There have been some recent articles and vlogs talking about RV quality lately
and in this video we're gonna talk about it we are Charity, Ben Dakota and Trinity. We decided
we didn't want to wait for a life of adventure so in 2017 we bought our first rv and set off to live
a life of travel in the USA we've visited over 38 states in three years and have many more to go
follow along to learn all the best places to see RV and travel tips and much more
So rvtravel.com and many other vloggers have been talking about rv quality and it's no
secret that with supply chain and shipping shortages rv manufacturers have an uphill battle
ahead of them but what we find curious is that many people are just now talking about quality
issues and we've noticed that many newer rv's have actually been lacking in quality for quite a while
to really understand kind of the why and how of quality when it comes to rvs it's important to
understand a few things about how rvs are made now if you've ever seen a video clip about how
automakers make cars and trucks you understand it's an assembly line process and many aspects
of an assembly line process are automated this means there's robotics and other machinery that's
actually installing the same bolt in the same hole time after time after time and even when
you have a manual labor process on an assembly line there's less margin for error because it's
the same process over and over and over so rvs are manufactured pretty different than a car process
and many rvs are actually manufactured by the same parent company and they're manufactured in
elkhart interesting fact by 2007 thor industries owned over half of the american rv industry
followed by forest river and rev group now think about the vastly different types of rvs right
you have motorized class a class c b vans and then you have all of the towables so
fifth wheels and travel trailers and pop-ups and then all sorts of these like hybrids that
are crossed between a pop-up and a travel trailer or just different types of configurations that are
coming out so there's dozens of floor plans and options to the thousands of different
types of rvs ultimately what this means is that during the manufacturing process which is done
mostly manually is that it's not as repetitive as the same bolt in the same hole
over and over unlike with an assembly line process with auto manufacturing not having this repetitive
process makes for a larger possibility of human error and this doesn't even account for the fact
that many rv manufacturers just simply can't keep up with demand right now i don't know
about you but when i'm rushed and pushed to get a task done it ends up being done with more of a
good enough and that'll work kind of mentality versus like a standard of that was my best work or
i did that to perfection we've noticed the quality of rvs for a while now since
getting our start with rv living in the last four years we've visited dealer lots and
rv shows and we've walked through dozens and dozens of brand new rvs and we've noticed that
even with these brand new rvs there's things like cabinet doors falling off or trim that's
cracking and doors coming off of hinges and many more of these types of things obviously
what we've observed are more of fit and finish type of items which are relatively minor because
when you walk through a new unit that's all that you can really see or test out are just
those things that you can see we've talked to numerous other rvers who've purchased new
and ended up with a long list of issues beyond fit and finish things like the fridge not even working
or worse yet water leaks on a brand new rv which of course costs tens of thousands and maybe even
hundreds of thousands in some cases and then of course to be placed on a months-long wait list
to even get their rvs repaired now i don't know about you but i couldn't even imagine buying a
new car and immediately having issues that affect being able to use that car and then being told hey
by the way we can get your car fixed but we need about three to four months to get that done so
just leave your car here with us for you know the next three four months and we'll just let you
know when we're done of course that won't happen because in most states as soon as your vehicle is
out of service for more than 30 consecutive days it's eligible to be purchased back through lemon
laws now lemon law when it comes to rvs is a bit more tricky and there are so many different laws
in different states with different exclusions many of which are exclusions that apply coverage
to only the chassis and exclude non-living areas maybe you've run into the issue and you'll have
to let us know in the comments below what your experience has been with getting warranty work
completed on your rv and you don't have to dig too far online to start seeing comments in facebook
groups and other online forums where people are sharing the rv dream turned rv nightmare all due
to poor quality issues so what does one to do well there's no easy answers but in this video
we're just going to share our personal opinion and please remember that this is our personal opinion
you may agree you may disagree and you can let us know in the comments below either way
now we've chosen to buy used with both the rvs we've owned there are several reasons why we went
this route of buying used but one benefit we've seen with used is that the previous owners have
kind of had a chance to work out some of those kinks or quality issues that might have existed
now this is our personal opinion and just observation after talking with other rv owners
that have been made with various rv manufacturers in different years seems like we're getting kind
of the same story so with the quality issues we're facing with new rvs right now it might be a good
idea if you are purchasing a new rv to still get a certified rv inspector to check it out before you
take delivery it could save you a major headache later on down the road and of course when buying
used it is a best practice to get an inspection before purchasing not that an inspection is going
to catch all potential concerns but it will help to catch anything that's currently existing and
present just so that you know what you're getting into before you get into it most of the time when
you purchase a large cost item you take it to a mechanic for it to have a once over and it's best
to do the same when purchasing an rv even if you are purchasing new right now so let us know in the
comments if you've ever hired an rv inspector and what your experience was and how it went we always
love reading your comments and hearing what others are experiencing out there don't forget we have
a big giveaway going on right now it will end on october the 15th we're giving away two soft star
rvs you can learn more about why we love soft star rv and enter the giveaway at gratefulglamper.com
forward slash giveaway or check it out on the link below be sure to visit our website for more rv and
travel tips and our new partners page which has a ton of discounts that we've been able to partner
with businesses for and secure for our viewers so check that out at the link below as well and
this doesn't i'm getting hair in my mouth issues okay what we've observed or more of a
it's a bug on my nose when you say we you and the mouse in your pocket okay
it's eligible but we've chosen to buy used
it was a larger bug it was just a ladybug that's all it was ladybug
we've chosen
i know the vicious ladybug the vicious florida ladybug
and there are several different reasons why we rent this rent
thank you so much for watching this video we greatly appreciate it if you learned something new
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we would greatly appreciate that if you would like to see more videos with fun places to travel
on your next trip out you can check those out right over here and if you would like to learn
more about just rv tips tricks hacks maintenance you can check those out right over here until next
time if we don't see on the road or around the campground we'll see in the next video