How To Find Good RV Service

Wingin' It!, Episode 64: How To Find Good RV Service

Video: How To Find Good RV Service | Wingin' It!, Ep 64

Today we're Wingin' It! about one of the most talked about topics in the RV community: RV Service! Do you have to take your RV back to the dealership where you bought it for service? What are your options for getting your RV serviced? How do you find the service and repair shops? That's the topic of this week's Wingin' It!

Additional Thoughts On Service:

Continuing the conversation beyond what we talked about in the above video, here are some additional ideas...

Online reviews can be a great source of information on RV service providers and repair shops. Some of our favorite places for finding reviews on repair facilities include Google, Yelp! and Facebook.

RV specific online forums and Facebook Groups can also be really helpful in troubleshooting issues and finding reliable service. Consider joining forums and groups that are specifically for your brand and type of RV. We find these types of brand specific (and sometimes even model specific) groups to be extremely helpful because everyone there has experience with the same kind of RV.

And if you are in a campground or RV park, you can also talk to your neighbors to see if they have any recommendations for service. RVing locals can be a valuable source of information on local service providers.

Sometimes Repairs Take Time

Trust us when we say, we're with you. It's super annoying to take your RV in somewhere for service and end up having to wait days, weeks or even months to get it back! We've been there. While sometimes the delays may be unreasonable, there are a few legitimate reasons why your RV might be in the shop for longer than you'd like...

Sometimes the repair center is overwhelmed by work. This can be especially true just before the start of or at the end of prime camping season. Lots of folks don't think about getting their RV ready for the season until it's almost time to start enjoying the outdoors. Others make their complete maintenance and repair list and save it up to get all of the work done at the end of the season. Either way, beginning of spring and end of summer can be crazy busy for all repair centers. Consider getting your work done in the winter to avoid crowds.

If you are having warranty work done, the repair facility will typically have to diagnose the issue, document it, send it off to the warranty company to approve, wait for the approval, order the parts, wait for the parts to come in, and then do the work. Often this is not a quick process. Having a more responsive warranty provider might help expedite things. We recommend checking with an independent warranty agent like our friends at Wholesale Warranties before you purchase an RV warranty. We have another Wingin' It! episode on Extended Warranties if you'd like to see more on that topic.

And, remember, every RV is made differently. Even within the same manufacture and same model, components can be located in different places, wiring schematics can change, plumbing access may not be exactly consistent. It's not unusual for RV manufacturers to make significant changes to models even within the same model year. Sometimes even long-time, very experienced RV technicians may need more time to accurately troubleshoot and fix your issues. And, in our opinion, it's better to have it done right than right away.

How We Became More Comfortable Making DIY Repairs:

We learned A TON about how our RV works by taking courses at the National RV Training Academy (NRVTA) in Athens, Texas. We learned more in the first week's course there than we had learned over all of our years RVing! Check them out if you'd like to learn more about your RV and gain confidence to do a bit of the troubleshooting, maintenance and repairs yourself. We've saved a lot of money and down time since we took the courses. You can learn more about our experience with the Basic RV Maintenance Course by watching our video from our time at the NRVTA.