One More Reason To Never Buy Jayco
I got a 2012 Jayco Embark new. Their workmanship was horrendous. Requiring many weeks at the dealer, countless hours of my work and even a trip back to Jayco. Recently the electric portion of my wa...
Forum Discussion
Back in 2008/2009 when the RV industry was hurting bad, some brands were bought out or closed up. There was a lot more discussion on this forum over poor quality back then. Some complaints were design related like this one over the lack of access to the back side of the water heater. Others were related to materials and workmanship. Regardless of the category of complaint, it seemed to always come down to that old saying of "You Get What You Pay For" I hate to use that term because it seems to be an unfair statement. But yet there is much truth in it.
Occasionally someone will post a fresh question over who makes a "Quality Built" motor home. The brands that come up are not the cheapest rigs out there. We own one such brand. A "cheapest" comparable floor plan of another brand is about 40% cheaper. That is a whole lot of money. So I can understand why people are attracted to the cheap brands.
If you go on Ford's website and learn what an E450 RV chassis costs, then add the cost to adjust the wheel base, there isn't much money to work with to build the house with the price of a cheap rig. I don't know how the cheap brands make it work. The business model doesn't seem possible.
I do think that you will fair better with design, materials, and workmanship when buying through a privately owned RV manufacture. As soon as they have to answer to stock holders, all too often something essential suffers. At the same time, there are a few exceptions, Winnebago/Itasca being one of them, I assume because of the volume of sales and automation processes in place.
If buying new with intentions for a short term ownership, a "cheap" brand could serve best. But if you plan to own the rig for many years, especially with outdoor storage, I would recommend buying a better quality used rig for the same money. There are some high quality rigs, stored in garages. Those are ideal.
Occasionally someone will post a fresh question over who makes a "Quality Built" motor home. The brands that come up are not the cheapest rigs out there. We own one such brand. A "cheapest" comparable floor plan of another brand is about 40% cheaper. That is a whole lot of money. So I can understand why people are attracted to the cheap brands.
If you go on Ford's website and learn what an E450 RV chassis costs, then add the cost to adjust the wheel base, there isn't much money to work with to build the house with the price of a cheap rig. I don't know how the cheap brands make it work. The business model doesn't seem possible.
I do think that you will fair better with design, materials, and workmanship when buying through a privately owned RV manufacture. As soon as they have to answer to stock holders, all too often something essential suffers. At the same time, there are a few exceptions, Winnebago/Itasca being one of them, I assume because of the volume of sales and automation processes in place.
If buying new with intentions for a short term ownership, a "cheap" brand could serve best. But if you plan to own the rig for many years, especially with outdoor storage, I would recommend buying a better quality used rig for the same money. There are some high quality rigs, stored in garages. Those are ideal.
