RV Extended Warranty Insurance, to buy or not to buy?

[raoaks]

Probably an age old question that may not have a good answer but what is the general consensus out there for buying RV insurance that covers the whole package from engine/drive train to all appliances, slides, wheels, road service etc.? Of course the dealer usually offers this insurance at a very high cost the day you pick up your RV. We were offered a full package for around $7500 for 5 years or 50,000 miles. When we declined, they dropped the price to $4000! Huh? So a question would be, do you roll the dice and not spend a huge amount up front, or bite the bullet? Is there such a thing as a reputable insurance company, the fine print can be a killer. Recommendations would be appreciated, past experiences, thoughts?

 

[be happy]

Yes it is an age old question!!
Years back I had Goos Sam Extended Warranty insurance that covered my 5th wheel and tow truck.. At the time it did save me a lot of money as the whole front steering system on the tow truck needed to be replaced. So was it worth it yes. Factory warranties had run out on both trailer and truck.
Years later I purchased my present MH and thought I would check into the extended warranty insurance again. Because of the age of my coach the monthly premium was way to high so I did not get.

I would not get the insurance the dealer wants you to get. There are or maybe alot of restrictions on where you can get the work done, that type of thing. If you find the need look into the independent ones. Old posts will talk about look into where the work can be done, and what work can be done. Keep in mind the insurance companies are there for one thing thats to make money. If given the chance to buy again would I, most likely not.

Good Luck

 

[creativepart]

As you would expect, there is no general consensus on this question. You decide and that’s that. There is no right or wrong answer there is only what seems right to you.

I’m solidly “anti” and that’s worked out good for me. But many others will say it saved them money big time.

As to dealers going from $7500 to $4000 for a “warranty” contract? That’s because it costs them so little to offer the mostly worthless insurance they try to scare you into buying that they make a huge profit at both prices. Heck they’d make a profit at $2000 or less, so why not drop the price?

Extended Service Contracts are essentially gambling and the house (insurance company) always wins or goes out of business.

 

[Gizmo1137]

These warranties are generally not worth the paper they are written on. Yes in some cases they have paid out, but IMHO I would bank the money you would have otherwise spent for any potential repairs after the Manufacturer warranty expires.

 

[raoaks]

Thanks for the input, a good case of confirmation bias, I pretty much knew and believe what you all are saying before you said it. We bought a Pleasureway Plateau new in 09, (Sprinter), and didn’t buy the warranty, we just sold it to get the Winnebago the other day, worst thing that ever happened was fridge went bad during COVID. Bought a new one and put it in myself. We spent more money by far at Mercedes Benz dealerships that anything with the actual motorhome. Of course most of that money was just routine service. So, I think we came out ahead by not buying the warranty which are full of fine print and misleading gobbley gook.

 

[Morich]

My wife worked in an office selling truck insurance for over the road and she definitely is not a fan!
Our problem with insurance is that it is written to sounds good but not be true!
It may insure the transmission? But then way down at the last it may have a single line which does something like remove lubricated parts?
Don't take this as specifics but the general idea!
So when/ if the transmission fails, what part of that is not lubed? The outside case?

In trucking insurance, the load is sometimes covered, but only if the truck is not moving! The load is covered if a mountain falls on you in the parking lot but not if you drive into the mountain!
I tend to avoid but on the one occasion when I did buy it for a car which I knew had been driven into a mailbox(??) It paid off extremely well but eventually maddening!
It paid for numerous things which seemed to have nothing to do with the mailbox but then also they never found and fixed the cause of the car not cranking to start at random times!
The machines seemed to say change the battery. Each time, we had just changed the battery the last time we had it in the shop. But eventually I stopped paying the hundred dollars to replace the battery (details of the insurance?) and they stopped doing the repairs that they found needed!
Selling the toad was the best move we found!

 

[Waterbug]

I bought a used 38' class A out of state. I knew that I wouldn't be returning to the RV dealer for service or repairs. I purchased a 3 year warranty. I received about 75% of the premium in repairs. The peace of mind for the condition of a used RV, for 3 years, was worth the 25% loss.

 

[deckape]

We got a policy to cover any repairs after we bought. Used it and got to know how it worked . Got comfortable with coach and systems . Decided to put same amount in a repair account and pay as we good .

 

[Oneilkeys]

I think Waterbug makes a good point. Based on my experience and most RVers I have talked to over the years, extended warranties are not worth it. Both because odds are you won’t have to use it and - if you do - the warranty company may not honor your repair anyway. That being said, if you have no maintenance ability and your finances cannot cover a large expense, then it may be worth the “piece of mind” to purchase one. If you do, go to a reputable third party, not the dealer.

 

[Journey39n]

Everyone has their experiences, we have had good experiences over 15 years of full time living in our RV.

We purchased the Good Sam extended warranty when the RV was new. First four years were very cheap, because of factory warranties, I guess. After that, each year the premium climbed. We used it periodically for various things along the way, a refer cooling unit replacement (twice), fogged windows, slide seals, turbo actuator, EGR valve, and then the serious stuff. The AC unit went out during Covid and 118 degrees near Phoenix, a big bill. The alternator went out, then a water pump, and finally the whole rear end differential. We did the paperwork, called for prior authorizations, paid our deductibles, and money was re-imbursed into our account with-in days of the claim. We had paid more in premiums than services gained up until about the 13 year point, then we were even and even a little ahead.

But the peace of mind, knowing the $500 deductible was usually the most we would pay in a large claim, was, as they say, priceless. For us, it has been a great experience, I can't speak for others.

 

[ARKBIZ44]

Probably an age old question that may not have a good answer but what is the general consensus out there for buying RV insurance that covers the whole package from engine/drive train to all appliances, slides, wheels, road service etc.? Of course the dealer usually offers this insurance at a very high cost the day you pick up your RV. We were offered a full package for around $7500 for 5 years or 50,000 miles. When we declined, they dropped the price to $4000! Huh? So a question would be, do you roll the dice and not spend a huge amount up front, or bite the bullet? Is there such a thing as a reputable insurance company, the fine print can be a killer. Recommendations would be appreciated, past experiences, thoughts?

Everyone has their experiences, we have had good experiences over 15 years of full time living in our RV.

We purchased the Good Sam extended warranty when the RV was new. First four years were very cheap, because of factory warranties, I guess. After that, each year the premium climbed. We used it periodically for various things along the way, a refer cooling unit replacement (twice), fogged windows, slide seals, turbo actuator, EGR valve, and then the serious stuff. The AC unit went out during Covid and 118 degrees near Phoenix, a big bill. The alternator went out, then a water pump, and finally the whole rear end differential. We did the paperwork, called for prior authorizations, paid our deductibles, and money was re-imbursed into our account with-in days of the claim. We had paid more in premiums than services gained up until about the 13 year point, then we were even and even a little ahead.

But the peace of mind, knowing the $500 deductible was usually the most we would pay in a large claim, was, as they say, priceless. For us, it has been a great experience, I can't speak for others.

People selling insurance are gambling that they'll pay out less in aggregate than the premiums they collect in aggregate. If they're meant to be in the business that will be so. If not, they'll bail at some point, especially if they are an LLC. And you should be wary if they are funded by private equity. It would creep me out if an insurer cut the price nearly by half. That just doesn't sound right. Dunno, but done at scale it may be illegal. Sure sounds like a boiler room operation.

Personally, I did buy such insurance when I bought my first minivan - a Chrysler product. I knew their quality was meh and the insurance paid for itself. My RV is 20 years old now and I know RVing is ridiculously expensive and just resign myself to it. It costs me $1.64/mi to own, operate, and maintain my 2007 View 23J. That is adjusted for inflation. We're about 90 days from getting a well optioned (and terribly complicated) 2026 View 24T AWD.

The new coach will nominally cost 3X what the old one did.

 

[cruizered]

The only warranty that might be worth getting is one called an exclusion warranty with consequential damage covered. The exclusion warranty covers everything not excluded. The exclusion list should be reasonable, like weather seals, tires, brakes, and other typical wear items. It will exclude glass, and paint, and probably cabinets, and walls. It will not exclude electronics, appliances, slides, chassis, drive train, or engine. Consequential damage means that if a covered part damages other parts it is all covered. Very important for engines.

I do a lot of my own work, so if something that I can reasonable fix is broken I don't take it in, I fix it. If something is hard to fix or has expensive parts I take it in. We owned two warranties and both of them paid off in the stuff they covered. Not by much. However I didn't have major drivetrain issues mostly house issues.

There are some caveats. In California the warranty only covered about 70% of the labor so we were out of pocket, even so the total they did pay off was greater than the cost of the warranty. In Georgia at Apalachee RV or NIRV they paid 100% or nearly 100%. The warranties only cover what is actually broken. For example we had a bad rear airbag the other airbag was on it's last legs but not yet going flat. They only covered the bad one and to avoid being back in the shop in a couple of months we paid for the other one.

If you buy one of these you must be absolutely certain you can document 100% of the manufactured required service. If the oil is suppose to be changed every 10000 miles or one year you better have done that. There is a long list of PM you had better do as required.

If the generator is suppose to be run every month for 2 hours at 50% load you had better have documents that you did that. You have to know all the PM on all systems because trust me the warranty company will.

In my view I had free coverage for really major problems like engine, drivetrain, generator, and slide issues with no out of pocket net cost.

The real trick is getting a good price, we paid about $4K for the first service contract, and $5,9K for the second in 2021. Both were for 5 years and I think 60K miles. We bought the second one from Eagle Vision and the service was excellent. Right now I'd say maybe $10K would be my price point. Both had $100 deductible per visit (not per repair)

So from my experience the companies pay reasonably well and you'll likely use it and maybe even have it pay for itself. If it doesn't that means you were one of the luck few who used and RV for 6 years and had practically nothing break. Lucky you.

I'm pretty sure these companies make a killing on inclusion warranties. If you read the details of an inclusion warranty you will see that there are so many expensive things that aren't covered, probably most of the likely failures aren't covered. So you pay a little less and get nothing. Also the big companies like Good Sams charge outrageous amount's for their warranties. It is no wonder people don't get value from them. More than likely the RV dealer will not offer a good warranty.

Good luck, it's a hard choice with no certain right answer.

 

[Bpfund]

Probably an age old question that may not have a good answer but what is the general consensus out there for buying RV insurance that covers the whole package from engine/drive train to all appliances, slides, wheels, road service etc.? Of course the dealer usually offers this insurance at a very high cost the day you pick up your RV. We were offered a full package for around $7500 for 5 years or 50,000 miles. When we declined, they dropped the price to $4000! Huh? So a question would be, do you roll the dice and not spend a huge amount up front, or bite the bullet? Is there such a thing as a reputable insurance company, the fine print can be a killer. Recommendations would be appreciated, past experiences, thoughts?

It is a age old question but, in this case it absolutely makes sence! Our personal experience with our 2023 Winnebago Forza definitely shows the need for the extended warranty. Our Rv in the past year and a half has been in the shop longer than it has been camping. There were so many issues and many repeat issues that I considered drivng it off a cliff. I also considered leaving the keys in it and running in hopes someone would steal it but, then I came to reality and realized that it would probably breakdown driving it away.

 

[Jaycapsfan]

It is always best to buy an exclusionary warranty if you are going to buy one. The policy will have a list of what's not covered instead of what is covered. Read this list carefully before you buy the policy. If an item fails that's not on the excluded list it is covered. There's always exclusions for an item that is damaged in an accident ect...

 

[Pointyears]

It would creep me out if an insurer cut the price nearly by half. That just doesn't sound right. Dunno, but done at scale it may be illegal. Sure sounds like a boiler room operation.

It's not the insurer cutting their price by half; it's the reseller cutting out the usurious markup he'd placed on it. It's no different than car dealers playing with prices, or the dealer finance office slapping on a markup to their financing. That's why the prudent buyer always brings up "buy and sell rates" when the F&A office brings up rates.

 

[Pointyears]

It is always best to buy an exclusionary warranty if you are going to buy one. The policy will have a list of what's not covered instead of what is covered. Read this list carefully before you buy the policy. If an item fails that's not on the excluded list it is covered. There's always exclusions for an item that is damaged in an accident ect...

...and the fine print and what requirements the owner has to meet to make a claim (like having receipts for every maintenance item, etc).

Westminster, huh? I bought my Mustang from Len Stoler Chevy there.

 

[Americanrascal-WO]

I decided to do the Good Sam's service contract. I have always been skeptical about such offerings but this one has really come through for me. So far I've had claims for a new heatpump, 2 slide failures (one of which required a major rebuild of the entire slide and frame), and ultimatley the big one ---an engine that had to be replaced. I went with the highest deductable they offered as I considered it to be there and used for high cost catastrophic failures. Thus far I have come out very far ahead of my premiums and we are so thankful we went ahead with it. Be careful to read the contract and know exactly what they will and won't do. All that said they were easy and fast to work with on each failure.

 

[RayIN]

Through the years, I've noticed most replies to this question are from RV owners who have never purchased an Extended Service Contract=ESC.
We purchased a Good Sam ESC when we bought this MH. Skipping details except for the fact this MH had been parked in a barn for 8 yrs, the contract paid out more than the premiums + deductibles during the initial 3-yr contract. All claims were for the coach portion, none for the chassis. No claims were denied because I read the fine print before signing.
Most ESC's list covered items, leaving everything else unknown. I purchased an exclusionary contract, it listed what is not covered, so I knew more starting the contract.