Startup Aims to Reinvigorate Dealers’ Aged Inventory – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
OMAHA, Neb. – New RVs can prematurely show their age after months of sitting on a dealer’s lot. The same goes for used inventory. The result is that sales associates shy away from showing a long-in-the-tooth coach, while dealership profit goes in the tank when the RV finally sells or is wholesaled. One company aims to change all of this with its proprietary process, which, it claims, restores the RV exterior like new and lasts for years.
ReFresh RV, headquartered in Omaha, Neb., has been in business for around two years and is slowly building a network of partners to service dealers nationwide. Although a relatively new enterprise, ReFresh RV has already secured several major dealerships as customers, including approximately 40 Camping World locations, Robert Crist, McClain’s RV Superstores, Gerzeny’s RV World of Florida, and others.
The key to the company’s success, officials said, is a specially developed, long-lasting coating that restores the exterior’s shine and color.
“I spent about 30 years in the automotive industry doing detailing, ceramic coatings, and pretty much everything aftermarket with cars,” explained Jason Grimm, ReFresh RV president, who runs the business along with his partner Dan Bennett, Jr. “So what we did is put a whole process together. It’s a mobile service we offer to dealers, and we go to where they are. We don’t buff RVs. We have different cleaning processes, based on all the detailing aspects I learned over the years, to remove streaks, oxidation, glue and more. And then the coating is kind of the cherry on top. That’s when the magic happens. That’s when you see the drastic results.”
Grimm noted that the coating was developed by a lifelong friend, a “genius in chemistry,” over five years and countless tests. He claims the coating will protect the exterior and keep it new-looking longer than anything on the market “by far — a minimum of five years.” What’s more, the color and shine are restored without buffing, the company says. The coating contains a nano ceramic-fortified clear coat to resist scratching and stains, among other ingredients. In addition, it can be top coated with other products, allowing the dealer to sell their environmental protection packages when they retail the unit.
The ReFresh RV restoration requires no investment in time or materials from the dealership and is completely turnkey. A company representative arrives at the dealer’s lot and completes the process in roughly 4-8 hours. The unit can be restored on the lot, so no service bays or facilities are tied up.
“Our biggest challenge is getting dealers to realize that if they just spend a few bucks, they will get top dollar for it, and it will sell faster,” said Grimm. “I’ve taken RVs that are 200-300 days old. After we restored the unit, it sold within a couple of weeks because the appearance was holding it back from selling. And then it gets the salespeople excited, too.”
The cost to the dealer varies depending on the amount of damage and the size of the RV. Grimm estimates that for pull-behinds, the average cost is between $1,250 and $1,500; for larger fifth-wheels and motorhomes, it is $1,800 to $2,200. That’s money, he claims, that the dealer will quickly get back in selling a weathered RV that “looks as good or better than new.”
ReFresh RV is currently recruiting and training representatives to work with dealers nationwide. The company’s service area now includes Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming. For more information, contact ReFresh RV.
