How many have "Checking"?

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KenMcCormack

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We bought a 2006 Newmar Ventana in 2007, it had 3,500 miles on it. A few years ago (like 2), I noticed some strange marks in certain areas, mainly in the black painted areas of the exterior walls. Took photos and sent them to Newmar. Their reply was "Its checking. No repair possible, other than replacing the exterior walls and repainting the motorhome.  Our normal price would be 38 to 43K, however, we are rather slow right now, and can do it for only 14K." 
Now I have done a little research on this, and found a few other people who had their coach's repaired and were just so happy with the work.
Are those people NUTS??????????????
If this was happening in a subdivision of stick houses, you would have the attorneys lining up to take their case. It's a hands down easy win in court.

But if it's a motorhome, we are supposed to be happy to be screwed by the mfg!!  I mean THEY SCREWEDUP, not the buyers. This is a hidden defect.  The manufactures should repair it FREE OF CHARGE, and go after the supplier of the fiberglass walls.

Or are we supposed to thank the mfgs for selling us latent defective motorhomes??

How many others have suffered this indignity??  Please let me know!
 
welcome to the group...

Yep, hearing a lot of similar stories....seems that quality has gone down the tubes the last number of years
 
It is very simple. It is impossible to sell an RV and guarantee the exterior of the vehicle against anything for more than a year. RVs get a ton of abuse and people always blame the manufacturer and claim quality is going downhill. There is no way anyone can prove statistically that RV quality control is going downhill, it is just an easy target to blame. When the exterior on a s&b starts to fade after 7 years no one complains to the builder and no one sues anyone, they simply repaint the place.
 
Exterior issues have driven good companies bankrupt in the recent past, through in some cases no fault of their own. Some major companies using high quality panels from outside vendors have later found that the panels had inherent problems costing millions to repair on thousands of coaches. Some of these companies chose to cover the damages far beyond the warrantee period and were nearly lost to us (Fleetwood) or became completely defunct (Alpha)

Everything is not completely in their control and if it is out of warrantee not their problem.

You are not alone, there are many coaches with exterior fiberglass issues and I am one of them. However, I will not enjoy my coach any less, it's just not worth the heartburn...

If you can't live with it, sell it
 
Newmar had a lot of problems with that checking. At first they fixed it no charge. I guess it was costing them too much money. The problem is that the dark colors do something to the fiberglass. I think the supplier was paying for part of the repair cost. Monaco and Country Coach also had that problem. It was only for about 3 years. I think most 07's are OK. If it were me I would pay the 14K. That is cheap for the amount of work involved.
 
Tom
Just a hunch or do you have sourcing for this? 

American Coach had a program for re-siding coaches that had this issue, and it was a phase out, if x # year it was 100% down to x+y years and it was 25% to no longer covered. 

National had a huge issue with panels bought from Germany, but that was delamination, and they covered folks so well, they eventually went bankrupt. 

As to the OP, if the 14k is affordable right now, I would go for it.  It will enhance the longer term value of the coach.
 
PancakeBill said:
Tom
Just a hunch or do you have sourcing for this? 
Click to expand...
I have read about Mexican paint jobs on other RV forums. Here is a typical thread, search for more with Mexican auto paint. None of the shops have a web page that I could find.

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/26353609/gotomsg/26721194.cfm

As to the OP, if the 14k is affordable right now, I would go for it.  It will enhance the longer term value of the coach.
Click to expand...
RVs depreciate like a rock. I would never do anything to my RV thinking it would increase it's value down the road.
 
Tom, yes they do, and I didn't say the paint would make it worth more, nut it will take more time to be worth less.  When appraising you will be ticked for checked paint, not ticked for good paint.  Will it be 14k worth of tick?  No, but depending on how ong you hold onto the rig.  Owning it looking nicer makes you appreciate it more.  Wouldn't you rather have a nice shiny RV vs a dull checked one?  Most people, not necessarily the contrary people.  I know I would, so you get satisfaction plus a better trade value down the road.

Lots would depend on what the trig was, Mine, a 97 gas model with no slides, it would make no sense to invest that much, but an 8 year old diesel with slides it may make sense.  I have to rationalize an oil change given the age of my rig!

 
My 10 year old American Coach has just started to show some crazing (checking) in the black areas. The reason for the problem is known, a defect in the fiberglass that came from a supplier, but after 10 years how can I make a warranty claim? Or sue anybody?  AC was fixing them for free if they happened early, and pro-rating the cost if in the first 5 years after warranty, but it's way too late now.

A Mexican (or backyard) paint job isn't a fix either. Covering the surface defect with new paint probably lasts a year or two but the marks will resurface.
 
SeilerBird said:
There is no way anyone can prove statistically that RV quality control is going downhill, it is just an easy target to blame.
Click to expand...

That's right. Quality can't go downhill if it was never up hill to begin with.
 
I don?t have that problem so I can?t look at the surface. Is it a defect in the paint or the surface of the fiberglass? Does it go into the layers of the fiberglass? 
Bill
 
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