By Gail Marsh
We all have our “must-have” lists when purchasing a big-ticket item. We use these lists because they help narrow down our choices when, say, buying an RV. You may not want the same features on your RV that I do. That’s okay. Everyone is different. But one feature that all RV owners will undoubtedly want (and eventually need) is a good service department. Is that “must-have” on your list? It should be!
Great service by default
We’ve owned four different fifth wheel RVs over the past several years. Our local RV dealer is not owned by a big-name national behemoth. Rather, it’s a mid-size family business and they’ve taken good care of our service needs. How did we choose our dealer and their service department? By default, really. They were the closest store to our stix-n-brix home and seemed to have a good reputation in our community. We knew friends who’d purchased an RV and had service done there and recommended the dealership.
What we didn’t know at the time we purchased our first RV was how important the service department would be. Now we know and are so grateful to have “happened” upon what seems to be a rarity in the world of RV repairs and maintenance. Because of the huge boom in the RV industry lately, there just aren’t enough qualified technicians to service all of the RVs out there these days. Many dealers (like ours) have had to limit their service to only those rigs that were purchased off their own lot. Since we bought a new RV from this dealership in the past, they have graciously agreed to continue servicing our current rig, which we purchased from a private owner.
Finding a great service department
I don’t recommend “hoping” you’ll “just happen” to find a decent service department. Here’s what I do recommend:
• Service bays. Check to see how many service bays the dealership has on-site. This will give you an idea of how many RVs can be serviced at a time. Theoretically, the more service bays, the greater the chance you’ll have less of a wait to get your RV serviced. Don’t base your choice solely on the number of service bays, though. We’ve all heard the service horror stories from some of the largest dealerships in the RV industry. And the stories really are a horror!
• Certified mechanics. Ask how many certified technicians the dealership has on staff. Look for service technicians who have an RVIA Master Certification, other RV certification, and/or have several years of experience working on RVs like yours.
• Years of operation. Ask how long the company has offered repair/maintenance services. Experience in the RV service industry can help reassure you (though not guarantee) that repairs and scheduled maintenance will be done correctly.
• Days/hours of operation. Will the service center be available when it’s most convenient for you? Are weekend appointments possible? How late can you pick up your rig in the evenings? All are important questions to ask.
• Approximate appointment wait times. Many dealerships are months behind in their service department. The problem? Too many RVs and not enough good techs to work on them. Great service may require that you wait weeks or even months for repairs or scheduled maintenance. Ask about this.
• Services available. What services can be performed? For example, will the shop replace tires on your rig? Do they do their own bodywork, or do they have other vendors for this? Can/will they perform yearly maintenance? Do they handle warranty issues?
• Costs. Find out the hourly work rate that the shop follows. Compare the hourly price with other shops you’re considering. (Remember: The cheapest shop isn’t necessarily the best or the worst.) Get an idea of yearly costs by asking questions like: What is the cost for a pre-trip systems check? What RV systems need a yearly review?
• Communication. Can you phone or email a technician with a question, enabling you to troubleshoot issues on your own? Are charges itemized on the repair bill? Will the technician call you for authorization before working on your rig after diagnosing the problem? What happens if you are not satisfied with the work? When you phone the service department, will you talk to a real person or leave a message on an answering machine? When you pick up your rig, will the technician go over the service fix to show you what’s been done?
• Personal reviews. Always check any online reviews to see how actual folks rated the work done on their RVs. Ask around, as well. A personal recommendation can mean a lot when making the important choice of where you’ll take your RV for maintenance and/or repair service.
You don’t always have a choice about who will work on your RV, especially if you break down on the road. But when you do have a choice, do all you can to ensure that you choose wisely.
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RVT1220
I would emphasize the importance of word of mouth recommendations. Online reviews can be of limited value – how many Google or Amazon reviews of a product are from someone who has just opened the box? Other than that, my experience is like yours – our local, non-chain RV place is excellent, in contrast to the dealer where we bought our current RV.
Agreed Gordon. That’s how I found ours. Small, family owned and reasonably priced.
Great points Gail! If I can add one thing, there is a lot of change in the RV industry. Don’t stop asking these kinds of questions because a specific business has been great in the past. Has the ownership or management changed? How many faces in the service area are the same?
If you have a good one, support them as long as they last (hopefully your RVing lifetime).
My wife and I researched for six months before we settled on our latest trailer. We felt that we got a good deal. But when a warranty problem came up 2 months later we started getting the “ bring it in and we get it fixed in a couple of months “ line. We’ve been fortunate that not that much has been wrong from the factory. Our tank sensors were not working correctly which should have been a warranty fix but we chose instead to hire an independent technician. Other work we have done by a closer to us dealer. We would have bought from them but everything the shortest trailer they had was 2 foot too long for our barn. But they have been great when we needed them.
Probably 99% of bad experiences come from the large “chain” dealers. Their only intention is to take your money and forget that you exist.
If the small independents operated this way, they would go out of business.
I bought my TT from a family owned dealer that has been in business for over 30 years.They have expanded twice in the last 10 years. Tells you something.
Strongly disagree on the ‘more service bays the better’. In my experience, a small repair shop where you speak directly to the owner or tech is miles ahead of any large outfit that garbles communication through service writers who may not know or care what they are doing, or how long your unit is jerked around by their cumbersome processes and delays.
Most importantly, a real service business, not one which is all about sales with service just a side annoyance, is where your searches should start and end.
I’m still searching for a good service dept. We like to get our annual service done in Oct/Nov when hopefully service depts are not busy. We’re usually in the Tucson, Az area. Anyone got suggestions?
Thank you for the numerous suggestions, Gail! We have bought from dealers far and wide, but almost all our servicing is done by two local outfits that don’t sell RVs. Both purely do service and repair. If such a company does poorly, they have no other stream of income on which they can rely. Not everyone has access to such a business, but it may be worth the investigation. Have a great week and safe travels!
I tried a couple of local diesel shops in my area and they screwed things up twice. I now drive 3 hours to a Cummins Coach Care facility in Spokane, WA. They are very knowledgeable and fix things correctly the first time. They schedule appointments for a certain day and fix things that day! No dropping off and waiting a week for them to look at it. It is worth the 6 hour round trip to have things fixed correctly. They also have full hookups so we can arrive the night before having service in the morning.
For those in the western burbs of Chicago (DuPage County) I enthusiastically recommend Kammes RV and Truck repair in Bloomingdale, IL. They gave us excellent service on our motor homes for over two-decades.