Kudos to Grand Design

Grand Design owner here. Thanks for posting.

Kudos indeed, until the required part is made or distributed by Dometic, Lippert, Patrick Indusries etc. And deferred to the component supplier clause in the warranty doc. Forest River tried the same strategy 3 years ago authorizing dealers to obtain parts for warranty work wherever they could be obtained or off the shelf if they had them. It's all marketing lip service. YMMV.

Welcome to the 20th century.

I’m in the 21st Century, however.

ok... sounds good.
But how will this really work out in the real world? and over even say one year.
i have seen (not just in rv's) programs come and just evaporate away. no mater how good or important.
hope it does work, as grand design is one of the leading sellers on my buy list. this could put and keep them on-top.

Winnebago owns Grand Design FYI. Since late 2016. Let's all hope they are allowed to continue as they were. They will be my next 5er.

Such a policy will look great on the brochure and website. However when you call the dealer for warranty service, most if not all of whom also carry multiple other brands, do not have enough competent techs, and have a service backlog running out many weeks if not months, the end result will be the same no matter how fast they can get parts.

bucky wrote:
Winnebago owns Grand Design FYI. Since late 2016. Let's all hope they are allowed to continue as they were. They will be my next 5er.

Perhaps the sooner you get your next 5er the better. Do some research on the 3 Gents who started Grand Design. They were instrumental in starting Keystone and used a lot of the same marketing strategy. Then they grew, and grew some more. Eventually they sold out to Thor and lined their pockets enough, after sticking around for a good number of years, to jump ship and start Grand Design from scratch. Then they grew, and grew some more. Eventually they sold out to Winnebago. They still have some pockets needing lining.

History repeats itself, especially when you're talking about 3 RV industry execs who are smart cookies, and know a thing or two about the gullibility of the Industry, the RV buying public, marketing, and money.

At some point they will reach a tipping point where the great after sale and support becomes unsustainable (Re: As in a money loser). When that happens just look back to the history of Keystone RV. That is if they get to that point before the next Industry / general economy downturn (hence the Winnebago marriage, Clark and the Fenech brothers are not dummies) which is right around the corner. The auto and other industries are circling the wagons right now for that downturn. The dealer and service network can only support so much and dealers will drop like flies as soon as the burp comes.

RV's are a by product of the main business which is making money, and you do all of it with other peoples money, not your own.

Ralph Cramden wrote:


Do some research on the 3 Gents who started Grand Design. They were instrumental in starting Keystone and used a lot of the same marketing strategy. Then they grew, and grew some more. Eventually they sold out to Thor and lined their pockets enough, after sticking around for a good number of years, to jump ship and start Grand Design from scratch. Then they grew, and grew some more. Eventually they sold out to Winnebago. They still have some pockets needing lining.

RV's are a by product of the main business which is making money, and you do all of it with other peoples money, not your own.

Yep, that's the American Dream and I don't see any problem with it all.

WTP-GC wrote:

Ralph Cramden wrote:


Do some research on the 3 Gents who started Grand Design. They were instrumental in starting Keystone and used a lot of the same marketing strategy. Then they grew, and grew some more. Eventually they sold out to Thor and lined their pockets enough, after sticking around for a good number of years, to jump ship and start Grand Design from scratch. Then they grew, and grew some more. Eventually they sold out to Winnebago. They still have some pockets needing lining.

RV's are a by product of the main business which is making money, and you do all of it with other peoples money, not your own.

Yep, that's the American Dream and I don't see any problem with it all.

2 of the 3 are no longer affiliated with Grand Design. They said goodbye when Winnebago bought GD. One of principals retired, the 2nd now runs a boat manufacturer and Don Clark remained at a VP within the Winnebago empire.

IMO the biggest issue with RV parts is the dealer actually failing to order them. When a rig sits on a dealer lot for 3 months just waiting to get looked at, what difference does it make if it takes a week to get a part compared to overnight. The rig isn't gonna be fixed any quicker.

One thing that might make this whole idea work better is that GD does allow for mobile techs to service their units under warranty. This was a selling point made to us, but I've read numerous posts on the GD owner forum and FB groups where GD did indeed offer mobile techs. I don't know what other manufacturer's do this, though I doubt its exclusive to GD.