Buying extended warranty

Other than the reasonable reasons you gave about not buying one
You didn't mention if you care what the dealer paid for them being the paramount reason for not buying one.


All of your points and experiences are entirely valid.
Not buying bananas at 30cents a pound becuae the grocer got the banana for free is NOT a valid rreasoning.

SHOPPING around for banana is a good idea.
Not buying banana to spite yourself...
Maybe not.
 
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In the Casinos, all of the books I have read (not too many) say that Insurance is a Side Bet and Side Bets are often referred to as Sucker Bets.

I think that there is point of return where the Insurance may at least break even, but most will never have the data to know that point; but the Dealers know.

I have never directly bought an extended warranty in my life for Auto, Boat, Motorcycle or RV.

I have owned 4 seven year extended warranties two of which were transferred to me on boat & harley davidson. I had both the entire 7 years. Never had anything come up with the Harley and the boat had 4 issues as I recall but only one was actually covered by the warranty. The one item that was covered on the boat was the fridge in the galley. The boat was docked at a marina. I had no trailer and even I did, I had nothing big enough to pull it. Anyway the warranty company said I had to take fridge to an authorized service center. It was $700 for them to pay someone to come out to Marina to take to the Service Center. The fridge was about $550 brand new at West Marine. So I figured out how to get the fridge out and take to the service center myself. 2 weeks later they tell me my compressor was out and it needed to be replaced it was a $480 repair. I had $100 deductible; so the warranty company would have been out $380. I asked if I use the $380 and but a new one. They would not allow so I had it repaired. My Lincoln came with the 7 year warranty. So to answer your question, I see no benefit, and I have never even had to pay for one, only a financial lost for the vast majority. It is akin to those that are unfortunate to only be able to buy things via their credit cards knowing they must make monthly payments and pay all of that high interest, let alone the excessive fees if they make a mistake and be late one month, or worse be out of job and can't pay, the bills just get higher.

It is all personal preference. I agree that the warranty companies are holding the cards, so to speak. But I have had good returns on the auto extended warranties I purchased. A few replies above I detailed the ROI for my corvette extended warranty. We also had an extended warranty on our Honda FIT which covered major repairs such as the AC system and the NAV radio. Same with our Prius that has had various covered repairs. Our costs vs the ROI were in our favor. Yes it is a gamble but I will keep betting on a good ROI. But one thing, as mentioned by another poster, is that you have to go to dealers that understand how to process claims and also that are looking out for your best interests and not those of the warranty company.
 
Other than the reasonable reasons you gave about not buying one
You didn't mention if you care what the dealer paid for them being the paramount reason for not buying one.


All of your points and experiences are entirely valid.
Not buying bananas at 30cents a pound becuae the grocer got the banana for free is NOT a valid rreasoning.

SHOPPING around for banana is a good idea.
Not buying banana to spite yourself...
Maybe not.

I agree what the dealer paid for rights to sell an extended warranty is irrelevant in the equation of whether one should buy an extended warranty or not.
 
It is all personal preference. I agree that the warranty companies are holding the cards, so to speak. But I have had good returns on the auto extended warranties I purchased. A few replies above I detailed the ROI for my corvette extended warranty. We also had an extended warranty on our Honda FIT which covered major repairs such as the AC system and the NAV radio. Same with our Prius that has had various covered repairs. Our costs vs the ROI were in our favor. Yes it is a gamble but I will keep betting on a good ROI. But one thing, as mentioned by another poster, is that you have to go to dealers that understand how to process claims and also that are looking out for your best interests and not those of the warranty company.


I agree it is personal preference on what one may decide to do, but it is an empirical fact that most will lose money when investing in extended warranty plans. Getting a deal is a deal and they are out there, but for a new coach everything is covered anyway; so if you were going to buy an extended warranty, you should at least wait until year two.

In black jack yes you can hit with a bust hand of 16, and may win. But if the question is should you hit with a bust hand of 16, or should you pay the nominal purchase price for an extended warranty for a new RV. The best answer is always No.

The fact that later you may have drawn a 5 and hit 21, or had your transmission go out, are independent single outcomes called lady luck aka gambling. Short investments, I don't gamble with my money.


Not sure I follow or agree with the logic of going to a dealer that knows how to process claims and looking out for you best interest over the warranty company? For starters I don't think most people know or can evaluate what the dealers know or will do. A Authorized Dealer is an Authorized Dealer and in most cases only game in town. I don't know if I have ever heard of, or if the discussion is about an issue that was covered under the warranty and the Dealer does not honor? Yeah I didn't like how they dealt with my refrigerator that need repair, but they did exactly what the contract said. FWIW, I never signed the contract as warranty was given to me and I gladly accepted it (it was free). I simply cited my lesson learned as part of my evaluation if I think any extended warranty may have future benefit if I wanted to pay for one out of pocket.

i.e. In 2019 if my RV Dealer had offered that same warranty at say $3,500 for 5 years, I may have bought. But it was $7,500 for 5 years and it was never a consideration.

But with all that water under the bridge, it is now 5 years later. Given I had zero issues that would have been claims under warranty. Today going forward years 6 - 10 it is more like when one may have failures. How many that have bought the extended warranties for the 1st 5 years will buy a 2nd extended warranty for years 6 - 10? I NEVER see newbies or seasoned owners ask that question; so I conclude no one cares or do. That fact tells and confirms for me all I need to about the value for those that bought extended warranties the 1st time.
 
I agree it is personal preference on what one may decide to do, but it is an empirical fact that most will lose money when investing in extended warranty plans. Getting a deal is a deal and they are out there, but for a new coach everything is covered anyway; so if you were going to buy an extended warranty, you should at least wait until year two.

In black jack yes you can hit with a bust hand of 16, and may win. But if the question is should you hit with a bust hand of 16, or should you pay the nominal purchase price for an extended warranty for a new RV. The best answer is always No.

The fact that later you may have drawn a 5 and hit 21, or had your transmission go out, are independent single outcomes called lady luck aka gambling. Short investments, I don't gamble with my money.


Not sure I follow or agree with the logic of going to a dealer that knows how to process claims and looking out for you best interest over the warranty company? For starters I don't think most people know or can evaluate what the dealers know or will do. A Authorized Dealer is an Authorized Dealer and in most cases only game in town. I don't know if I have ever heard of, or if the discussion is about an issue that was covered under the warranty and the Dealer does not honor? Yeah I didn't like how they dealt with my refrigerator that need repair, but they did exactly what the contract said. FWIW, I never signed the contract as warranty was given to me and I gladly accepted it (it was free). I simply cited my lesson learned as part of my evaluation if I think any extended warranty may have future benefit if I wanted to pay for one out of pocket.

i.e. In 2019 if my RV Dealer had offered that same warranty at say $3,500 for 5 years, I may have bought. But it was $7,500 for 5 years and it was never a consideration.

But with all that water under the bridge, it is now 5 years later. Given I had zero issues that would have been claims under warranty. Today going forward years 6 - 10 it is more like when one may have failures. How many that have bought the extended warranties for the 1st 5 years will buy a 2nd extended warranty for years 6 - 10? I NEVER see newbies or seasoned owners ask that question; so I conclude no one cares or do. That fact tells and confirms for me all I need to about the value for those that bought extended warranties the 1st time.

I am just going on my experience. And, as I said, my ROI has been in my favor for the extended warranties I have purchased on my cars.

In regards to going to a dealer who knows how to process extended warranty claims and has the customer's best interest in mind rather than the warranty company's, my first hand experience is that some dealers or repair facilities will communicate to the warranty company that they (the repair facility) does not think the failure is a covered failure but I quickly got in front of that with my repair facilities. I told them just to present the facts and not their opinions to the warranty company's. And, at times, I had to argue the coverage directly with the warranty company. My point is that you should be in charge of all the communications before they happen.
Cases in point, my Prius had a display that was very dim (the AC environmental display). My primary dealer refused to submit it as a failed display but said they would only call it a cosmetic issue. I told them nevermind and eventually changed to another Toyota dealer who presented it to the warranty company as a failed display which is was. The warranty company covered the several hundred dollar part and labor and $100 deductible later I had a new display module.
 
I am just going on my experience. And, as I said, my ROI has been in my favor for the extended warranties I have purchased on my cars.

There are 1000s that do win the gamble every year. No one disputes that. But if the question is should you gamble when all things are equal with nominal pricing the answer will always be No because the House in this case the Warranty companies win in most cases. If they did not win in most cases they would go out of business. Despite those facts.... as you stated earlier and I agreed with it is always personal preference, no one can say what another should do.

In regards to going to a dealer who knows how to process extended warranty claims and has the customer's best interest in mind rather than the warranty company's, my first hand experience is that some dealers or repair facilities will communicate to the warranty company that they (the repair facility) does not think the failure is a covered failure but I quickly got in front of that with my repair facilities. I told them just to present the facts and not their opinions to the warranty company's. And, at times, I had to argue the coverage directly with the warranty company. My point is that you should be in charge of all the communications before they happen.
Cases in point, my Prius had a display that was very dim (the AC environmental display). My primary dealer refused to submit it as a failed display but said they would only call it a cosmetic issue. I told them nevermind and eventually changed to another Toyota dealer who presented it to the warranty company as a failed display which is was. The warranty company covered the several hundred dollar part and labor and $100 deductible later I had a new display module.

I have never had this worry or concern. Sounds like a lot of red tape and another reason why I don't care for extended warranties. There are two sides to Peace of Mind. If I need something fixed, I prefer to get it fixed the way I want. As I said early, I have / had 4 seven year warranties and thus far only one claim. They did what the contract stated, but I would have rather not had the warranty because I would have simply bought a brand new refrigerator.

I did that with the main Insignia TV in my WBGO, it went out it was under warranty (OEM warranty no Extended warranty) it meant I had to take the RV to WBGO Dealer (Only one local choice unless I wish to drive outside the area). Any way the warranty would have only got me another Insignia and lost of RV maybe 4 weeks? I bought brand new Samsung from Best Buy, got a better TV that was Smart and with WiFi.
 
Some, probably many, people here would have to put the repair on a credit card card because of lack of cash.

It doesn't matter whether or not an extended warranty is purchased.
Some of us will do things just to buy some
Shut up.
Sometimes the shut up is a soda or potty stop while on the road.
Sometimes the shut up is a $7000 warranty.

Shut up is priceless and sometimes pricey.

I tend to weigh the minimum that life has told me I will indeed be paying for items covered, against the warranty cost.
If I know damn well I'll need a transmission because that's the way the type of car is and the warranty is close to a trans price...I buy it.

We now have what we call
End Of Life Money
I'm sure most here do have this cushion but do not see it as we do.
If we don't spend it it'll be there for a generation beyond what we planned.

I'll buy a warranty by choice. I used to buy them from necessity because we wouldn't let go of the cash for an emergency repair.
Now a warranty purchase causes me to not shop around for repair costs.

I can now afford an additional 5% of vehicle costs and not bat an eye at buying an excellent warranty.
If you can't...don't.
If you don't ever have an extra $5,000 laying around...do.

If you buy a crap warranty
I blame you.

(The rv warranty I paid $70 to transfer from the previous owner paid out $9500 for my new qg4000 generator. It seems myself and HAA know how to work a system)
 
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YES!! Whenever we purchased a new automobile, we bought the extended warranty. My in-laws were in the appliance business, so we understand that for the business, it's 100% profit. For us, as buyers, these programs have always paid for themselves. That said, there are some things to know about extended warranties in the RV arena:
1. Know who will be handling the warranty paperwork. Will it be you or the dealer? Get it in writing.
2. Where can you get work done? Does the warranty specify going only to the manufacturer? If so, can you get your broken-down RV to Indiana or Wisconsin, or wherever the company that owns your RV brand is located? You need to go to the nearest repair center. You won't go wrong paying for repairs and finding you were out of network.
3. Know what it covers. Typically, the breakdown is things considered "Maintenance" issues or "Manufacturing issues." Some you'll cover, some the insurance will cover.
4. Assume that things are going to go wrong. Then decide who will be responsible for repairs. Is it going to be you? That's OK if you have the skill set. But if not, you'd better be able to have your insurance company cover it.
I believe in, and have had good experiences with warranties, and I've never owned a new RV. As I write this, I diagnosed a bad leveler control panel. I could have replaced it myself. It cost $175. Under my warranty, the labor cost was $240, and that's on top of the part cost. It cost me nothing. This is after the leveler pneumatic pump exploded and nearly burned up our RV. That was covered too. And I never made a second phone call. I called my rep at the dealership, and she took care of it all. Here's my shoutout to Kirkland RV in Everett, WA, and the warranty they sell.
 
Some, probably many, people here would have to put the repair on a credit card card because of lack of cash.

It doesn't matter whether or not an extended warranty is purchased.
Some of us will do things just to buy some
Shut up.
Sometimes the shut up is a soda or potty stop while on the road.
Sometimes the shut up is a $7000 warranty.

Shut up is priceless and sometimes pricey.

I tend to weigh the minimum that life has told me I will indeed be paying for items covered, against the warranty cost.
If I know damn well I'll need a transmission because that's the way the type of car is and the warranty is close to a trans price...I buy it.

We now have what we call
End Of Life Money
I'm sure most here do have this cushion but do not see it as we do.
If we don't spend it it'll be there for a generation beyond what we planned.

I'll buy a warranty by choice. I used to buy them from necessity because we wouldn't let go of the cash for an emergency repair.
Now a warranty purchase causes me to not shop around for repair costs.

I can now afford an additional 5% of vehicle costs and not bat an eye at buying an excellent warranty.
If you can't...don't.
If you don't ever have an extra $5,000 laying around...do.

If you buy a crap warranty
I blame you.

(The rv warranty I paid $70 to transfer from the previous owner paid out $9500 for my new qg4000 generator. It seems myself and HAA know how to work a system)

HAHA that's the ticket ducksface.
 
So me and the Duck don't see eye to eye on this warranty stuff. That's OK. Just about every damn thing I buy, even the $15 dollar junk at Harbor-Freight wants to sale me an extended warranty. I get tired of checking the NO-Thanks box. My paradigm is straight forward - I don't buy them, PERIOD. If and and when I loose the gamble I will take some of that money that will most likely be for the next generation and get it fixed or throw it away and purchase another one. I am confident that my method will cost less in the long run and my children with have some money to spend unwisely.

While we are at it, another one of my pet peeves is "will you please rate your transaction" or "please rate your purchase", etc. I must get 5 of these a day. If I responded to every instance of "please give us a review", etc., I would spend my entire waking hours doing reviews.

And I know the Duck or someone else is going to say "but don't you benefit from reviews", etc. Maybe, in the beginning, but now it is nothing more than a racket and many are a fabrication. I tend not to base any decision on a single reference.

And while I am on the soap box I might as well mention that I get tired of the constant "do you want to round up your purchase", etc. I want to pay for exactly what the cost of the item or service is. If I want to donate money I will do it directly and not thru an unknown method. How do you know what they are really doing with that donation. I have been known to pay for someone's food who is in line in front of me but I know they are actually receiving the donation.

And by the way, I did not preface this with "I am and engineer".
 
I do a review onl upon an exceptional occasion
Either exceptionally bad or exceptionally good.

I've been on ebay since 1997 and haven't left a dozen reviews.

I THINK the store gets to take the writeoff for my 'donation'. The store can get stuffed.

I donate almost exclusively through big ass tips for poor waitress folk who obviously made a bad, or many bads, decision somewhere along the path which has them making salads and filling ketchup bottles between getting me an extra knapkin and walking 20miles a day.
They're working now in a thankless job...I'll donate to someone giving it a shot...their best shot or their not best shot...but they're participating.

I don't care much about warranty stuff now as we can float the trauma if it comes along.
Some can't.

We overpaid by $100 on something yesterday. An entire mistake. They gave us the same bill as they gave the people who were with us. We didn't know until we got home and the other person called us to yack.
We'll likely do nothing about it.
Life is short
The time involved is worth more than $100
Not all things need made right due to moralities.

Maybe morals drive a warranty purchase more than need does.
There was a time when we needed the warranty because we couldn't afford a replacement item.
Now it's probably habit.

We buy through amazon instead of ebay due to the RETURN WARRANTY.
Many of you do this. You pay a bit more for the delivery and return warranty.
You could shop that henway to save a penny but you don't. You WARRANT the purchase through Amazon.

So...
If it's a religious decision or deep seated animus to not buy a warranty, you're lacking....
 
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So me and the Duck don't see eye to eye on this warranty stuff. That's OK. Just about every damn thing I buy, even the $15 dollar junk at Harbor-Freight wants to sale me an extended warranty. I get tired of checking the NO-Thanks box. My paradigm is straight forward - I don't buy them, PERIOD. If and and when I loose the gamble I will take some of that money that will most likely be for the next generation and get it fixed or throw it away and purchase another one. I am confident that my method will cost less in the long run and my children with have some money to spend unwisely.

While we are at it, another one of my pet peeves is "will you please rate your transaction" or "please rate your purchase", etc. I must get 5 of these a day. If I responded to every instance of "please give us a review", etc., I would spend my entire waking hours doing reviews.

And I know the Duck or someone else is going to say "but don't you benefit from reviews", etc. Maybe, in the beginning, but now it is nothing more than a racket and many are a fabrication. I tend not to base any decision on a single reference.

And while I am on the soap box I might as well mention that I get tired of the constant "do you want to round up your purchase", etc. I want to pay for exactly what the cost of the item or service is. If I want to donate money I will do it directly and not thru an unknown method. How do you know what they are really doing with that donation. I have been known to pay for someone's food who is in line in front of me but I know they are actually receiving the donation.

And by the way, I did not preface this with "I am and engineer".

I must be getting older and perhaps wiser because I seem to be agreeing with you more and more, or maybe I just have animus with Duck because the henway in my coach does NOT have all of the same features as his?

Regardless of the my henway issue, I am convinced that the Damn Duck is heavily invested with every major extended warranty company in the USA. I actually had La Mesa RV put in writing that I would NOT be hassled about an extended warranty. I refused to buy our one way tickets until we had that in hand. I did have to sign that I declined the warranty, but they did not waste time trying to up sale us anything. It is a side bet for suckers, I mean gamblers. Some gamblers win most don't. You don't buy a RV banking on Lady Luck IMO.
 
I boil it down to;
If you have the cash equivalent of the warranty cost and can drop it in an account to always be there, and this causes no hardship:
Don't buy the warranty.

If you couldn't cough up, at the drop of a hat, $2000 for the ten hours of labor to replace the $22 transmission part:
Buy the warranty.

We didn't buy the 7yr warranty on the rv.
I was included in the sale price.
I could have cancelled it and pocketed almost $9500
But
I didn't have a use for $9500 other than to have it sit in the bank until my heirs spend it, so we didn't cancel it.

I didn't need $9500 in bragging rights and past experience said it might pay off.
It did pay off. Almost to the exact penny and we still have two years left on the warranty.
I can cancel today and get back 2/7th's of $9500.

If you live near the edge
Buy the warranty

If you have cash and are convinced that thor quality will bring you through life just fine
Don't buy the warranty.

Complaints about thor from the same people saying to not buy a warranty
Seems to me like
Vegans who hunt and kill baby seals for their fur and use the carcass as poisoned bear bait.

Best to deem unto yourself that which is deemed as best for yourself
Translated:
Give Advantage to self as prescribed by self.
 
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So me and the Duck don't see eye to eye on this warranty stuff. That's OK. Just about every damn thing I buy, even the $15 dollar junk at Harbor-Freight wants to sale me an extended warranty. I get tired of checking the NO-Thanks box. My paradigm is straight forward - I don't buy them, PERIOD. If and and when I loose the gamble I will take some of that money that will most likely be for the next generation and get it fixed or throw it away and purchase another one. I am confident that my method will cost less in the long run and my children with have some money to spend unwisely.

While we are at it, another one of my pet peeves is "will you please rate your transaction" or "please rate your purchase", etc. I must get 5 of these a day. If I responded to every instance of "please give us a review", etc., I would spend my entire waking hours doing reviews.

And I know the Duck or someone else is going to say "but don't you benefit from reviews", etc. Maybe, in the beginning, but now it is nothing more than a racket and many are a fabrication. I tend not to base any decision on a single reference.

And while I am on the soap box I might as well mention that I get tired of the constant "do you want to round up your purchase", etc. I want to pay for exactly what the cost of the item or service is. If I want to donate money I will do it directly and not thru an unknown method. How do you know what they are really doing with that donation. I have been known to pay for someone's food who is in line in front of me but I know they are actually receiving the donation.

And by the way, I did not preface this with "I am and engineer".

Amen. This has become common

I might as well mention that I get tired of the constant "do you want to round up your purchase
 
Amen. This has become common

I might as well mention that I get tired of the constant "do you want to round up your purchase

For those that view the extended warranty as the truth, the light, and the only way, you can buy new or 1 year old pre-certified almost anything and get a better included with cost extended warranty almost 7 years than those that bought brand new.

Transmission and engines the primary big ticket items are covered my the RV OEM Chassis mfg anyway.

Kia's standard warranty 10 years.

But with all that said, if I was nervous pervous and felt I needed a warranty to protect me, I would NOT buy the product. I am not gonna rely on a warranty to keep me from living on the streets.
 
Like I said in my previous replies I have had good results from the extended warranties I have bought for my vehicles. It was not a matter of being nervous about what could happen. I weighed the pros and cons and the pros won. And, again the end results were good.

I encourage you all to also weigh the pros and cons and make an educated decision.

Peace!
 
Like I said in my previous replies I have had good results from the extended warranties I have bought for my vehicles. It was not a matter of being nervous about what could happen. I weighed the pros and cons and the pros won. And, again the end results were good.

I encourage you all to also weigh the pros and cons and make an educated decision.

Peace!
The point is it CANNOT end with good results for everyone. It is NOT about you or any single use case. The vast majority will not have financial payback. Of course if what you bought is junk or failure prone, the odds to have payback will be in your favor.

Similar is going on with some Homeowners in Florida. A lot of people have simply stopped buying Homeowners Insurance. The irony is the more people who self insure; the higher the rates are for those that continue to buy the insurance.

If the 5 year RV extended warranty was about $2,000 for everyone, and everyone paid it, it might make sense, but the Extended Warranty companies will pray on most and have them pay twice what the insurance is really worth.
 
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