A Thor dealer refuses to do service work

[HarleyOutlaw]

pghali, you hit the nail on the head. I too shopped at Loe's before I made my purchase. I saved $8000 by going to Texas.

All Thor has to do is refuse to provide new RVs to these dealers and this practice will stop. I have zero confidence that this will happen however.

For what it's worth, Beckley's in Thurmont Maryland scheduled my appointment for warranty work without asking where I purchased from. As long as I'm in this area they will get my business.

[Chance]

If indeed there is a sizable dealer alliance, it could hurt Thor more than the dealers. Dealers typically have other brands so they can substitute to stay in business. Plus they have used inventory and repairs/maintenance. Without dealers to carry their inventory Thor could hurt just as badly if not more so.

[Yosemitebob]

[QUOTE=EV2;25703]Interesting thread. Next time I am shopping, I intend to ask dealership about "servicing my coach while traveling through" before purchase and if they will not honor warranty work from others I will advise that I will have to purchase elsewhere as I could not expect a distant dealer to work on their customers if they will not work on other dealers customers. Goodbye sales.
QUOTE]

I did do just that, at all three major dealers here in Southern California. All of them said any here in So Cal will work on my coach, my choice. But...they can not gurantee that others from around the nation, will work on it not being a local buyer of that dealer. Thor will not gurantee a working dealership, but they will help you find a dealer, and if you are on the road, will even send out a traveling repair service if necessary. This all brings up an interesting question, how about extended warrenty coverage around the nation? I do have extended coverage, and I just checked. They have a network of dealers that they have a working relationship with, so just perhaps it was a good idea to purchase that extra cost. Another interesting tidbit of information I have found is there are a lot of independent service providers, not dealers, that will honor different coach manufactures. Several right here in So Cal. I now shop around for best times (not prices) for in and out for service. These independent service providers tend to give better customer service, as that is pretty much how they make their money. These companies do not sell coaches.

[Beacher]

Originally Posted by dstankov

Something a lot of folks do not know about the RV Industry is the dealer owns (bought and paid for) every RV on their lot before it was delivered to them. ......

Actually, no. That is not the universal arrangement. Especially on the high end DP and 5th wheel inventory.

It all depends upon the volume turnaround that the dealership has historically delivered and the financial relationship with the manufacturer.

For liability protection, no single private individual will normally own millions of dollars worth of unsold new inventory. Financing for the inventory, (motorhomes, Class Cs, 5th wheels, TTs, PopUps), will usually be secured by a privately held holding company. the manufacturer who acts as a finance company, or perhaps even the dealership Corporate business line of credit, (using a line of credit is about as close to traditional financing as it goes). The exception are Class B RVs, which are generally handled just like regular automobiles and may be secured by normal mainstream institutional lending.

It's structured this way so that the dealership itself holds very little liability in the case of business failure, theft, damage, fire, flood, parts pilfering, etc... You may have noticed that a particular dealer's inventory can change almost overnight, almost like magic. It's because they never owned any part of it, they just sell them.

Kinda like "on consignment", like an antique store.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by Beacher

Actually, no. That is not the universal arrangement. Especially on the high end DP and 5th wheel inventory.

It all depends upon the volume turnaround that the dealership has historically delivered and the financial relationship with the manufacturer.

For liability protection, no single private individual will normally own millions of dollars worth of unsold new inventory. Financing for the inventory, (motorhomes, Class Cs, 5th wheels, TTs, PopUps), will usually be secured by a privately held holding company. the manufacturer who acts as a finance company, or perhaps even the dealership Corporate business line of credit, (using a line of credit is about as close to traditional financing as it goes). The exception are Class B RVs, which are generally handled just like regular automobiles and may be secured by normal mainstream institutional lending.

It's structured this way so that the dealership itself holds very little liability in the case of business failure, theft, damage, fire, flood, parts pilfering, etc... You may have noticed that a particular dealer's inventory can change almost overnight, almost like magic. It's because they never owned any part of it, they just sell them.

Kinda like "on consignment", like an antique store.

Actually the dealers go through "floor plan financing" arrangements and often times the manufacturers such as Thor engage in agreements with the financial companies to buy the units back if the dealer defaults or goes into bankruptcy. The arrangements between manufacturer and financial institution are so the dealers can obtain the financing to purchase the units.

GE Commercial Distribution Finance is/was a major player in these arrangements and the industry is not certain what is going to happen with GE spinning off GE Capital and how that spinoff will impact a dealer's ability to finance inventory.

Thor does not own, nor do they finance, the inventory sitting on a dealers lot.

It is these types of arrangements that allow dealers to have the inventory of multiple major competitors sitting side by side on their lots.

I always thought the same about the consignment concept until I started researching publicly traded RV manufacturers for potential investment opportunities. My research has caused me to stay away from the RV segment of the market altogether. There are too many industry wide agreements to rebuy inventory and then resell at a potential lose for me to make an investment in the market.


If anyone is interested google RV floor plan financing and you will see services offered by GE, BoA, and Bank of the West to name a few.

[Beacher]

Originally Posted by dstankov

...My research has caused me to stay away from the RV segment of the market altogether. There are too many industry wide agreements to rebuy inventory and then resell at a potential lose for me to make an investment in the market.....

I completely agree with you.

Many eons ago, (2004-10), I was being aggressively courted by several RV manufacturers to become their CTO, Director of Engineering, or some fabricated fancy title. I'm from the aerospace and manufacturing industries, I'm an "efficiency expert" by trade, and they all wanted to clean up house as the economy was disintegrating.

But, I decided to steer clear of the industry for similar reasons.

Coincidentally, on another thread about "Pricing" in the DRV Luxury Suites section of the board some folks got their panties seriously twisted in a bunch because they could not understand how an RV can possible be sold for more than 40% below MSRP. Your mention of "potential loss" hits the proverbial nail on the head!!

[bevedfelker]

Dave mentioned a dealer working at reduced warranty rates. My Thor dealer (for whom I have no complaints) has an hourly labor rate of $152/hr. So when my Vegas is out of warranty that's what I'll pay for repairs. My Subaru dealer has a labor rate of $102/hr and all his technicians are factory trained. Wonder of the two will require return visits to finally get s repair right? The RV industry seems to have a business model not customer focused in my opinion based on what I read here. Good old 'Whatever the market will bear."

[EA37TS]

Another thing I believe would be interesting to determine is the correlation between dealer floor plan financing and RV consumer financing.

With both of my RV purchases in the past 5 years the dealer beat my approved financing by 1/2 point. Both times the dealer financing was offered by a major player in the floor plan financing arena. Makes a person wonder who the dealer's inventory was financed through.

[sky_blue]

I have posted about this issue before. We are all used to the automobile dealers where the factory requires them to do warranty on any vehicle. Clearly as we have all discovered, this is not true for the RV industry. I used the RV Service Reviews website. Plenty of repair shops will do factory warranty service.

[09 Challenger]

Originally Posted by dstankov

Another thing I believe would be interesting to determine is the correlation between dealer floor plan financing and RV consumer financing.

With both of my RV purchases in the past 5 years the dealer beat my approved financing by 1/2 point. Both times the dealer financing was offered by a major player in the floor plan financing arena. Makes a person wonder who the dealer's inventory was financed through.

That is no different than the auto industry can you get 0% financing from a commercial lender? But you can from the big 3 from the same people who hold their floor plan lines. I don't know any LARGE RV or auto dealer that outright purchase the inventory. They all use some source for floor plan and this usually is accompanied by insurance for flood, hail, theft etc.
If the dealer goes bankrupt the inventory is usually sold or moved to other dealers. I do not know what scares anyone about this GMAC and Chrysler credits problems were not floor plan lines it was the sub prime mortgage biz they got into.

[munrore]

Do you mind mentioning the Thor dealer you located on your own for warranty service other than Leo's? I don't have an immediate need for "local" warranty service but for future reference...

[pghali]

Originally Posted by munrore

Do you mind mentioning the Thor dealer you located on your own for warranty service other than Leo's? I don't have an immediate need for "local" warranty service but for future reference...

Queenstown RV in Beltsville, MD is great. Strangely, theyre a Hyundai dealership and dont sell RVs. But they are a major RV service center.

Schedule service at their storefront. Their service center is a warehouse a few miles away.

[Hugh.vines@att.net]

Come to Chattanooga TN our dealer works on any rv that comes in the door. Bought mine in sc. No problem. They do give priority to broke down travelers since they are right on i75. I've had no problems on warrenty work. On my second windshield and they worked with me to make sure Thor paid full cost. Haven't spent a dime on service yet. I just wish windshield problem would go away.

[dave-g]

RV dealers are in business to make money- they have a policy of no warranty service if you did not buy from them to encourage you to buy there.
If you travel 1000-3000 miles to save 3-30k when you buy your rv- plan on paying for service (even in warranty) and make a guess if it will be worth it.

The world is full of discounters that muddy the waters of pricing for good dealers.

[Kev]

Originally Posted by bevedfelker

Dave mentioned a dealer working at reduced warranty rates. My Thor dealer (for whom I have no complaints) has an hourly labor rate of $152/hr. So when my Vegas is out of warranty that's what I'll pay for repairs. My Subaru dealer has a labor rate of $102/hr and all his technicians are factory trained. Wonder of the two will require return visits to finally get s repair right? The RV industry seems to have a business model not customer focused in my opinion based on what I read here. Good old 'Whatever the market will bear."

I am also in central Florida and my dealers rate is 199.00 an hour. Can u tell me the dealer who is 152/hr.
Thanks,
Kev

[echuck66]

I would think a dealer would want to do the work whether the customer bought their RV from them or not. After all, you never know if the customer you help out will be a future customer who wants to upgrade or not.

Normally, dealerships get the right to sell a manufacturer's product and agree to service any of the manufacturer's units as a condition of being able to see the product in the first place.

[EA37TS]

If I were faced with paying dealer labor rates I would seriously consider finding a reputable mobile tech. The one I used in Charleston, SC early last year was excellent and his rate was 90.00 per hour, and he came to my location rather than me go to him.

[mcr1010]

Not sure where in central FL you are, but if you need some repair, I can recommend Rob at MR RV in Ocala. He has a mobile service and comes to you. Not sure what his hourly rate is, but he spent at over an hour on my furnace, trouble shooting, taking it apart and cleaning. $75 service call, $47.50 labor.

[HarleyOutlaw]

Originally Posted by munrore

Do you mind mentioning the Thor dealer you located on your own for warranty service other than Leo's? I don't have an immediate need for "local" warranty service but for future reference...

I ended up going to Beckley's over in Thurmont.

We are currently work camping in Gettysburg and they are pretty close to us. They can be slow getting parts but I guess that's pretty universal as well. So far they are sorting out our issues.

[HarleyOutlaw]

A little update on this subject.


I contacted Thor via their FB page and sent a rather long message. I outlined my issues, stated that i felt their QC was severely lacking as most of my issues should not have left the factory and mentioned Leos refusing to help.

They asked for more details about that and said they would look into it further. I asked to be kept in the loop and updated and they said they would. It's only been a few days since then and I don't expect much to happen but we'll see.