[A/S] Hail Sale Visit, what's there, and extended warranty.

[Jack Canavera <jpcanavera@xxxxxxxxx>]

I was off work yesterday so I went up to Bill Thomas
Campers to look at the Airstream video, check out the
Safari like mine (which is scheduled for delivery in
two weeks) and to look at the damage from the big
storm that passed through the northern reaches of St.
Louis on Tuesday night.

Just about every vehicle got some type of ding.  Some
are minor and others are just terrible.  The Safari
like mine looked ok until I walked behind.  The endcap
above and to the right of the rear window at the
corner took a big hit.  The actual impact of the stone
was about the size of a tennis ball.  What surprised
me was that the skin around the impact area collapsed
towards the impact area leaving a large depression the
size of a volley ball.

The dealer noted that he had three A/S brought in with
hail damage.  One was completely missing the front
windows, even the curved ones.  Another looked like a
hammer was taken to it, and the worst looked like it
had volleyball sized craters all above the front
window and up to the roof.  I've never seen damage
like this in my entire life.  

Apparently they are going to discount the new A/S's
with minor damage and reskin those with major.

On the bright side, someone asked me in an earlier
posting if the 34' slideout was there.  It was with
only a few small bumps.

The dealer also told me that he has ordered the last 3
of the 30' slide out 70th anniversary units that A/S
will build.  They are not sold at this point...in case
anyone is looking for one of these.  They are nice
looking trailers!

I met the gentleman who will be doing our pre-delivery
checkout and our delivery walk through.  I also met
the business manager who promptly left me with a
brochure for an extended warranty called "Travel
Trailer Plus" from DFS (Deutsche Financial Services). 
Obviously he says it will be in my best interest to
take out this warranty.

My last TT I took out the extended warranties offered
by each of the appliance manufacturers rather than
going with a blanket.  Nothing broke during the
warranty time periods so I'm pretty skeptical about
entering into this agreement.  For those of you who
bought new, were their any trouble spots regarding
appliances that may want me to consider this coverage?
If anything I'll pick and choose rather than buy a
blanket plan. 

Jack Canavera
STL Mo.