Attorney general asked to block release of FEMA trailers

If this isn't the silliest thing. The retail sale of these trailers should have been stopped long before companies purchased them. To stop the product sales at this late date is a recipe to bankrupt the companies that purchased them.

I believe that was what certain people were trying to say all a long...

But what scares me as a Dealership is what will these units do to my Liability Insurance. My insurance company told me that every Dealership across the Country can expect around a 50% increase by next year??????

Why isn't anyone upset that the government wasted our money by spending MILLIONS of dollars to purchase, and MILLIONS MORE to store these perfectly good RV's for years?! There's nothing wrong with these RVs -- they were built by the same manufacturers who continue to build them today. I think it's shameful what the public is being led to believe.

ok..so these trailers are a well publicized health hazard and a financial disaster. What I'm wondering is...assuming that their notoriety is not fraudulently concealed....who would buy one, what would they do with it and would they really compare one of these to ANYTHING else out there. I mean they are good for chicken coops, storage sheds, target practice etc.so is there even one RV buyer who would look twice at one ?

ColsMan
Columbus, OH
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|Report Abuse |Judge it! |#11 Thursday
Judged:
1
I saw 2 of these travel trailers at the Columbus Boat and RV show. I was shocked at the shoddy quality of these since they had "retail" pricing of $18-25,000 and were for sale for $6,999-12k. The mattresses were soiled and cabinets falling apart.

I feel the taxpayer was screwed when the companies that made these we allowed to sell inferior quality to FEMA for full price. NOW the dealers will screw the public into thinking these are good deals-on below average quality junk!

Seems everyone made money-EXCEPT the tax payers!!

rich
San Jose, CA
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|Report Abuse |Judge it! |#13 Thursday
The concentration of formaldehyde that should be a concern depends on who is being exposed and for what duration. In November 2008 the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessments reduced their recommended exposure in homes from 27 ppb to just 7 ppb. This is to protect children and others that are in the home approaching 24x7 opposed to the work force that is healthy adults with 40 hours/week exposure.

More recently the California Air Resources Board's report published December 15, 2009 states:

"Nearly all homes (98%) had formaldehyde concentrations that exceeded guidelines for cancer and chronic irritation..."

This is conventionally built homes. So formaldehyde is a topic that we all should get more familar with.

The executive summary:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/apr/past/04-31...

The full report:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/apr/past/04-31...

The principal researcher's power point presentation:
http://iee-sf.com/resources/pdf/ResidentialVe...

Formaldehyde doubles for each 10 degree increase in temperature. So how the formaldehyde was tested is also extremely important. Was it a cloud cool day in December or January or a sunny warm day in April through October? Often families are coming home after a day at work/school and the home is warm after being closed up all day exposing themselves to some of the highest concentrations of formaldehyde.

Lastly, I would not live in a home with 59 ppb of formaldehyde. I have seen families with negative health effects with formaldehyde concentrations of 25 to 50 ppb in the morning and 50 to 125 ppb in the afternoon. These negative health effects improved dramatically after controlling formaldehyde to less than 10 ppb in the morning and less than 20 ppb in the afternoon.

Consumers have a right to make an informed decision. I also doubt that the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) did any testing. Instead it was likely a consultant whom is a member of AIHA. You might even want to read the cover article of the Synergist their peer reviewed magizine. The February 2010 cover article in about unhealthy residential indoor air quality focused on formaldehyde.

Aaron Mortrud
Pickerington, OH
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|Report Abuse |Judge it! |#22 Yesterday
Buckeye Chuck wrote:
Let me get this straight Greenlawn purchased 15,000 mobile homes from the Obama administration for $27,500,000.00 or $1833.33 per unit. Then they sell them for $21,500.00. That equals a nearly 1200% markup.
To break even he only needs to sell 1279 units. the remaining 13721 generate pure profit.
How can I signup for a deal like this?
Hi Buckeye - Your math is not quite accurate. We purchased 3,719 mobile homes, 11,264 travel trailers and 30 park model RV units. The travel trailers cost approximately $1,200 to ship to Columbus and we sell them for $4,000 this is a profit of only $1,000 per unit. The homes cost approximately $4,000 to bring back to Columbus,$3,500 to set up,$1,000 to have inspected by the state,$800 for steps,$300 to connect air conditioning. Additionally, the $21,500 includes taxes, title and administration fee from the government. We make about $5,000. Additionally, we are only brining back about 50 mobile homes and 100 travel trailers to Columbus. The rest were sold a minimal profits to other dealers in the United States. I would LOVE to make the kind of money that you suggest. It's not reality though.

We recently purchased a FEMA trailer from the GSAuctions.gov website. We have not yet "used" the trailer, but the few times I went inside to begin stocking it, my eyes burned so badly, I had to get out. I assumed it had to do with the products they used to clean the trailers prior to resale. Today we were made aware of an issue with formaldehyde. How can we test our trailer for formaldehyde levels? Is there a kit we can get? Is it safe to use? Can you offer any advice or next steps?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Can you please tell me who I can get to run a test for FORMALDEHYDE in a fema trailer that I bought from GSA. My wife is a nurse at USM and she stays in the trailer while she is working. Our home is in McComb but when she is working, it is just to far to drive back and forth every day. The trailer is a 2006 Fleetwood Morgan. As I was looking at NBC news last week and the trailer that was used on the news cast showing the inside is a twin to the one that i have. My wife has been sick every since she moved into the trailer but we had no reason to think that was the reason. If there is someone that i can get to test the trailer, I would like to get it done as soon as possible. Thank you so much for your time,
I need one very bad. I have been looking for it in the mail. I am leaving in a few minutes to have the lab test done on me. Wife had hers done Monday but we do not have the results back yet. I already know what hers will show. She was so sick yesterday that she just stayed in bed all day and night. I know it is not safe to still be living in the trailer but she just will not move out because she has no other place to live when she is working. it is just too far to drive back and forth from Jackson because she always has to work long hours.

By anyone selling these units: You can now hold all responsability for those units. Why do you think FEMA got rid of them????

So they can not be used against them in the Formaldehyde Law Suits!

Who did it? the Manufacture that has money, the FEMA Contractor (Yes), FEMA that just supplied the unit (Yes), or the one who purchased it from FEMA? I understand that Fraud was being looked into but it no longer was concidered fraud when FEMA received the units back as is... It became FEMA Stupidity... Now it is the Industry Stupidity and who ever is the last to touch the unit can be held responsable and sued with the Manufacture for the same things all over again.....

Congratulation to whom ever purchased any units!!!!!! kind of smart of FEMA I think