5er accidents

laknox wrote:

Walaby wrote:

laknox wrote:


I'm in agreement that RV dealers need to be held liable if they sell a rig to someone they =know= will be towing with a truck that's simply not meant for hauling something that size. Doubly liable if they actually set up the truck for the customer. There =are= the occasional dealers that will refuse to sell a trailer to someone if their truck's too small. With FWs, =tow= ratings mean almost nothing; it's =payload= that's the controlling factor.
Lyle

While I agree there's dealers that will sell anyone anything to make a buck, isn't it the consumer who should be held accountable? Or maybe it should be the truck manufacturer, because after all, they show a Toyota Tundra pulling a Space Shuttle.

Mike

Oh, absolutely, but you get a newbie, who doesn't have any RVing friends, and, even with research, can get talked into just about anything by a good salesman. At the same time, were I the owner of a dealership, I can tell you that my "company lawyer" would likely have kittens if it came to their attention that my salesmen were actively selling setups that simply weren't safe. The cost of being sued, even if I prevailed, would likely cost the profits on 2 or 3 dozen, or more, sales. Why take the risk? All I know is that I'd tell everyone involved to acquaint themselves with tow/payload numbers and they'd be out the door in an hour if I caught them selling something that simply wouldn't work. I'd rather lose a sale than have someone's injuries or death on my conscious. And then you have the mechanical side of things, where someone blows a transmission because a Tacoma simply isn't capable of towing a 10k lb trailer, or something similar. Just too d@mn many headaches to deal with that kind of stuff. 'Sides, I like to be able to look at myself in the mirror without flinching.

Lyle

Lyle, I was in a high dollar technical sales for close to 30 years and there were projects that I walked away from due to the poorly written specs for the system they wanted. I liked living where I did and did not want to be tossed out of town. I would not be able to sleep at night if I had tried to put in some of the equipment.

When we sold one 5th wheel, I would not sell it to one buyer as he did not have enough truck for the trailer. He was mad and said he was told his 1/2 ton truck could pull my 15,000# 5er by his friend. I did sell it to a fellow that showed up with a big enough truck.

Some of the dealers and sales people have no morals and all they want is the all might DOLLARS.

Ken