Thor Forums

[TurnerFam]

these are basically a 'sales tool' to REQUIRE you to come in, to THAT dealer, every year, and have them give you an 'inspection', which is 'code' for finding as many things wrong as they can, and seeing how much of those things they can get you to pay 'again' for, even though you have a 'lifetime' warranty, which probably does NOT cover the things that they are going to be finding that you need to repair, fix, or replace.... NO, most of us didn't buy at a dealer which offered this, and so you are getting something 'free' that most RVrs don't get, yet you have to take it in every year to have it inspected, as part of the deal.

My take on this is: take it/schedule it for the inspection. Ask them how long it will take(hours, days, weeks, months!), and then let them know that you will be there to pick it up at the designated time(YOUR designated time, not theirs). When you pick it up, and they give you the 'spill' about needing to do this, or that, you simply get into the drivers seat, and leave.

If your rig is less than a year old since you purchased it, EVERYTHING is still under the factory warranty. They will want to repair/replace EVERYTHING they can find that the factory will give them money to warranty, which is fine, but those items that are not 'warranty' items should not be anything you are bound to have to have them handle.

This ploy is simply a way to keep the RV buying customer coming BACK to the same dealer for all of their needs... which keeps you in the fold of the RV dealership, giving them the opportunity to upsell you, get you into a 'new' rig in a few years, and convince you that certain 'non-warranty' things you should have them handle for you. It's all about customer service and 'keeping' you, their customer, from going somewhere else.

Read the fine print, too, as you may also find other things that they don't mention - deductibles, timeframes, requirements to leave your rig in their hands until 'they' decide it's o.k. for you to now pick it up, etc.

(also, remember that many appliances, devices, and parts of your vehicle may already have warranties that extend out for many, many miles and/or many, many years... my Freightliner vehicle Chassis has a 3 year/50kmi warranty, my Magnum Inverter has a 3 year warranty, and my Cummins diesel engine has a 5 year Emissions warranty, among other warranties that go well beyond the 'factory' one year warranty. Your fridge and microwave and TVs and Water Heater and Furnace and Awnings probably all have warranties that already extend well beyond the 'typical' one year factory timeframe... you just have to handle those yourself after the first year of ownership... unless you have a Jayco or Entegra or Winnebago which may come with 2 years of factory warranty... otherwise it's the same.)