We took Tessie, our 2020 Newmar Dutch Star, to the Newmar Factory Service Center in Nappanee, Indiana the first week of August, 2021 for it’s almost 1-year warranty service punchlist.
Why in Newmar Service?
We purchased the RV in late September 2020. It comes with a 1-year factory warranty where they will fix anything wrong with the coach. It’s always in your best interest to use the coach as much as possible during that first year and take notes on what’s wrong or needs changed. During our first 11-months of use we have put over 12,000 miles on it, and have probably slept in it 60+ nights, but that’s just a guess. You can take your coach back to your original dealer (or any Newmar dealer) for these warranty items, or you can go to the Factory Service Center. Since Nappanee is actually closer than Grand Rapids, we chose the factory route.
Earlier this year I had some general questions, so emailed Newmar Service, and also inquird about setting up the factory service in August. They answered some of the questions, but put the rest in as work items and scheduled my service. A few days later you get an email with everything you need – work order, directions and information, and a number to print and put in your window so they can find you.
We also ordered some ‘specials’ that we were able to schedule for that same week, and some custom parts that I was going to install myself.
Camp Newmar
Thanks to Facebook and Youtube, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect during my star at Camp Newmar for service. I arrived on Sunday afternoon, the day before my scheduled service. The Service Center is very easy to find, and is maybe 2-3 miles away from the main factory. The current service center opened about 4 years ago, expanding the existing one to its current massive size. Your info packet includes a gate code, you enter it and go into the campground. There are backin sites around the perimiter, and pull through sites in the middle. The pull throughs are for Newmar use, I later learned this is where they put the factory pickups.
I unhooked the towed car and backed into a site, slides out, jacks down, power, water, sewer hooked up. The campground was just over half-full, and more RVs would trickle in through the evening. Dutch Stars made up at least half, with every other model filling in the gaps – a few King Aire, an Essex, a London Aire, a couple Mountain Aire and a New Aire or two. Several Ventana, Canyon Star and a Bay Star. Seemed like many were in for their first warranty service, others back for annual maintenance and upgrades.
Supringsingly the sites weren’t perfectly level like I for some reason expected, but they were plenty nice with enough space and great hookups. The sewer pipe is elevated so you’ll want to have a sewer hose support. The biggest downside to the location was the train tracks directly behind the service center. The trains blew their whistle at the intersection there so it was quite loud, nonstop. They rolled through day and night.
This time of year the crop dusters were out also, those are always fun to watch, and it’s amazing to watch how low they get and how close to power lines and trees.
A couple of nights I’d sit outside in a chair, read a book, drink some wine, and watch the trains and horse-drawn wagons go by.
What to Expect
At 6:00 am Monday morning here come the golf carts! The technicians rode or walked across from the service center to find their coach for the day (or days). The technician would talk through your list, walk around the coach, inside and out, and make sure you were both in-sync on what needed done.
At that point the tech would get your coach ready to roll, jacks up, slides in, unhook power and take it across the street. You could do whatever you wanted at this point, I chose to go to the guest lounge and work. There is an upstairs area that has a window overlooking the shop, so I grabbed a video of our coach rolling in. Also got a good look at the roof. 🙂
The lounge is quite nice, plenty of seating. There is guest wifi but I never could get it to work and I heard others struggle with it too. There’s a kitchen area with vending machines and microwaves, bathrooms, TVs, puzzles, etc. There are 2 ‘pet rooms’ for those with their furry friends, a laundry, outdoor seating, and the retail parts department. This is where you can pickup all those little repair parts you can never find to match elsewhere. The cut to fit carpets for the front are available here too!
Your tech will give you a color-coded badge that grants you access to your area of the shop floor, defined by the color. You are welcome to walk out to your coach at any time to talk to the tech, see progress, etc. If the tech needs you, they will come find you if they know you’re staying on site.
I only walked out to the shop floor once and let me tell you, you could eat off the floor. It is spotless and well organized.
At 2:00 pm the parade of RVs begins back to Camp Newmar. As an owner, you watch as your coach – or one that looks just like it – is driven across and parked in or near the spot you left at 6:00 am. If you’re able to, you meet your tech and talk through the day’s work while they show you what they accomplished, new things they found, etc.
Our Experience
Our experience was really good. Robert was our assigned tech, and he was great! Super friendly, polite, funny and a hard worker. He told me he spent 5 years painting these coaches before moving to the Service Center. Alvin was his team lead but I never met him until I searched him out on the last day just to tell him how great Robert was. He seemed shocked I searched him out. ha ha
We had a short punchlist and 2 specials coming in, and I had 3-4 new things come up since we scheduled the service. I otherwise just had questions like “Is it supposed to look like this?” as I had no other experience with this year\model. Robert just took it all in, then upon returning the coach would tell me what he did based on my questions. He would also say “I found this so I fixed it” or “That was ok but I made it better so it wouldn’t be a problem for you later.” He really went above and beyond to be thorough and complete.
We ordered two specials – wooden valances for the front windows, and to vent the convection microwave out the side. On day 1 we learned the wrong valances were ordered, so they had to reorder. Those likely wouldn’t get installed this week. (Update: they have been ordered and will be shipped to my home. I will attempt to install them myself.)
The microwave vent appeared to be a little more difficult, but Robert explained all he did to ensure it was a solid job with enough support and no gaps for air to escape down the sidewall. I didn’t like the first exterior vent they put on, so he spent the next morning finding a new one. It looks like it rolled off the assembly line from the beginning, he did an amazing job. Even he agreed the second vent was much better.
I had been talking to Retail Parts about getting a drawer box for the bedroom. In our model there is a drawer front that drops down to expose the electronics (DVD player, satellite box hookups). We wanted to convert that to a drawer. The parts and labor quote was well over $500, and I’m handy enough to do it myself. I forgot to order the drawer box before I got there, so I ordered it while on-site. It turned out to be about $20 or so cheaper. The Retail parts guy told me it’s cheaper because I’m ordering it while in for service. Good to know!!!
Met some nice people that week too. My neighbors, Dave, Deb and Rosie the dog in their Ventana. Full-timers, loving life, and friendly as could be. Rosie loved belly rubs.
And Brent and Tilly in our twin – a 2020 Dutch Star 4369, same color, on Frieghtliner chassis instead of Spartan. Good folks from Louisiana, shared good stories and antecdotes. You’ll know them by the stuffed and mounted bobcat in the front window.
I was admittedly so tired, and still working, that I never ventured out too much in the evenings to meet people.
All said and done we had a great experience and I’m glad we made the trip to the Newmar Service Center.
You Gotta Eat!!
I love to cook, so I tend to cook more in the RV than eat out. But I knew I’d for sure eat one meal out, and that ended up being a pizza and breadsticks from Panthers Pizza nearby. Wow was it good! I got their thick crust with sausage and extra sauce. It was dinner 2 nights, and a snack another time. Soooo worth it!!
