Newmar quality tanking?

[Neal]

Newmar is definitely standing up and will make it right. They really need to put pressure on the Q/A folks and make sure they are doing their jobs. But you have to wonder if they are getting pushback. Maybe they are sounding alarms but coaches have to deliver, a public company needs numbers.

 

[MapNerd]

Deny all you want but Newmar is delivering some of the worst coaches I've ever seen in my time RVing (since 2017). Today on the Facebook Newmar Owners group a Dutch Star lost a GIRARD AWNING (faux cap it seems) while driving. Completely off the brackets as if it was never bolted on. Hopefully no one got hurt, they filed a report with the State Police. Another new delivery, a Ventana, is missing a window completely upon delivery to the dealer.

Keep raising those prices...

From Facebook:

View attachment 11745

Bet you my lunch money this was due to an improper girard install. I don’t recall who first spotted it, but someone had taken their coach to Girard for service on their awnings and Girard told them the awnings were improperly installed. That led to a whole bunch of people climbing on their roofs to check their awning installs and a whole bunch of people discovering they were not properly installed. I happened to have a factory visit within the next couple of weeks and got it added to my list. They basically had to mount a ~10 gauge steel bracket the entire length of each awning in order to properly anchor it to the roof because they’d not anchored it at the right locations on the awning during build.

Bananas that they didn’t fix it in production.

 

[MapNerd]

I suspect most things made during the height of Covid could have some issues. My 2021 Heartland 5th wheel had some pretty sloppy workmanship I had to work through. Most of it could be attributed to a new employee having zero training, for example the ice maker hooked up backwards.

The thing about Newmar is that even if they have some quality issues they will stand behind their coach even if it is after the original warranty. With Heartland it is like pulling teeth to even get to honor the warranty during the first year, after that if you call you basically get "now, who are you again......"

I’ll give ‘em that…until they tell me “why this is the first time I’m hearing of this” which tends to quickly bring my blood to a boil.

One thing I’ve learned with Newmar over the past couple of years…you get more flies with honey than vinegar.

Looking forward to seeing the 2022 LADP iFixIt Tear Down from @redbaron

 

[Old-RV'er]

All - Glad we are out of RV'ing period. Would not now ever even if I had cash, buy another one under the present circumstances. I suggest you check out, the thousands of ships "stuck" off the Shanghai port, as China has closed the city for their "zero COVID" policy, nothing leaving or entering the port period. (See link below and move map to China) Since a bunch of "rv stuff comes out of China still today, factories are going to shut down/close for no parts, and a host of other companies are/will be in the same boat, pun intended. One report I saw, says this will not affect us until summer, because some limited inventory is being worked through. We were ordering a new refer for the house, and the lead time was two months. Decided to sell house and buy another one, it has 3 refers so all kinds of choices, but these supply issues are only going to get worse. Went to jeep dealer couple weeks ago, 5 new cars on the lot, ford dealer next door, same situation. That is what happens when you export your Manfacturing to another country, they get to tell you how things work, instead of you being in charge.

November 2021 was a record month for people quitting their jobs and not finding another one, just "taking a break", that may be changing now, but inflation/interest rates on the rise, companies being squeezed from labor costs/material costs, suspect severe depression about the end of Summer. So Newmar won't have to worry about quality, they may however have to worry about being in business.

We have a great BBQ place here, they do not advertise, word of mouth, people come up from FL to eat there. We went about month ago, and ouch, 30+ for rack of ribs and 2 slides, I told lady at register, you should be careful not to price yourselves out of business, as that is tops, I will personally pay. We have been going there for 5 years, when we started, the priced was 12 or so. Other restaurants are facing the same situation, labor/food costs/costs of doing business, knowing all you are rich, but I have a limit on what I will personally pay for fuel, and eating out. Both levels were hit in March, since has come down, wait, oil WTI topped 106+ today, Brent 111+, so it's going back up. One news item, saw on TV, on fellow in CA, filled up his tank and paid 106+ for the fuel, that was pickup. Glad I am not pulling up to the pump needing 100 gallons of diesel. Get ready, the crash is coming, you better have an exit plan.

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[J&JD]

All - Glad we are out of RV'ing period. Would not now ever even if I had cash, buy another one under the present circumstances. I suggest you check out, the thousands of ships "stuck" off the Shanghai port, as China has closed the city for their "zero COVID" policy, nothing leaving or entering the port period. (See link below and move map to China) Since a bunch of "rv stuff comes out of China still today, factories are going to shut down/close for no parts, and a host of other companies are/will be in the same boat, pun intended. One report I saw, says this will not affect us until summer, because some limited inventory is being worked through. We were ordering a new refer for the house, and the lead time was two months. Decided to sell house and buy another one, it has 3 refers so all kinds of choices, but these supply issues are only going to get worse. Went to jeep dealer couple weeks ago, 5 new cars on the lot, ford dealer next door, same situation. That is what happens when you export your Manfacturing to another country, they get to tell you how things work, instead of you being in charge.

November 2021 was a record month for people quitting their jobs and not finding another one, just "taking a break", that may be changing now, but inflation/interest rates on the rise, companies being squeezed from labor costs/material costs, suspect severe depression about the end of Summer. So Newmar won't have to worry about quality, they may however have to worry about being in business.

We have a great BBQ place here, they do not advertise, word of mouth, people come up from FL to eat there. We went about month ago, and ouch, 30+ for rack of ribs and 2 slides, I told lady at register, you should be careful not to price yourselves out of business, as that is tops, I will personally pay. We have been going there for 5 years, when we started, the priced was 12 or so. Other restaurants are facing the same situation, labor/food costs/costs of doing business, knowing all you are rich, but I have a limit on what I will personally pay for fuel, and eating out. Both levels were hit in March, since has come down, wait, oil WTI topped 106+ today, Brent 111+, so it's going back up. One news item, saw on TV, on fellow in CA, filled up his tank and paid 106+ for the fuel, that was pickup. Glad I am not pulling up to the pump needing 100 gallons of diesel. Get ready, the crash is coming, you better have an exit plan.

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MarineTraffic Live Ships Map. Discover information and vessel positions for vessels around the world. Search the MarineTraffic ships database of more than 550000 active and decommissioned vessels. Search for popular ships globally. Find locations of ports and ships using the near Real Time ships...

www.marinetraffic.com

Wow!
I guess it’s up to each of us as to how we look at life. We are just now finishing up an almost 3 month 7000 mile trip crisscrossing this beautiful country of ours. We burned about 1000 gallons of fuel, ate at some really great restaurants, and stayed at rv parks priced from $35 to $200 per night and enjoyed every minute of it (well there were some boring drives). You certainly can’t take it with you so we are going to make the most of the great rving experience.

 

[FL-JOE]

John, you are correct about the honey. At the 2 year mark Newmar replaced both my front seats plus repaired another item. At around 14 months they covered 100% on a Oasis pump failure. Each time I simply informed them of the issue, I certainly did not complain. They always stepped up for me.

Old-RVer, I feel your pain. We will probably start looking for another sticknbrick sometime in 2023. Even though it kills me to pay in these times of inflated home prices it is getting close to time. We still will travel 3 or 4 months each summer and actually considered doing that in the future by motorcycle. However, we just completed a road trip from Florida to Austin FL and back on the bike. The motels were HORRIBLE with most being remodeled. Generally they looked good from the outside, were in the $80 to $120 range, but once you got in the room it was old, dirty, and awful. Wondering if 3 years of Covid has ruined the motel industry? We may be simply downsizing to a smaller RV for part time travel.

 

[FLSteve]

Your guys are scaring me as we are one of the ones that just bought a new coach. Ordered a 2022 Mountain Aire on 9/6/21 and took delivery on 3/8/22. We have been in it pretty much since then and have put about 2,500 miles on it so far. I am not saying the stuff you are talking about is not happening ... but I just have not seen it so far on our new coach and this is sure not my first time in the saddle. Yes, we are making a list of items to get addressed sometime soon, but nothing to the extent that I am hearing and reading about. Our situation may change ... but for now we are happy campers.

FLSteve

 

[Old-RV'er]

Yes, country is beautiful, some great restaurants, some great parks I remember. I can list them if interested. Had great time, enjoyed it, but life has turning points, and all the negatives now in RV world and wanted change. Good luck to all. I just don't want to plan my life out 13 months to travel.

 

[Neal]

Please keep thread on topic. Thank you.

 

[bpaikman]

I'm hearing more and more reports of extreme dissatisfaction with what's coming out of Newmar. Very unhappy customers taking delivery and appointments already going out to the end of 2022 for warranty visits. I've heard problems started in 2019 and therefore warnings about buying used Newmars 2019 or later. Now it seems things have fallen to new lows and the question is why?

We bought a 2014 Ventana last year - Granted it's not the top of the line.
It has the beautiful cabinetry, haha. The original sofa and captain chairs - still looks brand new - I'm thinking it might be yinyl but it could be leather - it's not peeling 'ultraleather'.
We had a few minor issues that have been easily fixed.
We've put several thousand miles on it since this fall, and the overall feeling I get is that it's pretty decent. I think that it's not as user-friendly design as the same year models in other brands that we looked at, but we bought it for the brand reputation (and it was a good deal for the time)..
We budgeted for initial repairs and upgrades, But so far have not had the repairs we expected. So I'm banking the repair money. cautiously pleased so far.
Extremely drivable. Starts up like a champ every time I crank that key. I only wish it had a total battery disconnect somewhere. I have never been able to find one so I think we will have to install one.