In a law firm's blog, "Lemon Law in CA," the author wonders why motorhome owners put up with shoddy workmanship. He said, "I was talking with a motor home client the other day. He said, 'if you are going to purchase a motor home, you better be handy at fixing things.'" At 200- or 300-thousand dollars, he doesn't think he should have to be fixing things.
As part of his practice, he has reviewed hundreds of lemon law cases for all types of RVs. He notes, "In the real world repairs made at the dealership often leave the vehicle in worse shape than it was before they started work. ...I have seen this over and over."
If you do a Google search for "RV poor quality," he says you'll get back pages of results.
What do you think? Is the quality of RVs getting worse? Gaylord Maxwell recently wrote that the RV marketplace is producing better products and services than 20 years ago. Who is right?
Sometime around the mid-90s, we noticed more and more people having to take brand new rigs back to the dealership or factory. Today, people purchasing an new RV must now plan to spend at least a couple of weeks in the area after their purchase. This is so they can come back and get all the things fixed that should have been right in the first place. These can be little things like missing handles or major ones like a panel missing on the lower back of the RV or the air conditioner not hooked up properly. These should have been caught, first by the manufacturer, and if not then, during the dealer prep.
Many people plan an annual trip back to the factory for repairs. In fact, a couple of days ago I wrote about recognizing the people quoted on a regular trip back to the Winnebago factory in Iowa. The article made it sound like a celebration. Things do wear out and go wrong, but if an RV is top quality and well made, all those trips might not be necessary.
Do we need to speak up more, as the blog author suggests? Will it do any good and who would you complain to. Or do you think the quality is ok but the owners aren't maintaining them as they should? What if you aren't handy? Jaimie Hall Bruzenak
Free RV for sale on the side of the road. Did the owners get tired of paying for repairs?
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