What is wrong with this industry?
Friends of ours took delivery of a BRAND NEW RV yesterday and report water coming in through the roof last night during a rainstorm. We have an older RV and are preparing to buy a new one. Our researc...
Forum Discussion
What's wrong with the industry is that a product-ignorant market is seeking the lowest price, so manufacturers wanting market share have to build at low cost. There are a few manufacturers building better product, at price premiums of 50% to 200% over entry prices, but they have only a few knowledgable customers. Some don't even sell through dealers, partly because uncertainty about dealers makes customer support more problematic.
To make matters worse, having selected the cheapest RV that has what they want, customers then shop around for the dealer that will sell it at the lowest price. That will not be the dealer that has the infrastructure and business model to provide pre-sale and after-sale customer support.
I have two dealers I trust in my area, Camperland of Tulsa and Bell's in Bartlesville. Neither is selling particularly high end product, but both have reputations for taking good care of their customers. The first sells only Jayco motorized RVs, the second sells towels only, and neither sells at wholesale prices. I have a couple other dealers I might work with, but will have no expectation of after-sale support, I expect to be on my own.
The real problem shopping for dealers nationally, though, is that coming from some other area, and taking the RV away, means you won't be around for the dealer to take care of you, after you likely left extra money on the table to support what is needed to provide that service.
To make matters worse, having selected the cheapest RV that has what they want, customers then shop around for the dealer that will sell it at the lowest price. That will not be the dealer that has the infrastructure and business model to provide pre-sale and after-sale customer support.
I have two dealers I trust in my area, Camperland of Tulsa and Bell's in Bartlesville. Neither is selling particularly high end product, but both have reputations for taking good care of their customers. The first sells only Jayco motorized RVs, the second sells towels only, and neither sells at wholesale prices. I have a couple other dealers I might work with, but will have no expectation of after-sale support, I expect to be on my own.
The real problem shopping for dealers nationally, though, is that coming from some other area, and taking the RV away, means you won't be around for the dealer to take care of you, after you likely left extra money on the table to support what is needed to provide that service.
