At the age of 60, I have a renewed interest in RVing. Up to this point, I thought camping was staying in a Holiday Inn. To be fair, having a lovely RV, with most of the creature comforts of home, is not really camping. I believe the term now is “Glamping”. Regardless and for whatever reason, I love it.
My issues and concerns are the RV Industry itself and their independent dealer networks. Since I have spent the last 40 years focused on improving the “client experience” in the Automobile industry, I am very sensitive to the need to create “client advocacy”. The real difference in the RV vs. the Automobile Industry is the incredible dependence of the RV dealership service and parts department especially after the sale. These are homes on wheels. When you buy a automobile, you can go to any automobile dealerships within that brand for the utilization of their service department and get similar results. In the RV industry, this is a hit or miss situation, even with the dealer you bought from. Example: Four months after I bought my current RV, the Air Conditioner went out. As is always the case, my family and I were going to a music festival in two days. My dealer told me it would be three weeks to see me, a dealer 5 hours away said I could see them in two weeks. Case, point, and check mate.
RV Service and Parts Departments: Are you aware that most RV service and parts departments are one of the most profitable work groups from a percentage of Sales to Profits in the RV dealership. For every dollar spent by a client, they retain 60%-80% in service and 30%-35% in the parts department, for an average of 55% of every dollar you spend is their profit. In the sales department is low single digits. Now ask yourself, does my RV ever have issues?
When your RV has warranty issues, the manufacturer pays for the repair, right? Correct. However, it seems to take forever. Little known fact here. Most manufacturers approve your repair in 24-48 hours. Then why do you wait 4-8 weeks to get your rig back? Because the service manager is negotiating with the manufacturer for more money. The set amount for all warranty repairs creates a negotiation opportunity between the dealership and the manufacturer. Don’t listen to any other excuses for excessive wait time to make relatively simple repairs by your dealer. It is PURE GREED and we the consumers pay the price with our $350,000.00 RV in a shop for weeks. Call the manufacturer and get to the bottom of this immediately. It is THEIR dealer network. They gave that dealer their product line and franchise. That dealer agreed to the amounts, hourly rates and number of hours given per warranty repair as part of that agreement. Why do WE the consumer pay the price, after WE are in debt for a product that should be all about reducing stress vs. increasing it? GREED and the knowledge that we need the service department more than they need us. How is that for client advocacy.
RV Sales Department: Don’t get me started. Who hires and trains these people. Who insists on a deep level of accurate product knowledge? How does the most disorganized, unprofessional, untrained in client communication, and mis-informed organizations get to be so HUGE? I read other folks blogs and my first thought was, “They just got a bad representative.” Then others say the same things over and over again. It sure seems the bigger the dealerships ground inventory, the bigger the facility, the more seemly unbelievable perks you get from these huge companies; the WORST purchase experience, PDI (pre-delivery inspections), and after sale service experience we the client receive.
I have a potential answer for the above dilemma. First know there are lots of little things that make the experience awful. However, we the consumer, have some blame here. WE allowed it to happen over time. WE don’t complain enough when unfair situations happen to whomever would listen. WE don’t use social media, blogs, review sites, and consumer agencies to force the dealers to do the right thing. WE don’t insist that bad dealers should not get the opportunity to provide a popular brand. WE sell ourselves that going to the factory for simple (and complex) service needs is acceptable and even valuable. We live under the thought that I should buy from a company, because I can communicate with the president/CEO/Owner who will satisfy me. So the dealers sells the rig, the manufacturer has to fix it because the dealers service departments are so bad. WHAT????????
Ok, here are some but not all steps we the consumer, can do, to eliminate these huge organizations that don’t give us the “Ownership Experience” we paid for, were promised and sincerely deserve.
- Don’t buy from a dealers inventory, order the unit from the factory. This is not an impulse purchase. Get what you want, don’t settle. This means any dealer that represents the brand can make the order. You are NOT locked in to huge on the ground inventories.
- If you don’t like the treatment before or after the sale; don’t buy from them again and importantly tell your fellow RVers your experience honestly and in great detail.
- Call the manufacturer sooner vs. later on service issues. One CEO whom I will leave nameless, told a client that he realized his dealer network was really below average. What he did not say was he keeps them because they sell lots of units. Is this the guy I want to call when I have an issue with a dealer? Answer, yes. I have no choice. But knowing how many folks call him is not a benefit to me. It makes me ask, “why does he get so many calls?” Isn’t his team empowered to make similar decision so it never has to get to him. Think about that.
- If you get a bad feeling about a sales consultant, organization or its staff; walk, no run away and “buy an RV another day”.
- Do your due diligence prior to the purchase on brand, model, dealer, reputation, service after the fact, and product knowledge. No one will do it for you. How hard was it to save that money to buy your dream RV. Why are you so quick to give it away?
Product Knowledge: This subject is simply insanely crazy. The websites tell us very little about a RV except it is perfect in every way. To me it almost seems like a “Red Lobster” commercial, sorry the commercial simply does not represent the experience. The brochures tell me even less. Most sales consultants answer questions with alternative-truths and outside accurate sources are extremely hard to find. My personal experience is I had to dig very deep; including but not limited to; telephone calls, articles, blogs, reviews, video’s, and YouTube to get any consistent facts. Literally a hand full of dealers YouTube videos are accurate and just two that I found, focus on how a feature enhances our enjoyment of their RV’s brand or model. Yet I have had an insane number of RV sales consultants tell me they were the best and the top sellers in their brand. The manufactures online videos are all sales and brand fluff. The good stuff is hidden and the video quality is super bad.
So I personally develop a excel spreadsheet “line-item” comparisons of brands, models, features, questions, reputations, and costs (initial and cost of ownership). It takes me weeks, days, hours and minutes to compile this information. Then with my loaded gun’s ready to go, I ask dealership representative very specific and pointed questions. If they lie, I correct them once. If it happens more than one time, I end the phone call. My issue, I am running out of places to buy an RV in the United States of America. Why do I have to lower my standards to spend $350,000.00, WHY???? I have met only three worthy sales consultants in the country. That is a shameful statement to the huge RV industry.
So, this is the RV industry we have. If you are a hobbyist, you know it and live with this complete incompetence. You personally fix things you never thought you could, because you are the best alternative. You put up with frequent rude associates and worst yet managers at the dealer level. You beg and bribe service department to fix your problems quickly, because you are about to leave on a long awaited family trip. You live in consistent fear of trip interruption due to break downs. You educate yourself, because the RV sales consultants are not helpful after the sale and the service department has never realized you are the “client”, because they have a waiting list a yard long. You do all this because “RVing is an addictive drug”. When it is good it is GREAT. You crave it daily, you dream about it and the people you meet during your adventures are simply the best. It literally is a community of owners nicer than any group I have met in my 60 years on this earth. YOU SIMPLY ARE HOOKED.
So, in conclusion my friends. I am seriously considering a major upgrade to my current RV. I have done my due diligence for months now. I have a very strong plan and excellent prices. I have a dealer group that I have a certain level of confidence in my after sales experience. I have the cost of storing the unit and the insurance for the rig. I have got the money to order it TODAY. So why not pull the trigger? I have to sell the most important person in my life on this extremely scary and expensive venture, my wife of 37 years. That subject is NOT one I have ANY level of expertise on, so you are on your own gentlemen. Good luck and I hope I was helpful.
Gary Tilkin has spent the last 40 years as an educator, trainer, author and consultant in the Automobile industry. He has traveled internationally and is highly requested to speak at industry national, regional and state association meetings. His methods are all based on the notion, if the client is happy with the experience, they will buy from your again and tell all their friends. If you make those client disappointed, they will tell everyone they ever met you are awful. If you would like Mr. Tilkin to speak for your organization, meeting or convention, please contact his management booking company at 1.205.540.7371.