Buying Parts On The Internet

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If you are planning on buying parts from an Internet site, be sure you can handle the warranty in the event something goes amiss. You will in fact find parts are cheaper than they are at a dealer or service center, but if something goes wrong, things can get complicated fast. Buy from a local supplier and if there is a problem, you can generally get a replacement pronto.

No so with an Internet suppler. The routine there goes something like this. Remove the part, ship it back, they send it on to the manufacturer, the manufacturer verifies it is defective and sends a new part. Normally you pick up the shipping cost to the manufacturer and they pay to ship it back. How long does it take? Sometimes weeks!

What about asking a local service center to cover the warranty? No much in it for them, so you will at least be at the end of the line when it comes to service.

Buying An Extended Warranty

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For those of you considering the purchase of an extended warranty, there are several things of which you should be aware, at least from the standpoint of a repair facility.

1. Profits from the sale of extended warranties are substantial and most owners will never require enough service to justify the cost of the contract. Paying $5,000 upfront to cover a repair that costs $500 three years later is not a wise investment.

2. Warranties are not universally accepted and some dealers that sell one brand of policy will not accept coverage under another brand of policy.

3. Policies are carefully worded and are intended to be exempt themselves from the most costly types of repairs. Contracts are written to maximize denials.

4. It is essential that both the owner and any service manager make themselves aware of the wording and clauses in any extended warranty contract. The use of any word in the exemption clause, stated during a request for coverage, will automatically result in a denial of coverage.

5. Despite claims by those selling extended warranties, there is little evidence to support claims an extended warranty is helpful in selling a unit, when it comes time to move up.

6. In many cases, the person at the other end of the line when a claim is called in may be nothing more than a clerical employee with no knowledge of RV technology or repair.

If you decide to purchase an extended warranty, read it carefully. When you purchase an extended warranty, you are simply placing a bet you will need more service at some date in the future than the contract costs at the time of purchase. If that were the case for many owners, warranty carriers would go broke. They are, in fact, proliferating. Think about it!