warranty question

[overdue]

I recently purchased a new Cutwater 26 with a Volvo 200 hp diesel engine. During our visit to the Fluid Motion Main Office in Kent, WA, it was recommended that I consider an extended warranty on the engine, ignition, steering, and trim alone ($4,720) or the cruiser package ($6,400) which covered the former plus the generator, A/C, interior lighting, hot water system, appliances, instrument panel, stereo, spotlight, inboard driveline, and shore power. The policy will extend the total coverage period to 5 years and the company is Protective Asset Protection Division. I can't find their listing in the Better Business Bureau and wonder if anyone has had any experience making claims with this company. Is this policy a necessary expense? Do owners of RangerTugs and Cutwaters normally incur nearly $6,500 in repair expenses during the first five years? Any advice would certainly be appreciated - Bill

 

[Jmangiameli]

Hi,

Got my R-25 in June of 2009 and I just passed the 500 hour mark. Repairs so far:
1. Foot switch for the windlass. Cost $125.00 switch and labor
2. City water valve went bad. Cost $60.00
3. Kitchen sink faucet failed. Cost about $25.00


Thats it!!

Joe

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

Extended warranties are an area of strictly personal choice and like any insurance one might have you hope to never have to use it but glad to have it if the need arises. With that said we do not have any extended coverage and feel, for us, that we would pay for any unwarranted expenses out of our own pocket. This policy has worked well for us as we've not had to pay for anything close to $4,600 on any one boat we've owned over a 20 year time span, other then normal maintenance and servicing.....maybe we've been lucky.

Jim

 

[RProffer]

When I bought my 5th wheel camper, I bought a 7 year extended warranty that covered everything from king pin to rear bumper, for $1400.

When I bought my boat I asked about a similar warranty for the boat, and neither Ranger nor my dealer had ever heard of one. I looked on the internet and could not find one at that time.

Maybe there is a marine package now, But $6400 seems a little high. Most of the stuff comes with a 1, 2 or 5 year warranty from the manufacture already. What warranty does the motor in the Cutwater have?

Here is the website for Protective Asset Protection http://www.protectiveassetprotection.com/Products/Marine.aspx

 

[Pete]

I'm sure you can find examples where buying an extended warranty pays off but by and large, this is a very expensive form of insurance and one where you need to read the fine print carefully since coverage is frequently less comprehensive than you think. Independent "experts" such as Consumer Reports recommend against it.
My experience over many years of boating has been much like Jim's. While there have been the inevitable problems most that I'd characterize as defects have been fixed under warranty and I've found that many manufacturers will provide free replacement items even beyond the warranty period or pay a share of the cost of repairs if it's clear that something was indeed defective. I'm pretty diligent about maintenance and have never owned a boat where I would have got value from $5-6,000 of extended coverage.
Pete

 

[linedoctor]

I had an extended warranty on my last boat, but it was only $1500.00 for five years. The only time I wanted to use it, the warranty magically didn't cover the particular item. Except for that one instance I never had a problem with the boat...I had it for 6 years.

I'm out of warranty on our Cutwater now. (We've hade it almost a year and a half) My radar went out after the Rendezvous this year. Kenny stopped by two times to try and fix it, though it wasn't his problem. These are good boats to begin with. Add the Ranger/Cutwater quality of service and I wouldn't bother.

Dave

 

[bbrh842]

No problems with my 2007 R-25 after 1100 hours EXCEPT:
Rear thruster came on for no reason at all. I was not even on the boat. It ran until it burned up. Cost of new motor about 12 hundred dollars I think, plus almost 500 dollars to have it installed. Immtra was not the least bit sympathetic. They even have a name for this phenomina, "Self Starting". Seems dangerous to me, but they were unconcerned. I tend to agree with most of the previous posts, that extended warranties are not worth the money. They have a bad habit of not covering most things when they break, or so I have heard from various people.

 

[baz]

I recently purchased a new Cutwater 26 with a Volvo 200 hp diesel engine. During our visit to the Fluid Motion Main Office in Kent, WA, it was recommended that I consider an extended warranty on the engine, ignition, steering, and trim alone ($4,720) or the cruiser package ($6,400) which covered the former plus the generator, A/C, interior lighting, hot water system, appliances, instrument panel, stereo, spotlight, inboard driveline, and shore power. The policy will extend the total coverage period to 5 years and the company is Protective Asset Protection Division. I can't find their listing in the Better Business Bureau and wonder if anyone has had any experience making claims with this company. Is this policy a necessary expense? Do owners of RangerTugs and Cutwaters normally incur nearly $6,500 in repair expenses during the first five years? Any advice would certainly be appreciated - Bill

This is a new program offered for the Volvo engines. I believe the basic warranty is 2 years, so the policy is extending this by 3 years. One thing you should ask is whether this payment is refunded if no claims are made during the extended period. I've owned Volvo's for over 30 years and have bought an extended policy a couple of times. I never had to lean on them and they were fully refunded at the end of the extended period. So the cost to me for theses policies was the cost of money over the extended period... and that was worth it IMHO.

These marine engines are very expensive... and if the Volvo Extended Warranty cost is refunded if no claims made during the covered period it's certainly something to consider.

I believe the Volvo 200hp engine you have is a fly-by-wire and has quite a few electronic parts (ECUs). If these things fail they cost a bomb to replace.

I also have to say, the $4,720 and the $6,400 are pretty steep.

Also, does the policy state 5 years or X number of engine hours (whichever occurs first) ? --- much like for a Volvo auto where the policies normally state 100,000 miles or 10 years.

Find out if other Cutwater 26 owners have bought into this policy and have a chat with them on the +ives and -ives.

Who at Ranger Tugs in Kent was recommending this policy to you ?

 

[Pete]

A complete refund if not used? At the current very low cost of money that would be a pretty good deal - almost too good to be true. I'd look at the fine print very carefully. On some of those deals any claim no matter how small means you get zero refund. Also you may only be able to claim a refund at the end of the warranty period, so if you sell your boat within 5 years you get nothing. And of course this assumes that the company that sells you the insurance is still in business 5 years from now, by no means a sure thing in this business.
In general extended warranties are a great deal for the company selling them but if this is indeed a Volvo-backed initiative with full refund and no strings attached I might change my point of view.

 

[baz]

As Pete has suggested/stated -- read the fine print -- and this of course applies to all insurance bets 😉

Another thing to ask about for this policy is can it be transferred to next owner or does it apply only to the owner taking the policy out? If it's transferable (in full) and you sell the boat within the policy term it can add resale value.

About refunding the policies original cost... some times the refund (if any) can be prorated in some manner -- and again read the fine print to understand this.

BTW -- a quick web search shows that Protective Asset Protection has been in business for 50 years -- see http://www.protectiveassetprotection.com

Given that Ranger is promoting this Extended Warranty coverage I would assume they've done their research in the company and feel comfortable in recommending it.

Here's the companies Diesel Stern Drive and Inboard Engine PDF file that provides more detail...

http://www.protectiveassetprotectio...ts/Diesel-Stern-Drive-and-Inboard-Engines.pdf which BTW indicates the policy is transferable.

 

[commander bill]

I bought that same extended warentee when I bought Lenabell back in 2008 (coverage runs out in Feb 2013). I used it to fix my rear thruster which shorted out of regular warentee (repair cost $1200+ with out of pocket only $25). However, they denied the generator coverage which I had claimed at the same time. Their claim was that the Genset engine was not covered - only the generator portion. The local Mase repair people tried to warn me the extended warentees often did that.

So after 5 years the warentee cost me $2500 and saved me $1200.