CaptPat Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 A few days after Valentine’s Day I called to set up an appointment for the annual Coach Care service for my MH and Generator at Cummins Atlantic, Kenly NC. We settled on a day that would work for the shop and us. We arrived mid-afternoon on a Monday, the day before our scheduled appointment, to drop off our MH. The facility was clean, had plenty of parking and there were ~6 other RVs in the area marked for RV parking. There are at least 4 RV parking spots with 50A service I did not think anyone was staying in their coach. There are separate lounges for truckers and RV’rs, these were clean and well furnished. Overall the facility looked new and well-kept. While checking in the service writer said he was down two techs (difficulty finding folks post-COVID) and thought he’d get to it later in the week. Unfortunately, service was delayed a few more days as another tech had an unexpected medical issue. The service was completed for about the advertised price by Cummins, the cost seemed consistent (accounting for inflation) with maintenance at my previous shop. The service writer was professional, knowledgeable about RVs, and responsive throughout, and there were no unexpected charges. Part of the service is to check for outstanding campaigns/recalls on the engine, luckily I did not need any of that sort of work. The cost seemed consistent (accounting for inflation) with experience at my previous shop. It’s a lot of money to maintain one of these beasts, a factor folks considering a DP purchase need to keep in mind. It was nice to see the coach plugged into one of the 50A outlets when we went to pick it up. I would go there again, it was a good experience. If you have a schedule constraint then that’s clearly something to discuss with them ahead of time, I was pretty flexible so the delay wasn’t a huge deal for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Whitlow Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 Our experiences with the Cummins Service Center in Tampa were completely the opposite. That shop is a disaster. We used it twice - but never again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary M Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 My experience with the one in Boise, Idaho was also not good. Coach was there fore three weeks for a service , radiator clean, ECM report. Somehow they only did the radiator clean and then parked it. After phone tagging over the first two weeks, I had to finally go down and apparently part of the write up was missing and the service manager had been transferred to another facility. It took me another two weeks to get the ECM report as I was handed a 5 page report when I left the state only to find out it should have been 50+ pages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacwjames Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 (edited) Could you post the cost of the service? You are correct it does cost a lot to maintain one of these rigs, even if you do it yourself, which I do. But on the IRV2 forum there are a lot of new members that are clueless to the cost prior to getting into ownership and I'm sure it stresses their pocket books. I believe the Monacoers group is comprised of more seasoned owners and understand the cost of ownership. It comes down to whether someone is capable of doing their own services and/or has enough money to have someone else do it. I could afford to pay someone else but I am and avid DYI'er on just about everything. Doing the work myself has given me knowledge about my rig so hopefully I'll never get stranded on the side of the road. The last time I took my rig in was when I had to have the radiator replaced and it was insurance claim, I was still conscious of the cost and worked with the shop foreman to keep it reasonable. They did a good job considering the time they had to deal with the insurance company on the estimate. I also knew the manager which helped. Edited March 21, 2023 by jacwjames Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilwag Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 You are a very wise man! Planning ahead and working out a timeframe is essential to having a good experience. Unforseen worker shortages are very common right now. Not having to be in a time crunch takes alot of pressure off of both the shop and you. The last time we took our coach in for general maintenance and issues we made the appointment knowing we were going to be busy for the next little while and not needing the coach. Allowed the shop to take their time and fit it in as they could. Kept in communication with them and had a very pleasant experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptPat Posted March 22, 2023 Author Share Posted March 22, 2023 I've heard that some Coach Care facilities are better than others, and the few reviews of the Kenly location I could find were generally positive. It's too bad they don't do Allison maintenance as I'll need to take it to another place to get the transmission filters changed. I'd do most of this myself but there's no safe or convenient way for me to get under the coach for greasing or changing the oil, plus I'd have to collect and deal with 8+ gallons of waste oil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptPat Posted March 22, 2023 Author Share Posted March 22, 2023 Timing is everything I guess I just received notification from Cummins Coach Care that they are discounting their services, which would have saved me ~$200. See: https://app.noreply.cummins.com/e/es?s=1480&e=768578&elqTrackId=dfa63cb061a14f8e9727345c70e9c05f&elq=1f47d3f77fd64f46892c2febea49c2e4&elqaid=16448&elqat=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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