Seven years ago, I purchased my second truck (a half-ton), which just happened to come with a tow package. After thinking about all the RV vacations I took as a child (my parents loved to travel and I had been to 48 states by the time I was 16 -- without ever being in a plane), I told my husband "my truck has a tow package, we need to buy a camper!" Of course, he thought I was nuts, after all, who buys a camper just because they have a tow package? Turns out WE do! That story always provokes a laugh and one fabulous line from a cousin: "I guess I should be happy when my wife just wants a new pair of shoes to match a new dress!" It really doesn't get any better than that! We've since upgraded trucks to my beloved Chevy Crew Cab Duramax. Of course, with a bigger truck comes a bigger RV! The RV we drag around behind us now is a beautiful 33-1/2 foot Cedar Creek.
Ten years ago, I was a legal assistant for one of the top divorce attorneys in Milwaukee. Now, I live in the "middle of nowhere" in North Central Wisconsin and, for the past five years, have been running my own RV Parts, Supplies & Accessories store (www.rvingoutpost.com). We even have chickens and geese running around the yard! It's truly amazing the twists and turns our lives take that we never expected. If you had asked me ten years ago where I'd be now, it's certainly nothing like where I am. I've heard that if you want to hear God laugh, all you have to do is tell Him your plans. I think I've heard a few chuckles from Him now and then!
As someone who would rather lose her right arm than lose her beloved fifth wheel, and owning an RV parts, supplies & accessories store, I'm pretty sure I have a rather unique insight into the RV world. I'm hoping that this blog will help others to understand that view and help bring a positive impact to the RV industry.
Notice I used the word "impact" above, rather than "change." I hesitate to use the word "change" as that can be a BAD thing, as well as a good thing. We've all seen the "changes" taking place in Washington. Goodness knows, we don't need that kind of change for the RV industry!
In my opinion, one of the biggest transformations needed in the RV industry is for the manufacturers to produce quality RVs without all the problems and bugs that plague just about every new RV owner.
The problem is that we, as owners, HAVE dealt with it, and HAVE put up with it for years. Why should manufacturers change anything when they can continue to get away with what they've been doing for years. RV owners have been notoriously lax in demanding quality products from RV manufacturers. If the cabinets are falling off, what do we do? We fix them ourselves If the sewer lines are plugged with building materials, what do we do? We tear it apart and fix it ourselves. If only half of the lights work, we spend hours trying to figure out the problem and fix it ourselves. When we contact the dealer, we are told that they can fix it, but even though it's under warranty, it can takes months to fix those problems. Who is the one at fault? The dealer, for being busy and not having time to fix our rigs, or the manufacturers, who are producing substandard RVs in the first place?
If we're lucky, all the problems are fixed by the dealer, but most times, they're not and we're stuck going back again and again and again to have something fixed properly on the RV we spent thousands of dollars to purchase. Meanwhile, we're making payments on an RV we can't use because it's sitting on the dealer's lot, waiting to be fixed and the manufacturer and dealer are enjoying the money that we've spent on a unit that cannot be used or we have to fix ourselves.
This is not meant to criticize dealers. Most of them are doing the best they can with the product they are given. I'm sure dealers want the manufacturers to build quality units as well, and I'm sure they'd rather spend their time, money and energies on selling new units, rather than fixing them.
Frankly, if you bought a car or truck and had problems that made it unusable and had to take it back to the dealer again and again and again to have the same problems addressed, you'd be looking into lemon laws. Why do we allow RV manufacturers to get away with it? So, what's the solution? You tell me.