Hymer Scandal | How It Affects Owners | What to Expect - YouTube

One of the largest RV manufacturers in North America went into receivership earlier this

month.

What does that mean for current and would-be owners?

We're going to cover all that and more starting right now!

Hi everyone, Neil Balthaser here and welcome to Ultramobility the channel where you vote

for the RVs that you want me to review.

This week we're not reviewing an RV rather the situation that one of the largest RV manufacturers

here in North America finds itself in and that is insolvency.

If you haven't yet heard, Erwin Hymer Group of North America shuttered its plants, laid

off all its employees and filed for receivership in Ontario Canada on February 15th, 2019.

Just a few days ago.

Let's give a little background on Erwin Hymer and how we got to where we are and then talk

about what it all means to current and would-be owners.

It all started off like a fairy tale: Erwin Hymer Group out of Germany is a highly respected

and one of the largest RV manufacturer in Europe.

In 2016 they wanted to expand into the very lucrative North American market and the fastest

way to do that was to buy up one of the best known brands here in North America - Roadtrek

- which they did and in doing so created a new North American company called Erwin Hymer

Group North America.

Erwin Hymer Group North America managed the Roadtrek brand along with 3 new brands : Hymer,

Carado RV and Sunlight to pretty quickly become very nearly if not entirely the #1 class b

manufacturer here in North America rivaling Winnebago Industries to command over 30% market

share.

The combined lineup of class b camper vans encompassed 17 different models!

All was going hunky dory until Erwin Hymer announced in the fall of 2018 that they would

be selling themselves to Thor Industries to create the world's largest RV manufacturer.

It didn't take long for auditors to find "financial irregularities" with the North American unit

and in order to protect the Thor acquisition and not taint it with any potential scandal

the parent company quickly decided to shut down the entire North American operations

and that's what they did on February 15th 2019 - they shut everything down and put the

company into receivership.

If you're interested in the public details about the current status of the receivership,

I'll put a link to the company who is handling it and you can read like I have all the interesting

tidbits contained in official court documents.

There is something interesting buried in those documents: It appears that Erwin Hymer was

in the process of trying to find a buyer for their North American unit prior to the surfacing

of the news of "financial irregularities".

This means that significant work was already in place and prospective buyers were already

approached.

The current company that owns all the assets including factory leases, inventory and the

Roadtrek brand is on an accelerated 6 week timeline to try and conclude the sale of some

or all of the assets.

This could mean that a buyer is secured that will continue the manufacture of at least

the Roadtrek products.

We'll know more in 6 weeks.

If a buyer cannot be found in 6 weeks then it is likely that the company will be liquidated.

The Roadtrek brand name is a somewhat valuable asset and could be acquired by someone but

that would be in name only.

Current owners would not get their warranties transferred over to whomever may acquired

the Roadtrek brand.

The Carado and Hymer brands were being leased to the North American unit are now owned by

Thor and their licenses with Erwin Hymer Group of North America have been terminated - that

means it is highly unlikely that we're ever going to see a continuation of the Aktiv,

Axion and Banff products at least coming out of any possible buyer.

My opinion is that liquidation is the most likely scenario.

So what's this all mean to current or prospective owners?

Warranty and repair is the biggest headache and concern.

I'm hearing that the company is not honoring warranty repair for its products that's not

surprising since the company has liabilities totalling over $300m.

So if you currently own or are planning on taking advantage of some great deals on discounted

Hymer products you'll need to consider an extended warranty.

Now it's more than I can cover in this video but extended warranties, like home warranties

vary a lot and will require you to read the fine print to ensure that you're getting what

you think you're getting.

Here's some language from two different extended warranties.

In one you can see that it covers plumbing fixtures and valves but is conveniently missing

pipes and water lines - an important exclusion.

In this extended warranty is covers water lines but has conveniently listed "furniture"

as a broad term of something that is not covered.

By furniture do they mean cabinets as well as sofas and ottomans?

You would need to find out.

Extended warranties can range in price anywhere from $2k up to $7k depending on their terms

and what exactly they cover and don't cover.

So Cavet Emptor.

Alright let's assume you've purchased a good extended warranty.

Now, it's time to break down the RV into the parts and pieces that are likely to be covered

by your extended warranty; things which are covered by their own warranties and finally

things which may be covered by your extended warranty but may not be able to be easily

repaired or replaced.

Let's start with things that are covered by their own warranties.

The biggest one is your chassis, weather Mercedes, Ram or Chevy all come with their own warranties

and with the exception of Mercedes-based models owners should feel pretty confident that their

engines and van bodies are covered.

Mercedes owners I'll speak to your situation in a moment.

Most of the appliances and some components are also going to be covered by their own

warranties.

Things like your refrigerator, stove, microwave, generator, water heater, heater, air conditioner,

water pump, awning, toilet, TV antenna, smoke and CO detectors, TV and DVD/Blu-ray players,

blinds, rooftop fans and electric steps are all likely covered by their own warranties.

Great.

Then there are a bunch of things which are not likely to be covered under their own warranties

but hopefully are covered by your extended warranty and are easily replaced with off-the-shelf

components.

These are things like LED lights and light switches, your thermostat, water lines and

valves, most tank sensors and even the monitor panel, electrical wiring (as long as it's

not multiplex), electrical outlets, USB and DC charging ports, hinges, door stays, latches,

locks, faucets, drawer glides and even your flooring and coach windows can pretty easily

be replaced or repaired.

So that's good news.

Now we come to the stuff that may be more difficult or impossible to replace or repair.

These are generally things which were custom built by Roadtrek, Hymer, Carado and Sunlight

and cannot be found off-the-shelf.

Things like cabinets and doors, counter tops, table tops, cushions, ottomans, mattresses

- these are all custom fit for a particular floorplan design.

On this CS Adventurous you can see that the front table is custom made - same with the

SS Agile.

Interior trim pieces as well like your walls and ceiling panels and all the little pieces

that close up gaps so that you're not looking at the naked, aluminum walls of the vans are

also custom.

On most the Roadtrek models the shower stall is a custom fitted fiberglass enclosure but

not all shower stalls are custom.

The Aktiv doesn't have a one-piece fiberglass shower stall but all its cabinetry is custom.

Also in most cases, the exterior holding tanks are custom extruded to maximize capacity.

And on most Roadtrek models there are custom exterior trim pieces like the lower panels

here on the driver and passenger sides of Sprinter-based models.

On the widebody 210 Popular the entire rear shell is custom molded to give you extra interior

room.

In all these cases, if you need to replace any of these pieces you're going to have problems

since they are no longer manufactured.

You're going to need to look for them on Ebay or see if you can find your model at a junk

yard and buy the parts and pieces that you need.

Or maybe join an online community of owners and pool resources and knowledge.

The bottom line is that you're going to have to figure it out on your own.

The electrical system and in particular EcoTrek is also a proprietary system and some components

will be difficult or impossible to find.

Things like Eco-Trek's customized lithium batteries and its battery management system

are no longer being manufactured or supported.

If you have problems with those parts you're going to have to join an online forum like

ClassBForums and see if you can get support.

My recommendation is to just continue using your EcoTrek system until it starts to fail,

then consider replacing the batteries and BMS with a trusted 3rd party system from Volta

or Xantrex.

Some components in your electrical system are more easily replaced.

The second alternator is likely made by Ballmer or Nations, the inverter can be replaced off-the-shelf

as can the converter.

The solar panels are also replaceable.

So a lot of the EcoTrek system is not proprietary which is good news.

My biggest concern is for owners of Mercedes Sprinter products - those are the SS Agile,

CS and RS Adventurous and the Etrek.

For those products, my understanding is that for several years beginning in 2017 Roadtrek

was not a certified Mercedes MasterUpfitter.

That means that Roadtrek was making modifications to the Sprinter which Mercedes did not authorize

and subsequently does not need to cover under their chassis warranty.

Now we don't know exactly what those modifications were but they are likely related to Roadtrek's

installation of Voltstart, their remote engine start system.

Because Mercedes may not have authorized Voltstart we don't know - it is possible that they could

decline warranty work involving you chassis electrical system.

But again we don't know why Roadtrek's MasterUpfitter's certification was revoked and that's the real

problem.

When Roadtrek was in business it wasn't a problem because their own warranty would cover

any warranty work that Mercedes refused to cover - and that was great and reassuring.

But now that they're out of business that guaranty is no longer valid and you the owners

are left holding the bag and for that I'm sorry.

So the lesson here is: If you're buying a Sprinter from a manufacturer always go to

Mercedes MasterUpfitter's webiste and check that your manufacturer is listed.

If they are not - be aware that Mercedes can decline any warranty work as a result of unapproved

modifications made to their products.

I understand this is of no consolation to current owners of Sprinter-based products

from Roadtrek but it is of great consequence for anyone thinking of purchasing a Sprinter-based

product from Roadtrek at a steep discount today.

Alright that wraps up this week's episode.

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whenever a new review drops on my channel and thanks for watching Ultramobility where

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I'll see you next time everyone!

Take care!

Bye!