Service Contracts--did you buy?

[JillABean]

Hello,

We are in the process of purchasing a Micro Minnie TT, likely the 2100BH FLX.

We have heard mention of a service contract by two separate dealers.

Questions:
What are your thoughts on these?

Are they worth it?

Is one plan better than another? Which one did you get?

Can they be purchased outside of the dealer, after the purchase?

how much did you pay and what did it include? Are they negotiable like a car extended warranty?

Are they universal and able to be used all over with any servicer?

Thanks for any information that you can provide on these!

Jill

[Ray,IN]

For a new unit I would decline, the factory warranties cover everything for 1 or 2 years an extended service contract covers.
After the factory warranty is expired, re-evaluate your decision. This is just like purchasing a health insurance policy, on on a vehicle. The contract will have terms and conditions in fine print, just the same as the health insurance policy.
Fail to abide by the fine print and the claim may be denied; always read contract prior to signing.


That said; we purchased an ESC when we bought this used MH because it had been stored in a barn for 8 years.
Bottom line, it was a sound decision for us.


I would NEVER finance an extended service contract, spot cash only!

[Morich]

No, We do not go for extended service as it is way too easy to write them in such a way that it leaves too many loopholes. Many times the terms like "normal wear" are so easy to shift that it means noithing. Other times, the deductable is enough that you avoid taking it in and waiting the six weeks it may take for them to get around to your problem.
Too many ways for them to write the contract to benefit them and too few ways that are practical for you to fight the issue.
They know that if they refuse to pay for something like a $1000 bill, you are highly unlikely to go to the expense of going to court and wasting a whole summer to maybe get your money back!
The big game in business is to stall and wait it out and the guy with the most money will often win!
Crooks lie, cheat, and steal and if finally caught, they take the fifth!

[wyocamper]

I bought one, ours was used and this is the first motorhome we've ever owned, and I had no idea what all could possibly go wrong, but it is a Ford, so......

I've only used it once, but it paid the full cost of replacing both engine knock sensors, minus the $100 deductible.

[JillABean]

Thank you for your replies!

We would not be financing and we are buying new! They sure do talk up these service contracts!

If buying a TT at a location in another state, who do you go to to service it? Any service center? If it is a warranty issue do you contact Winnebago first and they tell you were to go?

We found to same TT $10k less in a different state and really considering buying it and paying to have it transported but concerned about anything found to be wrong once we get it. I have heard many people finding things hooked up wrong with the flex models.

[JillABean]

Originally Posted by wyocamper

I bought one, ours was used and this is the first motorhome we've ever owned, and I had no idea what all could possibly go wrong, but it is a Ford, so......

I've only used it once, but it paid the full cost of replacing both engine knock sensors, minus the $100 deductible.

What is the name of your service contract? How much did you pay for it if you don’t mind saying ?

[creativepart]

No, we didn’t buy one and are glad we didn’t. But we bought a new motorhome. Even for the FLX I would think a extended service contract a waste of money for a travel trailer.

Why do the dealers talk them up so much? Because they make boat loads of money selling them to folks that don’t need them. Plus, the salesperson gets bonus points for each one they sell. They’re not trying to help you, they just want your money. And keep in mind at closing there will be other worthless junk they will try to push on you, too. Just practice saying NO over and over before going to to sign the papers.

[Eagle5]

Great comments above, and I would like to add what my dad told me. Being an auto & home insurance salesman, he would tell me you only buy insurance for the things you cannot afford to replace, which in this case would be the entire automobile or major damage to the home. For the small stuff, insure yourself. I believe this is wise council.
Eagle5

[Ray,IN]

JillABean, Two extended service contract handlers who have a very good reputation are wholesalewarranties.com and goodsamesp.com .
Wholesale Warranties is an independent broker firm, who finds a contract that best fits your needs.
Good Sam always treated me well before our MH was too old to qualify for such a program.

[bigb]

Not on a towable. Maybe on a used motorhome. They push the plans so hard on new towables because they are real money makers for the dealers which should tell you something.

[dkoldman]

No, I would never buy a extended contract (unless dirt cheap).

If any Salesman of a product I was thinking to buy could offer me any compelling reason why I must purchase the extended warranty, I would NOT buy the product.

When I bought my RV 3 years ago I was a newbie and had same questions as you. Fear of what may go wrong, and big bills with slides hydraulics etc.

So what we did, we put away (reserved) the $7,500 for 5 years they were asking for Extended Warranty on our own. I bought my coach expecting to pay $1,500 / year on NON MAINTAINANCE items/repairs that would have been covered by a extended warranty. After Year 1; we had our usual Mfg defects all were taking care of by WBGO, nothing we encountered would have been covered by extended warranty.

Year 2 we had a few more Mfg defects all where surprisingly taking care of by WBGO despite being technically out of warranty, again; no issue we encountered would have been by extended warranty.

In my mind, I was up $3,000; so I used it to buy things I wanted, and some upgrades I made, like new AGM 125 ah batteries, dimming switches throughout the coach, EC- 30 AGS, 40" Samsung TV, Steering wheel wireless remote control, Cat clamp etc. etc.

It is now the end of Year 3, I had my first repair this year that I assumed that if I had the extended warranty the warranty would pay for One of the Hood brackets came off. It had been 3 years so surely WBGO would not help me?, but I was wrong. While it was a $1,700 WBGO dealer repair, WBGO sent me the missing (lost) parts that fell off as Goodwill (did I mention how much I love WBGO ) Anyhow; I paid a Mobile Tech $500 who redesigned the mechanical support of both brackets, I sent the pictures to WBGO for their future reference and changes made to my coach. I then thought this would have have been my 1st claim the extended warranty would have paid for; so I assumed I was out $400 of my reserve Turns out this claim would NOT have been covered because the warranty contracts considers this issue as Mfg defect

Sure something could go wrong that may actually be covered, but the math and odds are against you. Just like you can go to Vegas and win at gambling, but the mass volume of people don't win, just enough win to keep the other masses coming back. Right now I got $6,000 of reserve; so if that big bill comes, I can deal with it on my own, and I can deal with it my way, not by how the fine print written by 100s of lawyers who don't represent my interests; over who know show many years says I must handle the repair.

[creativepart]

To answer some of your other questions:

Generally, they can be used at any repair shop or independent tech that will accept them. Not all repair shops or techs are willing to jump through all the hoops of dealing with the insurance company.

Usually, the shop works with the insurer’s claims people to submit proof the repair. Everyone then waits for the claim to be approved or rejected before the shop can move forward on the repair. The entire claim can be approved or rejected, or part of the claim can be approved or rejected.

If something fails on your RV that leads to the failure of some other part of the RV the insurer may approve the initial repair claim but not any subsequent issues caused by the initial failure. For instance a common failure on a travel trailer is a blown tire. Most of the time tires are not a covered item, but when it blows it often damages the underside or even the exterior of the trailer. The insurance company can the reject a repair claim for fixing the trailer damage because it was caused by something not covered.

Extended maintenance contracts can be negotiated for, term, mileage, coverage limitations, deductibles and such. However, each adjustment effects the contract’s cost.

Dealers purchase the contract from wholesale insurance brokers and there are no limits to the amount of markup they can apply when selling to you. For instance, they can buy the contract for $500 and offer it to you for $2,000. And, then should you balk at that price offer you a $500 discount still making a 300% profit.

RV dealers, like auto dealers, employ F&I services to make more profit from each sale. So, during closing they will offer service contracts, tire warranties, paint protection, upholstery protection and such. Everyone of those options are high markup options to increase the profitability of each sale. They know some buyers will say no to these offers, but that there are some number of buyers that will agree to them.

[NV_Camper]

Originally Posted by JillABean

Thank you for your replies!

We would not be financing and we are buying new! They sure do talk up these service contracts!

If buying a TT at a location in another state, who do you go to to service it? Any service center? If it is a warranty issue do you contact Winnebago first and they tell you were to go?

We found to same TT $10k less in a different state and really considering buying it and paying to have it transported but concerned about anything found to be wrong once we get it. I have heard many people finding things hooked up wrong with the flex models.

I basically just did this and have had several warranty items from a light that stopped working to a full schwintek slide replacement.

There will be things you will want looked at %100. Maybe not much but if you are expecting to have a dealer fix every little thing that comes up you should probably purchase locally or at least make sure your local dealer will be willing to service.

If you call Winnebago they will just tell you to call around dealers until you find one that will take you.

Don't assume any Winnebago dealer will help you. The dealer local to me REFUSES to service anything not purchased by them and Winnebago is ok with it. Currently Winnebago is ok paying for third party service but it is a pain to coordinate because it makes you the middle man. I had to wait 3 months to get a check from Winnebago, had to order my own parts, etc.

If it was me I would call the dealer local to you and say that you recently purchased and want to schedule a service appointment to fix something small, water leak, heater not working, etc. and see what they say. It will be pretty clear how helpful they will be.

As I said my local dealer refuses to help, but the dealer 3 hours away will schedule an appointment within a week and really tries to help. So not everyone is dropping the ball.

Call Winnebago Customer Service, (574) 825-8052, and talk to them directly. They are nice and willing to discuss options with you. For little things they will ship you parts directly.

[JillABean]

Originally Posted by NV_Camper

if you are expecting to have a dealer fix every little thing that comes up you should probably purchase locally or at least make sure your local dealer will be willing to service.

We would be saving $11k by buying from an out-of-state dealer (OTD, with delivery, tax, licensing, all of it).

I think we are going to take the risk and will deal with the extra steps if the local dealer will not help us. Fingers crossed that they will.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by JillABean

We would be saving $11k by buying from an out-of-state dealer (OTD, with delivery, tax, licensing, all of it).

I think we are going to take the risk and will deal with the extra steps if the local dealer will not help us. Fingers crossed that they will.

We bought our coach in Florida and we live in Dallas. The coach we bought had several upgrades that we didn't even know existed and we saved a substantial amount of money. We tried ad nauseum to work with several dealers in the State and none would budge and on paper; I guess I could see their point, but this was in 2019 BEFORE price surges due to covid, inflation or whatever reasons.

Of course we have never been back to Florida and when warranty came up, the 1st Dealer we tried said they were NOT taking new customers except for those that bought from them. I called WBGO and they provided some # to a 2nd dealer who took care of and we were in and out a lot faster than what we thought. At that point, I wanted and established a relationship with that Dealer. I paid them to do things like install my EC-30 AGS, Battery Disconnect switches etc. These were things with no warranty; but me paying them out of pocket at their normal rates, ironically with the extended warranty money that I did not spend I would work with this dealer for next 2 1/2 years. They never referenced or bothered with where I bought the coach. When my hood support brackets fell off, I took the coach by the 1st Dealer that refuse to work on our when it was new 3 years ago; but that has changed because they provided an estimate to fix. Note: It would have been non warranty work. But as fate would have it, I ran into a Mobile Tech that came to my house and did all of the work with parts supplied by WBGO for only $500.

[creativepart]

We bought our new coach at a great price from out of state. 6-months later we were traveling near that dealer so I called 2-months in advance for a service appointment. Even though we bought the RV there they told us there was a 3-month wait to get in.

So, I called the sales manager and complained and suddenly a slot opened up and they took our coach in. They completed the so-called fix under warranty and gave us back our coach.

Of course, they didn't fix anything. The problem we took it in for was still there.

Thing is, we all learn to a) fix everything ourselves... warranty or no, and b) find a good local repair tech or shop to handle all the things we can't do ourselves.

We have never been back to a Winnebago dealer for service since that first sorry experience.

[Morich]

Originally Posted by JillABean

We would be saving $11k by buying from an out-of-state dealer (OTD, with delivery, tax, licensing, all of it).

I think we are going to take the risk and will deal with the extra steps if the local dealer will not help us. Fingers crossed that they will.

It can be very, very hard to compare two RV as there are often small points missing that are hard to spot! Part of that problem is that the sales folks are often the one trying to hide the difference.

I've lost track of what it is you are buying, trailer or motorized but things are somewhat the same, except more options are available on motorhomes!

Going a distance from home does kind of put the odds of getting the best deal in a tougher spot. Consider how it effects you if you have what sounds like a reasonable deal and you go a long distance or have it shipped and then find there are small points missing?
You likely lose the travel or shipping,so does that put you in a bind?

Some points to try to get info to compare?
Electronics:
Do the two have the same size inverter? Do they both even have inverter? That's the gizmo that uses onboard batteries to make AC, so you can do small stuff like watch and hour of TV, charge something, etc.
Do they both have the same setup for connecting to cable, satallite, etc.?
Too many small points for most to spot even on walkthrough!

See if it is possible to get dealers to shootyou a copy of the options on each RV! Motorhomes from Winnebago have a page or so in a big binder of info and it should be simple for anybody to copy and E-mailall the infoyou might want to ask for before making a deal. Beware the folks who have too many "reasons" why they can't get you anything you want!
Consider any differences in taxes?

Best of luck and try to ignore any of my complaints that seem out of line----but I never like buying things as there are so many pitfalls and there are always added things they want to sell.

In Texas, we got the story from Camping World that state law prevents them from doing repairs on RV if they do not stock that specific brand and model! True or not, we don't know because we never went back!

[NV_Camper]

Originally Posted by JillABean

We would be saving $11k by buying from an out-of-state dealer (OTD, with delivery, tax, licensing, all of it).

I think we are going to take the risk and will deal with the extra steps if the local dealer will not help us. Fingers crossed that they will.

For $11k I’d go out of state too. It might be worth it to hire someone to do an inspection before it leaves the seller since it seems like you’ll be buying without seeing it. At least you could avoid little issues right off the bat.

[JillABean]

Originally Posted by NV_Camper

For $11k I’d go out of state too. It might be worth it to hire someone to do an inspection before it leaves the seller since it seems like you’ll be buying without seeing it. At least you could avoid little issues right off the bat.

I am going to pay the $500 (high estimate) to go for a day or over night to inspect! Just want to make sure. I don’t feel comfortable buying sight unseen.

[JillABean]

Originally Posted by Morich

It can be very, very hard to compare two RV as there are often small points missing that are hard to spot! Part of that problem is that the sales folks are often the one trying to hide the difference.
!

We are buying a new 2022 2100BH FLX the spec sheet from Winnebago for each travel trailer is exactly the same with the same packages and with the same cost… except the freight, and delivery & handling charges.

The place we are buying from said they bought a “boat load” and got a really good discount. There are a couple places we found that we’re selling them for even &8k less.

And tax is 4% vs 7.75% !!!

And NM let’s you license with an out of state address and long as I go and take possession in the state so licensing fees are only like $70-80 vs $600!

It’s crazy! I have really looked into it to make sure everything was legit! I am going to go for a day or over night trip for about a $500 flight to inspect it and do the “orientation”.