Stuck in FL with a "lemon"? - trying to help my parents..

[george henry]

Shame , shame, shame , on the part of the dealership selling rv 's and not letting the buyers know about the floods!!!!!!!!!! I guess management told the sales staff and shop techs to keep it to themself or lose their jobs. . Shame on them.

I would be getting a law firm to take them to court and demand a new replacement m/h. Way too much rust from what the pic's show under neath the m/h.

[DennyM]

I just read the original thread on the Ron & Dee experience. When the dealer "claimed" this to be mud and silt, the obvious question comes to mind... where are the tracks that should have been made when they drove the coaches back to the mud covered lot, and why would they park them back in the lot before cleaning up the mud?

Obviously, the motorhome had been flooded and the dealer sold it anyway. To admit the truth could have cost him a lot... if his insurance company had already totalled the motorhomes out, which most likely happened, and sold back the salvage to him, which is usually the case, he may have violated state laws relating to salvaged vehicles. If caught, it could have meant jail time or a hefty fine. If Winnebago found out, they would have pulled his franchise. As it turned out, he may have gotten paid twice for the same vehicle, got by with it, and is still a Winnebago dealer.

Back to the thread, assuming that Scott's RV Sales was NOT flooded,this leaves some questions. According to my Street Atlas mapping program, the distance from Elkhart, Indiana to Lakewood, New Jersey is exactly 818.3 miles, and the last time I checked, there isn't much salt water between New Jersey and Elkhart, so I don't know where the "salt water" damage came from. Scott also stated the mileage shows about 800 at the time of purchase, so that information matches. So the RV HAD to come directly from the factory to the dealership. The possibility exists that the Four Winds driver delivering the coach may have gotten into a flooded condition with the coach while enroute, but again, no salt water. The coach could have been stored a short distance from the dealership and possibly been exposed to salt water intrusion, due to tidal water (salt) in the area, etc. My guess is that responsibility still rests with the dealer... good luck, Scott.

Denny

[Hitchhiker]

Maybe two things happened on the way from the factory, in either order:

1. <LI>The coach was driven through road salt. <LI>It was flooded in fresh water.

Was the liquid removed from the pumpkin actually tested to confirm it as salt water or was it just a subjective observation?

[whowhopop]

My parents are now at Disney World (in the van) and I'm hoping they are enjoying their time a little more than they have for the last week or so. So I haven't been plugging them for information so much.

I too am very curious about how the salt water became present. I am not sure if the water was tested or saved. I know my father is quite meticulous and told me it was salt water. No proof yet but yes there are plenty of questions that need to be answered.

From what they have said whatever dealership they have the MH at now is being very good to them (despite flubbing the repair) and should have the MH ready (again) by Tuesday.

Will keep everyone posted. Thanks again so much... very, very much appreciated.

Scott

p.s. DennyM thanks so much for the thought about mapping Elkhart, IN to Lakewood, NJ. I double-checked this distance using Google and it calculated 709 miles. So that gives a little room for movement but not a great deal.

[GerryB54]

Okay, I've purchased two new Class C RVs from Scott over the years, and am NOT a fan of this particular dealer, but to speculate that Lakewood NJ has experienced 3' of salt water flooding from looking at Google maps is sure a pipe dream (or nightmare).

I live about 4 miles from the dealership, and am closer to water than they are, and we've NEVER had 3' of flooding anywhere in this area over the last twenty years I've been here, except maybe right at the oceanside.

My guess is that the salt remnants found under the RV came from road salts...Scott attends many RV shows and brings many RVs from their lot, some shows are in New York and New England, and they are always in January/February and March. prime road salting times in these states.

I hope you get to the bottom of this and can get satisfaction from Four Winds...getting it from Scott/Lakewood NJ would be a miracle.

[DennyM]

We have concluded that the Scott dealership in Lakewood did NOT have a flood, and with the 800 miles on the vehicle when purchased, and 800 miles from the Four Winds plant in Indiana, the coach was not driven much from the time the dealership took delivery from Four Winds until the owners took possession. These vehicles are usually driven from the plant to the dealerships... I have never heard of them being shipped.

Maybe the chassis was flooded before Four Winds built the coach? Was there damage only to the chassis? A real puzzle.

DennyM

[whowhopop]

Spoke to my father just now. I suggested to him that once they get the MH back from the Ford dealer that is fixing it that they go to the closest Hurricane dealer and ask for an inspection. While driving the van they stopped by an Hurricane dealer and my father compared a new Hurricane's underside with his... and it is no comparison.

They should have the MH back on Tuesday (fingers crossed) and they will call a few dealers to see if they can get an inspection scheduled. Maybe an 'uninvolved' 3rd party dealer will give them an unbiased assessment of what might have happened?

[Ebsea]

just have to tell you that a year or so ago I stopped into a motorhome dealer lot out of curiosity. The salesman was very anxious to show me around to several nice rvs. There was a motorhome sitting at the edge of the lot, looked really nice from the outside and I asked for a "tour". He said, this one just came in and I don't know much about it. We went in anyway, very nice inside. He talked about all the storage and opened one of the outside storage bins... the bottom 2/3 of the bin was caked in dirt with an obvious watermark line. He looked shocked. Opened another - same thing. The poor guy turned purple and quickly led me away from the motorhome. How can a buyer protect themselves from this? Scary! What if they had time to clean up the storage areas? I would not have been able to tell it had been flooded otherwise. P.S. We live near the coast in NC - certainly multiple opportunities for flooding here.

[GerryB54]

FYI - Almost all the new rigs in our area have this 800 - 900 mile odometer reading from the Indiana manufacturing trip, nothing unusual about this. Winnies have more coming from further west.

[george henry]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ebsea:
just have to tell you that a year or so ago I stopped into a motorhome dealer lot out of curiosity. The salesman was very anxious to show me around to several nice rvs. There was a motorhome sitting at the edge of the lot, looked really nice from the outside and I asked for a "tour". He said, this one just came in and I don't know much about it. We went in anyway, very nice inside. He talked about all the storage and opened one of the outside storage bins... the bottom 2/3 of the bin was caked in dirt with an obvious watermark line. He looked shocked. Opened another - same thing. The poor guy turned purple and quickly led me away from the motorhome. How can a buyer protect themselves from this? Scary! What if they had time to clean up the storage areas? I would not have been able to tell it had been flooded otherwise. P.S. We live near the coast in NC - certainly multiple opportunities for flooding here. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Ebsea, that is real scary!!!!!!! What was the name of that dealer? So others on this site can watch out for dealers like that.
On this site we are all friends.

[Ebsea]

Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the dealer. It was in NC, near Greensboro or Winston Salem. There are several RV dealers in that area, wish I could remember! I'm convinced this motorhome had "just arrived" from the coast. I've seen flood-water-line marks like the one in the motorhome on houses that have been through hurricanes. Should we be checking all VIN #'s against insurance records? If so, where do we go to check?

[DennyM]

I have a contact with the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation. I will email him and ask what resources are available, and what legal options are available. In a case such as this, it has to be illegal to sell a flood damaged vehicle as new, and it looks like we have that situation here. We MAY even have an obligation to report it so it can at least be investigated. To Scott, would your parents want to cooperate with NHTSA if they wanted to investigate this issue?

Denny

[DennyM]

I think we could also post an inquiry in other forums about flooded dealerships on the east coast to see what answers we get. I will go ahead and do that.

DennyM

[DennyM]

Scott... here is one link that is free to check flooded vehicles by VIN number.

http://www.carfax.com/cfm/general_ch...?partner=PRL_A

DennyM