The RV Death Spiral

[Shadow Catcher]

There are a series of articles on RV Daily Report discussing the quality or lack of quality control in the RV industry. There are three articles so far and more to come. Why is this important, The latest one has to do with planned failure/obsolesce of components. http://rvdailyreport.com/opinion/rv-death-spiral-suppliers-in-a-tough-spot/

[GPW]

I‘ve been saying this for years .... RVs are designed to fall apart .... Otherwise they’d use good materials to make them ... Anyone whose read an RV forum knows this ...

[lrrowe]

And folks wonder why we like to make our own!

[mikeschn]

As long a people continue to pay for inferior products, nothing will change.

Mike...

[GPW]

Turns out RV Dealers are the Biggest Liars in the World ... The reason is , they stand to make a Lot of money off you for repair and maintenance over the short lifetime of the vehicle ... With labor rates approaching $150.00 / per hour and MORE ... and the quality of repairs mediocre at best, using the SAME inferior materials the manufacturer used or worse ... a dealer can be assured of a healthy monetary return at the end of the year ...
Example , why do they use that caulk that has to be re-done every year ( at a substantial cost to the customer naturally $1200.00 is what I was quoted to re-caulk the roof (not the windows) ... and that was to keep the warranty valid , which also turned out to be useless... To the Manufacturer or the Dealer , whatever goes wrong with the RV is “all your fault” ... The Warranty is basically meaningless.... We didn’t use our refrigerator (ever) , when we turned it on not even a year into the warranty , it didn’t work (in any mode) .... They blamed me for not using it ....refused to fix it under warranty , but offered an Amish replacement unit for $1k +labor ( ) , and then said I’d need the built in fire extinguisher, because they tended to start fires .... and that was another $1200.00
And then we had the real Problem .. A limb went through the roof .... in 10 places ... Turns out the roof was a “membrane “ which was the quality and thickness of a Dollar Store vinyl tablecloth .... over the cheapest 3/32” plywood we’ve ever seen , over two inch of beaded styrofoam ( A Foamie , just not a well built one ) . Turns out the repair estimate indicated changing the whole roof and the special plywood alone from the manufacturer would cost $1700.00 alone The repair ended up costing $5000.00 and since the RV Dealer insisted I take out the “Insurance’ with his man , naturally he and his friend took care of everything , and were Happy to do so ... The actual repair consisted of putting a sheet of cheap luan over the holes and patching the “membrane” with more tablecloth ... I could have done that for < $50.00 ... But it had to be done his way to satisfy the Bogus “warranty” .... "All about the MONEY boys !!! “

Ps. our local RV dealer made so much money , he bought a big house in the country and moved the whole operation to a new facility 89 miles away ...and 8 times the size of the old one .... Pretty soon I guess he’ll be buying an NFL team ...

Think I made this up ? .... No, I lived it ( and PAID dearly for it) ...

And all this can be readily confirmed by reading ANY independent RV forum ..... not the “feel good” BS Forums the industry sponsors ....

[GPW]

To quote Irrowe... “ And folks wonder why we like to make our own! “ ...

[Shadow Catcher]

I am mindful of a time when US made cars did not last long, and were forced by the Japanese to get their act together.
One of the reasons I have imported the shower point and the gas outlet from the UK is the very poor quality components available in the US.
The other articles in the series are very scathing.
I talked with the Owner of Camp Inn at CRA a couple of years back and his comment is that they do not want to deal with warranty issues so build them with 0 defects and quality components.
And yes one reason to build your own, quality.

[GPW]

We honestly believe that the Federal government RUINED the trailer industry , by buying many thousands of trailers for displaced people caused by disasters.. Trailer manufacturers , had to learn how to turn them out fast and cheap , and just continued doing so for the normal consumer market ... The trailers they built for the government were possibly the cheapest , worst built trailers , built for TEMPORARY service only ... and with an average price waaaay over the standard trailer prices, it was a great windfall for the Industry ($) ... Once they made artificially Huge profits (government job) , they couldn’t go back ( GREED) to making an Honest trailer ...

There are still places you can go today and see these trailers as far as the eye can see, just sitting and rotting away ... Good Job Brownie !!!

[DeenaB]

We honestly believe that the Federal government RUINED the trailer industry , by buying many thousands of trailers for displaced people caused by disasters.. Trailer manufacturers , had to learn how to turn them out fast and cheap , and just continued doing so for the normal consumer market ... The trailers they built for the government were possibly the cheapest , worst built trailers , built for TEMPORARY service only ... and with an average price waaaay over the standard trailer prices, it was a great windfall for the Industry ($) ... Once they made artificially Huge profits (government job) , they couldn’t go back ( GREED) to making an Honest trailer ...

There are still places you can go today and see these trailers as far as the eye can see, just sitting and rotting away ... Good Job Brownie !!!

Totally agree, you should have seen these "units " in transit. Every one was getting a piece of the pie in that government Farse for lack of better or cleaner words. I work for a RR in the southeast as an engineer. These things were being shipped as quickly as they could b put together. These dedicated trains started out as 60 mph Max speed. After a few started coming apart, which turned in to several on the train coming apart, they slowed the speed down to 45 mph Max. It got to when you were meeting these trains ,and they had priority ,you would move to the other side of the cab in hopes of avoiding the flying parts coming off. Another good ole boy deal I would think with our elected reps in my opinion. Very sad.

[GPW]

From what we heard , the Government spent at least $75,000 on each Katrina trailer ...including “installation” ... All of these Disaster solutions , involved multiple layers of connected contractors who took their cut and passed the “pie" on...
It was like the “blue roof” program where the feds paid $180.00 a square to install cheap plastic tarp on leaky roofs ... The first company , owned by the governors husband took $100.00 off the top of each square, then passed the contract down , through various connected people , finally to the installer who actually put the tarps on the roof who got $2.00 a square ... The cheap plastic lasted less than a month in the sun and wind , then shredded and decomposed ... a square is 10’X 10’ ...
Back to trailers , the trailers were so hastily assembled , and from doubtful materials , that many of them became TOXIC inside from outgassing of cheap plywood and Particle boards ... People living in them were getting very sick , some even died from the complications ... The special “Handicap trailers“ were among the Worst offenders ... That news was suppressed , despite local groups who sought to enlighten the public as to the danger.
The real problem was, once trailer manufacturers found out how to make really CHEAP trailers ( more profit) , they continued to do so ... and with a new economic plan that would make any Vulture Economist very proud ...

The final straw was when I met a very Honest local RV tech and he gave me a tour of the shop and explained to "a fellow trailer Builder" how the business worked ... He was very emphatic about the great amount of money there was to be made from fixing things that should have never failed... and on a regular basis ....

I love to watch the Jayco film where they show how they put a huge trailer together in 30 minutes ... and they’re PROUD of it too ...

[GPW]

If I sound a bit negative , it’s because we were surrounded by this for years, many friends either moved out of town , or lived in a FEMA trailer ... The FEMA trailers were EVERYWHERE !!! We saw first hand what was going on . We know people that suffered, some died, and we know people that PROFITED greatly .... That’s why they call it a disaster...

[Shadow Catcher]

It is always dangerous to attribute a single cause to a decline in quality. Manufactures do it because consumers let them, in part because of ignorance and in part because there are no alternatives. The second in the series http://rvdailyreport.com/opinion/rv-death-spiral-manufacturers-in-race-to-the-bottom/ discusses that.
Slow one of the things I have said repeatedly for those building is that "you are building and aircraft, not a tank". Built heavy mean that it shakes itself apart because of inertia in rough roads. The skin of the moon lander were 0.3 mm thick where heavy duty aluminum foil is 0.29mm.

[troubleScottie]

But the moon lander has no wind to deal with. And it was designed to last at most a few weeks. I also suspect it cost more than your typical RV.

[GPW]

SC , on the independent RV forums , those RV Horror Stories are just Endless !!! I had to quit reading them cause’ it was just too depressing !!! I thought there would surely be class action lawsuits against the manufacturers by now , but apparently making a POS product seems not to be Illegal ... but sure should be ...

And don’t be quick paint the Dealers with the brush of innocence ... My RV dealer just outright LIED on every pertinent question I asked him before the sale ... ( I had them written down in advance ) .... turns out none of his answers were true... not a one . And he said it all with a straight face and big friendly smile ...

I must say I’ve never been Happier than building my own Camper , learning what works and what doesn’t , and making something that can live outside (with the truck) and only needs the bird poop washed off it once a year ...

[lrrowe]

This is very depressing stuff. I am sending link copies to my friends and family who may have any inclination to buy a RV.
They also offer a good story for me to repeat when others ask, " Why are you building a trailer? Why not just buy one?"

Also another somewhat related topic, I also wonder what is going on in the RV industry when I go buy the major RV dealers along many Interstates and see the hundreds of all kinds of RV sitting on the lots. Why are they making so many? Or is it that the buying public is starting to wise up and is passing on making the purchases? Regardless, wouldn't you think they would slow production down? Maybe they are really really out of touch with reality or with doing what is right in the world of manufacturing along with their failure with customer support.