Making Repairs in Massachusetts

We departed Normandy Farms in Foxborough at 7am. I drove the coach at a steady 45 mph north on I-495 and then west on MA 9 and US 20, arriving at Tri State Truck Center at 8am. During the drive Dorcas followed me in the Pilot, both of us running our hazard flashers for the trip. Traffic was amazingly light for rush hour on the Boston loop, and no one seemed to be particularly irritated by our leisurely pace.

I checked in at the service desk, explained our dilemma, and we began our wait.  

This was the root of the problem

They put the coach in a bay about 11:00.  About 1:00 they told me they had removed the part, identified and located replacement bags and had prepared an estimate for repair.  The preliminary estimate was over $3100.  OUCH!!!!!  This included 2 new rear air bags for $700, $100 overnight freight from somewhere in Indiana and $2340 for labor (12 hours at $195/hr).  I had no choice but to authorize the repairs and suck it up.  Owning a luxury motor coach is not for the poor or the faint of heart.

And you think your mechanic's rates are high?

We have seen this before, but I have never received a satisfactory answer for why the labor rate is higher for motor homes than it is for trucks.  At one repair center in British Columbia they said it was because it took longer to do work on motor homes than trucks.  DUH???  The explanation here was only a little better, saying getting approval for repairs and locating parts was more difficult for motor homes.  He also said they didn't always charge the higher rate for motor homes, depending on the nature of the repair, and would likely charge the truck rate in our case.  Cool, I guess.

OK, the part is on order and should arrive on Saturday morning.  With any luck the repairs would be completed before closing time at 3:00 on Saturday, and we could be on our way home. The biggest concern was that on Saturdays they operated with a smaller skeleton crew and opened a fewer bays. They promised to do all they could to get us out on Saturday. Thankfully we could spend the night in their lot with the other broken trucks and RVs.

Our camp at Tri State Truck Center, space 235

The parts did indeed arrive Saturday morning about 11:30.  By 12:30 they had moved the coach back into the bay.  They removed the remaining, non-damaged left rear air bag and installed both new bags and had the coach out of the bay by 2:30. 

While the repairs were finally finished, but it seemed to take forever to get checked out.  There was only one service writer working on Saturday vs. three on Friday.  He was covered up with paperwork as all the mechanics were finishing their jobs at closing time.  He presented me a bill that was a bit less than the preliminary estimate, charging me just $145/hr vs $195/hr, but still logging 12 hours of labor. I questioned how they could possibly calculate 12 hours of labor when, on Saturday alone the coach was in the bay for only 2 hours to remove one old bag and to install 2 new bags.  At most they spent maybe one additional hour to remove and diagnose the broken bag on Friday.  After making an ass of myself and getting the service writer fairly irritated, he did reduce the number of hours to just under 6.  I felt that was still too high, but decided to cut my losses and drop it before he punched me out.  On the one hand I was very pleased with the way they worked so hard to get us out and on the road by Saturday. On the other hand I did not appreciate the cavalier way they calculated the labor charges.  All in all I believe we were very lucky to get repairs made and only lose 1 1/2 days of travel time.

Finally the bill was prepared and paid (a mere $1550) and by 4:00 Saturday we were on the road homeward bound.  Hopefully we could make it home without any more incidents.