RV Podcast Ep 230: What will happen to Roadtrek owners?

What do Roadtrek owners do for warranty work and parts now that the company has shut down? The biggest scandal to envelop the RV Industry continues to dominate the RV news this week, namely the sudden shut down if the Roadtrek and Hymer factories in Ontario and the immediate termination of more than 850 workers. Nobody saw that coming, especially the revelation that the company is insolvent, $300 million hopelessly in debt because of years of management exaggerating or intentionally overstating profitability. The news has left tens of thousands of Roadtrek owners wondering what will happen to their warranties, what do they do about parts and repairs? We will offer some expert advice from our friend Nick Schmidt of Sunshine State RVs, who is stepping up to help with those issues. Plus, news, tips and another fun off the beaten path report from the Burketts. WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE This episode of the podcast finds Jennifer and me in Florida for a couple of weeks before making our way west along the Gulf states. JENNIFER If you happen to be anywhere near the Florida panhandle this coming weekend, Mike and I (and Bo) will be having a Meet and Greet Sunday, Feb. 24, from 2-5 PM on the Gulf Islands National Seashore in the second parking area west of the Navarre Beach bridge. That is inside the National Seashore boundary and is known as Beach Access #2 MIKE Bring some beach chairs and we can all hang out for the afternoon, tour each other’s' rigs and maybe find a local restaurant to eat dinner. We'd love to see you and show you the Leisure Travel Vans Wonder RTB we are test driving for the next few weeks. We’ll try and do more if these in our travels as we visit other parts of North America. RV NEWS OF THE WEEK Mike Roadtrek's parent company terminates 900 employees, shuts doors Erwin Hymer North America, the maker of Roadtrek, terminated 900 employees, closed its doors, and filed for receivership Friday. The devastating move came after financial irregularities were discovered in January. JENNIFER America now has 61 National Parks The spending bill that President Donald Trump signed last Friday included a provision to change the name of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore to Indiana Dunes National Park immediately. That brings the number of national parks from 60 to 61. The area is comprised of about 15,000 acres of woodlands, prairies, savannas, bogs, wetlands and the sand dunes. Its beaches run along about 15 miles of the Lake Michigan shoreline. MIKE Oregon state parks break camping records in 2018; higher fees coming Oregon state parks set a new record in the number of campers using its state parks in 2018. As a result, the state is piloting a program in 2019 that will raise camping fees at its most popular parks, lowering them at the less popular ones. JENNIFER Joshua Tree National Park particularly hard it after tallying damage, lost revenue from federal shutdown It may be several weeks since the federal government opened after the longest shut down in its history, yet the damage to its national parks is still being felt. California's Joshua Tree National Park was particularly hard hit, with a report out showing $1 million lost in visitor fees, some 120 illegal campsites, and 24 miles of vehicle tracks left where driving is prohibited, among other things. This part of the podcast is brought to you by RadPower Bikes,an electric bike manufacturer offering direct to consumer pricing on powerful premium electric bikes. Now with free shipping LISTENER QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK We hear more about why owners love their particular RV… another listener shares a newbe mistake… Mike is asked about ham radio in an RV…and a listener suggests a story from the point of view of someone who delivers RVs to dealerships for the manufacturers. Do you have a comment or question? Just call 1-586-372-6990 and leave us a voice message. RV INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK In the wake of the devastating news about the Roadtrek closure, we interview Nick Schmidt of Sunshine State RVs in Florida about where this leaves owners of the Roadtrek brand, where they can get parts and warranty service and whether he thinks the company will ever reopen. Here’s a transcript of the interview: Mike Wendland And Nick Schmidt joins us right now on the phone from Gainesville Florida. Hey Nick, how you doing? Nick Schmidt: Great, Mike. How are you man? Mike Wendland I am great. Well, this Roadtrek closure certainly has stunned the RV industry. I know, at least in the seven years now we've been doing this, I have seen no story rock the industry like this one. Completely shut down, 300 million dollars insolvent, and the reason we're talking to you, many thousands of Roadtrek customers now wondering what do they do? What do they do about warranties? What do they do about service? And wanted to check in with you to first get some advice for everybody, and then tell us a little bit about what Sunshine State RVs is doing. Nick Schmidt: Yeah, Mike. It's really sad what's going on or what has happened up there in Canada in Kitchener, and you know, first off for the employees of the company, I mean I've made long relationship with dozens and dozens of them, and it's really sad for them. They really work hard and they put their heart and soul in what they do. And then the reps that travel to all the shows and get to know everybody, I mean they're on the ground working with us, helping us through our issues, helping every customer that listens to your podcast. I'm sure you've made friends with a lot of them as well. It is really sad for them what's going on. But, then you take it past that, the thousands of Roadtreks that are on the road right now with all these warranties. I mean, you know that was a lot of reason why people bought Roadtreks was because of the six-year warranty because of the technology, and they felt safe with it. So it is tough, and I've heard a lot of the frustration from our customers. You know, we're one of the top 10 Roadtrek dealers in the country. And, think of all the people that bought from us and now looking to me for advice or looking to us say, "Hey. What do we do now? Where are we at?" So, you know, the short and long answer of it is, yes, there is no Roadtrek warranty. But, we have really gone to some crazy lengths to find every part that we possibly can to try to support every current Roadtrek that is on the road right now, with the lithium batteries, with the underpin generators, with the solar panels, with the volt start components, the inverters, all OEM parts we found. So that way we can really help and support the Roadtrek community through this. Because it's tough, you know, you have a six-month-old, 150 thousand dollar RV that you can't use. And now what do you do? Mike Wendland And that's a great question. You bring up some of the newer technology that Roadtrek brought on, all that solar, all that electronic stuff. But there are other parts as well, you know, from hinges for the cabinets, for other people who have the older versions on the market. I've received tons of emails saying, "Where do we get parts?" How are people set for those? Those relatively easy to find? They contact you or other dealers? Let's talk about the older ones for just a second, then we'll get to the new ones. Nick Schmidt: Yeah, of course. So I had somebody ask yesterday, "I have a 2014 190 and I need a fiberglass step." And only Roadtrek would have that, you know? So, what we have done for those hinges, for those latches, for those doors, we have found companies that make the closest thing to it. So, boating companies are big, you know doing Google searches for that, so we have found them. I know there's other RV dealerships that have sourced out a lot of that stuff. But you know, yeah, that is something that we're happy to help with, just shipping a part or two here to customers. But also we can send links to where they are. But a lot of it is, if you look for boating hinges and boating latches, that's how you can find a lot of those older, smaller parts for Roadtreks. Mike Wendland And I think the lesson here is that there are parts available. Don't panic. You can find alternate sources for all of this stuff. It just is ... I think that in the closing ... The sudden unexpected closing last week of Roadtrek, I think that that caused a lot of people just to say, "Oh, my gosh, what do we do?" But when you stop and think back, there are sources. Now talk about some of the newer things that the company had been known for, which was that underhood generator, all of that solar, the lithium batteries. Those are the things that I think that six-year warranty gave so many people peace of mind in buying, and as you point out, with no company now left, there is no warranty. So, what is their solution? I guess you mentioned you were able to get a hold of some of those batteries? What can you share of that there? Nick Schmidt: Yes. Yeah. So being a dealer, they have agreed to sell us batteries, so we have two pallets of them coming in this week, and I'm sure we're gonna need far more than that, just because we've been getting calls all over the country of, "Hey, my RV's been in the shop for a month, waiting on parts from Roadtrek and now there's no parts coming, so I gotta pick my RV up and figure out what to do with it." So, we're anticipating there being a big need for these, so we're really gearing up to make sure that we're ready for people all over the country bringing their Roadtreks to us, so that way we can get them back on the road, get them back enjoying camping and all that. So, the volt start components, there's quite a few components for that. The underhood generators, the lithium, and the solar. Those are the main, and the inverters. Those are the main pieces, and we have every single one here in stock,