WARNING: Thor and NIRVC Repairs Under Warranty

[Karl404]

I received this today from my local NIRVC maintenance department: "Unfortunately, effective last Friday 1/28/22 we are no longer doing Thor warranty due to issues with them paying claims."

This applies to the NIRVC in Las Vegas, but it may be worth checking before taking your rig in elsewhere.

Unfortunately, this was sent to me in mid-process (had already waited for an appointment, been told that NIRVC had corresponded with Thor regarding my warranty and getting it extended due to their wait time, had my warranty expire while I waited, took rig out of storage and into NIRVC to get an estimate last Thursday, put rig back into storage while waiting for NIRVC to get warranty work approved, and now can't get NIRVC to give me info on their contact at Thor or what was submitted to Thor).

Yes, am frustrated, and yes, am contacting Thor directly to identify next steps.

[taylorbob1]

Obviously, you’re in a “special circumstances” situation.
Suggest you take good notes with all the dates highlighted.
THOR will probably send you to another dealer in your area.
Or
As others have done…you can drive to the plant and THOR will do all the repairs at the factory.

Good luck and please keep us posted.

[Lt Keefer]

Why does everyone think driving to the factory for warranty repairs is an acceptable practice?

[Jimbo56]

What needs fixed? Who is NRVIC? What is your year, make and model? Need more info. Otherwise who knows.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Lt Keefer

Why does everyone think driving to the factory for warranty repairs is an acceptable practice?

My take is that those that state do so as a last resort option. Think of it this way, what is Thor would NOT take and service calls. That belief does not have to mean endorsing inferior quality or service; rather a way out. Now what I am waiting to read is the RV Owner that had issue took it to Thor and still reported problems

Originally Posted by Jimbo56

What needs fixed? Who is NRVIC? What is your year, make and model? Need more info. Otherwise who knows.

National Indoor RV Centers, I live with 4 miles of one. I never did anything with them but I visited them a few times shopping around, my perception is they are high end and very expensive. They have huge operations and a lot of bills to pay

[Travelin' Texans]

Is that ALL of THOR or just THOR motorhomes.
Thor is the parent company of about 80-90% of every rv on the road, towable & motorized.

[saddlesore]

Originally Posted by Karl404

I received this today from my local NIRVC maintenance department: "Unfortunately, effective last Friday 1/28/22 we are no longer doing Thor warranty due to issues with them paying claims."

This applies to the NIRVC in Las Vegas, but it may be worth checking before taking your rig in elsewhere.

This statement would make Me VERY LEERY....IF Thor is slow pay or refusing to pay justified warranty claims...
And considering the number and Financial stress of buying/assuming brands in the last year or two.... Are they in a "Pre" financial bind???
I've had an employer or three go bust on me because they financially over extended themselves by taking control of their competitors.. outright purchase/assumption of debt/merge....
The first signs were slow pay or refusal to pay outside vendors..or signs that their vendors place them on prepay or COD.
off my soap box.

[Jimbo56]

Thor reimbursed me twice in spring and early summer of 2020 when they were shut down. Makes me wonder if it’s a dealer issue.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by Travelin' Texans

Is that ALL of THOR or just THOR motorhomes.
Thor is the parent company of about 80-90% of every rv on the road, towable & motorized.

Different entities pay their own warranty claims. When most folks say Thor they mean Thor Motor Coach and not Thor Industries.

NIRVC is the largest dealer for high end Entegra pushers. I’ll bet they didn’t stop doing Entegra warranty work.

BRW, I have heard of dealers that will sell but not service Tiffins (before the Thor acquisition) and disclose this to buyers before purchase.

[Bob Denman]

Originally Posted by Travelin' Texans

Is that ALL of THOR or just THOR motorhomes.
Thor is the parent company of about 80-90% of every rv on the road, towable & motorized.

Ummmm... maybe half of that percentage...

[Chateau_Nomad]

Originally Posted by EA37TS

Different entities pay their own warranty claims. When most folks say Thor they mean Thor Motor Coach and not Thor Industries.

NIRVC is the largest dealer for high end Entegra pushers. I’ll bet they didn’t stop doing Entegra warranty work.

BRW, I have heard of dealers that will sell but not service Tiffins (before the Thor acquisition) and disclose this to buyers before purchase.

It's just convenient legal/financial semantics. Just because Mom & Pop can write off Junior on their taxes doesn't absolve them of ultimate responsibility of Junior's actions. It's well known that corporations create subsidiaries and offshoots/structures of the "parent corporation" for financial purposes. Follow the cash trail... it always leads back to the parent corporation.

My intent is not to make derogatory comments about Thor or any other corporation, but just clarifying and stating facts. No dog in the fight here... I'm happy with our Thor coach. We "lucked in" before all the madness hit at the end of 2019 / beginning of 2020.

[BReith]

Good afternoon

I apologize for the miscommunication from our Las Vegas personnel. The post is a bit misleading, and has been corrected at our Las Vegas NIRVC location. We apologize for any confusion.*NIRVC will do warranty work on any Thor Motorhome! However, as with any manufacturer the customer is ultimately responsible for any difference between NIRVC’s charge for a repair, and what the manufacturer approves and pays for the repair. This policy is no different than any other manufacturer NIRVC performs warranty work for.

Regards,
Bill Reith
Chief Operating Officer*

Originally Posted by Karl404

I received this today from my local NIRVC maintenance department: "Unfortunately, effective last Friday 1/28/22 we are no longer doing Thor warranty due to issues with them paying claims."

This applies to the NIRVC in Las Vegas, but it may be worth checking before taking your rig in elsewhere.

Unfortunately, this was sent to me in mid-process (had already waited for an appointment, been told that NIRVC had corresponded with Thor regarding my warranty and getting it extended due to their wait time, had my warranty expire while I waited, took rig out of storage and into NIRVC to get an estimate last Thursday, put rig back into storage while waiting for NIRVC to get warranty work approved, and now can't get NIRVC to give me info on their contact at Thor or what was submitted to Thor).

Yes, am frustrated, and yes, am contacting Thor directly to identify next steps.

[EA37TS]

So, if the warranty labor rate is 100.00 and NIRVC’s normal rate is 135.00 per hour the customer gets to pay the 35.00 per hour.

Talk about a crock of crap. Anyone buying a new
RV knowing those conditions deserves every headache involved.

What other dealers try doing that.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by EA37TS

So, if the warranty labor rate is 100.00 and NIRVC’s normal rate is 135.00 per hour the customer gets to pay the 35.00 per hour.

Talk about a crock of crap. Anyone buying a new
RV knowing those conditions deserves every headache involved.

What other dealers try doing that.

Good point, I missed that. I guess there is difference between a Dealer doing warranty work versus the Dealer honoring a mfg warranty.

I guess it is not clear to me, if NIRVC is an Authorized TMC Dealer / Service Center. This underscores why I never care for warranties (especially extended). I rather go to a service center of my choice and pay for what I want to get done. I don't have to wait or hope for RV Mfg to approve of anything.

[MLP]

The independent RV repair facility I use does only one manufacture warranty per month, and is considering not doing any. It takes 120 to 180 days to get paid and they may go back and forth for weeks on the cost of the fix. The manufactures want to pay what it takes to do the job as if the rig was on the assembly line with everything exposed. They are tired of it and of loosing money to try and gain an new customer. My other independent RV repair facility has eliminated more than one manufacture that they will do new warranty on. I had to change do to three to four months waiting to get in. The one I now use has a one to two month waiting list. Both do fantastic work. You get your rig back quickly and correctly repaired.

[Karl404]

As requested, here is an update.

I called Mr. Reith directly after he posted here. He was kind, helpful, and intervened on our behalf.

I then received calls from the GM at NIRVC Las Vegas and the head of the paint/body shop at NIRVC Las Vegas. Evidently, behind the scenes, there has been some clarification - they would indeed take in our rig and do the repair as long as we paid any difference between Thor's reimbursement and their bill.

This was not what we were told initially (anyone wishing to can see the email exchange where we were told that they would not do repair work under warranty and that we would be responsible for prepaying and then submitting the paperwork for reimbursement to Thor).

Ultimately, they completed the repair, did it well, and we paid $88 of the $813 bill. NIRVC submitted the paperwork to Thor and handled the warranty claim. And, their repair is warrantied for life which is useful since the fender flares were peeling off after less than a year.

The outcome is great. Mr. Reith was fantastic at advocating and resolving. Harrison in the paint and body shop was customer-focused throughout.

Sort of bummed that the resolution only came about because I posted on here as that was not my intent. I didn't mean to point a finger at NIRVC, but rather to elevate concerns about Thor and its payment of warranty claims. Ultimately, NIRVC had some considerable internal communications problems and, hopefully, those will not be repeated for others.

[The Gritz Carlton]

Originally Posted by Lt Keefer

Why does everyone think driving to the factory for warranty repairs is an acceptable practice?

The more logical question is..."why do you think it is not?". It's very acceptable..."why should someone HAVE to drive to the factory to get it done right the first time" is the real question. Dealers are independent sales outlets...not service supporters of the products they sell.

[Beau388]

Originally Posted by The Gritz Carlton

The more logical question is..."why do you think it is not?". It's very acceptable..."why should someone HAVE to drive to the factory to get it done right the first time" is the real question. Dealers are independent sales outlets...not service supporters of the products they sell.

Agree totally. The RV sales model was developed in the travel era and has not changed. You can thank VW and Lexus for the car sales model. Before then, the corner service station did all the maintenance and repairs for the family. The Ford dealership where I worked in 1953-4 (only dealership in city of 45,000) had two service bays and did not do any collision repair.

In San Antonio when I was looking to have the Hurricane repaired after a nasty side swipe, I shopped around as the insurance company was paying for the repair. Texas RV has the labor price listed at $78 per hour, Camping World at $75, Ancira RV at $90 and Iron Horse RV at $135 per hour. At that time Thor MC was paying $60 per hour for warranty repairs. Iron Horse took the coach a week later and had it ready in two weeks. Thor MC supplied all the body parts and decals. The paint matched perfectly. The total insurance bill was $15,400.

[chunker21]

Originally Posted by The Gritz Carlton

The more logical question is..."why do you think it is not?". It's very acceptable..."why should someone HAVE to drive to the factory to get it done right the first time" is the real question. Dealers are independent sales outlets...not service supporters of the products they sell.

My question on this is why would anyone think that a factory who couldn't get it right the first time they had it would be able to to repair it satisfactorily later?

[taylorbob1]

Let’s do the math…
2,000 miles to the factory @ 10mpg = 200 gallons
200 gal x $3.75 per gal (approx price today) = $750 x 2 = $1500 total

Now, once I’m there I’ll need to get a motel + meals

Bottomline…it’s not a cheap trip