The complaints and reports are starting to come in that Monaco dealers are refusing to do warranty work because of either "slow pay" or "no pay" on warranty claims.

Rumor has it that a Southern California dealer turned away a 2009 Dynasty owner's warranty repair request because the factory was paying for it. Given the cost of a Dynasty, that's got to be one angry owner.

On top of that, we have another report from a Country Coach owner that his warranty repair trip to the factory was closed because they closed the factory doors "until further notice."

It's scary times out there if you own an Rv with defects. Get the work done fast. Get it done often. Try to get back to your selling dealer, where perhaps some sense of a moral obligation may help "guilt" the dealer into doing the repairs at no charge.

If all else fails, don't wait too long before getting an experience Rv Lemon Law lawyer's help. Like my grandmother told me, "First in time, won't wait in line. Last in line, won't get a dime."

2008 was a bad year for the Rv industry. Some companies merged, sold off assets, closed or filed for bankruptcy protection. If you're thinking of buying a motorhome, you need to be careful of the viability of the builder to stand behind their product. When an Rv company goes belly up, so does your factory warranty.

Unfortunately, according to the folks at RvResolve.com, here is an updated list of RV companies that have closed:

Chinook (Trail Wagons)
Sunline Coach
National RV
Travel Supreme
Ameri- Camp
West Coast Leisure Homes (in Canada)
Western RV
Alfa Leisure
Weekend Warrior
Teton Homes
Pilgrim
Bigfoot RV (in Canada)
Sun Valley Inc.
Nu Wa Industries

Forest River now owns Coachman's RV Division (at least in this case part of the sale set aside 11 million dollars in an escrow account for warranty costs).

Next up? You need to keep a watch on Country Coach and Monaco. Country Coach announced that they may not reopen in February (that's their worst case scenario) and Monaco has hired some financial advisors to explore "strategic options". That doesn't sound good.

If you've got a lemon Rv, now is the time to get it in the shop for any repairs you want done under warranty, while there is still a manufacturer to pay the claim. If they won't cover your repair, then it may be time to take quick action. Call or email us today for a free Lemon Rv case analysis.

Apparently this morning management at Alfa Leisure in Chino, California, passed out final paychecks and began sending people home and plan to shut down the operation.

If true, and it seems to be because there are several reports now, then Alfa Leisure joins National RV, Western Rv, the makers of Alpine Motor Homes and Alpenlite Trailers and Campers who have all closed in very recent times.

We've talked about the Rv industry slump before and things aren't getting better. It's time to be very, very careful as a motorhome buyer. Our recommendation? If you buy a new Rv, tell the dealer you want their personal guarantee that they will stand behind the manufacturer's warranty. But don't take their word for it either. Make them write in down on the sales contract itself.

But what if you own an Rv right now?If the builder is out of business then complain to your seller. We've even heard of some owners who argue that the seller should have known the builder was going under, and been able to at least get something from the seller to help cover their warranty problems.

If the builder is still in business, it could mean tighter controls on warranty costs and that can mean more runaround on warranty repairs, claim denials on debatable defects, and a dealer who has to argue more with you (the consumer) because the factory isn't paying the warranty claims as freely or often as before.

Note that nothing happened to your warranty rights. Legally, they are still there. You just may find yourself having to argue more to make them honor your warranty. Remember, the squeeky wheel is the one that gets the grease. So start squeekin', loud and long if you have to.

And when the factory or your dealer won't help you, when you feel like they are ignoring your problems, contact us or call us 1-888-331-6422 Toll Free. We help consumers fight back against bad Rv's and their manufacturers everyday. It's what we do.

In another sign of the continuing slump in the motorhome market, industry giant Fleetwood cut four dozen jobs and demoted dozens of employees at its Riverside, California plant yesterday.

With revenue down 20% and posting a $16+ million loss last quarter, Fleetwood had little choice.

Fleetwood reported that supervisors were offered assembly line jobs with as much as 23% pay cuts. We recently reported Weekend Warrior's layoffs and National RV's bankruptcy demise. In fact, large law firms expect bankruptcy to be the hottest growth area for law firms this year, according to a recent Wall Street Journal survey of corporate lawyers.

Thor California, maker of , recently shut down its California plant for 3 weeks to prevent a bloat in built motorhome inventory that dealers are having a hard enough time getting rid of. And when it reopened, workers came back to 4 day a week jobs and a scaled back production schedule.

We've said it before. From all this Rv doom and gloom you can probably expect two things.

The first is likely to be a harder time getting debatable repairs done under the factory warranty as the factories look for ways to cut corners and cut costs. And that may also mean workmanship problems as employees are cut back, moved around, demoted, and generally disgruntled. Both of those are issues that may have longer lasting effect than some Rv makers intend (or expect).

The second news is, though, the silver lining here. If you want a new motorhome, you may not see a better time to get a good price for a long while. Dealers are stuck with inventory that is aging and that they are paying for every day with floor planning finance rates that are eating into profits. To put it blunt, they gotta move the boxes or they will go broke.

With the market shrinking though, the fit are the survivers. Those with less cash in their coffers will find it harder to get through these tough times.

So for consumers it means that you need to be careful about the brand you buy right now too. After all, you can just imagine what it must have been like to buy a brand new $100,000 National Rv brand motorhome the day before they shut the plant down.

And you may not want to be the one to own the Rv that was built by the ticked off supervisor who now works on the line and takes home only 3/4 of what he earned last week. A demotion without a loss of pay is one thing, but a demotion that costs you a big chunk of income is a whole different thing.

It's time to be very, very careful as a motorhome buyer. Our recommendation? If you buy a new Rv, tell the dealer you want their personal guarantee that they will stand behind the manufacturer's warranty. But don't take their word for it either. Make them write in down on the sales contract itself.

And remember, if you get a bad Rv, contact us or call us 1-888-331-6422 Toll Free. Helping consumers get rid of lemon motorhomes is what we do. Everyday.