Does anyone out there have an opinion on MOT's warranty program that covers most of the interior living space like refrigerators, etc.? We are at MOT, have made an offer on a 2002 U320 with 51K on it and going thru the inspection process etc.
Also what about road assistance?
"Coach Net" always pops up when discussing Road Assistance. It's what I have based on what I have read here on the forum. Fortunately I have never used the service,...... yet.
Susan, we live in Nac and can meet at Java Jacks this morn or lunch elsewhere if you want...there are several facets to this. In general we bought one but it does not seem to be exactly what you wrote.
Trying to help, need to know more and tell you what we did and why/how used, value of rxpense...we were limited what anyone would write due tomthe age of our coach, ten years old.
Will send pm our phone number but cannot seem to do pm via this ipad so will be a few minutes
I would surely endorse Coach Net. We broke down by Mt. Hood, Oregon with a hydraulic pump failure. Coach net arranged a flat bed tow of our rig to Portland Oregon. This required obtaining oversized permits and a pilot car. Total cost would have been near $3000 for the tow, which we paid nothing. They also sent to us a small tow truck to sit with us, protecting our rear with their tow truck, as well as having two flag men directing traffic. Great service.
Bob
Our experience with Coach-Net is similar to that of Bob & Kathy, albeit for a much more mundane problem. Within weeks of buying our coach, we had battery problems, in part through my (then) ignorance of battery management. We ended up stranded overnight, when we were supposed to be on the way to a wedding in Rhode Island.
Called Coach-Net. They located a service that was sufficiently knowledgeable about bus and big truck batteries. Although the response time was somewhat longer than we'd have liked (isn't it always, when you're stuck?), the tow truck driver was pleasant and knowledgeable — and able to get us started and on the road again. More impressive, when help for our problem couldn't be dispatched immediately, the Coach-Net phone folks kept us up to date: "We've found someone." "They're at one stop before you, across town." "They're on the way. Have they arrived yet?"
In short, Coach-Net roadside assistance has already more than repaid the annual membership fee. Not sure which roadside assistance firm Susan & I would have selected, if left to our own inexperience 6 months ago. But we heard a podcast of Greg Gerber's, RV Industry News, interviewing Dan Lopez (the Coach-Net CEO). Sounded solid.
Rather not have problems, of course, and just pay the membership fee as "insurance" every year. But we're going to keep our Coach-Net roadside assist active, and based on our experience, recommend it to others.
We have roadside with Foremost, used them once with a flat, but I'm going to check out Coach-Net. Thanks for the info, all!
Our experiences have been:
1. If we mention that the coach or our car is paid for--where the vehicle can hear it-- the darn thing will break down.
2. Anything we have a warranty on will break down right after the warranty expires.
3. Any road protection insurance we have we never seem to have a claim. But if we don't renew the insurance we will have multiple breakdowns!
:'( :'(
Good luck with the inspection and purchase.
Coach-Net seems to be very good to us. We we in western ND when we needed some help. They arranged for a tow that had to come from 1-1/2 hrs away. They called back and had found a closer one. They called back three more times to make sure we were OK and safe and again after the tow to make sure everything was OK.
We have had some major repairs but still don't have major repair insurance. It is pretty expensive so we are just saving the money and self insuring ourselves. Put aside money every year for maint, tires, batteries, age related items (ir bags, fuel lines) and a chunk for unexpected repairs. If you don't need it you still have it. We looked closely at what is covered and the big stuff that concerned us (like slide seals) are generally not covered.
Big ticket interior things are AquaHot, roof top AC, dash AC, refrigerator. Other than the AquaHot these are not terribly expensive. Do the annual maintenance and inspection on the AH and you should be good.
Everyone's tolerance for risk is different. Make sure you factor in the normal maintenance items, time and engine hours related maintenance and a reserve allowance into you budget and the go have fun. Problems are always stressful when they happen so don't get too upset. It won't help. Just do what needs to be done amd move on.
We blew a transmission on the Airstream and needed a tow, driver arrived, looked at the coach and told us if our 31' did not fit on the hook it would have to come in on a low boy, and did our insurance cover those big bucks? Coaches our size ALWAYS come in on a low boy because of the fear of trashing the rear end on a conventional hook. Might be worth checking with one's insurance co.
Good advice by Roger & Susan on warranty plans or repair insurance beyond roadside assistance.
Like Mike & Jackie, we found that with our 1999 the coach was too old to qualify for many warranty plans. Ten years seems to be a cutoff? More important, when we investigated the financial soundness of some of the companies, and looked at ratings/reviews written by policyholders, we became concerned about ever successfully collecting on a claim. Like Roger & Susan, we decided to do good periodic maintenance and self-insure (put away money and expect to cover repairs ourselves).
The F & I person — finance and insurance — at any dealership (presumably even MOT, although we have heard VERY good things about MOT) sometimes adds more profit to RV deals, than the salesperson's sale of the coach. I have no information about MOT's warranty program and am not suggesting you pass it up. But from buying automobiles, you probably already realize that F & I is a profit center, just like vehicle sales. That suggests proceeding with your eyes open.
Knowing that F & I is interested in helping you, but also adding to the bottom line, suggests looking really carefully at what the warranty or insurance covers — along with who you'll have to contact, what their claim procedure is, and what policyholders have said about the warranty/insurance company's record.
Hope this is helpful.
Suzanne, we recovered the cost of the insurance. May be rare in that regard, can see it roll of the dice and that is the reason to talk when you are ready, if you get to that point or need, to explain the details of our policy, the cost, what is and is not covered and the deductible. MOT was very good at going to bat for us to get things into being covered, things I did not understand or imagine at first.
When you are ready, get back to us......in any case, good luck with your coach decision. If this is your first, there are other aspects to discuss or search the forum.
michael and jackie
Thanks everyone for the information. We bought Joe Mayfield's 2000 U320. Super delighted with it.