Out of Province/Country Warranty Work

[Mr. Kelley]

Hi,

As a future full-time RVer, I am curious if warranty work must be done at the RV dealership where the rig was purchased or can it be completed at a local dealer in the province or state where we happen to be at the time? We live in Ontario and plan to spend 6 months touring Canada and the other 6 months travelling in the US.

As always, your insight is appreciated.

Cheers!
Kelley

[Country Campers]

Kelley,

You do not have to have warranty work done at your selling dealer, this can be done at any dealer or even a mobile tech. The "gotcha" part is that dealers that did not sell you the RV will put you at the end of the line, taking care of their own sold RV's is their preference. But with that said all dealers are experiencing short staffing issues as well as larger quantities of RV work that is needed by owners. This has put dealers in a spot where you may wait 2,3 months or even longer to get a repair. This is where a mobile tech may come in handy. If it is warranty work you will need to get this approved, either by a dealer or a mobile tech, before GD will pay the claim, or even a component manufacture.

Brian

[howson]

As always, your insight is appreciated.

In addition to what Brian wrote, be aware that it is quite common for mobile techs to charge a "service fee". This is not labor, it's the cost of them coming to you. If GD approves a non-dealer repair, they will not reimburse the "service fee". That will be 100% out of your pocket.

Additionally, don't be surprised if the mobile tech will only work on your unit if you pay the total cost of the repair (parts + labor + service fee) and leave the reimbursement effort (from GD) in your hands.

Howard

[Ebkent62]

In Texas, only a dealer that sells Grand Design RVs can do warranty work, so you end up with the dealer having your RV for a couple of months especially if you didn’t buy from that dealer (not a fan of Holiday World here in Texas). I was told this was due to laws relating to car dealerships in Texas that included RV dealers. Grand Design customer service can authorize a mobile tech could do warranty work, but won’t authorize at another RV dealer that doesn’t sell new Grand Design RVs. Bought my RV from Lazy Days up in Knoxville, TN and they have service location near Houston,(Waller), TX, but couldn’t have warranty work done there since they don’t sell GD RVs. Point being different states can have different laws relating to warranty work.

[Cate&Rob]

I think the message here is that if you need warranty repairs somewhere other than your selling dealer . . . start with a call to Grand Design Customer Service. If you follow their advice on how to solve the problem, everything will go much easier.

Rob

[Mr. Kelley]

Kelley,

You do not have to have warranty work done at your selling dealer, this can be done at any dealer or even a mobile tech. The "gotcha" part is that dealers that did not sell you the RV will put you at the end of the line, taking care of their own sold RV's is their preference. But with that said all dealers are experiencing short staffing issues as well as larger quantities of RV work that is needed by owners. This has put dealers in a spot where you may wait 2,3 months or even longer to get a repair. This is where a mobile tech may come in handy. If it is warranty work you will need to get this approved, either by a dealer or a mobile tech, before GD will pay the claim, or even a component manufacture.

Brian

There is always a "gotcha" isn't there?

[Mr. Kelley]

In addition to what Brian wrote, be aware that it is quite common for mobile techs to charge a "service fee". This is not labor, it's the cost of them coming to you. If GD approves a non-dealer repair, they will not reimburse the "service fee". That will be 100% out of your pocket.

Additionally, don't be surprised if the mobile tech will only work on your unit if you pay the total cost of the repair (parts + labor + service fee) and leave the reimbursement effort (from GD) in your hands.

Howard

This is good insight, thanks!

[Mr. Kelley]

Grand Design customer service can authorize a mobile tech could do warranty work, but won’t authorize at another RV dealer that doesn’t sell new Grand Design RVs.

That actually makes sense, thanks for your insight.

[Mr. Kelley]

I think the message here is that if you need warranty repairs somewhere other than your selling dealer . . . start with a call to Grand Design Customer Service. If you follow their advice on how to solve the problem, everything will go much easier.

Rob

THANK-YOU. This is excellent advice.

[Beachcamper]

We have been fulltime now 6 years. I have never been back to selling dealer and in our first year had only mobile techs work on warranty work. GD usually would send us the part needed or reimbursed if tech or I purchased it. They will not pay for the trip charge and that varies from $50-300 per travel day depending on your location but do pay for the diagnostic and labor rate per hour. Because these fees are so expensive for us in this remote location during winter we would do the labor ourselves and GD would send parts for free. Also, Lippert has sent us parts as well so this is an option if you are handy.

Know that the other components in your RV are covered with the manufacturers that provided them to GD. Your refrigerator and air conditioners for example have separate warranties and some are for two years not one. So make sure to read your manual and make a list of all your appliances, etc and who to call when something goes wrong, Again, they will pay for labor and parts not travel charge.

[Mr. Kelley]

We have been fulltime now 6 years. I have never been back to selling dealer and in our first year had only mobile techs work on warranty work. GD usually would send us the part needed or reimbursed if tech or I purchased it. They will not pay for the trip charge and that varies from $50-300 per travel day depending on your location but do pay for the diagnostic and labor rate per hour. Because these fees are so expensive for us in this remote location during winter we would do the labor ourselves and GD would send parts for free. Also, Lippert has sent us parts as well so this is an option if you are handy.

Know that the other components in your RV are covered with the manufacturers that provided them to GD. Your refrigerator and air conditioners for example have separate warranties and some are for two years not one. So make sure to read your manual and make a list of all your appliances, etc and who to call when something goes wrong, Again, they will pay for labor and parts not travel charge.

Great insight Vivian, thanks!