warranty secrets revealed

[Semi_Retired_Gr]

Took me several motor homes and many years - but it finally dawned on me that the manufacturers have it figured out pretty well. Offer a one year warranty - build in a few relatively minor problems - have your buyers take their new MH's back to the dealer for service and make them wait days - or perhaps weeks - for service. Then find the need for repair parts that take weeks to arrive - and soon the one year warranty period has expired. I say this a little 'tongue in cheek' - but it sure seems our MH's spend much of their first year at the dealers taking far too long to address relatively minor problems. Nothing similar to the service we receive from the chassis manufacturers - if in fact service is ever required. The MH manufacturers can - and should - do better.

[dougrainer]

JALLEN4 wrote:

down home wrote:
When a Dealer receives a MH he fills out a sheet with problems they have discovered from Mfg etc. They send that to the Mfg and are cut a check or given credit for the necessary repairs or adjustment.
Many Dealers put the money in their pockets and the repairs are done when they sell the unit, if you're lucky. they won't get additional money for those repairs already paid for and it is worked in when they feel like it or not at all. New problems they get money for and they try to get a set labor amount from their schedules etc. The Mfg builds the things and know what is involved. The Dealers haggle for the amount which may be justified or not.
Best idea is to deal with the factory if it is in any way convenient. Of course the Dealers love that idea. All they want to do is repairs paid for by you or insurance as a secondary business. They want to sell MHs and forget about them.
Not all you understand. There are some good ones and some that were terrible are getting better a lot better. Do the walk though and long test drive and don't sign on the dotted line unless everything is fixed to your satisfaction. there are other Dealers who need the business. Bad Experience is a terrible teacher and you don't want to lear that way.

While what you say may well be true somewhere, it has never worked that way for any brands I have ever represented.

When the dealer receives the unit, it is inspected for any missing equipment or damage. When the dealer does the PDI, all mechanical systems are checked for proper operation. Any problems corrected that are outside normal dealer responsibilities are treated as basically a warranty claim. The dealer is paid a labor rate dictated by their sales and service agreement and a parts mark-up also dictated by that agreement. Each repair is not negoseparatelyerately and the hours paid for the repair are generally dictated by the manufacturer.

If in fact the dealer makes a claim for repairs they did not do, they are technically guilty of warranty fraud which is in violation of both their contract and criminal law. More than one dealer or dealership employee has been convicted and sentenced for this crime.

Laws are broken every day in all walks of life and dealerships would not be an exception. But, to assume all dealerships or even a majority do this as a basis of business would be absurd. Most dealerships represent a very large investment and like most business owners, the dealer recognizes customer satisfaction assures success. Return business and service profits drive the return on investment made.

Most of the new Towable (some Motorhomes) makers require EACH complaint be negotiated. We must
1. Submit a detailed parts and labor cost
2. The Complaint/Cause/Correction
3. Then it is submitted ONLINE. Once they receive it they then return the various approvals or denials or cut in part or labor times. This is usually 24 to 48 hours after submission.
4. THEN you have to go back and renegotiate the cut labor times or parts pricing. This takes 24 to 72 hours.
5. ALL BEFORE WE WORK ON THE UNIT
6. Then, some OEM's require we get ALL repair parts from them even tho we might have them in stock. That takes 2 to 7 days depending on the part and how quick they ship.
7. As to the poster (Down Home) that started this part. I have been in the business 40 years and 34 of them on the dealer Tech/service side. We have carried at least 50 different OEMs over the years and NONE have ever had such a practice as he stated. NO OEM will cut any check to the dealer without the repairs having been done. PERIOD. Doug

I forgot------Pictures, LOTS of pictures are now required for a lot of warranty Authorizations.

[dan23]

Tntman wrote:
Sorry to be so late here!
You bought a Tiffin motorhome, Bob Tiffin WILL take care of ANY problems you may have PERIOD. My Phaeton had more than three years of work performed with no charge. When my exhaust pipe blew a hole EIGHT years after I bought the coach, I talked to Bob and he told me to send him the bills for the repair and he would take care of it. I TALKED directly to Bob, try that with ANY OTHER COACH manufacturer. When I am in Red Bay, I stop and talk to Bob, the owner of Tiffin. Try that with the owner, president or CEO of any other RV manufacturer.
Tiffin has a service center out west somewhere, take your coach there, call Bob in Red Bay if you have a problem.

That sounds real nice, but how in God's name did a major RV manufacturer arrive at the point where the owner takes care of warranty problems? IMHO, this is just another example of industry-wide dysfunction. Quality has to be more than a slogan; once the RV is in the hands of the customer, repairs are too late.

Dealers are too-often total jerks, backed into that corner by customers who think the world revolves around them, and them alone, after they write a check.

[down_home]

Former Salesman of a Dealership. A Delivery Driver. An ex clerk for Dealership.
The Dealership is now reincorporated or gone. Was told everybody did it meaning of course some.

[JALLEN4]

down home wrote:
When a Dealer receives a MH he fills out a sheet with problems they have discovered from Mfg etc. They send that to the Mfg and are cut a check or given credit for the necessary repairs or adjustment.
Many Dealers put the money in their pockets and the repairs are done when they sell the unit, if you're lucky. they won't get additional money for those repairs already paid for and it is worked in when they feel like it or not at all. New problems they get money for and they try to get a set labor amount from their schedules etc. The Mfg builds the things and know what is involved. The Dealers haggle for the amount which may be justified or not.
Best idea is to deal with the factory if it is in any way convenient. Of course the Dealers love that idea. All they want to do is repairs paid for by you or insurance as a secondary business. They want to sell MHs and forget about them.
Not all you understand. There are some good ones and some that were terrible are getting better a lot better. Do the walk though and long test drive and don't sign on the dotted line unless everything is fixed to your satisfaction. there are other Dealers who need the business. Bad Experience is a terrible teacher and you don't want to lear that way.

While what you say may well be true somewhere, it has never worked that way for any brands I have ever represented.

When the dealer receives the unit, it is inspected for any missing equipment or damage. When the dealer does the PDI, all mechanical systems are checked for proper operation. Any problems corrected that are outside normal dealer responsibilities are treated as basically a warranty claim. The dealer is paid a labor rate dictated by their sales and service agreement and a parts mark-up also dictated by that agreement. Each repair is not negoseparatelyerately and the hours paid for the repair are generally dictated by the manufacturer.

If in fact the dealer makes a claim for repairs they did not do, they are technically guilty of warranty fraud which is in violation of both their contract and criminal law. More than one dealer or dealership employee has been convicted and sentenced for this crime.

Laws are broken every day in all walks of life and dealerships would not be an exception. But, to assume all dealerships or even a majority do this as a basis of business would be absurd. Most dealerships represent a very large investment and like most business owners, the dealer recognizes customer satisfaction assures success. Return business and service profits drive the return on investment made.

[dougrainer]

down home wrote:
When a Dealer receives a MH he fills out a sheet with problems they have discovered from Mfg etc. They send that to the Mfg and are cut a check or given credit for the neccesary repairs or adjustment.
Many Dealers put the money in their pockets and the repairs are done when they sell the unit, if you're lucky. they won't get additional money for those repairs already paid for and it is worked in when they feel like it or not at all. New problems they get money for and they try to get a set labor amount from their schedules etc. The Mfg builds the things and know what is involved. The Dealers haggle for the amount which may be justified or not.
Best idea is to deal with the factory if it is in any way convenient. Of course the Dealers love that idea. All they want to do is repairs paid for by you or insurance as a secondary business. They want to sell MHs and forget about them.
Not all you understand. There are some good ones and some that were terrible are getting better a lot better. Do the walk though and long test drive and don't sign on the dotted line unless everything is fixed to your satisfaction. there are other Dealers who need the business. Bad Experience is a terrible teacher and you don't want to lear that way.

This is a total fantasy. Please state where you got this info. NO OEM has such a practice with a dealer. Yes, the dealer fills out a delivery report that lists any damage or missing or obvious defects. That report is used as a basis for then getting a Repair Order started and having a Tech find and list what repairs and parts are needed. THEN , the Repair order is submitted to the OEM for approval. Once the Approval is given the repairs are done. Once the repairs are done, the Warranty Repair Order (WRO) is submitted to the OEM. Once it is submitted and approved the OEM cuts a check. This whole process takes anywhere from 20 to 60 days BEFORE the dealer sees his money. Most delivery forms are for transit damage and a dealer MUST have any transit damage noted or the OEM will not pay to have it fixed. Doug

[down_home]

When a Dealer receives a MH he fills out a sheet with problems they have discovered from Mfg etc. They send that to the Mfg and are cut a check or given credit for the neccesary repairs or adjustment.
Many Dealers put the money in their pockets and the repairs are done when they sell the unit, if you're lucky. they won't get additional money for those repairs already paid for and it is worked in when they feel like it or not at all. New problems they get money for and they try to get a set labor amount from their schedules etc. The Mfg builds the things and know what is involved. The Dealers haggle for the amount which may be justified or not.
Best idea is to deal with the factory if it is in any way convenient. Of course the Dealers love that idea. All they want to do is repairs paid for by you or insurance as a secondary business. They want to sell MHs and forget about them.
Not all you understand. There are some good ones and some that were terrible are getting better a lot better. Do the walk though and long test drive and don't sign on the dotted line unless everything is fixed to your satisfaction. there are other Dealers who need the business. Bad Experience is a terrible teacher and you don't want to lear that way.

[Tntman]

Sorry to be so late here!
You bought a Tiffin motorhome, Bob Tiffin WILL take care of ANY problems you may have PERIOD. My Phaeton had more than three years of work performed with no charge. When my exhaust pipe blew a hole EIGHT years after I bought the coach, I talked to Bob and he told me to send him the bills for the repair and he would take care of it. I TALKED directly to Bob, try that with ANY OTHER COACH manufacturer. When I am in Red Bay, I stop and talk to Bob, the owner of Tiffin. Try that with the owner, president or CEO of any other RV manufacturer.
Tiffin has a service center out west somewhere, take your coach there, call Bob in Red Bay if you have a problem.

[super_camper]

Semi Retired Grandpa wrote:
Took me several motor homes and many years - but it finally dawned on me that the manufacturers have it figured out pretty well. Offer a one year warranty - build in a few relatively minor problems - have your buyers take their new MH's back to the dealer for service and make them wait days - or perhaps weeks - for service. Then find the need for repair parts that take weeks to arrive - and soon the one year warranty period has expired. I say this a little 'tongue in cheek' - but it sure seems our MH's spend much of their first year at the dealers taking far too long to address relatively minor problems. Nothing similar to the service we receive from the chassis manufacturers - if in fact service is ever required. The MH manufacturers can - and should - do better.

Not all motor homes are created equal. Our Jayco came with a 2 year warranty and spent no more than 1 week at the dealer over the first two years.

[J-Rooster]

Thanks for the info! I'm not saying my Motorhome is better than anyone else's I'm grateful that I've had very little trouble with it for the last ten years and in it's first year I took it in to the RV Dealer just one time to tighten the bedroom floor we waited for about 3 hours.

[Sully2]

Might be that way with your Tiffen..but was NEVER that way with my Country Coach

[msmith1199]

My experience with motorhome dealers and their repair shops, is many of the people they hire seem to have no idea what they are doing. When I'm having to show the repair technician how to operate some system in the motorhome that is a clue. I don't think they have any type of a certification process, or if they do have it many don't use it, like a regular mechanic has. I get the impression they hire people to work on motorhomes and those new hires get trained by the guys before them that learned on the job.

I actually thought about going into the mobile motorhome repair business myself at one time and I think I was only able to find one training program out there that was designed to train somebody to repair and service all the various house systems of a motorhome. When I had my motorhome in for warranty repairs it was one guy doing the work. From a generator repair, to an electrical repair on the turn signals (which they ended up having to take to Freightliner after the dealer couldn't fix it) to a repair of the awning to cosmetic repairs on the cabinets. You probably wouldn't have the same guy come to your house and do electrical work one day, plumbing the next, fix your heater the next, install some cabinets the next, and then fix the refrigerator. I know there are some really handy people out there who probably could do all this, but there are all different professions yet motorhome dealers seem to have their technicians doing all these different repairs. At least that's what I saw.

[Turbo_Diesel_Du]

Took our dealer from the 16th of July to 10th of October to complete the repairs on our 2013 TT. I had to call the factory myself to expedite the replacement front cap. I had told an assistant sales manager that I wanted either a new TT or my old one repaired ASAP and he hung up on me. This was Tom Johnson's RV center in Marion,NC where I had purchased it in MAY. No more Forest River products for this old boy nor from Tom Johnson's either.

[amandasgramma]

We Cant Wait wrote:
Golden HVAC; Sounds like you were just dealing with a VERY shady dealer. I've heard so many horror stories of people taking their RV to dealers that they didn't buy the unit from and waiting months for service. I take my 2012 Winnebago Journey to a dealer that I didn't buy it from and get excellent service from them. If you pay attention as to how you're treated when you first walk into a dealers service center you can get a fairly good idea of how that dealer does business.

We had similar problems......Took RV in to be recaulked, have the backup camera repaired (or replaced) and have the dash A/C repaired. Three weeks......they told us to come get it because they had hail damaged vehicles coming in the next work day. They called us 45 minutes before closing and said COME NOW. We checked rig before going into the shop. They had had a party inside....candy wrappers, pop cans all over the place. Back up camera not fixed, caulking not done, and A/C parts all over the floor.....no protection for the carpet. We went into the office and they tried to charge us $275........for doing the caulking. Nope...refused to pay....told them they had NOT done it.....argument......finally he agreed, they hadn't done it....I grabbed the keys and walked out. NEVER will have another rig that requires a warranty .......bought an old one that DH can fix. and this is only ONE story of what we encountered with that rig.

[chris3403]

In 2010 we bought a new 5th wheel and 5 days later we were on our way to Rockport TX. Upon arrival we had some issues and contacted a local dealer for repairs. Since we were winter Texans and I wasn't going to pay for a service run we had to take our unit to the dealership. We explained to them that we lived in that thing but it didn't do any good. We had to take it back 8 times and each time we asked them to call us when they were done so we could come and get it. Once at 4:30 I called and asked what the status was and they said we tried to call you immediately after you left to tell you that the part wasn't there for us to put on but you didn't answer. I pulled my phone records up later and there was no call from them listed. Anyways to make a long story short I had to wind up taking my unit back to the dealership where I bought it from after we returned home for 2 additional problems. They informed us the previous dealership introduced additional problems fixing the problems that we took it to them for.

[We_Cant_Wait]

Golden HVAC; Sounds like you were just dealing with a VERY shady dealer. I've heard so many horror stories of people taking their RV to dealers that they didn't buy the unit from and waiting months for service. I take my 2012 Winnebago Journey to a dealer that I didn't buy it from and get excellent service from them. If you pay attention as to how you're treated when you first walk into a dealers service center you can get a fairly good idea of how that dealer does business.