Where is quality?????

As in an automobile, I expect a certain level of quality, whether it is a $16,000 Dodge Dart or a $100,000 Mercedes S Class. I don't think the electrical system should have a burn out within 10 days of use, I expect all the doors and windows to be properly sealed, I expect the radio to work and not have wires almost cut in two, I expect the radiator to not leak, etc. even in a Dodge Dart. Why should I expect anything less in a $100,000 motor home? Not everyone is going to purchase a Prevost, but you expect some quality checks along the way.

I also expect when I purchase a new car that the salesman or other person with the dealership to be able to show me all the bells and whistles and how they work.

The manufacturers of large numbers of RV's make more money by pumping out as many as possible and paying the dealers to fix what they missed. It's all about volume and not at all about quality.
Quality comes with a price tag but even then, every time I pull into a Prevost service center there are brand new buses in for service of one kind or another!

ScottG wrote:
When I've walked around RV shows it always looks to me that some of the material and technology has gotten better but the actual workmanship is even worse than it was 10 or more years ago.

Iam always curious when people say this.So I ask what Class A and number of units have you viewed that had bad workmanship? what areas did u see this as the most obvious ?were they entry level gassers or higher end DP like newmar or tiffin?

When I've walked around RV shows it always looks to me that some of the material and technology has gotten better but the actual workmanship is even worse than it was 10 or more years ago.

We winter in Florida. During the past two winters 7 people in the campground I stay at have bought new RV's. They were of various makes. All of them, All of them required service and repair in the first couple of months!!!! Where is quality in the manufacture of RV's????

How many were Prevost or Airstreams? Quality in an RV typically comes with spending real money.

the silverback wrote:
We winter in Florida. During the past two winters 7 people in the campground I stay at have bought new RV's. They were of various makes. All of them, All of them required service and repair in the first couple of months!!!! Where is quality in the manufacture of RV's????

curious of the seven how many were newmar ,tiffin,entegra American coach verses
The coachman,ace,thor etc and how many were DP verses the cheaper to mid gassers

also were the repair actually a repair of a serious nature or the
micky mouse things like switch not working or cabinet drawer sticking
type deal

The RV industry just went through a giant bust period, and a lot of the best people in the trade either starved to death of found another line of work. Example: the excellent repair center Coachmen had in Fitzgerald, Georgia is now a school bus barn.
As the bust cycle turned to boom, the new people coming into the RV production line are new, and probably marginally qualified for the job, and just hungry for the paycheck.
The dealerships pay lip-service to the QA issues because, hey, warranty work is a slice of the pie.
Buy used and let some other poor guy eat the break-in issues and depreciation.

This has been discussed previously in this Forum. My opinion is that most RV buyers are more concerned about getting a `good deal' than how well the RV is made. If I made the very best RV and couldn't sell any because my price was too high I wouldn't be around long. Just sayin'.

As noticed by the amount of RV's being purchased, to the manufacturers, the quality is already "just good enough."
IF sales drop in the future, they will improve the quality to again, "just good enough."

Same as always. On the back burner. The RV industry is where the US auto industry was in the 1970s. Sadly, without offshore competetion your not going to see quality.