Extended Warranty - Yes or No? Which one?

[Virginia Young]

Just wondering - is it advisable to have an extended warranty - especially for full-timers? If you have one, Who is it through?

[mazboy]

lots of opinions but i would not recommend an extended warranty. montana will cover you first year as well as the major components are covered by the manufacters.
if you want to self insurance just but aside $2000 for potential repairs after the first year.

[JandC]

Never believed in them. Always turned down dealership on purchasing one when buying new cars. However, now that we are full timers and anticipate staying that way for a long time, I reconsidered. I figured we were pushing our truck to its limits and using the Montana to the max. Even though we may have enough money in savings to cover things that could go wrong I felt it was worth the gamble to get extended warranties on both the TV and Montana. If nothing goes wrong in the next 5-7 years then I guess I just threw away over $4,000.00

[mamestra]

We are snowbirds so use our Montana extensively, yes Montana will cover that first year, but nothing after that even when it's obvious that the defect occurred before the warrantee was up. We had seals fail in our axels, which I didn't notice until I had my bearings checked 2 months after our year was up, had a hydraulic pump fail a the first time we used it after it came back from the Cougar Factory. If I hadn't had extended warrantee I would have been out a couple thousand dollars, which was the cost of the extended warrantee. In some ways it is like insurance, hope that don't have to use it, but nice to have if you need it.

[1retired06]

We have never had one, have never needed one. We do swap out every few years. If a owner is not mechanically handy or does not want to do his or her own repairs, or does not want to do the preventive maintenance which keeps issues to a minimum,, then an extended warranty is a good thing. . Most repair bills are $$$$$$ due to labor, not parts.

[mlh]

Like Mike said most is labor so if you can and will fix things yourself you don't need an ESP. There is nothing on a camper you can't fix.
Lynwood

[bncinwv]

quote:Originally posted by mlh

Like Mike said most is labor so if you can and will fix things yourself you don't need an ESP. There is nothing on a camper you can't fix.
Lynwood

Other than fridge replacement, dishwasher replacement, multiple television failures, satellite system failure, washer dryer failure, air conditioner failure, hydraulic pump failure, level-up failure, etc. etc. We have always had ESP whether we used it or not. As mentioned, it is like insurance and a $3 - $4,000 insurance policy on an investment of this magnitude is well worth it to us! Personal choice, but for me a choice I have always agreed with. We have used the dealer's recommendation in the past since I needed the local repairs, we will be with Good Sam's this go around.
Bingo

[DQDick]

We also have one and if we do it again will go with Good Sam just so there is another company likely to still be in business behind it.

[mazboy]

i have to disagree with mamestra about Montana not repairing things after one year. we've always been successful with getting repairs done to our Montana AFTER the warranty period.

and some companies, like dometic, have 2 year warranties.

are you sure you want to spend this amount for 6 years:
Total Premium

$5,195.50 100 ded. for each problem

$3,519.18 200

$3,175.58 300

$2,243.11 500

[mazboy]

i have to disagree with mamestra about Montana not repairing things after one year. we've always been successful with getting repairs done to our Montana AFTER the warranty period.

and some companies, like dometic, have 2 and 3 year warranties.

are you sure you want to spend this amount for 6 years:
Total Premium

$5,195.50 100 ded. for each problem

$3,519.18 200

$3,175.58 300

$2,243.11 500

[1retired06]

quote:Originally posted by bncinwv

Other than fridge replacement, dishwasher replacement, multiple television failures, satellite system failure, washer dryer failure, air conditioner failure, hydraulic pump failure, level-up failure, etc. etc. We have always had ESP whether we used it or not. As mentioned, it is like insurance and a $3 - $4,000 insurance policy on an investment of this magnitude is well worth it to us! Personal choice, but for me a choice I have always agreed with. We have used the dealer's recommendation in the past since I needed the local repairs, we will be with Good Sam's this go around.
Bingo

As indicated, what makes you comfortable. We have never experienced over many years any of the failures cited, except for a three year old ac failure which cost me $550 to replace.

[JandC]

quote:Originally posted by mlh

Like Mike said most is labor so if you can and will fix things yourself you don't need an ESP. There is nothing on a camper you can't fix.
Lynwood

Being full time now I don't have a ton of tools nor do I have the skill/ability to do some of the more expensive repairs that could be required. I could probably complete some of the major repairs if the CG I was in at the time would allow me to do it on their property, which many will not.

I just think each Montana owner has to make their own personal decision on extended coverage based on usage, projected ownership years, and ability/equipment/tools/facilities to complete their own repairs.

[bigskyjimmy]

Always had one myself and just got one on my 2015, being a fulltimer it is a must for us,I am real handy and can fix a lot of things myself but would hate to fork over 3-4k for a fridge etc.. etc... and sometimes I just do not feel like fixing it myself (I'm Freak'in Old!)piece of mind to me for a few extra bucks on my payments every month for a 6 year warranty is a no brainer for us IMO....Rich will chime in on this one for sure he can tell ya how many times a warranty has saved his bacon

[richfaa]

"Rich will chime in on this one for sure he can tell ya how many times a warranty has saved his bacon " Plenty of times. Our first Warranty on the 06 3400 cost us 1047.00 for a 7 years warranty via Rv Shield. Our present one the 2013 is via Good Sam a bit more expensive but we have already used it to the tune of 1114.00 for two tank failures.

We are not at all handy in repair of anything. The extended warranty takes the hassle out of everything. Example my most recent use of it for the two failed holding tanks. Call dealer and get appointment , give the dealer the contact numbers for the G.S extended warranty. Drop off the Montana , go home and wait for the "its done " phone call. Never got my hands dirty. In our case we save a amount each month of RV ownership so we can pay the warranty premium when we get a new RV. It is a insurance policy like all the other policies we have but the probability of using this one are much higher. BTW.. thew only insurance og any kind that we got our money back on is our RV extended warranty policies. Also I was not aware the we are supposed to get our money back on Insurance policies and that it was a bad thing for Insurance companies to make money.

The extended warranties we have on many different items are the only policies that we have used on a regular basis. Micro wave ovens, garden tractors, Cell phones, power tools. Again...take your chances it is a personal choice.

[Eagleback]

We just bought our Montana a month ago in Florida and we got the extended warranty and it goes 7 years tires and bumper to bumper for 1800 dollars that's 250 dollars per year and that's a good deal. I also have one on my Cummins truck and my wife's 07 gmc had an extended warranty and it paid for it self with a new radio at 4 years and the front tie rod went and needed a new one with an alignment. that was a total of 2500 dollars after the 3 year factory warranty was off and that extended warranty was 750 dollars so yes on the extended warranty and they are transferable.

[John and Carol]

We bought and extended service policy from Good Sam several years ago and are glad we had it. The cost gave us peace of mind and also covered repairs we were unable to do ourselves.
On a previous Montana, we had an extended service policy from Interstate and used it to have the front landing gear replaced.
We no longer have a Montana, but just bought a policy on our 1-year-old SOB.

[BB_TX]

I am not a big fan of extended warranties. But when we bought the 2007 Monte (our first RV) I did buy the extended warranty because I had no idea what I was getting into. Have never needed or used it. There are few things I can't repair myself though.

I do buy the ESP on my diesel trucks. But never used one of those either. And the DW insist I buy the ESP for her vehicles. Of them all, one paid back for repairs just about what I paid for the ESP. So that one I broke even. The others, no.

[ka9vrx]

Extended warranties are insurance policies of a sort. If you don't have one you are gambling that you won't have problems. If you do have one your saying that you will most likely have issues at some point. So the gamble is up to you. If you have money in the bank and can afford to pay out the expense of repairs I would say no. We did not get one and I have to say the gamble of not having one plays on our mind every time we see a problem. There will come a day when we cannot do the repairs our self. What ever your decision is remember one thing, peace of mind is sometimes worth the extra cost.

Donna

[Tom S.]

The original post doesn't specify if it's extended warranty on the trailer or the tow vehicle, but I'll answer both with "NO".

[Recumbent]

We have made a point to never buy an extended warranty on anything until this year when we purchased a 3 year Extended Service Plan from Good Sam. We waited until the end of our one year of keystone warranty period and then purchased. As we learned more here on the MOC about potential failures and met others that have experienced several repairs using their ESP we decided to take a risk and purchase our first ESP. I believe it cost about $369 annually for the one we bought. Our pattern has been to trade after about 3 years so we thought that was long enough.