Community Forums

mhbell · 10-13-2016, 04:18 PM

Forget about taking the coach to a RV Dealer for chassis work. In all the years that I've been Rving I only found one RV dealer that did chassis work and that was in Tucson AZ. In the town where I live I went to every dealer about 10 of them within 25 miles and not a one will do chassis maintenance. I took my Ford F-53 to a Ford truck dealer. Excellent service and the job was done right. Had a previous motor home with Work Horse chassis. One Chevrolet dealer would not work on it. Had it towed to another Chevrolet dealer 20 miles away who did the work and got me back on the road in one day. They even over night the parts by air. Excellent service. as far as the coach goes I take it a independent RV Repair or to the factory. Never had a problem including repairs under extended warranty. Most independent RV repair Facilities can do the job. Just my experience. Go for the price. There are a lot of repair facilities that want your money and your business.
Mel

nothermark · 10-13-2016, 04:39 PM

If you have not figured it out yet a lot of how to deal depends on you.

If you are buying a used MH there is not much warranty once you get off the lot so plan on spending a few days where you buy it and get anything you find taken care of then. Make that part of the sales agreement. After that have someone lined up to do paid repairs.

If you are buying a new unit plan on driving it and using it a bit then taking it to the factory or a factory service center with your list of build related issues you did not fix yourself.

The folks who get burned are the one's who do not do any work themselves, drive a long way to get a deal then drop their new toy off at the local dealer with a long list of repairs. The dealer is unhappy over not getting the sale then being expected to do a lot of free or low reimbursement work for someone else's sale. They react accordingly. That works on a lot of products besides RV's.

ahicks · 10-13-2016, 07:17 PM

I heard just recently that the flat rate went to 200 per hour at a General Trailer dealer near here. There's no chance I would ever pay that, even for the best, most highly qualified help available - which is hardly what they have to offer.

That's a complete total rip off. Local independents work for half that amount. Mobile techs work for even less.

My point is, the only contact I would have with a dealer under these circumstances would be when discussing warranty work. When it comes to being loyal to the selling dealer for work done after the sale of a new coach, I would not listen to advice from the selling dealer, or the local dealer. I would contact the manf. direct and pose any question you might have to them. THEY are the ONLY ones who must back up what they say.

If buying used, once you leave the dealer's lot, you're generally pretty much on your own if it's not written down on paper and signed by management. If you can make the trip to the other side of the country worth your time, go for it.

Another major factor, is deciding how serious you are about your willingness to get your hands dirty. The more willing you are, the less dependence you'll have on the dealers.

Roger G · 10-13-2016, 07:20 PM

I think it depends on your primary use for the MH. If you are going to be based in one location and use the coach for a couple of vacations and long weekends and return home each time, then buying local and developing a relationship with a dealer is worth a little extra money on the front end. If you full time or travel extensively then purchase location is not as important because you will likely be somewhere else when you need service. When I go to my dealer for service, I expect faster attention than the snowbird from five states over just passing through and generally get it. My dealer has went above and beyond to accommodate my schedule, I would not expect that from a dealer that I had never spent a dollar in. Just my two cents.

nothermark · 10-14-2016, 06:12 AM

FWIW That pretty well sums up the dealer dilemma. He takes care of you because you are his customer or he puts you off to take care of someone who did not buy there and probably will not be back to buy there. You expect that. He expects to do that. Then folks who did not buy there wonder about their treatment...

ahicks · 10-14-2016, 07:06 AM

Bottom line, dealer has no loyalty either. He's going to go where the money is nearly every time....

beenthere · 10-14-2016, 09:41 AM

for the chassis and engine the bus shops can be a good choice. at least here. they have a much larger shop area and lots of pits and that saves time..the freightliner dealer only has one pit and techs are underneath on there backs wasting time. and the the bus shop charges less per hour and no book rates.. ours has a very good parts dept and excellent techs. ours is the school buses and the tour buses. seems the dealer techs here only look at and fix the items on workorder and the bus techs look at it all and give recommendations on top of workorder.

"007" · 10-14-2016, 10:31 AM

Welcome to irv2.
There are links in this one discussing dealers some good some maybe not and down the bottom of link reviews on dealers.
Good luck in your persuit.

BobMontgomer · 10-14-2016, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger G

I think it depends on your primary use for the MH. If you are going to be based in one location and use the coach for a couple of vacations and long weekends and return home each time, then buying local and developing a relationship with a dealer is worth a little extra money on the front end. If you full time or travel extensively then purchase location is not as important because you will likely be somewhere else when you need service. When I go to my dealer for service, I expect faster attention than the snowbird from five states over just passing through and generally get it. My dealer has went above and beyond to accommodate my schedule, I would not expect that from a dealer that I had never spent a dollar in. Just my two cents.

If you travel through Montana, don't worry about getting service at all.... unless you bought it from them they will not generally work on it period...

twogypsies · 10-14-2016, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobMontgomer

If you travel through Montana, don't worry about getting service at all.... unless you bought it from them they will not generally work on it period...

We got immediate service at Bretz in Missoula while traveling through for an awning repair. It was even in the busy summer.

BobMontgomer · 10-14-2016, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twogypsies

We got immediate service at Bretz in Missoula while traveling through for an awning repair. It was even in the busy summer.

Amazing as Dustin Bretz, part owner in Billings MT told me they would not work on campers or motorhomes not bought from them. The one exception he told me about is if you bought a new unit and got a key fob that showed "Priority RV Network" there was an exception. prioritynetwork.com lists some benefits. As he told me, if you break down away from home, call us and we will find a dealer that is part of this network and we will get you fixed up for repairs. So far we have not used this benefit. We did buy our new motorhome from Bretz in Billings and have received good service. Perhaps the Missoula location has different policies.