Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
Most of what follows is a reply I made on our sister site, IRV2.com. I'm repeating it here becasue it's a worthwhile topic, even if we aren't likely to change much (if anything) by reviewing it here.
Back in the day I worked as an automotive service consultant for the major car manufacturers, back when car dealer shops were failing miserably with the new-fangled vehicle electronics. I was/am a systems analysis expert with years of computer electronics experience, so the powers-that-be thought I could help. After awhile I realized that some shops simply didn't try to succeed at service, some wanted to succeed but lacked training, and some only wanted to maximize the revenue in the shop whether they ever fixed anything or not. And that is in shops where there is a decent franchise-based incentive to provide quality service. The RV industry has just about zero incentive to do that well, plus the product support and the parts distribution structure makes it awkward at best. Most of us are pre-conditioned to expect auto dealer like service because its a dealership, right? But RV service has very little in common with car dealer service.
The fundamentals of what's wrong could occupy numerous pages here, but I'm not going to do that. A quick summary, though includes these reasons:
1. The workload is heavily seasonal. The shop can't get enough qualified workers during the RVing season, yet cannot generate enough work to pay them a decent wage in the off-season. That results in what is essentially part-time techs whose skills are limited to "what do I replace next?".
2. There is no comprehensive parts distribution network as with cars. The RV factory makes money building RVs, not servicing them, so they stock what they must to maintain production. Service for owners, even warranty service, is a distant second place. Again, the seasonal nature of the business is a big factor here - the RV makers can't afford a warehouse full of parts that may not be needed for a year. And most of which were not made specifically for their RVs either.
2A. You are not the customer for the RV. The factory responds to what dealers say they can sell, not what you want.
3. An RV is a hodge-podge collection of off-the-shelf parts. Car manufacturers buy parts by the hundred-thousands and can make or break a supplier in a heartbeat. RV dealers buy whatever they can find that can be made to fit. They have little leverage over their suppliers because they don't make/sell enough product. The component quality is whatever they get.
4. Selling price is the #1, #2, and #3 top considerations in RV design. Quality and serviceability aren't even on the list because no matter how much owners cry about quality, they vote with their dollars when they purchase.
5. Owners are not willing to pay for diagnostic time. Warranty claims even less so. That leads to a shop culture driven by quickly replacing parts based on a cursory description of symptoms. Poor diagnostic skills among the techs means that a fair percentage of replaced parts won't fix the problem. "Fix it right the first time" is a customer satisfaction goal but not a profit incentive.
6. Tech training is mostly dismal. There will be a few well-trained techs in medium-large shops, but they don't get paid for answering the questions from other techs, so they are working their own jobs. Usually RVs that have been back multiple times for the same problem. I've talked to techs who have almost know knowledge about how or why something works - they only know to replace a certain part if some general symptom is present. They are unable to make even a basic diagnosis on their own.
7. Service advisors may make extra money by upselling, getting you to OK a particular service that is usually bundled to provide maximum revenue to the shop and the tech. Most shops charge flat rates for services, but the rates are self-determined and thus high for vaguely defined packages such as "roof sealing" or "24 month service" or "winterize". You've all been there, right?
Some dealers, mostly the larger ones, recognize that service is a bigger profit center than sales, especially in these deep-discounting days. But that just generates a greater incentive for high labor rates and repeat visits for the same problem. That won't change until somebody forms an RV service chain of businesses that can legitimately advertise "we fix it right".
8. Most small or mid-sized dealers are focused on selling RVs and service is what they have to do to sell. That's why they don't want to service rigs sold elsewhere or do post-delivery repairs. You don't really exist as a customer after the sale because few RVers ever repeat buy at the same store. Or even the same brand of RV.
Back in the day I worked as an automotive service consultant for the major car manufacturers, back when car dealer shops were failing miserably with the new-fangled vehicle electronics. I was/am a systems analysis expert with years of computer electronics experience, so the powers-that-be thought I could help. After awhile I realized that some shops simply didn't try to succeed at service, some wanted to succeed but lacked training, and some only wanted to maximize the revenue in the shop whether they ever fixed anything or not. And that is in shops where there is a decent franchise-based incentive to provide quality service. The RV industry has just about zero incentive to do that well, plus the product support and the parts distribution structure makes it awkward at best. Most of us are pre-conditioned to expect auto dealer like service because its a dealership, right? But RV service has very little in common with car dealer service.
The fundamentals of what's wrong could occupy numerous pages here, but I'm not going to do that. A quick summary, though includes these reasons:
1. The workload is heavily seasonal. The shop can't get enough qualified workers during the RVing season, yet cannot generate enough work to pay them a decent wage in the off-season. That results in what is essentially part-time techs whose skills are limited to "what do I replace next?".
2. There is no comprehensive parts distribution network as with cars. The RV factory makes money building RVs, not servicing them, so they stock what they must to maintain production. Service for owners, even warranty service, is a distant second place. Again, the seasonal nature of the business is a big factor here - the RV makers can't afford a warehouse full of parts that may not be needed for a year. And most of which were not made specifically for their RVs either.
2A. You are not the customer for the RV. The factory responds to what dealers say they can sell, not what you want.
3. An RV is a hodge-podge collection of off-the-shelf parts. Car manufacturers buy parts by the hundred-thousands and can make or break a supplier in a heartbeat. RV dealers buy whatever they can find that can be made to fit. They have little leverage over their suppliers because they don't make/sell enough product. The component quality is whatever they get.
4. Selling price is the #1, #2, and #3 top considerations in RV design. Quality and serviceability aren't even on the list because no matter how much owners cry about quality, they vote with their dollars when they purchase.
5. Owners are not willing to pay for diagnostic time. Warranty claims even less so. That leads to a shop culture driven by quickly replacing parts based on a cursory description of symptoms. Poor diagnostic skills among the techs means that a fair percentage of replaced parts won't fix the problem. "Fix it right the first time" is a customer satisfaction goal but not a profit incentive.
6. Tech training is mostly dismal. There will be a few well-trained techs in medium-large shops, but they don't get paid for answering the questions from other techs, so they are working their own jobs. Usually RVs that have been back multiple times for the same problem. I've talked to techs who have almost know knowledge about how or why something works - they only know to replace a certain part if some general symptom is present. They are unable to make even a basic diagnosis on their own.
7. Service advisors may make extra money by upselling, getting you to OK a particular service that is usually bundled to provide maximum revenue to the shop and the tech. Most shops charge flat rates for services, but the rates are self-determined and thus high for vaguely defined packages such as "roof sealing" or "24 month service" or "winterize". You've all been there, right?
Some dealers, mostly the larger ones, recognize that service is a bigger profit center than sales, especially in these deep-discounting days. But that just generates a greater incentive for high labor rates and repeat visits for the same problem. That won't change until somebody forms an RV service chain of businesses that can legitimately advertise "we fix it right".
8. Most small or mid-sized dealers are focused on selling RVs and service is what they have to do to sell. That's why they don't want to service rigs sold elsewhere or do post-delivery repairs. You don't really exist as a customer after the sale because few RVers ever repeat buy at the same store. Or even the same brand of RV.
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