RV Question of The Day

[noteven]

What’s the first three letters in the word “warranty”?

[Mr. Camper]

Nice short (letters 4-7).

[Ray,IN]

If you have to ask, you really don''t want to know. Some of us have been there.

It boils down to the first owner is the last quality control inspector.

Edited October 9, 2020 by Ray,IN
added further comment.

[Bill w/bus]

Having one is a garuntee of a war.  I hear the stories of a new unit with problems that are never resolved  with reasonable satisfaction. 

Bill

[Kirk W]

9 hours ago, Bill w/bus said:

I hear the stories of a new unit with problems that are never resolved  with reasonable satisfaction. 

I have heard those stories as well, but have never had that problem with any of the 3 new RVs that I have purchased. In the first case I had several issues and all were resolved, the second had only 1 warranty issue and it was resolved promptly. The third new RV is the one that I still own and it's only warranty issue was midway through year 2 of the warranty and was promptly corrected. That was in 2014 and I still own the RV with no further problems. 

[podwerkz]

Buy one with a short warranty (1 year) and a reduced price, and you will save a fair amount of gas (or diesel) and lots of time and aggravation fixing things in your own driveway.

 

Works for me.

 

 

 

[richfaa]

We have never had a warranty problem.

[dogyard]

Previous 2 (used) Scamp trailers = 0 issues in 15+ years. 

Previous 2016 (new) Winnebago trailer = over 6 months in shop, multiple issues (leaking roof & belly, appliance & A/C failures, etc) during 2 years of ownership. 

Current (used) 2014 Phoenix Cruiser just turned 110,000 miles after 4 years ownership and only improvements, no repairs.

Sometimes you get lucky. 

[Kirk W]

Something that I have always wondered.....    If everyone takes the advice of those who say to only buy used RVs, won't we run out of RVs because nobody is buying new ones? 

[Dutch_12078]

2 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Something that I have always wondered.....    If everyone takes the advice of those who say to only buy used RVs, won't we run out of RVs because nobody is buying new ones? 

No, there's always enough folks that prefer having only new combined with those that don't listen to anyone else's advice to keep the new market healthy. And that of course feeds the used market with trade-ins.

[Kirk W]

2 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

And that of course feeds the used market with trade-ins.

I guess that must be me, but you will have to wait as I have averaged keeping mine for 9 years, based on 3 new ones. The fact is that you are more likely to hear from those who are unhappy than from those who are satisfied, so you mostly hear from those with bad experiences. Let me assure you, after being very involved in the fulltime RV community for 20 years, there are still many of them going out with new RVs and many of them buy another new one when they replace or upgrade. With more than 500k new RVs sold each year, the buyers are not all unhappy. The opinion that used RVs are the only way to go has become very popular in RV forum mythology. 

Edited October 10, 2020 by Kirk W

[fpmtngal]

The question of new vs. used is an interesting topic.  Most of the time people on forums are looking at it from one point of view, looking at the maintenance problems of similar models, what’s cost effective and so on.  I decided to look at it slightly differently.

My travel trailer is almost 5 years old now, I ordered it with the options I wanted so I’ve owned it since day 1.  It’s had it’s fair share of problems, but a lot less than many other RVs.  I’ve been a long-timer and now a full-timer, my trailer has a lot of miles (over 50,000 miles) on it.  I’ve maintained it well, everything works perfectly and there’s no glaring problems with it other than a couple of scratches I put on the decals a couple of days ago.  I’m planning on keeping it for at least another year, perhaps longer.  But it’s now a 5 year old travel trailer.  It has a few honorable war-scars - rub marks inside the wood drawers, the above scratches, a window blind that needs to be restrung.  Would I buy mine now if I were in the market for a travel trailer?

No, I wouldn’t.

That was sort-of a revelation to me, that if I were looking at my own trailer to buy today I wouldn’t buy it.  On the other hand, I would happily order the same model with the options I wanted all over again.  Does that make me a fool for wanting to get a new one?  Probably.

[Dutch_12078]

1 hour ago, Kirk W said:

I guess that must be me, but you will have to wait as I have averaged keeping mine for 9 years, based on 3 new ones. The fact is that you are more likely to hear from those who are unhappy than from those who are satisfied, so you mostly hear from those with bad experiences. Let me assure you, after being very involved in the fulltime RV community for 20 years, there are still many of them going out with new RVs and many of them buy another new one when they replace or upgrade. With more than 500k new RVs sold each year, the buyers are not all unhappy. The opinion that used RVs are the only way to go has become very popular in RV forum mythology. 

Heh! As one who's been buying "project" RV's since the mid-60's, rest assured I'm not running out and buying new motorhomes every few years. Our current 2001 GBM Landau was bought in 2013 and will likely outlast our time left on the road. This one didn't need any major work, just some updating and freshening up, but at our age I'm not as up to the big projects any more.

[noteven]

I was just funnin around.

I've bought 1 (one) new RV in my days.  1 warranty claim and it was handled very well by the non-selling dealer in a foreign country and the OEM. 

 

[Kirk W]

3 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

at our age I'm not as up to the big projects any more.

Now there is a fact that we can agree on! We bought our Georgie Boy, Cruise Master new in 1998 (on a 1999 F-53 chassis) and kept it for 14 years. It had two warranty repairs and was really very little problem other than routine maintenance, most of which I did myself. But I have stopped getting on the roof since I helped to rescue a fellow a year younger than I who had slipped getting off the roof of his motorhome, his foot going through the ladder and he fell, leaving him with that leg bent at the knee over the ladder rung and him hanging upside down by that leg. Since then I have paid an RV shop to do anything requiring one to go on the roof. 

We bought our present RV new in 2012 and had 1 warranty repair. I have done a few upgrades but no repairs have been needed and only minor maintenance, but we also are now part-time and so don't use it but less than 6 months a year. The key to buying an RV new and being satisfied with it lies in the choice of RV dealer and of RV manufacturer, mostly.

Edited October 10, 2020 by Kirk W

[Ray,IN]

7 hours ago, Kirk W said:

I guess that must be me, but you will have to wait as I have averaged keeping mine for 9 years, based on 3 new ones. The fact is that you are more likely to hear from those who are unhappy than from those who are satisfied, so you mostly hear from those with bad experiences. Let me assure you, after being very involved in the fulltime RV community for 20 years, there are still many of them going out with new RVs and many of them buy another new one when they replace or upgrade. With more than 500k new RVs sold each year, the buyers are not all unhappy. The opinion that used RVs are the only way to go has become very popular in RV forum mythology. 

I wonder about the ratio of happy customers to unhappy who post of their experiences. Coupled with the saying everyone likes to complain, that might be a large ratio.