Good Sam Exclusions

[mweiner]

In reviewing the excluded items in my Good Sam warranty,  I'm beginning to wonder if the policy is more beneficial for them than it is for me... 

Yes, it covers some of the main engine components and a number of coach items, but, the link of exclusions is almost longer than what is actually covered and then there's a $500 deductible per incident..... 

Even though I'm paying $936 per year or $78 per month..  that's essentially $1,500 per year with just one incident.... Seems like I might be money ahead to just skip the warranty and set aside the $1,000 per year.... after 20 years that's $20,000... 

Any thoughts on this??? What's your plan? 

[abyrd]

That's why many  of us choose not to enroll in any of the extended warranty plans. Glad you took the time to do the math before you get too deep wasting your money.

Jim

[hermanmullins]

1 hour ago, MWeiner said:

In reviewing the excluded items in my Good Sam warranty,  I'm beginning to wonder if the policy is more beneficial for them than it is for me... 

You catch on fast. There is no insurance policy more beneficial for the policy holder then the company. 

Herman 

[five]

1 hour ago, abyrd said:

That's why many  of us choose not to enroll in any of the extended warranty plans. Glad you took the time to do the math before you get too deep wasting your money.

Jim

Agree.

[BillAdams]

What do you think the chances are that you will drive that thing for 20 years without any major issues allowing you to accumulate $20,000?

It's really a matter of pay me know or pay me later as you certainly are going to have to pay.  You are making a wager.  You are betting something bad will happen soon and the insurance company is betting it will not.  If they win more bets than they lose they make money.  If you get it wrong you have to pay an unexpected big repair bill (or not).

[mweiner]

1 hour ago, BillAdams said:

What do you think the chances are that you will drive that thing for 20 years without any major issues allowing you to accumulate $20,000?

It's really a matter of pay me know or pay me later as you certainly are going to have to pay.  You are making a wager.  You are betting something bad will happen soon and the insurance company is betting it will not.  If they win more bets than they lose they make money.  If you get it wrong you have to pay an unexpected big repair bill (or not).

SO, Bill,   how's that working for you..?  Are you ahead or behind on this bet?  

No,  I don't think I'll keep my Class B for 20 years....  and the price goes up on the Good Sam after three years about 20 percent...  which makes the situation even more of a financial slippery slope. 

The $20,000 is just a macro budget number,  ... if you pay less than it works to your advantage,  but, here's the kicker....  Each incident for repairs has a $500 deductible,  so,  the amount they are really covering you for is about $400 per year in actual benefits if you have one incident per year.  

If you had more incidents the costs would be higher still with the $500 deductible every time for each repair and there's a lot of excluded items. 

Finally,  my vehicle is five years old,  compared to a 1988 vehicle that is almost 30 years old, huge difference and I have only 29,000 miles on my Roadtrek.    I've found that generally,  time is just as much a factor as age,  and I'm starting to think that in five years I may want to sell the Class B.    

How many actual miles do you have on your 1988... ?  

 

 

[wayne77590]

I have the GS ESP and I have had it for 9 years.  It has serve me well and I have the "seals" inclusion but not tires.

As for the deductible per incident, yes, but if you have three things wrong with your coach then when you put it in the shop all 3 things do not require $500 for each item, only a one time deductible of $500. (Mine is $250)

Yes, it is an insurance policy and like any other insurance policy it is designed to make the issuer money. It's a risk they take and what I take. I'm very happy to have had the GS ESP, and their Roadside Assistance all these years. It has been there when I needed it and I needed it frequently. One trip in was a replacement of 3 leveling jacks, 4 solenoids for the hydraulic leveling system and other miscellaneous items. My cost was $250.

It's like life insurance, you don't need it until you need it.  Same for car insurance or any other insurance.

Happy trails.

[mweiner]

42 minutes ago, wayne77590 said:

I have the GS ESP and I have had it for 9 years.  It has serve me well and I have the "seals" inclusion but not tires.

As for the deductible per incident, yes, but if you have three things wrong with your coach then when you put it in the shop all 3 things do not require $500 for each item, only a one time deductible of $500. (Mine is $250)

Yes, it is an insurance policy and like any other insurance policy it is designed to make the issuer money. It's a risk they take and what I take. I'm very happy to have had the GS ESP, and their Roadside Assistance all these years. It has been there when I needed it and I needed it frequently. One trip in was a replacement of 3 leveling jacks, 4 solenoids for the hydraulic leveling system and other miscellaneous items. My cost was $250.

It's like life insurance, you don't need it until you need it.  Same for car insurance or any other insurance.

Happy trails.

Wayne,   thanks for your reply....   I just made the decision to cancel my GS policy and handle the repairs myself.    Yes,  I know it's a gamble either way and you're more "into it" as it were than i am.   If I had made nine years of payments,  i might be staying with it as well.    

I don't know,  maybe you had all of these incidents in the past three or four years.... did you?  

And,  I don't have leveling jacks, slide outs and other complicated items, it's a Class B...  I had a $500 deductible,   so,  the way I figured it,  even one incident per year would cost me $936 + $500 or $1436 BEFORE they paid any money at all.    

It's very likely that I'll only keep my motor home five years....  it only has 29,000 miles on it.   Even if I put 50,000 miles on the thing,  I'll still be able to sell it easily.   

 

 

[manholt]

If I did $1,000 a year for 20 years, I would have a minimum of $50,000!

I do not have extended warranty's or Service Contracts of any kind. 

[rayin]

One of the irv2.com members bought a newer MH with the 650HP Cummins. Three months after purchase #6 cylinder dropped the valves, total bill was $29,xxx, of which Cummins paid $10,000, the remaining $19,000 came out of his pocket. He said he was offered an extended service contract and declined. Adding insult to injury it happened again later.

I bought an extended service contract when we purchased our 2000 Winnebago Ultimate Freedom in 2013. The ESC cost $4,000 for 3 years but since the MH had no records we thought it wise to purchase the Camping World ESC; which was $50 deductible for each work order written at  CW repair shop, not each covered line item. By the end of the 3 years the ESC paid for the initial cost + my deductibles I paid. None of my claims were ever denied, and no claim was for the chassis portion of the MH./or work order.  Since then CW revised their coverage maximum to 7 yr old RV's instead of 18.

IMO it's somewhat like buying health insurance, you hope you never need it, but if you do you're satisfied with your purchase.

[wayne77590]

Mark,

My expenses started just about when the warranty ran out but prior to that it was in the shop several times covered by warranty.

Ask me why I'm not particular to Winnebago's anymore. (Yes, all mfg's have their problems.)

[mweiner]

12 hours ago, wayne77590 said:

Mark,

My expenses started just about when the warranty ran out but prior to that it was in the shop several times covered by warranty.

Ask me why I'm not particular to Winnebago's anymore. (Yes, all mfg's have their problems.)

Wayne,. It's true I suppose that all manufacturers have problems and each person is different about how their cars and RVs are maintained.  

I decided to drop my extended warranty yesterday... and when I called the folks at Good Sam.. they spent at least 10 minutes on the phone trying to talk me out of dropping it... I'm not saying that no one ever gets a benefit from this, but,  after reading a number of things online and thinking about how much it would cost over a long period of time... I decided I'd rather just set aside a fund and cover this myself..my plan was a $500 deductible..so, I would be out $1,500 per year based on just one repair... This adds up quickly... And, the exclusions... 

Sorry about Winnie.... They're big... So, what are you looking at now for an alternative?   

[mweiner]

12 hours ago, wayne77590 said:

Mark,

My expenses started just about when the warranty ran out but prior to that it was in the shop several times covered by warranty.

Ask me why I'm not particular to Winnebago's anymore. (Yes, all mfg's have their problems.)

Wayne, as a follow-up...are you saying that all of these items were covered under the Winnebago warranty...and as soon as the warranty ended... ??? 

Did you have an extended warranty or was that just the regular manufacturers warranty?

[five]

16 hours ago, RAYIN said:

....One of the irv2.com members bought a newer MH with the 650HP Cummins. Three months after purchase #6 cylinder dropped the valves, total bill was $29,xxx, of which Cummins paid $10,000, the remaining $19,000 came out of his pocket. He said he was offered an extended service contract and declined. Adding insult to injury it happened again later...

 

I think this is a case of the owner not doing a detailed and thorough job of researching his purchase.  I have never had an ISX, but have learned by just read posts on several forums that the 650 was an expensive engine to keep running.  There are a number of posts that talk about serious high dollar breakdowns with that engine.  The final blow that would turn the average buyer off, was when Cummins started manufacturing the ISX as a 600, and stopped making the 650 version.

[wayne77590]

5 hours ago, MWeiner said:

Wayne, as a follow-up...are you saying that all of these items were covered under the Winnebago warranty...and as soon as the warranty ended... ??? 

Did you have an extended warranty or was that just the regular manufacturers warranty?

For the first year it was the Winnebago warranty. After that it was the Good Sam Extended Service Plan.

[mweiner]

Wayne, thanks... How much did you spend in premiums vs, your return from Good Sam? 

[mweiner]

Wayne, when you said that the warranty from Good Sam ran out.. you mean that you went 150,000 miles? 

[tbutler]

No extended warranty for us.  When we purchased our first (used) coach, we purchased the GS plan.  First call for work came several months later.  First response, well you haven't had your plan very long.  I canceled.

If you read the contract carefully, there will be a clause regarding maintenance.  It will specify that you must follow the manufacturers suggested maintenance.  Which means that you not only have to follow the maintenance schedule, you have to maintain proof that you have followed the schedule.  Receipts have to be kept.  Receipts have to show the date and mileage.  Miss one and they could have you on a technicality.  They have actuaries (who calculate the frequency of the various kinds of failures and their cost) to figure their risk to the nth degree.  They price their product not to cover their risk but to cover the risk and make a profit.  They have lawyers to challenge any large claim.  Everything is neatly stacked against you. 

What do you have?  Fear.  What if... And they play on that to sell you their product.  If you can take a hit and still keep going, you are OK.  If your finances are thin and a big hit would put you out of business, you likely need the insurance if you can afford it.  This is especially true if you have a large balance on your motor home loan.  You could end up making payments on a motor home that you can't use because you can't afford the repairs. 

[manholt]

I remember the 650 breakdown....3 months after purchase?  Unless it was used, something smells about that post ! 

[wayne77590]

Mark,

I did not mean that the GS ESP ran out but that after the Mfg warranty expired I continued with GS ESP.

You can call them for prices...it will differ for your MH.

[rayin]

On 8/12/2017 at 10:34 PM, manholt said:

I remember the 650 breakdown....3 months after purchase?  Unless it was used, something smells about that post ! 

It was a used MH. You may read all about it on irv2.com, it was over a year ago.Just use the search button for "dropped valves".

[urbanhermit]

I don't see a mention here that there are two kinds of policies, exclusionary and inclusionary.  The exclusionary policy, in my opinion, is safer:  it covers everything not listed as excluded.  The inclusionary policy covers only what is listed.  These are usually very extensive, but read them carefully:  For instance if they don't cover fan belts, and have a clause that excludes damaged to otherwise covered parts caused by the failure of an excluded part, and a fan belt breaks and overheating cracks the block -- sorry, Charley.

I've mostly decided on an inclusionary policy for a little more than half what GS and Wholesale Warranty quoted.  It also has the clause about manufacturer's suggested maintenance, and we bought a well-used coach as third owners.  The salesman told me that his company of course will not require records of "manufacturer suggested maintenance" from previous owners, only from our date of purchase on.  Verbal confirmation.  But there's the adage "If it ain't in writing, it ain't."  Remains to be seen.  It's a 75,000-mile, 14-year-old DP.  My coach mechanic, whom I trust completely, strongly recommended a service contract.  I agree; but I'm leery of throwing $5,000 to nearly $7,000 (GS, 2 years) at a potential problem without confidence it will establish a relationship with a fully ethical company.