Camper Show RVs

[lawnspecialties]

I remember a couple of years ago someone made the comment that campers built in the early part of the year had more quality issues than those built at other times. Their reasoning was manufacturers have to hire temporary labor to meet the demand for extra campers since most RV shows occur in the early months of the year.

The Cyclone we had a few years ago was built during the winter and the quality was terrible. Many, many shoddy quality issues. But that may have been just a coincidence. I truly don't know.

Here in NC, the Greensboro and Charlotte shows are in January and the Raleigh show is in February. We'll be going to at least Greensboro and Raleigh and maybe even Charlotte looking for our next toy hauler. But does it sound logical to be a little leery of buying a toy hauler built right before the shows or is this just over-reaction?

[mgirardo]

We bought our HTT at the Atlantic City RV show back in March of 2005. It was delivered a few days before Memorial Day. The salesman at the dealership told us that they were turning out 17 HTTs a day at the Forest River factory at that time. The only real problem we had with it was a leak at one of the outside storage doors. They didn't caulk the bottom of the cut out. However, I've seen plenty of RVs from different manufacturers that don't caulk the bottom of the cutout.

Our Motorhome was bought at a dealer. It was built in March of 2009. It had a handful of problems, but only 2 of them were Jayco issues and minor at that. The other problems were issues with things Jayco didn't manufacture, like the converter/charger and the genset.

-Michael

[ol_Bombero-JC]

bid_time wrote:
Pure hogwash.

Well said...;)

Quality Control in the RV industry is mostly non-existent.

Unless you believe in fine Amish piece-worker craftsmanship.

Place and time has nothing to do with it.

RV prices at shows are pie in the sky, with carnival barkers trying to lure the unsuspecting to "buy it now".

Look, kick the tires - find the one/s you like - then go order it, or find it elsewhere. Fit and finish will most likely be no better, no worse. The money you save will be your own....:W

~

[Jim_Shoe]

Its in the best interests of every manufacturer to put every possible option on an RV before it ever arrives at the show. And its in the "best interests" of every curious visitor (who will never buy an RV) to poke, prod, twist and slam everything they can touch. For a potential buyer, a camper show is for seeing what is available and how things are arranged.
I went to several shows before I bought my 'C', but I left my checkbook at home. Then I ordered mine from a nearby dealer with what I wanted on it. If I had it to do over, I would have ordered mine without an oven. As it is, I use it to store my Cuisinart toaster/oven/broiler when I'm on the road. Pretty expensive storage.

[campigloo]

Shows go on all year. The only reason I would avoid buying one built in the winter is to avoid the salted roads during shipping. Wish I had known that before I bought mine.

[TRIPLE8]

spoon059 wrote:
Fact of the matter is that even when they hire additional part time employees to handle an extra load (if they even do that), they still have full time employees making rigs.

I've been to RV shows and seen shoddy quality stuff plenty of times. Seems to me that if I was the dealer showing these things, I would spend a little more time making things perfect. The dealers rarely do though. I've seen doors horribly misaligned, missing hardware, crooked trim, missing trim, unfinished or poorly finished interior pieces.

I saw a lot of this at the Pomona show looking at some of the higher end toyhaulers. I asked my wife if this is what they bring to the shows what would we end up with? Hanging on to mine for a few more years.

[goducks10]

And yet people still shell out 20,30,40,50,$60,000 even $100,000 for them. Why would they want to change?

[spoon059]

Fact of the matter is that even when they hire additional part time employees to handle an extra load (if they even do that), they still have full time employees making rigs.

I've been to RV shows and seen shoddy quality stuff plenty of times. Seems to me that if I was the dealer showing these things, I would spend a little more time making things perfect. The dealers rarely do though. I've seen doors horribly misaligned, missing hardware, crooked trim, missing trim, unfinished or poorly finished interior pieces.

[Bob_Vaughn]

A few years ago we went to the Tampa RV super show and the Holiday Rambler factory had a 5th wheel on display as I was looking at it I realized that the inside wall was bowed badly. When I pushed on it it went back against the studs. I pointed it out to the factory representative there. I thought he was going to have a cow. He was on the phone immediately berating them for sending a unit with such an obvious flaw. It is no wonder that they went under again.....

[lawnspecialties]

goducks10 wrote:
The worst time for quality is M-F when the doors open for work.

:B

[goducks10]

The worst time for quality is M-F when the doors open for work.

[dahkota]

I would think that the worst time would be when the manufacturer was changing between model years, particularly if there is a big change. That would make the worst builds (depending on manufacturer) in July and August.

I don't think the manufacturer sends particular units to an RV show; it is the dealers at the show that choose from their stock. We have run into quite a few dealers at RV shows who don't fix anything but promise to "fix it if you buy it." We avoid those dealers. We have run into broken trim, broken slides, ripped floors... and they still sit on the showroom floor. Some dealers just won't put any effort into showing their products at their best. Other dealers do. We shop there.

[bid_time]

Pure hogwash. Think of it this way, if you were a dealer/manufacturer displaying your wares would you put your best out their or your worse? If I were a dealer I would put my best out there and make sure my guys went through it with a fine tooth comb to make sure every little thing was beyond reproach. But in fact, I doubt if there is any difference at all; but one sure way to lose is to put an inferior product in a show when even one other guy is putting their best foot forward.

[Hideout17]

We have 45 nights straight in our 16 hideout. Only issue manufacturing wise was screws holding cabinet doors on.

[TomHaycraft]

Well ... my little Springdale was built in the summer. A little delam in the nose, quickly taken care of by dealer and Keystone. Since then, 3 1/2 years and 100+ nights camping and no issues.

[gbopp]

I was at the Hershey RV Show a couple years ago. I was surprised at the poor quality I saw.
And these were units sent to a major RV Show to represent the manufacturer.
Hopefully things have improved.
I don't think hiring temporary workers will improve the quality of the units.