Advanced RV 2nd. Annual Open House May 1 - 3, 2015

[jgolden]

I was not able to go to their open house this year and am asking for feedback from all those who were able to attend. What did you think of the parking arrangements, the seminar(s), overnight accommodations, new facilities, courtesy of the staff, the new products offered and the coaches. I believe Advanced RV currently builds the most elegant and unique Class B in the industry and want to hear from the current owners and prospective clients who attended. Are there any comments or concerns from current owners? Is Advanced RV customer follow-up what you expected it to be. As they say in the car business....."ARE YOU COMPLETELY SATISFIED" Thank you....John

[Davydd]

There were three times as many people attending the second ARVFest than the first. Several owners and prospective owners were there as well as just interested B owners with no real immediate plans to buy anything. It is all dry camping in the parking lot behind the building. Of course with an ARV that is no problem. Some people without Bs stayed in nearby hotels. You pretty much have the run of the buildings to see what was currently under construction as well as some exhibits setup to explain the ARV technology. Breakfast, lunch and dinners were served. Friday was the arrival start day with a welcome dinner, open house tours of current ARV owners and campfire after. Saturday was pretty much the main day with seminars all day long. Sunday morning was a wrap up day with q&a with the ARV owners. It was over by 11 AM. About a half dozen ARV owners hung around overnight Sunday. I hung around to get a piece of cabinetry that got damaged replaced.

I posted some photos in the Facebook "B"ing in an Advanced RV group from my iPhone. Others did as well.

New developments. Some prospective 4x4 owners were there finalizing their plans and picking us current ARV owners' brains as well as looking over the Bs. There is one 4x4 that will be radically, and I mean radically, different in plan. The owners of the first super high Sprinter were there and it will have some features that are planned and not yet even designed. One owner was discussing the possibility of 1200ah of lithium ion batteries. Another couple have the articulating bed under construction as well as an automated custom built actual Lazy Boy type recliner chair you can sit on with feet on the ground next to the bed. That 360 degree video camera impressed the prospective owners. One current owner is getting it retrofitted. One prospective owner is requesting an observation deck on top. Prospective owners can now get customized and full color rendered 3D images of their designs and plans. FredA is working part time there to produce them. I'd say just about everything being discussed about future Bs has been, is being and is going under construction soon at ARV as the customers aren't just wishing and waiting for the market to catch up but are driving the changes. Every ARV is different and they are constantly changing. Customers work directly with the ARV team on a direct basis.

The downside. Backlog waiting is increasing. Last year they produced 12-14 Bs. This year 22-24 with a business plan to grow to 50 and still provide the personal service. Expanded facilities and careful new hires are increasing production. They do have a profit forecast in what they are doing and Mike Neundorfer has stated he does not want to grow out of the personalized approach of working directly with customers or passing on Bs to dealers nor will ever take a sales approach with customers. It is a personal working relationship. I can personally tell you customer service cannot be duplicated by anyone else the way ARV is doing it.

[jgolden]

Thanks for your overall comments about your experience and observations. Mike and his team as you say are by far the most customer based team in any segment of the rv industry. The closest I can come up with is Karl Blade with Newell and we are talking about a $1M+ coach builder. I do not use facebook so if you could send those pictures to my email, I would appreciate it. jgolden.thezld@att.net

[Davydd]

Jgolden,

"B"ing in an Advanced RV on Facebook is a public group. Anyone can read it.