Extended Warranty or Not?

[Mystroh]

In the next couple weeks we will be taking delivery of our new 5th wheel. The dealer is pitching us on their extended warranty. I have heard that it is best to look at purchasing an extended warranty after the manufactures warranty expires and to purchase on the open market rather than through the dealer. Any words of wisdom or advise on this subject? Thanks, Kelly

[Kirk W]

Let me suggest that you may want to read this article which I wrote for Escapees Magazine some years back as it mostly still applies. While many folks oppose ever buying one, others say not for the first year, and some always buy them, I believe that you should weigh it as a business decision, based upon costs versus risk. One advantage to buying from the dealer is that there are some very good companies that only sell contracts on new RVs. Since I've not been in that market for some time, I won't make any suggestions as to who to buy from and the article pretty much gives my opinions and advice. 

[Mystroh]

Great article Kirk, Thanks

[Eric A.]

Good article! We were on the fence too but a catastrophic failure would at this point probably crush us so we opted to warranty.  We do indeed sleep better knowing we are covered if a major appliance or system goes down.  I hate, hate, hate insurance, but there's something to be said for security when your whole world is on wheels and RVs are very prone to breaking these days.

[Mystroh]

I agree Eric...these things take a pounding and sooner or later something big is bound to break down.

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Check with Wholesale Warranties.  Most people use the factory and component warranties the first year then buy the extended plan.

[Ray,IN]

We purchased an extended service contract-ESC, from Camping World when we bought our used MH, because of the unknowns involved. It paid for itself in the 3 yr contract period, including the #50 deductible for each visit(not each problem).

I don't think I'd purchase an ESC on a new MH with a factory warranty unless the ESC didn't start the clock until the factory warranty expired. Why pay for double coverage?

[Kirk W]

7 hours ago, Ray,IN said:

Why pay for double coverage?

In many cases (or most?) you do not. If you price the contracts available for a new RV and compare the prices for the same RV at 1 year old, the cost is more at one year. At least it was that way when we bought both of our most recent new RVs. In the case of our fulltime motorhome, the contract that we bought at new delivery was for 7 years, while the one offered to start when it was 1 year old was nearly as much money and ran for 5 years.