RVBusiness, May/June 2017
Right now our industry is robust but we have a few things happening We see some interest rate hikes and we were told here at our meetings that we should expect two more interest rate hikes this year one in June and one in September I dont think the average dealer is thinking about that but its going to come straight off the dealerships Thats on both sides the manufacturers and dealers Right now parts availability is just a huge issue trying to get the right parts and trying to get them OEMs just to approve and pay our warranty he added Thats where the auto dealers focus the most you know taking care of that consumer In a perfect world you know we should all want to do warranty work for other dealers customers But you dont want to touch that right now because theres no money in it Bretz wholeheartedly agreed noting that theres too much finger pointing that goes on among suppliers and manufacturers The consumer experience in this in the warranty claims process industry is not measuring up to the expectation of the consumer They live in a world where the TV doesnt break They take their Lexus or their Chevy into the dealership and they get taken care of to the detriment of the consumers RV experience The guy whos driving down the road who can only go 20 miles an hour doesnt really give a crap about the warranty claims process said Bretz who recently was named 2017 Montana State Small Business Person of the Year He just wants somebody to take care of his motorhome He finally gets it fixed only to find out that nobody but him is going to pay for it So if you could wave a magic wand to improve the industry the 58 RVBusiness M A Y J U N E 2 0 1 7 result would be that when we buy a product that that RV manufacturer would take care of the warranty whether its a problem with the engine or the transmission or anything else When something goes wrong with a Ford pickup truck the dealers maintained the truck owner knows that theres basically one phone number to call to get the issue resolved not an array of Ford suppliers Thats not always the case in the RV business What theyre saying is that we have to take care of the end consumer said Regan The consumer experience in this industry is not measuring up to the expectation of the consumer They live in a world where the TV doesnt break They take their Lexus or their Chevy into the dealership and they get taken care of That would be the magic dust if that could happen for all of us noted Richardson where we can get to a point where were doing a better job of taking care of the consumer with their warranty issues with any issues Like Mark Bretz said basically doing warranty is a losing battle for us So right now the manufacturers just expect us to take care of it on our dime RVB bottom line and their floorplan goes up 50 basis points Michael Peay president of the Holiday World Group Mike Regan president of Crestview RV
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