If you own a National RV motorhome still covered by warranty, you've got trouble. The day after the "National Rv Trade Show" came to an end in Louisville, factory reps from all over the country packed their bags and headed home. Things were different for the California-based National RV company though.The next day National RV filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in California and posted notice on its website that it would no longer be honoring any warranty claims.
The bankruptcy can end up costing a lot of customers a lot of money because National RV dealers are likely to stop doing warranty work for free for customers now that the company won't be paying them anymore to do the work. The warranty won't be worth the paper it's written on if that happens. You can read National RV's letter to its dealers by clicking here.
That dealers won't honor the company's warranty is not surprising since there's a lot of motorhome dealers listed on National RV's list of creditors that it owes money to. You can view the list of people who were given notice of the bankruptcy, and those are mostly creditors, by clicking here.
In the bankruptcy filings, Perris California based National RV said it had assets of just over $52 million and debt of over $30 million. That might leave you wondering why they filed bankruptcy at all, but it's not unusual for companies to file bankruptcy to shed (or trim down) debt that they can't get under control or may not have enough cash on hand to pay when the bills come due, among other reasons. On the other hand, 6 years of losing money may have been enough.
Reports are that the motorhome builder shut down its headquarters and main production facility and laid off all employees, according to the Press-Enterprise newspaper. It was also reported that National RV's shuttering last week followed a year of turmoil during which the company was forced to sell its most profitable line of RVs (Country Coach was sold in February 2007) plus its land and buildings in Perris California just to stay in business. Then it leased back the factory. That was followed by the bankruptcy filing and laying off all the workers.
Candidly, David Humphreys, who has been chief executive since August, is reported to have said that the company had been trying to sell itself for sometime now, without success.
"But I think it's unlikely, and the RV market itself is quite flat," he said. "The good news is that we think, if we have to liquidate the company, which is likely, we will have enough money to pay off" their financial obligations.
If you're owed money then I suppose that might be good news. But if you're driving a National RV motorhome, none of this is good news. You can monitor the Bankruptcy Court filings in the National RV case by clicking here.
You may not be totally out of luck though if your sales paperwork gives you any rights against the rv dealer where you bought your motorhome, and if you have an extended warranty (sometimes called a service contract), then you may still be protected to some degree.
If you've got a lemon motorhome, don't wait until it's too late to do anything about it. Act fast and let us help you get rid of it.