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**Cate&Rob** · 12-18-2022, 03:51 PM

Hi Jay,

What you describe is very common in the entire RV industry. Dealers are only obligated by their contract with the manufacturer to service what they sell. Many have service departments that are so small and so busy that they turn away all RVs that they did not sell . . . this is not like car/truck dealers where you can buy at one and expect service at another.

Rob

**Jlawles2** · 12-18-2022, 04:53 PM

As Rob stated, dealers only want to work on what they sell. Now you can play the bargaining game between dealers and try to get a lower price from the closer one.

Even dealers that are part of the "Priority" or some other network will still put you at the end of the line unless you are out of state or XXX miles from home (had a dealer tell me this).

**Jay HHI6818** · 12-18-2022, 06:26 PM

WOW! Lean something new all the time. We had a travel trailer for 7 years and only had it in for service once for hot water tank at the dealer we purchased it from.
We found the exact Reflection 337 RLS at dealer 1.5 hrs away. Dealer 4 miles from house has a 337 but doesn’t have everything we want.

**Cate&Rob** · 12-18-2022, 07:16 PM

Do some research on whichever dealer you are thinking of buying from. There are very few dealers anywhere with a good service reputation.

Rob

**TucsonJim** · 12-19-2022, 12:28 AM

Heck, Some dealers take months to get a slot for service, even if you buy from them. But you are smart and joined this forum so now you have tons of folks standing by to help you maintain and repair it on your own.

Jim

**Scott'n'Wendy** · 12-19-2022, 07:40 AM

Originally posted by Jay HHI6818 View Post

WOW! Lean something new all the time. We had a travel trailer for 7 years and only had it in for service once for hot water tank at the dealer we purchased it from.
We found the exact Reflection 337 RLS at dealer 1.5 hrs away. Dealer 4 miles from house has a 337 but doesn’t have everything we want.

We drove 7-8 hours to a dealer to pick up our 303. I've never been too concerned about the warranty because I learned a long time ago I'll be fixing it myself. I'm not willing to wait a week or two let alone months for service work. Repairs usually aren't hard..... a trailer is just an aluminium and fibreglass box with some appliances and plumbing in it.
GD is very good on sending you part(s) if you provide some proof/documentation of the issue, it is warrant-able, and are willing to do the work yourself.

And I second Jim's post. You will get lots of good help here

**familytruckster4** · 12-19-2022, 09:17 AM

The service model is such that the dealer essentially loses money on repairs. I believe thats the issue with non selling dealers.
My son is a service manager for a marine store, their corporate decided over a year ago to not take ANY warranty work that they did not sell. This isnt a decision made in a vacuum, the OEM's have forced these changes in large part.

**GreggGDMomentum** · 12-19-2022, 09:28 AM

Unfortunately typically manufacturers only pay a certain amount for labor (specific amount of time and per hour only) under covered repairs and I would bet it only covers the dealer cost plus 10% and not profitable for the dealer. I'm in the kitchen and bath world and even though we are a dealer for many items we sell and install if something fails we eat the labor to go to the house and swap out the part...

**COReflection** · 12-19-2022, 11:33 AM

Originally posted by Scott'n'Wendy View Post

We drove 7-8 hours to a dealer to pick up our 303. I've never been too concerned about the warranty because I learned a long time ago I'll be fixing it myself. I'm not willing to wait a week or two let alone months for service work. Repairs usually aren't hard..... a trailer is just an aluminium and fibreglass box with some appliances and plumbing in it.
GD is very good on sending you part(s) if you provide some proof/documentation of the issue, it is warrant-able, and are willing to do the work yourself.

And I second Jim's post. You will get lots of good help here

Totally agree Scott. When I recently purchased my "new to me" 2022 303RLS....there were a couple warranty items that needed addressed. I worked a deal with the selling dealer to send me the parts, I would install them and return the old. Very easy and efficient!

**Jlawles2** · 12-19-2022, 12:06 PM

Unfortunately dealers, even in the auto world, take it in the shorts on warranty work. On RV's, it's a lot more subjective since most of the warranty work is on 3rd party stuff installed by GD. In the Autoworld, computer says it's bad, it gets changed (even if it's not bad) and MFG pays book hours to replace said part, a good tech can beat the book some of the time and this is where he and dealer make money. Unfortunately the diagnostic is only included as a X.XX hrs (usually in minutes) for figuring out what's wrong. In the RV industry, the techs get crap time for finding the problem, then they have to do documentation, and wait for a response, hopefully they get an answer the 1st time and don't need additional documentation. Lets also remember that the dealer has to cover your RV on their insurance while it's on their lot (regardless of what the paperwork says) to an extent.

So the short story is the risk is higher than the reward on warranty work.

**Scott'n'Wendy** · 12-19-2022, 05:39 PM

Originally posted by Jlawles2 View Post

Unfortunately dealers, even in the auto world, take it in the shorts on warranty work. .

Don't think that's quite true..at least here in Canada. A friend of mine runs the Chrysler dealership here...and he claims he gets better money doing warranty work.

**familytruckster4** · 12-19-2022, 06:25 PM

Originally posted by Jlawles2 View Post

Unfortunately dealers, even in the auto world, take it in the shorts on warranty work. On RV's, it's a lot more subjective since most of the warranty work is on 3rd party stuff installed by GD. In the Autoworld, computer says it's bad, it gets changed (even if it's not bad) and MFG pays book hours to replace said part, a good tech can beat the book some of the time and this is where he and dealer make money. Unfortunately the diagnostic is only included as a X.XX hrs (usually in minutes) for figuring out what's wrong. In the RV industry, the techs get crap time for finding the problem, then they have to do documentation, and wait for a response, hopefully they get an answer the 1st time and don't need additional documentation. Lets also remember that the dealer has to cover your RV on their insurance while it's on their lot (regardless of what the paperwork says) to an extent.

So the short story is the risk is higher than the reward on warranty work.

I know that GM has very specific algorithms that the techs must follow. Any variance from that comes back to the tech. Unfortunately the common misconception is that the "computer" tells the tech exactly what to replace. In reality it only tells the tech what the fault code is, from there the tech must follow specific directions on what to check further and then based on those finding a replacement is determined.
I am not naïve enough to think its always followed but once the tech veers away they can be on the hook for parts. A tech that actually wants to make a living will develop time saving skills.

**Jlawles2** · 12-19-2022, 08:57 PM

Originally posted by Scott'n'Wendy View Post

Don't think that's quite true..at least here in Canada. A friend of mine runs the Chrysler dealership here...and he claims he gets better money doing warranty work.

Unless the tech can show the variance. I know several techs that hate warranty work unless they are well versed on the platform and can beat the clock.

**Scott'n'Wendy** · 12-19-2022, 10:10 PM

Originally posted by Jlawles2 View Post

Unless the tech can show the variance. I know several techs that hate warranty work unless they are well versed on the platform and can beat the clock.

Well I don't know the ins and outs of running a dealership. He just says he gets more $ with his mechanics spinning wrenches on Chrysler's dime rather than regular repair work.

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