How do you handle repairs when living in your RV?

[Wannabe Full-timer]

If you are living in your Montana full-time (and no longer have a stick house), what do you do when work needs to be done on it? Do you have to take it in to a dealer or can you pay extra to have work done on-site (as we are looking at a permanent site and would not have the appropriate tow vehicle the first year to tow it)? Have any of you had to find other "living arrangements" while work has been done on your Montana because you had to leave it at a dealership?

Also, I would assume you would have to have a certified RV technician (?) work on it so your warranty would not be voided. If it is an easy fix, can you do a repair yourself and, again, would this void your warranty if you did?

[Bluegill]

This is a MIGHTY good question... I'm going to follow the thread to see what the experts have to say.

I will say this, If I knew someone that needed their coach pulled to a dealership and didnt have the truck to do it, I wouldnt hessitate to pull it for them.

Blue

[Wannabe Full-timer]

Blue, you are so like all the other wonderful people on this forum! That is such a generous thing to do for someone that might be in our position or a similar situation. We would have no problem helping others either if we possibly could. I always say "what goes around comes around" in life.

I, too, am looking forward to the replies of all the Montana owners out there!

[Bob & Lee]

we have been in our RV for 3 yrs now and didnt need any work done till the warranty was up so the repairman came to us for 150. Hr. thanks for extended warranty only a small amount deductable.

[SKOOBDO]

I will be one of those who will be eye-balling this thread too, but first of all I would like to say, overall these units have a one year warranty with the exception of equipment and systems that have theirs own warranty, so after a year (which goes by very fast), it will be down to equipment and sytems that may or not have over a one year warranty. So far, I've had no warranty/repair issues, and if it was something I could do myself, i would. I do know there are some dealers that have technicians drive to your site to do some installs (replacement units) such as water heaters, wash/dryers etc, and do repairs. I wouldn't trust a person advertising this type of service in the local newspaper. If you're unit is stationary, then most things that could go wrong would be the same things that would go wrong in a stick house (appliances/systems). When travelling you can have a variety of issues to include damage to axles/tires, damage caused by vehicle to vehicle accidents etc, hitting things while pulling into a site. I have no trees surrounding my unit at my permanent site, so I don't have to worry about limbs falling during severe weather. I just don't worry about it, my unit is almost 7 months old now with 5 months to go on the basic warranty. If something broke, I will get a replacement part and fix it myself, or have a dealer's technician fix it (and pay him for his time for travel and fuel). Sometimes you have to pay for convenience. Allison

[Parrothead]

We aren't full timing yet but have plans. Motel would be the first thought. Staying with your kids would be another but we probably won't be near them when needed and Ed doesn't like to stay at other people's houses. From what I gather from members here, if you tell the repair facility this is your home, they do the best they can to get you going fast or let you park on their lot. There will probably always be exceptions. In areas where there are a lot of RV activity (read snow bird places), there are mobile repair units. We have several here in Hemet because this is a snow bird place.
Happy trails.....................

[bob n pam]

We have been living fulltime in our Montana for over 5 years and have had work done during that time. We have always been able to stay in the rig at night. Most of the work that has been required has been completed in one day at a dealership; some at the dealer from whom we purchased the rig and three times at Montana dealers while on the road. During the day we just sightsee, mess around and sit in the waiting room reading or using the computer. In our previous unit we had a mobile repair tech come to replace a water heater when it was very inconvenient for us to move the rig. Hope this info helps.

[patodonn]

We have had a several maint or servicing requirements, some under warranty, some out of pocket. To accomplish those, we have found it really important to coordinate schedules with whoever is doing the work, as far ahead of time as possible. We have had to stay in a motel overnight twice. We have stayed in the rig at a dealer's overnight a couple of times...they did the work during the day while we "puttered around" in the local area, but had the rig "habitable" for the overnight. Many dealers have water/electricity/parking available.

In our only really miserable instance, we were taking a 9 day vacation and left the rig with about 2 day's worth of work to be done under warranty. All coordinated and planned weeks ahead of time. That dealer did only 1/4 of the items, only the simplest ones, and didn't make the 9 day requirement. We had to find a motel room over the weekend on short notice for ourselves and pet....not that simple a 5 PM on a Friday. Never again with that dealer...

All boils down to planning and coordination. Make sure they understand you are a "full timer"...most dealers we have used have worked around their and our schedules to get the work completed. Sometimes, you will have to order parts several days or even a couple of weeks before the maintenance work...all of which takes coordination all along the way.

Hope our experience(s)will help shed some light on the subject..

Best,

[mobilrvn]

In 13 years of fulltiming, the only time we have have to stay in a motel is when we have had to take our 5Ws to the factory for repairs. We have always had dogs with us, so it sometimes has been a challenge, but then having your TV gives a lot of freedom. Most dealers will either let you stay on their lot or will have you buttoned up where you can take it someplace for the evening. Camping out in their showroom with the dogs encourages them to get done as promised! We love on-site mobile repair. Make sure to get an estimate before agreeing to have them come. As far as being one place for a year without a TV, I would press the dealer as a condition of sale to make any warranty repairs at your site or no deal. And, of course, like all of us, you will get an opportunity to do a lot of your own repairs because it is easier than dealing with the warranty hoops.

[MAMalody]

>>>I will say this, If I knew someone that needed their coach pulled to a dealership and didnt have the truck to do it, I wouldnt hessitate to pull it for them.

[toolmanroy]

Brings up the subject of MOCTAP again. If you have not yet signed up and are willing to help others in the MOC, please sign up using the link on the forum. There has been a lot of interest in this but not a lot of those signing up. You only have to give the information for contact that you feel comfortable in giving.

[txkrumm]

In my case I will probably do all the work myself. It just seems too difficult to work out all the arrangments to make it worthwhile, unless it is a very expensive repair covered under our exteneded warranty, (frig). Hopefully I brought enough tools to do most anything. Steve k

[Bluegill]

Thanks Roy, I’m not familiar with MOCTAP... I guess I need to read some more about it.

Blue

[ols1932]

We've lived in ours full time for six years and have always been allowed to stay in the rig nights when the rig was being worked on. Most dealers, those worth their salt, will bend over backwards for you when they know the rig is your house. Of course, they are also looking at a prospective customer when they treat you right. There was only one time when we had someone come to a park to work on our rig and that was in Deming, NM where a mobile RV repairman was available to fix our furnace. Oh, I forgot, we had a repairman come to us when our hot water heater wouldn't work on propane back in 2003. Only charged us for the circuit card, no labor charge.
Seems like good people treat you fairly.

Orv

[Wannabe Full-timer]

Thank you everyone for the great feedback (as always). I assumed you could get an RV tech to come to your Montana but I sure wanted to verify that! I know you may pay extra in time/labor charges but that is the price you would pay for the convenience in our opinion and would be well worth it to us in what may be our particular situation.

Any idea on the warranty issue I asked about - whether doing some simple repairs yourself may void your warranty and/or does the tech have to be an actual "certified RV" tech (as opposed to a certified electrician or heating/plumbing man) so as not to void the warranty?

Thanks again!

[SKOOBDO]

Personally, I would get a tech from the dealer I bought my unit from if I really needed someone to do a repair that I "couldn't" do. I don't know anything about the warranty being voided if you fix something yourself that is minor, but I would think if it a main system part then the manufacturer of the system could void the warranty. It's no different than when all these folks including myself have installed aftermarket parts/pieces on our unit, which doesn't void the "keystone" warranty itself...but again it would depend on what you actually installed. i figure if it would interfere with the original structure of the trailer, frame, axles or wiring etc then i would assume it would void the warranty if you started having problems with those parts down the road and the dealer discovered that you rigged something up....same thing applies to tow vehicles under warranty. generally all your sytems etc have their own warranty which you get manuals on, and some do indicate that the warranty is voided if not serviced by a certified person...but that's if it is under warranty. the warranties are not forever, so in most cases by the time something breaks it will be out of warranty so it wouldn't matter who you had fix it, but for myself I rather have someone with some knowledge about the system to do any repairs on my unit like a RV Tech...just like most folks have experience plumbers and electrians come to their stick homes. You won't see me messin around with anything major in my unit having to do with a major electrical component (re-wiring etc) cause I don't want my unit shorting out and causing a fire...cause that's what would happen if I ever did something like that ...but small electrical add ons etc I could do...just nothing major. i'm sure someone else will stop by soon to give you an answer.

[RADHAZJOE]

We have had systems replace on site (heater for example). Our 5-star extended warrenty covered the serivce call costs. New unit warrenty covered the parst and labor.

[mobilrvn]

Wannabe, had an experience when we were on the way to the factory for mega repairs and the landing gear failed. Called Keystone before calling a mobile repair guy to complain and see what Monatan would do since it was still undr warranty (barely). Was told to get it repaired and that Keystone would reimbuse us and they did, so check and see what Keystone will do before you do it or call for repairs.

[Tom Gina 06]

Most of the time if I can work with the dealer, they send me the parts and I have done the work. While on the road it is impossible to return 1000 miles to the dealer for the repair. One time I called another dealer and got the run around. To bad so sad, tough deal for him. Lost even being considered for the purchase of our new rig. (he didn't have Montana anyway LOL). I will continue to work with the dealer and if a major problem. Work with the dealer and Keystone together to find out where to have it taken care of. If I find myself in a position of having to leave our home (the monty). Then I will see if I can rent the "Green Turd" from Robin Williams...LOL

Take care and remember the.........

[Bobcat]

I asked our tech service guy at the dealer. Told us we could plug in at the dealership and spend the night there.