General RV Center Opens Inspection Facility in Bristol, Ind.

MoonShadow_1911 said:
This is interesting... I wonder how much it will affect the end cost of a new unit? Don't get me wrong, I think this is a GREAT idea!

https://rvbusiness.com/general-rv-center-opens-inspection-facility-in-bristol-ind/
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Just read this article in an email sent to me! Wow, maybe with all the influx of money into the RV industry we will finally see some change! I am sure you will have to pay a little more for an RV from General RV, but if it saves taking it back for warranty work, it would be well worth it to me!

I also, just read an article I thought was intriguing. They have come out with an APP that lets you calculate the weights of your trailer, TV, and tongue weight without going to a scale! Has a little box you plug into your TV and go though some motions and maneuvers and it calculates everything for a proper set up using your smartphone! The guy writing the article said he had tried it over a couple of months and it was surprisingly accurate! It is called the Betterweigh system!
 
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Yeah, they have planning that for a couple years now.

Because they have so many dealerships all over the place, it makes it easier on the dealership to deliver the unit.

Not really anything groundbreaking, but takes the PDI out of the actual physical selling location.

(as long as nothing goes wrong on the 600 mile or whatever tow to the dealership)
 
PTParker said:
Just read this article in an email sent to me! Wow, maybe with all the influx of money into the RV industry we will finally see some change! I am sure you will have to pay a little more for an RV from General RV, but if it saves taking it back for warranty work, it would be well worth it to me!

I also, just read an article I thought was intriguing. They have come out with an APP that lets you calculate the weights of your trailer, TV, and tongue weight without going to a scale! Has a little box you plug into your TV and go though some motions and maneuvers and it calculates everything for a proper set up using your smartphone! The guy writing the article said he had tried it over a couple of months and it was surprisingly accurate! It is called the Betterweigh system!
Click to expand...

I read about the Betterweigh system also. It is intriguing but they claim it has a an accuracy of +/- 5%. That's 350 pounds on a 7,000 pound TT. It's not going to help anyone on the margins.
 
So theoretically when you get your trailer on a shake down trip nothing will go wrong. Between the manufacturer quality predelivery inspections and Gen RV doing their own inspection before the trailer gets to the dealer lot, the unit should be flawless. Hopeful, but not going to happen.
 
It’s also a great money and efficiency move for General. By doing the inspections where the units a manufactured you are able to either send the unit back to the manufacturer for repairs and it’s likely at some point the manufacturer will put techs on site for issues that come up. This saves the dealerships on tech hours, arguments with the manufactures reps and lessens the number of customer problems. Nipping it at the bud is a great business move.
 
I wonder if this will tempt the manufacturers to "back off" on the PDI's they do in house now? I have seen the inside of a 5th wheel right after delivery to the dealer (it was a Keystone Cougar). There was stuff hanging EVERYWHERE. Virtually all of the trim, some of the recessed lighting and other stuff. That was two years ago. I thought that was terrible then - what happens if they let down more, knowing someone down the line will fix things for them? I mean they do now, but it's more the visible/obvious stuff. What about the less obvious, hidden types of things? Just a thought, and I hope it never happens. This thing by General can go either way, I just hope it goes toward improvement.
 
MoonShadow_1911 said:
This is interesting... I wonder how much it will affect the end cost of a new unit? Don't get me wrong, I think this is a GREAT idea!

https://rvbusiness.com/general-rv-center-opens-inspection-facility-in-bristol-ind/
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting concept that I think makes great business sense. One of the benefits is it will free up the PDI time at their service centers so those technicians can do more repairs. RV owners might actually be able to get repairs made in a timely manner. We'll see how it works out but it makes sense in my mind to catch the problems sooner than later. If an RV unit is really bad they can kick back to the manufacturer without added transportation costs. They may be more likely to send back a lemon instead of trying to 'fix' too many things.
 
OurNewEra said:
They may be more likely to send back a lemon instead of trying to 'fix' too many things.
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The only way out of a lemon is to walk away not complete the deal. I believe the dealer pays for that trailer up front.

General trailer did not have a pdi charge when we bought ours
 
WhittleBurner said:
The only way out of a lemon is to walk away not complete the deal. I believe the dealer pays for that trailer up front.

General trailer did not have a pdi charge when we bought ours
Click to expand...

Does General Trailer sell Grand Design ?
 
fmartinmn said:
Please elaborate?
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The deal they offered me was a joke.

Decent price ++++ $5K in junk fees.

I purchased elsewhere for a price I am happy with.

These are the same people the wanted to charge $5K over the show price for another unit between the Tampa and Jacksonville show.

It's all good. Just do your research.
 
Decent price ++++ $5K in junk fees.
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Our exact same experience with their VA dealership. A competitive, although not the best, 28% off MSRP then added back $5K in fees + $1495 freight/delivery. That would have to be an incredible PDI to make up the $6500+ difference on the unit we ordered.
 
MoonShadow_1911 said:
This is interesting... I wonder how much it will affect the end cost of a new unit? Don't get me wrong, I think this is a GREAT idea!

https://rvbusiness.com/general-rv-center-opens-inspection-facility-in-bristol-ind/
Click to expand...

I don't believe this concept is a new one. I know that our Canadian dealer, and have been told other dealers too, have for years used various third-party facilities in the area of the GD factory to do PDI on GD trailers before they leave the area to start their long journeys to dealer lots.

This PDI step obviously catches issues and saves dealers money else the dealers would not be paying for it, but our experience says that a WHOLE lot gets missed there too. Our trailer, supposedly inspected at the factory, at a third-party site near the factory, and at the dealer after it arrived, had over 50 warranty issues, many of them REALLY obvious in the first couple of days of using the trailer.

So General RV setting up their own dedicated PDI facility is probably new in that it's dedicated to them... smaller dealers couldn't afford that. Hopefully it will do a better job than the third-party inspection sites employed by some of the smaller dealers.
 
On our new 2800bh, we caught most of the issues at time of purchase and on our first shakedown trip. What we found tells me that someone blew the pdi off at the factory and at the dealer which makes Gd marketing regarding pdi accomplishment total bull in our case. Getting all the parts ordered and sent in a timely manner has been a bit of a challenge with Gd. Some items showed up fast, others were missing from orders and other items the dealer says that Gd was difficult with approving them. Next time we purchase an rv product, we will be shopping a lot more brands and options vs going for a Gd product because of their reputation. Disappointed is putting it nicely with our Gd ownership experience so far (2 out of three months it has sat at the dealer to address all the issues we found which are close to fifty)
 
JetTech said:
On our new 2800bh, we caught most of the issues at time of purchase and on our first shakedown trip. What we found tells me that someone blew the pdi off at the factory and at the dealer which makes Gd marketing regarding pdi accomplishment total bull in our case. Getting all the parts ordered and sent in a timely manner has been a bit of a challenge with Gd. Some items showed up fast, others were missing from orders and other items the dealer says that Gd was difficult with approving them. Next time we purchase an rv product, we will be shopping a lot more brands and options vs going for a Gd product because of their reputation. Disappointed is putting it nicely with our Gd ownership experience so far (2 out of three months it has sat at the dealer to address all the issues we found which are close to fifty)
Click to expand...

I like the option a few larger dealers provide of spending first night or two on site to really check all systems. That seems like a better way than a PDI and then driving off the lot. The incentive is still there to get things fixed as part of the sale and not under warranty. At least that is my impression. Could be wrong. Trying to work out a local shakedown stay near our selling dealer (4 hr away) when our unit is delivered at the end of May. Or considering hiring out for an independent inspection.

On our 312, we did an extensive PDI, or so we thought. Even had my spreadsheet checklist. But in the moment and excitement of delivery, things get missed. The list of warranty issues started off around 4 or 5, and then escalated to close to 50 items over the next several months. Our coach was at the dealer for so long, GD extended our warranty 6 mo. I had to ask for that though; it wasn’t offered.
 
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