(Side note: This is one reason for the practice of “cannibalism,” where dealers raid RVs on their lot to fulfill backlogged warranty work on sold units. Dometic and Lippert commonly discontinue parts and appliances without offering any compatible replacements! To add insult to injury, there’s no guarantee that an RV manufacturer or parts supplier will keep warranty stock or save the molds. In some cases, such as a rotomolded water tank, OEMs won’t produce single parts. It is quite possible the RV manufacturer itself does not stock these parts! In which case a request for a replacement will trigger a specialty PO to the OEM. Your RV dealer does not stock these parts. These are available from major distributors and wholesalers like NPT-Stag.īut some of the parts inside your RV, such as the shower pan, water tanks, fender skirts, and countertops, might be “ custom parts.” They are made-to-order specifically (and only) for that RV model and series. Some parts, such as water pumps, faucets, sinks and most appliances, are mostly off-the-shelf components. The R&D and quality control processes in the RV industry can’t hold a candle to the automobile world, and the product reflects that. Because your RV manufacturer isn’t like your car manufacturer. Plus, car companies like Toyota pioneered modern systems of manufacturing, such as LEAN, Materials Resource Planning (MRP), and Six Sigma quality control systems. That same year, auto manufacturers sold 14.5 million – and that was a good year for RVs and a bad one for cars! In 2020, RV manufacturers sold about 430,000 RVs. The automobile industry is exponentially larger than the RV industry. Sales volume just doesn’t support that kind of investment.Īnd with customers clamoring for a dozen floor plans and sixteen customization packages, that’s driven from both ends. The idea of an RV manufacturer spending $1 billion to develop – well, anything – is absurd and laughable. If the automotive industry is Star Wars, the RV industry is the Ewoks.Īccording to an Autoblog report, the cost of developing a new consumer automobile starts at $1 billion and goes up to $6 billion for an all-new platform. No, your RV isn’t like a bigger, squishier car. You can imagine how this process is particularly unfriendly to full-time RVers,who are often far from home when their RV breaks down.

Some dealerships will allow customers to remove their RV for use during the wait others insist the RV cannot leave the lot, or the customer loses their spot in the queue. It can take several weeks or months to receive parts from an RV manufacturer, particularly if it’s an oddball custom part, like an entire furniture set or custom molded water tank. In all likelihood, your RV will sit on a gravel (sometimes paved) parking lot while in “storage.” With all this back-and-forth, a RV might go in and out of a service bay multiple times.

Sometimes, manufacturer waits for custom parts from OEM supplier.Manufacturer approves/denies the claim and delivers parts.Dealer submits a warranty claim to the manufacturer and orders parts.Wait (X) days until the RV is actually worked on. Call the RV dealership and arrange a drop-off Find a dealership within the approved network from your manufacturer.

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