Jayco feedback

Lets face it, RV's are not built to rigid standards. They are designed by professional decorators and look beautiful but require lots of attention and maintenance by their owners. Many times after returning from a trip I see something I need to tighten, seal or repair. The appliances and fixtures are cheap light weight devices. The only RV's that are still made to rigid standards are made by Airstream and to purchase this brand you better be willing to fork out lots of money.

Most manufacturers will push them out the door and let the purchaser and dealer work out the problems under the warranty. I believe there is little quality control to find leaks in plumbing and electrical issues. RV ownership requires constant attention to preventative maintenance.

The problem I see with the majority of these RV manufacturers, they use quotas as incentive to bang out the units. Once you reach your quota, you are free to go home for the day. IMO, that is a system that can breed shoddy workmanship. It's all about quantity over quality. I was able to tour the Grand Design factory in Indiana. 2PM and there was nary a worker in the plant, just those setting up product for the next days quota. I have reason to believe the unit I purchased was part of Friday's quota.

I'd say in the price range they are no worse than any of the other companies. Jayco offers a good bit for the money and they have a 2 year warranty. No one else really offers a 2 year warranty in that price range nor just above it except KZ which if i remember correctly is also 2 years limited and also owned by Thor.

You're buying an RV, nothing is going to be perfect. The stupid thing drives down the road at 60+mph. Stuff is going to break and or not work, most of it will be parts that the manufacturer doesn't even have control over.

If you're in that market segment, Jayco is a good buy. You can also look at Grand Design who makes a good unit for the money and has a bunch of different trim lines.

Compare and contrast construction methods, options and price then go from there.

bucky wrote:
^^^^^ I agree, the hook was that they had a 2 year warranty when others only had one. Not sure about now. Ours is pretty well put together, but it predates the "merger".

Another "pre-merger" (bought new - 2006 Designer) Jayco.

(Still) happy with everything - never needed the 2yr warranty for anything.

However due to the merger - I would be in "buyer beware" mode now..

~

Our 2016 has been ok. It had some initial warranty work but since then only two issues bathroom fan needed to be replaced which could have been done under warranty but it wasn't worth my time and trouble to take it to the closest dealer based on previous experience with them so did it myself in about 90 minutes and $140. The other thing was just a couple weeks ago grey tank handle wouldn't open the valve. Turns out it just came unscrewed from the valve took me about 15 minutes to fix. They do still have a 2 year warranty for whatever it is worth. I know for their price points I would certainly look at them again if I was in the market for a new one but ours has been what I would consider ok at least so far

I just bought a new 2017 Jayco and it's our first brand new FW. Comparing to others we looked at, I'd say that it was about the same, maybe a little better than average. It goes in for it's first warranty visit this week. Refrig only works on gas, has a warped door, Sat TV cable dead, one of the gray water valves leaks, and a few other annoying little problems. I guess it's to be expected. Overall I think most trailers are put together poorly and they use lightweight and cheap materials in the construction. Even the expensive, upper end units have their problems with quality.

I have owned 5 new Jayco 5th wheels. The last two a 2010 321RLMS and a 2013 351RLTS were real dogs. On the 2013 the back wall had to be replaced for the 3rd time, the swinteck slide system had the motors replaced, controller replaced, rack replaced and wiring harness replaced. After putting in the last repair $1500 I traded it in for a Non Jayco model. No more Jaycos and this was before they were bought out by Thor. No problems with the new Non Jayco unit.

^^^^^ I agree, the hook was that they had a 2 year warranty when others only had one. Not sure about now. Ours is pretty well put together, but it predates the "merger".

To me Jayco was/has been no different in quality then most of the others.

Thor says that about all the companies they have aquired, BUT Thor still controls the Purse Strings and sets expected profit from them.
So you do the math, There're run Independently, but management must still answer to Thor.