Community Forums

CamJam1 · 11-16-2020, 09:38 PM

I was recently having my Dolphin serviced at my local Galpin RV here in central AZ and made a comment to the service manager about how empty their lot was. I was afraid that they might be going out of business, but he said they'd sold them all! Seems like trailers and Class B and C are the big sellers these days, but having done all of the above I'm never giving up my Class A.

Donskiman · 11-16-2020, 10:06 PM

Must be a regional thing. We have several RV dealers within about 10 miles. Transwest has plenty of Class A and a few Super C, Camping World is full of TTs, 5ers and Class Cs, Windish has a full lot of TTs and 5ers. A couple hours north of us there are some other dealers with pretty full lots as well. The only one that seemed low was Lazy Days near Loveland, but the Denver location seemed fairly well stocked.

The service departments at all of them appeared to be overwhelmed.

AJMike · 11-17-2020, 06:27 AM

We have a 2 year old 24 foot Class C Winnebago Fuse that we are quite happy with, so we are not in the market for a new RV, but not too long ago we saw an advertisement for an RV show not too far from where we live and decided to drive out and take a look. For me, I was interested in seeing the inside of a Leisure Travel Van since I had never seen one and my wife just wanted to get out of the house.

In the end it turned out to be a single dealer show, and there were no LTV units there in spite of the advertisement, but we looked around anyway. A sales guy approached us, apparently thinking we were new to RV-ing, and we got to talking. He told us they can't keep units on their lots and that they were selling dozens every day of the show. This is a large dealer in the Phoenix area and if you drive past their lot you generally see units taking up the entire lot but when you ask about units actually available there are not many.

Their service department is backed up so badly that I had to make an appointment 3 months in advance to have them take a look at an issue with my backup camera, but they say that they are selling so many RVs that the service reps can't keep up. In the past 15 years we have bought 2 RVs from them but I would not want to buy another one without being able to get decent service and, for me, that is the real downside of the current hot RV market.

ga traveler · 11-17-2020, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJMike

Their service department is backed up so badly that I had to make an appointment 3 months in advance to have them take a look at an issue with my backup camera, but they say that they are selling so many RVs that the service reps can't keep up. In the past 15 years we have bought 2 RVs from them but I would not want to buy another one without being able to get decent service and, for me, that is the real downside of the current hot RV market.

There is a real problem with service today. I get sick and tired of reading on these forums that dealers do not care. That is simply not true. I was a service manager for 15 years. We had a excellent reputation for service. Almost every time I ran to another dealer for a hurriedly needed part, I was offered a job. The problem is not caring, it is finding people who want to work in hot, cold, cramped places. People today want to sit in a air conditioned office with adjustable comfy seat and make money without sweating or shivering. After retiring at 65, I wound up working two days a week for the next three years. I am now 80 years old and am on call with a local garage. They call me in for when they have a motorhome to work on.
Some problems just don’t have easy answers. I wish I had a answer, but I don’t.

AJMike · 11-18-2020, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ga traveler

I get sick and tired of reading on these forums that dealers do not care. That is simply not true.

I, for one, have never assumed the service people did not care. When I can get my RV or car in for service the advisors always seem to care about my issues and they always seem to want to get things fixed. The problem seems to be the lack of people to do the work and/or the lack of sufficient facilities to take care of the load. My local RV dealer has a 3 month wait to get in for service and then another week or two so the RV can get to the "front of the line" but I am sure that is because of the work load, not because they don't care.

I recently received an email from a sales guy at one of the branches of the RV dealer (they have them all over the country) who touted their service and when I responded that the service manager and techs all were well qualified but I did not think he should be praising their service when it took 3 months to get an RV in for simple work he responded by telling me that they can not find people who want to do the work, which echoes your comments.