Good Sam Extended Service Plan

[BetsyS]

Hi! We are brand new to all things RV and will be full timers beginning in June. We just purchased a class C motor home. Is the Good Sam extended service plan mechanical breakdown insurance https://www.goodsamesp.com/benefits-extended-service/  the same thing as an extended warranty? I am finding the prices quite different.

One thing with this Good Sam one is that I can do a 12 month (which at this point is what we think we will be doing in this motor home) at a reasonable cost. The one the dealer wants us to buy is for 5 years and one lump sum payment, which comes out to considerabley more than the cost of Good Sam per month.

 

Good Sam also wants to do my RV insurance policy, which I currently have with Am Fam.

 

Any help is appreciated!

[whj469]

Go with Good Sam.

[LindaH]

19 hours ago, BetsyS said:

Hi! We are brand new to all things RV and will be full timers beginning in June.

Good Sam also wants to do my RV insurance policy, which I currently have with Am Fam.

You will need fulltimers insurance once you begin fulltiming.  I'm not sure Am Fam (American Family?) offers fulltimers insurance.  Here is a current thread discussing this very subject with places to check for fulltimers insurance.

 

[Kirk W]

Before you buy any extended warranty, check with commercial member of Escapees, Wholesale Warranties to see what they can do for you.

[Second Chance]

My wife found a very good description of extended service plans a while back (they are not warranties, but rather insurance policies with lots of fine print). They are another form of legalized gambling. The company is betting that nothing breaks that would cause them to pay out more than you paid for the policy; you're betting it will. As in all forms of legalized gambling, the house usually wins. Otherwise, these companies wouldn't be in business or make a profit.

Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard have commented on these plans many times, too. The standard seems to be that 80% of extended service plan revenue goes toward commissions and marketing. Only 20% goes toward paying for actual repairs, which means most people are getting a really bad deal. We prefer to set money aside regularly (earning interest) and pay for repairs as they come up.

Rob

[Kirk W]

5 hours ago, Second Chance said:

We prefer to set money aside regularly (earning interest) and pay for repairs as they come up.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but there are many of us here who have had very satisfactory experiences with them on RVs and possibly some other things.  What they are is insurance, no question and in fact most if not all are reinsured against major losses by one of the larger insurance underwriters. Like any insurance policy, including home, automobile, or even RV, they don't usually pay out as much as the total cost in premiums because they are written by a business and they have to take in more each year than the total that they pay out in order to stay in business. I'd bet that you would be shocked if you were to add up all of the premiums that you have paid out for collision insurance, as compared to what you have ever recovered. I have never had a major loss in terms of damage to an RV, yet I still have my RV insured against theft or damage and I'd bet that you do the same. In both auto insurance, home insurance, RV insurance or an RV extended warranty, only those who experience a major loss ever recoup more than the cost of the policy. You should never buy insurance to cover any loss that you could pay for from your own financial reserves. But if you have very limited resources and a major loss would mean financial disaster then you should insure against that loss, whether that be the totaling of a car or a major expensive repair of an RV. I do not usually buy extended warranties for my RVs but when we went on the road fulltime we did buy one because we were too young to take money from our 401k or IRA and so a blown engine or transmission in the motorhome would have been a disaster. On the other hand, we bought our present RV new and paid cash for it and since it is a travel trailer and not our only home, I didn't buy any extended warranty on it. We have friends who bought an 8 year old motorhome and they did buy an extended warranty for the first 3 years, just to cover any major loss that could have happened due to any issue that had been overlooked, another valid reason. I have also known people who bought an extended warranty just to avoid worries about what could happen. To them, it was worth the cost to sleep better at night. 

Anyone who has the resources to set aside enough money to cover the most expensive of repairs should not buy an extended warranty. Like most things in life, the best decision on buying an extended warranty is a personal one and should not be made based on someone else's opinions or financial circumstances. 

[whj469]

I wonder if some you would provide real world experience with your claims experience? In some cases appliances are covered for two years and items like frames and delamination are not covered. As I watch those TV ads for auto service plans I wonder how much they cost?

[Kirk W]

11 hours ago, whj469 said:

As I watch those TV ads for auto service plans I wonder how much they cost?

I must say that I'm as much a skeptic of those TV adds as you are. It may be that there are those which could be justifiable for an automobile for certain situations, but the TV ads that I see actually state that nobody should be without one. I do not accept that as true for any such plan on any product. 

[TXiceman]

13 hours ago, whj469 said:

 As I watch those TV ads for auto service plans I wonder how much they cost?

Don't ever call them or fill out the online forms.  You will be hounded by them for years.

 

Ken

[sandsys]

5 hours ago, TXiceman said:

Don't ever call them or fill out the online forms.  You will be hounded by them for years.

There's an easy fix for that. Simply pay a few bucks to a lawyer to write a letter demanding they cease harassing you or face the consequences. That worked for me.

Linda

[Ray,IN]

If you purchased a new RV with a factory warranty, I suggest delaying any ESC until that factory warranty expires. As previously mentioned, most appliances have a 2-yr. warranty when certain conditions are met.

We purchased a Good Sam extended service contract in 2013, when we bought this 2000 Winnebago Ultimate Freedom, because it had been parked in a barn for 8 years due to owners poor health.

When one complies with the claims procedure, Good Sam promptly pays the repair shop. We always had Camping World do the repairs, and were treated very well IMO. Our ESC more that paid for itself repairing coach items, no claims were filed on the chassis portion.

Keep in mind regular maintenance, normal wear and tear are NOT covered; these plans cover breakage and total failure. If one does not purchase the Gaskets and Seals rider and said items fail, causing oil to leak out, resulting in a major failure it IS NOT COVERED! It is considered consequential damage.

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by Ray,IN

[GlennWest]

Good work at Camping World is an odd statement.