Lambright furniture, MCD shades, morRYDE IS, 8K Disc brakes, GY G114  LR H Tires, 27,320 lbs CGVW

FT class of 2016



RV-Dreams Family Member

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Ron,

I think their purchase of the extended warranty was a one time cost up front of $1700, based on their last statement.  Thus, probably no "premiums" at all.

Terry



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2010 Mobile Suites 38TKSB3
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RV-Dreams Family Member

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Count us in the same "camp" as Anne & Steve, our extended warranty was purchased for $1400, 5 years and we way more than recovered the cost. The last 2 repairs we had done, cables having to be replaced in a small slide, and the landing gear / hydraulic pump being replaced, total alone for just those 2 repairs was $3800 and those were the last 2 repairs we had done under that warranty, plus many others in the 5 years we had the warranty, hot water heater replaced, axle replaced, cooling unit replaced, ceiling vent fan replaced, etc. etc. Or maybe we have just been unlucky with our RV and the number of repairs, either way the warranty was of great value to us.

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Well, first of all, yes Extended Warranties have almost been beaten to death as they are in almost every RV forum.  :)

Of course, we are representatives of Wholesale Warranties from the standpoint of suggesting them over any other extended service contract companies IF folks determine an extended warranty is for them. With that said, I agree with much of what has been written in this thread about self-insuring against major mechanical issues IF you can. I'm not a fan of extended warranties in general. However, if a major mechanical breakdown would devastate your funds, then they should be considered as long as you completely understand what they do and don't cover (most people don't take the time to ask the questions you are asking).

It's certainly an analysis of "what are the odds" of a breakdown, how much risk you are willing to take, the limit in dollars you can comfortably self-insure, whether you feel there is "value" in the cost considering the likelihood of filing claims, and other factors including what is and is not covered, and the financial status of the company paying the claims. 

On the value side, there is a lot of profit built into the extended warranties sold by dealers. That's why folks should at least get quotes from other sources. Once the quotes are in, then my suggestion is to just evaluate the likelihood of claims against the annual cost of the contract. For example, on our fifth wheel, the annual cost was about $400/yr and we could pretty easily justify that - we saved money over the years by having the warranties. But now, with our Class C motorhome, the annual cost is more like $1,300/yr and I'm struggling to determine if I see enough value in it. We can self-insure against the smaller repair items, but do we want to take the risk of having to cover the cost of a major engine repair? Been there, done that. In 2012, we lost our truck engine - that cost $18,000 since we didn't have an extended warranty. The odds of the loss of that engine were quite low, but it happened.   

Addressing some of the other comments in this thread, I agree with this statement "You insure for the losses you can't afford to cover yourself", and these statements "Many people fail to set aside sufficient money for such things and find themselves in a jam when they pop up. Some people also mistakenly believe that an EW covers everything". Certainly, in the overall scheme of things, the warranty companies are trying to pay out less than they take in, BUT they make their "real" money by investing all the premiums they take in and hold in the interim period between the receipt of the premiums and the payout of claims. Good companies are not looking for every excuse to deny claims.

As for your reference to "horror stories" about claims being denied because folks don't have evidence of manufacturer-suggested maintenance, every extended warranty contract I've seen has the requirement of doing regular maintenance per the manufacturers' guidelines and documenting such. So, the "horror stories" often come from those that didn't read or understand the contract or assumed "the contract didn't really mean it". Certainly, the intent is to have RV owners do their maintenance which, in turn, should reduce the necessity of repairs in general and claims on the warranty.

From what I've seen, claims are more readily covered when there is visible evidence of a clean, well-maintained rig and claims are questioned and more likely to be denied where it appears the RV has been neglected AND there is no evidence of routine maintenance.

For what it's worth, in our several extended warranty claims (mostly relatively small), no one ever asked for our documentation of routine maintenance so our answer to your question "Has anyone had a claim denied or had issues with a claim due to not having the paperwork they required?" is "No". 



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RV-Dreams Family Member

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Terry and Jo wrote:

Ron,

I think their purchase of the extended warranty was a one time cost up front of $1700, based on their last statement.  Thus, probably no "premiums" at all.

Terry

Terry ... you're right, I missed that.

 



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Ron and Janice

 

2016 Ford F350, King Ranch, DRW, 4x4, CC, 6.7 PS Diesel, remote control air lift system

2017 Durango Gold 381REF, Lambright furniture, MCD shades, morRYDE IS, 8K Disc brakes, GY G114  LR H Tires, 27,320 lbs CGVW

FT class of 2016



RV-Dreams Family Member

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Am I assuming correctly that one can buy an extended warranty after the initial RV purchase and not have to decide at the dealership if you want one?

For example, if we intend to buy a new RV I can expect the dealership to try and sell me an extended warranty. I don't want to complicate the decision of buying the RV with also getting the extended warranty. Therefore, I'm leaning towards making the decision to get or not to get a warranty sometime before the one year factory warranty runs out. Sound like a good plan?


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Mark from Missouri

www.ourfutureinanrv.wordpress.com 

2019 Ram 3500 Laramie Dually LB 6.7L HO Diesel Aisin Transmission 4x4 3.73 Gears 

2019 Vanleigh Vilano 320GK 35’ fifth wheel 16,000-pound GVWR



RV-Dreams Family Member

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mds1 wrote:

Am I assuming correctly that one can buy an extended warranty after the initial RV purchase and not have to decide at the dealership if you want one?

For example, if we intend to buy a new RV I can expect the dealership to try and sell me an extended warranty. I don't want to complicate the decision of buying the RV with also getting the extended warranty. Therefore, I'm leaning towards making the decision to get or not to get a warranty sometime before the one year factory warranty runs out. Sound like a good plan?


 Sounds like it will work for you. Welcome to the casino... LOL



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Brian, Cindi & Josie (our fur baby)
2017 RAM 3500 Laramie 4x4 CCLB, CTD, Aisin, B&W hitch, dually
2020 Keystone Montana Legacy 3813MS w/FBP ,
MORryde 8k IS, Kodiak disc brakes, no solar  YET!



RV-Dreams Family Member

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mds1 wrote:

Am I assuming correctly that one can buy an extended warranty after the initial RV purchase and not have to decide at the dealership if you want one?

For example, if we intend to buy a new RV I can expect the dealership to try and sell me an extended warranty. I don't want to complicate the decision of buying the RV with also getting the extended warranty. Therefore, I'm leaning towards making the decision to get or not to get a warranty sometime before the one year factory warranty runs out. Sound like a good plan?


 As with a car, there is no requirement to purchase an extended warranty from a dealer at time of rig purchase unless one wants to pay more.  (Sarcasm intended.)  If the dealer tells you that you must purchase one at time of sale go to another dealer as they are probably not telling you the truth about other things as well, IMO.

The one Howard and Linda represent, Wholesale Warranties, ad on the main forum page, is a good choice if one wants an extended warranty.  There are pros and cons both ways and it really is a choice depending on many factors.  Many discussions of this on this forum.  Search around.

One major, IMO, point to consider:  Unlike a car, one can not just go to a dealer and always immediately have things covered under the warranty.  Many times a "representative" must come and inspect the problem before repairs are authorized.  If one has the time to wait, all well and good.  But approval is not always instant.  Sometimes yes, sometimes no depending on the problem and the cost.

 



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Bill & Linda

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