HAVE DUTCH STAR, WILL TRAVEL!

[gypsypainter]

My husband and I just purchased our new motorhome yesterday! It's a Newmar Dutch Star Diesel Pusher, 2001. We're so excited! We're 60-somethings ready to retire and live full time in our motorhome.
We'll be dong the walk through and picking up our rig on Dec. 20. In the meantime, there are loose ends to tie up. What is your opinion of extended warranty coverage? We're not mechanically inclined (actually mechanically challenged!) and the prospect of expensive repairs scares me. I've looked at several options: Good Sam (expensive and lots of loopholes), the dealer offered a plan but it required us to pay the bill at the time of repair, then get reimbursement. I don't like that idea. Then on another forum I heard about Warranty Experts from Alabama. I can't seem to find anyone who has used them. Does anyone here have experience or know of this company?
Our new (to us) MH is beautiful and seems to have been well maintained. only 17,000 miles and everything looks like new. The previous owner kept it garaged most of the time. Nevertheless, things (EXPENSIVE things) can go wrong. Are we foolish to spend money on an extended warranty?
Can't wait to meet and make new friends around the campfire! We'll be leaving Florida (our home base) mid-March '07 heading west to a convention in Dallas, then on to CA to visit family.

Thanks for any and all suggestions
Sharon

 

[Karl]

Sharon,

Welcome to the RV Forum, and congratulations on your new DutchStar!

I have extended warranty thru Warranty Experts and have had little problems getting things repaired. Make sure you get an "exclusionary" policy; one that lists specific items NOT included, rather than an "Inclusionary"; one that lists only those items they will repair. With the exclusionary, if it ISN'T listed in the policy, it's covered. Others here will certainly offer suggestions as well as to which company they prefer.
Happy travels! 

 

[Ron]

Welcome to the RV Forum  and congratulations on your Dutch Star.  I am sure you will enjoy it.  Please look around the forum,  join in on any of the on going discussions, start new discussions, or ask questions.  Thanks for joining us. Also ditto on what Karl said about Warranty Experts.

 

[Shayne]

I will 3rd Karl's reply of Warranty Experts, Dave Gardner has treated us quite fairly.  We've had 2 units with them.

 

[Bob Zambenini]

My husband and I just purchased our new motorhome yesterday! It's a Newmar Dutch Star Diesel Pusher, 2001.

Sharon

Several members here have Dutch Stars.

I don't know if have found the Yahoo Groups for Newmar and Dutch Star. They are super groups  with years of valuable stuff in their message data bases.

Check:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newmarowners/

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Newmar-dp-owners/

Bob, 99 DSDP

 

[gypsypainter]

Thanks everyone!
I'd really like to go with a warranty and Warranty Experts seemed to be the best value, if they're legit.
Also, thanks for the Newmar owners web info! You bet I'll be on that one too!

Sharon (Gypsypainter)

 

[Daisy]

Congratulations on your selection.  We are VERY happy Dutch Star owners and the company does an outstanding job in workmanship.  Our rig is 8 years young and we've had very little go wrong so far.  We full timed in it 6 of those years and part time it now.  Had two other rigs before we found our "dream coach".  We still carry warranty insurance for peace of mind.  Good luck with yours and hope you enjoy many years in it.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I'm not generally in favor of extended warranties but the risk of ultra expensive repairs in an upscale diesel pusher is fairly high, so we  bought a policy from Warranty Experts for the 2004 American Tradition we recently purchased. That had the best deal around and are a pleasure to do business with.  Note however, that they are only the selling  broker and not the folks who will be responding to your claims, should you have any.

 

[gypsypainter]

Thanks, RV Roamer,
I've been learning a LOT on these threads and one of the things that stands out is whatever warranty we choose, we need to get in touch with the actual underwriter to confirm that we are covered. I'm leaning toward Warranty Experts although there have been some posts raising red flags. Everyone has an opinion! I've learned of a couple others that I'll check out first. Have you heard of any of them? Route 66, RV Shield, The Choice RV. This is almost as time consuming as finding our coach!

Glad to be a member of this forum.

Gypsypainter

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I haven't heard of any of those, but names for policies and brokers are pretty much meaningless in this game. Even the insurers who stand behind the policies are barely blips on the horizon when it comes to insurance companies - don't expect any A+++ ratings from AM Best.

On the good side, we seldom [anymore] hear of an insurer going bankrupt either. The common complaint is denial of benefits and that is usually because the policy holder did not read/understand what is actually covered (always less than you think/wish) or did not follow the claims procedure to the letter.  Most of us here have had decent experience with successful claims, but we tend to be a meticulous bunch who do our homework well.

 

[blueblood]

I'm not generally in favor of extended warranties but the risk of ultra expensive repairs in an upscale diesel pusher is fairly high, so we  bought a policy from Warranty Experts for the 2004 American Tradition we recently purchased. That had the best deal around and are a pleasure to do business with.  Note however, that they are only the selling  broker and not the folks who will be responding to your claims, should you have any.

Can you or others who bought through WE tell me who the actual carrier turned out to be for your policy?

 

[Ned]

We have Owner's Choice, but WE no longer sells that policy.