How far is your drive for good warranty service.
Just curious here. Do you drive long or short distances for warranty or any service on your RV? Also how willing are you to tackle a difficult repair yourself?
Forum Discussion
Believe it or not we have gone to Tiffin's plant in Red Bay,AL for warranty issues and anything that is too much for us to tackle. In these 11 years they have reworked the rear tail light mounting holes, repainted the front cap, replaced the slide out awnings, replaced the water pump, added a sat. dome, and various other tasks. Right now we are hoping to get down there to have our whole bathroom floor replaced because of a long term water leak we could not find until it was too late and our windshield is pulling loose from the gasket. Tiffin said they'd prefer to reset the windshield themselves rather than a glass shop just in case other issues crop up.
During our 4 visits to Tiffin they did a lot of it as "customer satisfaction" because most of it was way past normal warranty.
And besides that...we love to tour the factory every trip! We don't worry about the long drive (right now it is over 1000 miles) since we visit friends in that area anyways. The dealer we bought from is 1500 miles away and our nearest RV repair/dealer is 120 so we have no choice but to travel for service. When we pass through the area we have engine/chassis work done in Gaffney, SC at the Frieightliner facility or in a pinch we can get to Rapid City, SD (120 miles away) or Floyds Oasis shop in Scottsbluff, NE (75 miles away). We don't mind being at all being "out in the middle of somewhere wonderful"!
We do most minor stuff on the motorhome but as we age we have decided it's just time to switch off some of that stuff to the pros. However we have repaired furnaces, replaced shower dome and vent fan lids, replaced the main awning, replaced jack springs, replaced air filters, changed out batteries, worked on the roof AC/heat pumps,etc.
We aren't wimps my any means and have been doing all of the major wood work on finishing our barn home for the past 3 years (building interior walls, which are all entirely wood--no dry wall, making interior doors, building cabinets,etc.) so we are no strangers to hard work.
I think it's got to be up to each individual owner to decide just how much they are willing/able to do and how willing a dealer or manufacturer is willing to help out. However I think it helps for someone to visit the factory to really know how they are made so they can decide what is doable by an owner and what needs a professional's touch.
During our 4 visits to Tiffin they did a lot of it as "customer satisfaction" because most of it was way past normal warranty.
And besides that...we love to tour the factory every trip! We don't worry about the long drive (right now it is over 1000 miles) since we visit friends in that area anyways. The dealer we bought from is 1500 miles away and our nearest RV repair/dealer is 120 so we have no choice but to travel for service. When we pass through the area we have engine/chassis work done in Gaffney, SC at the Frieightliner facility or in a pinch we can get to Rapid City, SD (120 miles away) or Floyds Oasis shop in Scottsbluff, NE (75 miles away). We don't mind being at all being "out in the middle of somewhere wonderful"!
We do most minor stuff on the motorhome but as we age we have decided it's just time to switch off some of that stuff to the pros. However we have repaired furnaces, replaced shower dome and vent fan lids, replaced the main awning, replaced jack springs, replaced air filters, changed out batteries, worked on the roof AC/heat pumps,etc.
We aren't wimps my any means and have been doing all of the major wood work on finishing our barn home for the past 3 years (building interior walls, which are all entirely wood--no dry wall, making interior doors, building cabinets,etc.) so we are no strangers to hard work.
I think it's got to be up to each individual owner to decide just how much they are willing/able to do and how willing a dealer or manufacturer is willing to help out. However I think it helps for someone to visit the factory to really know how they are made so they can decide what is doable by an owner and what needs a professional's touch.
