Warranty Issues

[clubhouse]

Originally Posted by troutslayer

Advice to OP, as others have mentioned, would be to contact Jayco. They have been very responsive to me in the past. While I'm here, I might as well give my .02 worth about dealer service. The local Jayco dealer here 3 years ago charged $95/hour for warranty repairs and $129/hour for "retail" customer repairs (in other words, out of warranty repairs) and I believe it's up to $136/hour now. It's difficult for me to believe that they are not making money at these rates because its for any repair, wether it's taking apart a class A engine or re-caulking seams on the roof. I do as much repair as possible but when I need other work done, I have a local shop, not associated with a selling dealer that I can go to and he charges me $95/hour (and seems to be making money ). I like dealing with the small local non-selling repair shop cuz I get better service. Just my opinion.

Dealers can charge what they want, Jayco has a fee schedule of what they will pay for X warranty work. I can guarantee you Jayco isn't paying anywhere near $95/hr.

On our first TT, we bought new and from a dealer that was 100 miles away, opposed to the nearest dealer that was 35 miles away.

During the sale process, I asked both about warranty service; the nearer said buy here or wait till we have capacity in our schedule. The further said buy here, or schedule time in our shop, we charge the shop rate, you pay the bill then request reimbursement from Jayco. He said that Jayco's warranty labor rate was just profitable, but if they ran into a problem that took extended time they would lose money. Warranty work is never as profitable as non-warranty, hence their policy.

Additionally they understand the power of service and their reputation as a dealership, knowing many times "folks chasing the best possible price" are the same folks you can never make happy so they would simply rather not deal with them.

We got lucky and had nearly no issues on that TT, but the sales process and this site made me realize I couldn't care less about a warranty and that my money is better spent on gently used 1-2 year old used TT at 50%-60% off MSRP then deal with repairs myself or use our local RV Repair Only facility who does great affordable work.

I've said this before, long term I don't know of RVing is for me. We absolutely love camping, but the hassle factor or owning an RV and getting CG sites/reservations is sucking the joy of out it. Might be time to find our "perfect place" and buy a vacation home.

[Jopopsy]

Originally Posted by clubhouse

We absolutely love camping, but the hassle factor or owning an RV and getting CG sites/reservations is sucking the joy of out it. Might be time to find our "perfect place" and buy a vacation home.

I hear you, but I'm not quite at your level yet. I unloaded my motorhome due to the cost, complexity of the components, and the fact that w/ my DW's limited vacation time we had exhausted all our 'must hit' places in the time I owned it. Going to similar places multiple times was losing its shine when propped up next to the big motorhome payment and knowing all those complex systems would at some point give me heartburn. And that's not even counting the chassis or chassis maintenance.

I'm going to end up pulling a small hybrid more then likely. Much less complex, much cheaper. I want to go shorter so I can get back to the places that got me into 'camping' in the first place like State Parks and what not.

Heck I'll even look at a pop-up again. They're a pain to set up, but they're cheap and you're definitely 'camping' in them !

[vcbice]

One of the compromises of owning an RV. Long enough or too long.

Our first RV was a 27ft MH. Why? Cause that is the length that most NF campgrounds are designed to accommodate. We dry camped a LOT in that rig for the years we owned it. Lots of fun weekends and longer trips. For several years we went to a National Forest area on the weekends. I would take a Fri off, or at least leave at noon, so we could find a good space. In our area that meant a place to pull off the road that was fairly level. We did not get bored just going up in the mountains for a few days just to sit and read.

Our second RV, 24ft fiver, was also able to fit in most campgrounds although we rarely used it that way. We called it our 'dog friendly' hotel room.

Our current 35ft will be taken camping, BUT, I will have to do some scouting to make sure it will fit in the areas we want to go. We do spend most of our time in full hookup sites, but, you can find some that are NICE places to 'camp'. We are at one right now, Weston Lake at Ft Jackson, SC.

National Forests are the best kept secret out there for boondocking.

[Woodworker]

It's a shame dealers work like this. I had 2 electrical programming recalls on my Dodge Ram and although I didn't buy the truck at the dealer closest to my house they handled it for free. They get all my money now oil changes etc.
The way I see it of you are selling a national brand and want to brag on your service and product your selling you do what you can to help with warranty. You might lose a few pennies or make very little but is a returning customer spending money at your business better than negative word of mouth advertising? I think so. It would probably also make Jayco take a second look at your dealership because you go above and beyond.
Just my 2 cents worth, be it old school thinking or just crazy as a loon

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[NC Roamer]

Originally Posted by rkresge

Dealers make very little money on warranty repairs - they may even lose money.

That's true. Our Greyhawk had rust on the frame when we bought it. Our dealer sanded, prepped and coated it under warranty. When we picked it up I noticed the paperwork said they were reimbursed by Jayco for less than half the actual hours it required. Our dealer absorbed the rest of the time. FYI, it's been 2-1/2 years and the rust has not reappeared so I think they did a good job on the recoating.