Are you waiting for delivery of new TT/FW too?

I have a buddy who is retired, lives in northern Indiana, and hauls campers on what he calls a “part time” basis. What that means to him, or did in the beginning 2 years ago, is typically two trips a week. From talking to him about this there are basically two kinds of haulers. Drivers like him who do it to supplement their income and drivers that are trying to make a living at it.

My buddy will rarely make a trip that he can’t do a round trip in one day. Even for him, this at times stretches the limits of what he’s supposed to drive. Keep in mind these guys are subject to keeping a log book just like a semi driver. And from what he tells me the rules have gotten stricter as far as showing down time. Technically (as I understand it) this also counts on return trips when they’re empty.

So for him, to drive all the way to the East Coast and drive back empty doesn’t pay enough. And drivers out there trying to make a living at this can’t afford many (if any) trips back empty.

I considered doing this when I got my new diesel, but the pay versus the wear and tear on a new truck just wasn’t worth it.

Just spoke with the Keystone Rep and he said my Terrain should come off the line on 6-12-14. Dealer says they will setup special arrangements for shipping as we placed the order way back on 3-27-14.

Talked to our dealer in Mass the other day and they said it is hard to get deliveries to New England and many that they get are the smaller trailers as the haulers get paid the same so why tow a 35 footer when they can deliver a 20 footer. The dealer was looking into paying a bonus to get trailers delivered.

A manufacturers rep said he has never seen so many trailers sitting in Indiana and that the manufacturers were buying and leasing land just to park them until they can be delivered.

That said, drove from Mass to Ohio yesterday and lots of trailers were heading east and there were some of the smaller ones piles onto a flat bed for delivery.

Good luck.

Wow! I must have been lucky! Ordered March 5th, built March 26th and delivered April 15th!

n7bsn wrote:

2008Wildcat wrote:

I don't follow the industry news, I live it every day....

I just told you that I can order a trailer and get it in 8 weeks.

There is absolutely no excuse to have ordered in November and still not have it.

Really?
Honestly?

According to the news there is between 25,000 and 30,000 units in the mid-west awaiting delivery, and you didn't know. but you "live it every day"

Local news article

I've even seen news coverage on the national level

I never said I didn't know, I stated that time frame is way too long to wait for an ordered unit.

I have placed orders in February that have delivered already.

There is no excuse to be waiting since November. Driver shortage or not, when we order something, we get it delivered.

Every year, this industry goes through the same thing. People order units over winter, dealers order units for spring/summer inventory, and there is a large amount of units waiting for delivery.

Tell me something I don't know......

There is still no way OP should be waiting since November.

Here's what FR told me when I called the factory rep to check on our special ordered FW Windjammer; after the trailer is built, it goes to a yard in Goshen and can sit there for up to a month waiting for a driver to bring it out. They're extremely busy.

Ordered our Keystone 28BHS end of Jan,2014. It was delivered to our Ohio dealer on 4/24 in the evening. We took delivery on Saturday, 4/26. This delivery was 3-4wks. past what was quoted when ordered. I hate to think of those thousands of miles away waiting for their unit.

The good thing from the delay, our unit got bumped into the 2015 model year production schedule :)

2008Wildcat wrote:

I don't follow the industry news, I live it every day....

I just told you that I can order a trailer and get it in 8 weeks.

There is absolutely no excuse to have ordered in November and still not have it.

Really?
Honestly?

According to the news there is between 25,000 and 30,000 units in the mid-west awaiting delivery, and you didn't know. but you "live it every day"

Local news article

I've even seen news coverage on the national level

Placed my order the first week of March and it rolled off the line the end of March. My dealer went down and picked it up.

It's definitely been a lot slower getting units out of Indiana because of the dreadfully bad weather this year. To make it worse, it's also delayed shipments of RV parts getting out of California to Indiana to put RVs together. A double whammy of sorts. Add to that, the drivers shortage.

Our new TT sat in Indiana for about a month before it finally left there. We kept asking and asking but it was a case of they get to it when they can get to it. Our order was finalized it early Nov. but didn't get here until mid-March, over 4 months. The last time we ordered the same make of TT from the same dealer, it was just over 6 weeks from place of order to arrival on the west coast, less than 1/2 the time.

I was at our dealer yesterday and a semi with long flatdeck from Indiana pulled in with two TTs on it. First time I've ever noticed that and don't know if there's more of that happening now? Funny to watch as he nearly whacked a new camper by inches that was sitting on the dealer's lot while he attempting to back in. Lots of loud yelling!! Maybe the driver was just tired from a long, long drive up to the west coast of Canada.