We have been an RV dealer since 1972. We survived the '73 gas crisis, the '79 gas shortage and 21% flooring costs that followed shortly thereafter. We have sold every type of product built at one time or another. Needless to say there have been a lot of changes both in product and manufacturer/dealer relationships.

The current state of affairs has caused us to be a little wary of the future of this industry. If you analyze the actual number of RVs built and sold today (disregarding conversion vehicles, which are not true RVs) you find that the unit volume has de-creased since the late 70's. Shouldn't we be growing?

I feel a couple of things have caused this decline.

The first is the increasing cost and complexity of the product (do we really need slideouts in fold downs?). The second is the apparent inability of most manufacturers to build a reliable quality product sold and serviced through a customer service oriented dealer.

The first issue may be market driven by consumer de-mands and therefore not really an issue (although I feel the industry often builds what they think should be sold and not what the consumer really wants). When was the last time a manufacturer actually asked a group of potential customers what kind of product we should be building?

The second issue is one that if not addressed immediately will cause the ultimate demise of an industry that has terrific potential. I recently had a conversation with the owner of a mid-sized, semi-high-end fifth wheel manufacturer. We sell a related line of 5th wheels and an owner of one of the aforementioned products called and asked if we would do some warranty work for him, to which we readily agreed. This customer had purchased his unit from a large dealer in another state and had a few comments as to the service aspect of this dealer. When taking delivery of his new $40,000 5th wheel, he asked if a dirty roof could be washed and requested that an adjustment be made to the hitch so that the unit would tow level. Both requests were denied.

Now, if this had been the first complaint I heard about this dealership, I would dismiss it as someone having a bad day. However, this was the fourth incident of "lousy service" from this dealer that we heard about in the last 60 days. Bear in mind, this dealer is 1,500 miles from us. The real eye opener came when I had the conversation with the owner of this manufacturer relating to permission to perform the warranty work. I made the comment about the service reputation of this dealer to which he replied "that's neither here nor there, they sell a lot of units". That pretty much sums up the general attitude of manufacturers today. And therein lies the problem. This attitude that seems pervasive throughout this industry always surfaces when times are good. Damn the service, let's sell some units! Damn the reliability, we're going to build them cheap and make a fast buck.

I think a lot of RV buyers become discouraged, either due to the poor quality of the unit or due to the lousy after-the-sale service. Then they relay this to their friends, who then decide to buy a boat, a hot tub, or a vacation in Hawaii, anything instead of an RV and go through what their friend did.

There is some small satisfaction in the knowledge that when this industry has its next downturn it will be the mega-dealers (that the manufacturers now love), that cause the biggest financial losses to the manufacturers, assuming history repeats itself. So, to all you "mom and pops" out there, take care of your customers, love em to death and your day in the sun will come again.

Darwin L. Maitland, Jr.
DG Recreational Sales
Caldwell, Idaho

RVN