Extended Warranty - Is It Worth the money

[DF470DA]

we are just past the first year on the 470DA, and have the opportunity to purchase an extended warranty (insurance policy basically) that will cover the Cummins QSB480HO's and Zues Pods for another 5 years. Figuring 100 hours per year use, and what we have been told are pretty solid engines, vs 8k for the coverage, just seeing what the general opinion is as to the coverage is necessary and worth the cost. Thanks for any feedback...don

 

[HUMPH]

We discussed it when buying our 410DA and after calculating everything, we decided not to do it. The only thing that would have it make sense is an engine failure. We are hoping to avoid that.

 

[Gofirstclass]

Without addressing you or your boat, let me say that in the auto and RV industry, extended warranties (actually they're not extended warranties unless they're provided by the item's manufacturer--they're 'extended service contracts') are the highest profit item the dealership sells. I worked for a dealership that sold RV's and cars/trucks. The typical ESC on a motorized RV had $1,000-$1500 profit built into the selling price. With non-motorized RV's the markup was $600. On cars and trucks it was an even $1,000.

I've seen cases where they saved the vehicle owner a TON of money, but I also know that the percentage of people who actually use them is quite small. The devil's in the details and they are not written and sold for your benefit, they're for the benefit of the dealership that's selling you the ESC.

 

[fwebster]

When one of your drives blows a seal and grenades because of water in the lube oil, the replacement is $26,500. In other words, you have a boat loaded with high tech electronic controls and gizmos as well as a new and unproven drive system made by a company known for releasing products prematurely. You might be a poster child for an extended warranty that pays for itself. However, an extended warranty is only as good as the servicing dealer. If he doesn't know the approvals process, you will have trouble getting claims covered.

 

[Converse48]

When I bought my 2007 44DB I looked into the extended warranty... it was 15k. The dealer would not give me the fine print to the warranty unless I bought it. That should have been all I needed to know, but I could cancel the contract within 30 days. So I bought it.

I cancelled it within 24 hours after reading the details. The long and short of it is that the limits of liability that the warranty company would take on was only slightly more than the premium to begin with. I don't remember the number but it was in the vicinity of 20k (25 at most). And the level of hoops you needed to jump through to actually make a claim and get service were insane. It was the most ridiculous insurance contract I had ever read (keep in mind it is essentially an insurance policy).

Fast forward 5 years and I'm selling the boat in fall of 2012. I was fortunate enough that nothing ever went wrong that would have been a claim on that insurance. Of course, I had NO WAY of knowing that when I bought it, but I figured I'd hold on to my 15k to "self-insure" for any repairs. So bottom line is that I would NOT buy an extended warranty.

Unless...

You plan on selling or trading the boat within the warranty period. If I were looking at two identical boats and one had the warranty and the other didn't I'd skew towards the one with the warranty. Sound contradictory? Not really, I'd be happy to have a warranty the someone else paid for... but the math just didn't add up for me.

Your results may vary.

 

[JimFromMD]

I don't have a warranty... but.... stuff does happen.

I have a friend who has a boat with volvo pod drives, one of which blew up because of a lubrication issue. Literally blew a gear out the side of the casing inside the bilge. A remanufactured pod was in the 20k range, and new was about double. That ended up being an insurance claim. Also have a friend with a late model 270 sundancer that went through 3 sets of batteries and 2 chargers. Come to find out there was a washer that had gotten sealed into the back of the battery switch that was shorting a connection. They basically had the entire bilge rewired trying to figure that out. Luckily it was under the original warranties, so not sure if an extended warranty would have covered it.

 

[midway]

I also work in the automotive side of the world at a truck dealer, as stated above extended warranties need to be from the manufacturer, even then you need to check them out completely to see what they cover and what the requirements are of you as the owner for care, use and maintenance. There are different plans for different ranges of coverage and of course the more coverage you want the more you pay, but the manufacturer warranties operate very close to the same guidelines of the new warranty and explain what they do and do not cover. One pod failure, one engine failure, you will be glad you have it, even a set of electronic injectors would be a repair that would eat up most of the cost. There is no way to say what will happen, keep the engines serviced, keep the fuel clean, (dirty fuel would not be covered), they will probably not give trouble, they are solid engines, the pods I would listen to Frank on them. Anything mechanical can break, don't care who builds it, just a fact of life.

 

[IanBat]

Again I'm coming from the Automotive side, and from a different country.

Over here (oz) I would never ever never buy it.

In the automotive side they lock you into servicing the vehicle and limit your claims.

I had a Ford with 'Premium' warranty, that I eventually voided, due to overcharging and over servicing, every service requesting to service fuel injectors that didn't exist for a charge.

Then my secretary having an engine blow with on of those warranties and still paying $7k, I helped her trade it to a new car


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[DF470DA]

thanks, those are all good poinst...Frank, I think you are tellin me I ought pay double and be happy lol...I hear what your saying, and tend to agree that this system has All Kinds of electronics and software that are in play and could be issues. I also hear the whole "claim filing/approval pains" comments. but again, between the QSB's n PODS combo x 2 the potential out of pocket is huge in a complete failure. All I know is that it should bear a whole lot more fun when spending 8k, than this will lol....thanks again for the comments..df

 

[midway]

Again I'm coming from the Automotive side, and from a different country.

Over here (oz) I would never ever never buy it.

In the automotive side they lock you into servicing the vehicle and limit your claims.

I had a Ford with 'Premium' warranty, that I eventually voided, due to overcharging and over servicing, every service requesting to service fuel injectors that didn't exist for a charge.

Then my secretary having an engine blow with on of those warranties and still paying $7k, I helped her trade it to a new car


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That is bad, here when you purchase Ford ESP you can get it from $0 deductible to $100 deductible and in most cases that is all you have to pay for the repair. You can do your on pm service, just keep records and receipts as proof. You can had the dealer do pm service, no question on warranty then as dealer has proof or can provide it to another dealer if you are away from home and have a failure.