RV Service Department Manager's Advice

It’s four o’clock on Wednesday afternoon and the RV dealership is hopping. The Parts Department is waiting on customers left and right and the propane refill station has a steady flow of customers. A parts sales person rushes into the office to send off a fax. I ask her, “Is it always this busy?” She replies, “Some days it’s slow and other days it’s like this, it makes me crazy.” She told me that the hardest part of her job is locating parts for old RVs. She said, “The newer your RV appliance the easier it is to find replacement parts.” I never thought about it before, but that makes perfect sense. She can usually find the antique parts but has to jump through hoops to do it.

The Service Department bays are all full and Brian Emerik, the Service Department Manager here at Visalia RV is busy taking calls, interfacing with customers, answering RV tech questions about parts orders and doing an interview with me.

RV Now: What in your opinion are the RV systems you repair most often in your service department?

Brian: “It’s seasonal really, we repair a lot of furnaces in the winter and a lot of AC units and refrigerators in the summer. During the rainy season we repair a lot of leaks. We’ve just had a week of freezing conditions so it will be interesting to see how many plumbing repairs we will get from this unseasonable weather. Most people around here don’t bother to winterize their RVs.” (He is referring to California’s San Joaquin Valley.)

RV Now: “What is the most difficult part of your job?”

Brian: “Paperwork, finding time to get everything done and keeping the customers happy. Customer satisfaction is my main job.”

RV Now: “How can customers help most when working with an RV service department?”

Brian: “Don’t procrastinate. Make sure everything is in working order a few weeks before you are going to use your RV. If something is broken make an appointment to get it repaired right away. Spring and summer are our busiest times of year and we are normally backlogged three or four weeks. If you wait until the night before to get your RV ready for a trip and discover something is broken it’s likely you’ll have to wait a few days or a few weeks to get it fixed. We really want our customers to be happy but it is important for them to understand that RV service departments are not like automobile repair facilities. In a midsize town you might have one or two RV repair facilities whereas in that same town you’ll find many more automotive repair shops. That’s the big difference.”

That’s good advice from a busy guy who really wants to help you. If you have a roadside emergency, they will try very hard to work you into the schedule so you can get back on the road, but you’ll have to be patient. Another thing we learn from Brian is that you’ll get your RV serviced much faster during the fall and winter. So why wait – get those repairs done now before it gets really busy!