RV Direct - Too good to be true?
Hello Everyone, Someone on the forums mentioned RV Direct to me for purchasing a TT. When we got the quote last night, I nearly fainted dead away. LOL How many of you have purchased from them a...
Forum Discussion
Having worked in the motorsports industry across the country, the warranty issue is worst where business is seasonal.
In a heavily seasonal area, where they are busy in the summer and dead in the winter, technicians will be too few in the summer and too many in the winter.
Warranty work pays very, very poorly. Re-imbursement by the factory is slow (90+ days) and at a very reduced rate (not full flat rate). Taking a profit making technician off a full-paying job to work on a slow paying, low paying warranty job costs the dealership money. Now, if it's the slow season and the technicians don't have any work, then warranty makes money because a slow, low paying job is better than no job.
But if it's the high season and the dealer has limited techs and too much work they will take care of the customers who bought from them first. It's a two-way street.
After the loyal customers are taken care of, a good shop will then take care of the high-profit jobs, then when it finally gets slow, the shop will take care of the money-losing warranty work requested by walk-ins who didn't buy from them. A good shop will also prioritize emergency on-the-road repairs.
Is this a good system? No. But it's what works in highly seasonal areas. Areas with a more steady, continual work load can squeeze in more warranty work, but if the area's high season is only a couple of months long, a shop isn't going to waste it's most productive time on money-losing work (remember, by taking a tech off a higher paying job to do a low-pay/slow-pay warranty job, the dealer is losing the profit from the higher paying job).
I have never seen a dealership lose their franchise due to refusing warranty work. All they have to do is schedule you in... during the slow season, which is usually the dead of winter. By doing that, they fulfill their franchise agreement.
The best way to do this would be to get rid of franchised dealers completely and only have factory-owned sales/service centers. But that's against the law in the USA.
In a heavily seasonal area, where they are busy in the summer and dead in the winter, technicians will be too few in the summer and too many in the winter.
Warranty work pays very, very poorly. Re-imbursement by the factory is slow (90+ days) and at a very reduced rate (not full flat rate). Taking a profit making technician off a full-paying job to work on a slow paying, low paying warranty job costs the dealership money. Now, if it's the slow season and the technicians don't have any work, then warranty makes money because a slow, low paying job is better than no job.
But if it's the high season and the dealer has limited techs and too much work they will take care of the customers who bought from them first. It's a two-way street.
After the loyal customers are taken care of, a good shop will then take care of the high-profit jobs, then when it finally gets slow, the shop will take care of the money-losing warranty work requested by walk-ins who didn't buy from them. A good shop will also prioritize emergency on-the-road repairs.
Is this a good system? No. But it's what works in highly seasonal areas. Areas with a more steady, continual work load can squeeze in more warranty work, but if the area's high season is only a couple of months long, a shop isn't going to waste it's most productive time on money-losing work (remember, by taking a tech off a higher paying job to do a low-pay/slow-pay warranty job, the dealer is losing the profit from the higher paying job).
I have never seen a dealership lose their franchise due to refusing warranty work. All they have to do is schedule you in... during the slow season, which is usually the dead of winter. By doing that, they fulfill their franchise agreement.
The best way to do this would be to get rid of franchised dealers completely and only have factory-owned sales/service centers. But that's against the law in the USA.
