Blowout!

Geo24305

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2012
Posts
277
Traveling this last Thanksgiving, I had a blowout on one of the cheap Rainier tires on my WhiteHawk. The tire caused damage on the fender skirt to where it needs to be replaced. I contacted Jayco to get a replacement and I was advised I had to go through my dealer or another local one. I purchased my TT at a dealership about 2 hours from home so I was referred to a closer dealership. After going to the local dealership's parts and service dept, I was advised Jayco had the part in stock and it was $39.95. So far so good. I was then advised Jayco charges anywhere from $75-$150 freight to have it delivered to the dealership for me to pick up. I about crapped my pants! I was also told that until I placed the order, they could not provide me the cost of shipping. Needless to say I walked out without buying the part.

So my question is: Is this dealership trying to pull a fast one and gouge me out of more cash or is Jayco truly that inefficient that it would cost that much to ship a lightweight plastic part?
 
In a online RV parts store it might be cheaper for the part and shipping. Most RV parts are standard items.
 
Part of it depends on how fast you want it.

But, now days the postal services (UPS< FedEx and USPS) have started charging a lot more for larger items, no matter how much they weigh. And no, they can't tell how much until they measure the box. Of course, someone could measure it before you decide to buy it, but, that implies some extra work on their part at the risk of you not buying it.
 
When we had one ordered for our TT I was told that there needed to be so much extra packing around the skirt, so it wouldn’t be damaged during shipment, and sometimes the packing weighed more than the skirt itself. Ours was also the victim of a blowout.
 
Traveling this last Thanksgiving, I had a blowout on one of the cheap Rainier tires on my WhiteHawk. The tire caused damage on the fender skirt to where it needs to be replaced. I contacted Jayco to get a replacement and I was advised I had to go through my dealer or another local one. I purchased my TT at a dealership about 2 hours from home so I was referred to a closer dealership. After going to the local dealership's parts and service dept, I was advised Jayco had the part in stock and it was $39.95. So far so good. I was then advised Jayco charges anywhere from $75-$150 freight to have it delivered to the dealership for me to pick up. I about crapped my pants! I was also told that until I placed the order, they could not provide me the cost of shipping. Needless to say I walked out without buying the part.

So my question is: Is this dealership trying to pull a fast one and gouge me out of more cash or is Jayco truly that inefficient that it would cost that much to ship a lightweight plastic part?

I'm guessing the dealer is adding some profit there. There is a website where you can purchase Jayco parts. It may be better for you to order it and replace it yourself. Ill try to locate that website or you can do a search.
 
I ordered one years ago and it came packaged in a huge wooden crate. There is a web site I have seen on this forum that will provide skirts for any make of rig.
Maybe someone will remember it.
 
Don't remember the specifics but did some online research and found the exact replacement for my 2014 White Hawk and it cost right at $100 to my door. I ordered it for the specific model and year and it was an exact replacement.

Screw going thru Jayco unless it is a warrantee item.
 
I have the Rainiers on my 2015 Whitehawk.

Any sign they were wearing out? Did you check PSI regularly?

We're heading to Florida in about 4 weeks, hope my Rainiers are still good for that trip. I keep my trailer on blocks during storage in the winter, so I'm hoping that I've treated my tires well. I was thinking 4-5 years out of them before I order new tires.

On my previous trailer I had GY Marathons that I kept for 5 years. Then I bought new GY Marathons which lasted until I sold it (3 years).

I also plan to keep my speed around 62MPH and aired at 63PSI.
 
Most often the guesstimate is much higher than the actual cost, I think you should just purchase it, support your local dealer, it’ll be fixed and you can be ready for your next trip
 
They tried to pull that same thing on me, however I all wanted was the original shower curtain that came in the trailer. You can imagine my reaction to paying $75 to ship a shower curtain. I talked to multiple people at the dealer, they wouldn’t budge. I talked to multiple people at Jayco, they wouldn’t budge. So then I found contact info for the manufacturer of the shower curtain. First I tried to order directly from them. After some debate, they decided they couldn’t sell directly to me. So then I proceeded to tell them how Jayco was trying to gouge me for outrageous shipping on their products. Later that day, I get a call from someone new at Jayco saying they just had one of their parts manufacturers call them wanting to know how an end consumer got their contact information. I think this person wanted the whole situation to go away, so after getting the whole story from me again, called the dealer herself, and worked out a shipping cost of $13 for me. Still a little high in my opinion, but I went with it, and the saga came to a close.

Moral of the story: yes, Jayco and the dealer will try to rip you off if you order through them. But yes, you can get around that if you are willing to fight.


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Most often the guesstimate is much higher than the actual cost, I think you should just purchase it, support your local dealer, it’ll be fixed and you can be ready for your next trip

Couldn't disagree any more with that statement!! Dealer quotes etc are based purely on profit and have nothing to do with what it really costs them. You are miles and dollars ahead if and whenever you can get a replacement product direct or even better, upgrade to a better product which I would have done in a minute when replacing a shower curtain.

The matra of support your local dealer is miss guided. That is the same dealer who will gouge you at purchase time and will find ways to put your $$ in their pockets at any opportunity. The fact is that local dealers 99 times out of 100 are not competitive in pricing. That may be a factor of a lot of things [shipping, floorplan costs, but the biggie is "profit". The higher volume dealers, just like in auto sales" can offer a better purchase price. My RV's have been to a dealer for service exactly once over the history of 3 new units over a 40 year history. Sorry but the internet has opened the door to parts, services, and info that make DIY a whole lot easier.
 
Do you know the part number of the skirt yo need? If so, go online do some web searching. I took a generic look at Amazon, most of theirs were around $115-$150 each, some with Prime, so free shipping. There are also a number of online RV part stores for comparisons.
 
I replaced both fender skirts on my TT in August of 2016 with ones purchased from Replacement RV Parts & Fender Skirts - AC Shrouds & more - IconDirect.com. They have them for just about any make. I paid $125 for each of them and with shipping the total price out the door was $288.17. They have all the dimensions so you can measure accurately and order the correct one for your RV.

I judged them of better quality than the original Jayco skirts they replaced. The only issues I experienced was that they were not pre-drilled- not even the hole to insert the crank to open/close the slide-out manually (you'll need a hole saw for that one) and some of the places where the screw should go didn't line up exactly with the screw hole on the trailer.

I had a blowout about a month after I put them on. The skirt survived undamaged, just some of the screws pulled out from the trailer (none pulled through the skirt). I screwed them back in and everything was fine.
 
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Couldn't disagree any more with that statement!! Dealer quotes etc are based purely on profit and have nothing to do with what it really costs them. You are miles and dollars ahead if and whenever you can get a replacement product direct or even better, upgrade to a better product which I would have done in a minute when replacing a shower curtain.

The matra of support your local dealer is miss guided. That is the same dealer who will gouge you at purchase time and will find ways to put your $$ in their pockets at any opportunity. The fact is that local dealers 99 times out of 100 are not competitive in pricing. That may be a factor of a lot of things [shipping, floorplan costs, but the biggie is "profit". The higher volume dealers, just like in auto sales" can offer a better purchase price. My RV's have been to a dealer for service exactly once over the history of 3 new units over a 40 year history. Sorry but the internet has opened the door to parts, services, and info that make DIY a whole lot easier.

X3 I will pay fair value if my local dealer is close to the internet price. I have negotiated a price based on the part shown on the internet.

They have been willing to match it. Huge markup on these parts from the dealers. I'm not going to bend over and smile just to let them make a sale.
 

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