rv death spriral

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MYRV2

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 15, 2015
Posts
352
anybody read this...
sorry if it's already post'd before

http://rvdailyreport.com/opinion/opinion-the-rv-industry-death-spiral-part-1/

http://rvdailyreport.com/opinion/rv-death-spiral-manufacturers-in-race-to-the-bottom/

http://rvdailyreport.com/opinion/rv-death-spiral-suppliers-in-a-tough-spot/

http://rvdailyreport.com/opinion/rv-industry-death-spiral-part-4-dealers-drop-the-ball-on-service/

http://rvdailyreport.com/opinion/rv-industry-death-spiral-part-5-campgrounds-losing-capacity/

http://rvdailyreport.com/opinion/rv-industry-death-spiral-part-6-associations-can-influence-change/

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ModEdit: Removed Copyrighted Content - Added links to additional installments - LS
 
Thanks for sharing this.  I wish there was a way to follow threads on here but I just favorited the page at least for more parts to that story.  I have heard so many stories about people buying an RV brand new for an exorbitant amount of money only to have problems with it from day one.  When is it every acceptable to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on something only to need to deal with hassle because things come broken, or faulty and don't work right.  Peoples excuse for buying a used RV is usually so they don't have to deal with those issues as someone else has already gone through it as well as the disgusting depreciation.  They are so over priced.

I hope I am not offending anyone with this mini rant.  If you want to buy a new RV knowing the downfalls because that is what you want, have at it.  People have the right to spend their hard earned money on what they want.  It is just so unfair that so many people are getting something unfairly priced and riddled with problems. Something costing over $150k should leave that lot reliable, tested and high quality. 
 
Interesting story, I'm going to read it too. There still seems to be a huge demand for RVs you only need to see how many people join this forum every day to realise that. Manufacturers do need to up their game, I can't believe that the poor quality doesn't cost them a lot.
 
jackiemac said:
Interesting story, I'm going to read it too. There still seems to be a huge demand for RVs you only need to see how many people join this forum every day to realise that. Manufacturers do need to up their game, I can't believe that the poor quality doesn't cost them a lot.

I have had our 8 yr old RV for less than a week and some of the "workmanship" I have seen been pretty sad.  The factory people surely aren't craftsman on any level that I can see....
 
I've had some horrible run ins with ford and Winnebago,... this is something that I can't understand how they get away with,..
when I had the problem with the bad wheel bearings....two brand new coaches in a row ,... winnabago flat would not lift a finger to help... they said the problem was with me and ford....the rv industry has made it a standard to separate the two...and make you fight alone with the chassis builder...but, why does it stop there...? and whats to stop them from going on to say,... we didn't build the air conditioners??? Winnebago is already doing it with the generators.... you have to take it to onan...and the tires... you have to take it to goodyear...

I've been in the building trade for all my life,.. I build custom homes from lot development to final d?cor and landscaping,... how fast would I find my butt in court if I told the buyer....I didn't pour the concrete, so and so did...

my opinion is winnabago is the general building the homes... they pick the subs, and should be liable for there work..
the other thing is the warrany,... it should be at least 3 years... or some kind of prorated bumper to bumper...that they pay for..

most people hardly use their rv and it falls apart within the first year...

I bought a new FR3....from the pictures it looked real good and looked like wood cabinettes.... when it got here it was contact paper wood.. while setting in the drive way after a couple days in the vegas heat,. it had bubles and places where it wasn't stuck good..there answer was,... the motorhome was not designed for extreme heat, and that it has to be stored in a climate controlled storage...really..............:p
 
decaturbob said:
I have had our 8 yr old RV for less than a week and some of the "workmanship" I have seen been pretty sad.  The factory people surely aren't craftsman on any level that I can see....

I do see a situation that the people changed... plazzo...I looked at them when they first came out, even my wife, who is very quiet... told the sales man... was this coach damaged and then rebuilt???

but look at them now...I talked to the sells rep a couple yrs after and they said they were tighting up on the QC and everyone should see a much improved product....I went from, i'd never buy one of these,. to , whats the best deal out the door...:D
 
So, there were 9 million RV owning households in 1997, and 9 million in 2011 and 9 million today. This despite the fact that, using RVIAs own shipment numbers, there were 5.7 million new RVs built between 1997 and 2015.
Yes, a whole bunch of RVers upgraded their units during that time, and some more than once. But the used RVs didn?t evaporate, did they?
Does the author of this horrible piece of journalism understand there is only one country in the world manufacturing RV in any quantity? We export a lot of our RVs to other countries. RVs also have a very limited lifetime on the road, ten to fifteen years at the most. Then they end up being parked out in the country and used as a guest house, a meth lab or some other use whereby they are not registered at the state level.

The RV industry is just fine. I don't see any death spiral.
 
SeilerBird said:
Does the author of this horrible piece of journalism understand there is only one country in the world manufacturing RV in any quantity? We export a lot of our RVs to other countries. RVs also have a very limited lifetime on the road, ten to fifteen years at the most. Then they end up being parked out in the country and used as a guest house, a meth lab or some other use whereby they are not registered at the state level.

The RV industry is just fine. I don't see any death spiral.

thanks for posting:D
 
RV sales are up again from last year, so the alleged "death spiral" doesn't seem to be hurting the industry any. As long as there are buyers for the product as is, things are not going to change.

People assume that buying a new RV is going to be like buying a new car. It is most definitely NOT. It's more like buying a new house, where a general contractor assembled a bunch of stuff from various suppliers and hired a bunch of subcontractors to put it together for you. When something doesn't come out right, the contractor goes back to the supplier or subcontractor to get it fixed.
 
The problem is most younger people believe now days..... my Toyota never had a lot of warranty issues.

so, obviously  The reason motorhomes have a lot of problems is because they are made in America.
 
Gary RV Roamer said:
RV sales are up again from last year, so the alleged "death spiral" doesn't seem to be hurting the industry any. As long as there are buyers for the product as is, things are not going to change.

X2. IMHO this guy has run out of things to talk about and is resorting to hyperbole to grab attention. By his own admittance: "Two weeks from today, I will be stunned if I have any subscribers or advertisers left on RV Daily Report".

I did get a chuckle out of this from his byline: "...and is anxiously waiting for some RV company to host a conference in the Aloha State." If such a conference is held in Hawaii kinda doubt he'd be invited.
 
Unfortunately, the industry needs to go into a downward spiral until they start having some serious quality control upgrades. I've been looking at motorhomes for a couple of years now, trying to decide what we really want. I was just looking at a 2015 Holiday Rambler, gas engine, 36'. I got online and looked at all the complaints about the slides not working correctly, serious 12 volt electrical problems, seeing daylight under the bedroom slide when the slide is out, etc. From what I have read, Holiday Rambler and the Bounder are made on the same assembly line, so why would the Bounder be any different? Are Monaco's any better? They're built by the same company. The way I look at it, if I spend $100,000+ on a motorhome, I want it to be built right. I, or anybody else shouldn't have to go through a year of hell dealing with dealers that don't give a hoot because they already have your money and hassling with the factory reps to get it corrected. Oh, I know, take it back to the factory while under warranty and they will fix it right. I have 3 weeks of vacation a year and I'm going to use that up going back to the factory half way across the country so they can MAYBE fix it the way it should have been when it left the factory? RRRRRight! The whole idea of Rv'ing and camping is to enjoy life, not deal with one expensive dilemma after another. I have just about decided if I want a motorhome, I will buy an old used one with a proven chassis and drivetrain, and upgrade it myself. At least if it doesn't work, I have no one to blame but myself. The factory and dealers can stick the late model junk where the sun don't shine. Let the downward spiral pick up speed as far as I'm concerned.
 
$100k for a motorhome is a lot of money, so most people tend to think it "oughta be perfect" at that price. But $100k is actually pretty cheap to put all that stuff on a long chassis, with a flashy body and glitzy interior.  Well built ones (still not perfect, I'm sure) run to $1M or more, so why would you expect perfection for 10% of that? Even allowing for somewhat less amenities?  I hate to defend an industry that has mediocre design and sloppy workmanship as its norm, but I also understand why they focus almost entirely on target price and superficial features. It's what the majority of the buying public wants, as witnessed by the way they spend their dollars.
 
Gary RV Roamer said:
$100k for a motorhome is a lot of money, so most people tend to think it "oughta be perfect" at that price. But $100k is actually pretty cheap to put all that stuff on a long chassis, with a flashy body and glitzy interior.  Well built ones (still not perfect, I'm sure) run to $1M or more, so why would you expect perfection for 10% of that? Even allowing for somewhat less amenities?  I hate to defend an industry that has mediocre design and sloppy workmanship as its norm, but I also understand why they focus almost entirely on target price and superficial features. It's what the majority of the buying public wants, as witnessed by the way they spend their dollars.

good post....lol I want what I want when I want it.... but usally get what I paid for.....what I wanted cost tooo much ...:p
 
No Gary, I don't think it ought to be perfect, but I do think it should engineered and assembled to do the intended job reliably, and if there are problems, they should be remedied quickly without a bunch of hassle. Just because I buy a Ford Focus for $18,000 instead of a Mercedes for $200,000 doesn't mean I should have to accept a vehicle that doesn't do what it was intended to do. I understand the difference between the Focus having a plastic dash and the Mercedes having hand rubbed Burled Walnut part of it, but I would expect either to start, run, and drive reliably, along with either to have the power windows go up and down when I use the buttons, the air conditioner work, and the door and window seals keeping out the water, etc.
 
  The "industry" also has to deal with every dipstick in the world that was never required to learn to tie his shoes correctly.>>>Dan
 
didimitten said:
I wish there was a way to follow threads on here

Quick administrator note: RVforum.net threads can easily be followed/subscribed by clicking the "Notify" button, one of the options just above the first post in any thread.  In your user profile, you can choose to receive an e-mail notification anytime a reply is made to one of your subscribed threads (whether you started it, posted in it, or are just "watching" it).

Disregard if you already know that, and are referring to following that the "rvdailyreport.com" link that the OP posted.  ;)
 
Thanks Scott, learned something new today!  Never knew what the Notify button for.  Dick nvrver
 
nvrver said:
Thanks Scott, learned something new today!  Never knew what the Notify button for.  Dick nvrver

Me neither, I am afraid to start clicking buttons as Tom might tell me off! :eek:
 
A very wealthy friend I know bought a brand new Newell and then a brand new Lincoln Navigator as a toad.
He and his wife set off out on this epic cross-continental tour...but.. there were some issues that came up !

  It blew an oil line ( rubbed through on a brace ) in upstate NY and soaked the whole underside of the coach and the Lincoln,.... and there were several other lesser issues.

yes...Newell took care of everything as they should on a $ 2.1 mil. purchase.



The Navy even takes every multi million dollar, very well engineered, and very quality controlled very complex ship out for a shakedown cruise.....just to see what will go wrong.

same thing with an RV ... It's a hand made, very complex self contained house and vehicle,..... and stuff goes wrong on the brand new untested ones.... That's why people tell you to buy used ones.

 

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