Long Term RV Repairs

[oldsmoboat]

All,
Just looking into full timing.

What/where do you do/stay when you need to have the RV in a shop for repairs. Especially something that might take a month or two?

Thanks.

[bobsallyh]

We are in our 16th year of fulltiming. Never had any issues. As Chris Bryant said, crash damage would be the problem Then a trade or sell. As far as other repairs, trucks, motorhome chassis problems aren't bad. But i'm going to tell you, hopefully you can do some work yourself or "Katie, bar the doors". Before going to a stealership, find a good mobile repair person.

[BarbaraOK]

BB_TX wrote:

DownTheAvenue wrote:
No repair should take a month or two. ............

But how many times have you seen someone here post about their RV being in the shop for x months waiting for repairs to be made? And the repair shop would not put it in their queue unless they left it at their shop?

Easy to say just find another shop. But likely easier said than done depending on location.

You take your business elsewhere. We've been on the road for 13 years. Longest we ever spent staying at a repair service was 3 weeks at the CoachCare facility in Elkhardt, IN. They have 6 pads with electric and a dump/water fill station available for those who need it. On days they work on the coach, you move it up to the intake area at 6:30 in the morning, go get breakfast, etc., sit in the customer lounge, and then when done for the day (usually by 3:00 pm) they push the rig out and if not done, tell you when they will need it again and you put it back into on the sites until the next time it is needed. The long wait was for parts coming in and we could have gone to an RV park, but was easier to use their facilities while we waited.

[Dutch_12078]

When we dropped the transmission on our coach near Corbin, KY, the truck shop we were towed to said it would be 3-4 days to get a Ford factory remanned transmission in from Pittsburg, PA. They then towed us to a nearby KOA to wait for it to show up. We even got a 20% discount on our site fee. They called us 3 days later and said the transmission had just arrived, and they would come get us first thing in the morning. By 5 o'clock the work was done, and after one more night at the KOA we were on our way. While we were waiting for the transmission, we toured the area and had a nice visit to the Harland Sanders Museum and Cafe. The cafe featured KFC products of course, so there went our diets for lunch... 😉

[arhayes]

In our 5 years of full-timing I’ve never seen or talked to anyone that had a mechanical problem that lasted months. I have run into being told it would take 2-3 weeks for a dealer to get us in for a repair. The solution is to realize that you don’t have to use a dealer and can find alternatives. We had a hydraulic line break and we’re told by a dealer it would be 2 weeks before they could get us in. I found a local diesel shop that made and installed the line in 1 hour. We also had a warranty repair that the dealer told us would take 10 days to get to us, so we just stayed in a local park and enjoyed touring in that area until they could get us in. Once they got us in, it only took 4 hours for them to do the actual job and we were back on our way. You have to be flexible and search for alternatives.

[Hondavalk]

While I haven't had an issue with a RV yet, while on the road I have had car and motorcycle issues. I have found repair shops go out of the way to help stranded travelers. In Wheeling WV a repair shop had to get parts from 3 different towns to rebuild my standard transmission. Got me back on the road in less then 24Hrs. Sent him a Christmas card every year. 🙂

[valhalla360]

fitznj wrote:
i can see the situation where a MH/camper stays at the repair facility for
months. I live near an fairly large RV repair dealer and go past it almost
every day; At least half of the MH/campers stay on his lot for not weeks but
months.

He has a lot on the side where there are over 10 class C campers which have
been there for at least 18 months now (they do move around occasionally).

I once took my TT there and was told to "leave and we'll get back to you",

There have been many stories here about owners leaving their vehicles
for months at the RV dealer even though it may be a simple fix.

Usually that's either warantee work or they left it over the winter when they weren't planning to use it anyway (ie they got free winter storage).

I suspect the others you saw in excess of a year were being stored there...no one in their right mind would accept 18 month repair time.

[fitznj]

i can see the situation where a MH/camper stays at the repair facility for
months. I live near an fairly large RV repair dealer and go past it almost
every day; At least half of the MH/campers stay on his lot for not weeks but
months.

He has a lot on the side where there are over 10 class C campers which have
been there for at least 18 months now (they do move around occasionally).

I once took my TT there and was told to "leave and we'll get back to you",

There have been many stories here about owners leaving their vehicles
for months at the RV dealer even though it may be a simple fix.

[valhalla360]

If it's going to take a month or two...probably cheaper to dump it and buy another unit.

Even major repairs should be a week or less.

[Dutch_12078]

Over the years with different motorhomes, we've had an engine replaced, a transmission replaced, and a rear end replaced, all while we slept in the motorhome every night. We did have to leave during the day sometimes while work was underway, but we just took our toad and went sightseeing for those times. The only time we actually moved out for a couple of days was when we had some paint work done, and didn't want to deal with the smell. That time, we just rented a cabin at a nearby RV park. We've found most shops to be very sensitive to full time RV'ers needs, and will go out of their way to accommodate us.

[TechWriter]

Chris Bryant wrote:
The only legit long term repair I can imagine would be major accident repair- a lot of body/ structural work.

That sounds about right.

We had to have the engine head replaced on our Class A DP and that took about a week. We stayed at a nearby hotel.

The only suggestion I have is for major repairs, take your RV to a "major" service shop, not a local mom & pop.

[ppine]

Don't sign up for repairs that are going to take 2 weeks much less 2 months.
Say something bad happens like you need a new transmission. Find a shop with a rebuilt one. They should be able to install it in 2 days tops. Stay in a motel nearby.

[ScottG]

BB_TX wrote:

DownTheAvenue wrote:
No repair should take a month or two. ............

But how many times have you seen someone here post about their RV being in the shop for x months waiting for repairs to be made? And the repair shop would not put it in their queue unless they left it at their shop?

Easy to say just find another shop. But likely easier said than done depending on location.

That's easy, just don't take it to Camping World.

[Chris_Bryant]

The only legit long term repair I can imagine would be major accident repair- a lot of body/ structural work.

[DownTheAvenue]

BB_TX wrote:

DownTheAvenue wrote:
No repair should take a month or two. ............

But how many times have you seen someone here post about their RV being in the shop for x months waiting for repairs to be made? And the repair shop would not put it in their queue unless they left it at their shop?

Easy to say just find another shop. But likely easier said than done depending on location.

When I was full timing, I waited while repairs were done. Even had an axle replaced. For that I found a Dexter axle dealer, which was a utility trailer dealer, not a RV dealer.

You are right, many dealers want you to leave your RV for months while they work on others. That is not a dealer that a full timer can do business with. But there are many dealers and service centers who do recognize the unique requirements of full timers and are willing to accommodate them.