Between a ROCK and a piece of WOOD

DNA Dan · 08-08-2016, 11:09 AM

Hello,

I am interested in purchasing a new TT - Rockwood 2504s to be exact. Nearest dealer to me is 300+ miles away. We did drive to this dealer and checked out the unit for the first time, we really like it. This dealer however quoted me a price that is 8K+ more than average of what I see this trailer selling for. So to the internet I go, finding dealer after dealer that can sell me the trailer MUCH cheaper. Then I see on the back of the Forest River brochure that dealers give "priority" service to folks that purchase at their local dealer. Reading stories on these forums about dealers denying service to "non-local" folks I am concerned about purchasing out of state for a cheaper price. 8K though? I am sure the dealer had more to give on the price, but it seems like there are some huge fluctuations in price on these things.

So finally my questions - Does it pay to buy from a local dealer or not? At what point does it not make sense?$500? 1k? 2? Given that my nearest local dealer is 300+ miles away, should I just buy a brand that is local to me? In other words, is having a dealer nearby a very important aspect of owning one of these things? Do they require a lot of warranty work? Once out of warranty, will just about any dealer work on them?

Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide.

- Confused potential future trailer owner

SeaDog · 08-08-2016, 11:16 AM

First and most important if you settle for something that is not what you want you will never be happy and it will eat at you. I bought from a dealer 400 miles away because they had what I wanted, the local Boise dealer was way high in price for the same unit. They did say they don't want to work on units they didn't sell. The few things I needed warranty on I just called the dealer setup an appointment to camp at there place and made a camping trip out of the 400 miles. I will add if you are handy I feel its better to fix some thing yourself.

CaptnJohn · 08-08-2016, 11:42 AM

Sometimes you get very lucky and don't need any warranty work from the dealer. Rare it seems but it does happen, especially if you are very handy in many trades. With FR there are many lines duplicated under a different name. You may find the same unit with a different name and a few cosmetic changes close to home and at a better price. How much money vs how far if you need warranty is a difficult decision. Even if you can find another dealer to do warranty work it may take several months to get it done as you are at the bottom of the list. Any unit from any builder can (most say WILL) have problems.
My savings was about $2000 for a 2450 mile drive, far from your potential savings. Time, fuel, road expenses, etc, and it was not worth it to me. Having bought my 2nd unit from the same dealer they know me and take good care of me. I have not needed warranty work on either from my dealer that required taking the 5er in, at least not yet. So things can be great, OK, bad, or horrible ~~ I always lose when I gamble.

Mountndream · 08-08-2016, 11:58 AM

have you looked for Flagstaff dealers closer to you? Flagstaff makes the same trailer by forest river and the only difference is the outside name badge

DNA Dan · 08-08-2016, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mountndream

have you looked for Flagstaff dealers closer to you? Flagstaff makes the same trailer by forest river and the only difference is the outside name badge

Yes I am aware of that, unfortunately it's the same dealer or it's someone farther away. Even if I buy from a dealer 300 miles from me they know they are the only dealer for miles, so their prices tend to higher. I guess either way it's going to be a long drive or a long wait. Can a dealer completely refuse to service a warranty? Or if I call FR can they force the service to occur? I realize it won't be a speedy experience, but it sounds like it's inconvenient for me either way.

SeaDog · 08-08-2016, 12:19 PM

My understanding is they don't have to do warranty work. I may be wrong and someone on the forum will know. FR does authorize SOB dealers and repair centers to do work I've been told

itat · 08-08-2016, 12:27 PM

IMO, 300 miles is not local. It's a long drive to go there and back (600 miles) in one day. You should figure in the cost of a motel room and meals for one night if you ever had to use them.

With regard to the question of whether or not to pay more for a local dealer, you first have to determine if you even want to deal with that dealership based on references about their after-sales service. If they have a poor reputation to start with, I wouldn't give them my business even if they are a couple miles away. Good RV repair services can be hard to find so I'd be inclined to buy from a dealership with a good reputation rather than just because they are closer. FR can point you to another FR dealer who can take care of warranty repairs if you need any. If the "local" dealer has a good reputation but insists on taking $8000 more than another dealer, I'd go elsewhere. $8000 is a lot of warranty repairs.

If you search the forum, you'll find a lot of recommendations for dealers. Don't be afraid to buy from a dealer that's farther away if they have a very good reputation. That will reduce the chances of having a poor buying experience.

Witch Doctor · 08-08-2016, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNA Dan

Yes I am aware of that, unfortunately it's the same dealer or it's someone farther away. Even if I buy from a dealer 300 miles from me they know they are the only dealer for miles, so their prices tend to higher. I guess either way it's going to be a long drive or a long wait. Can a dealer completely refuse to service a warranty? Or if I call FR can they force the service to occur? I realize it won't be a speedy experience, but it sounds like it's inconvenient for me either way.

Forest River can not make a dealer do your warranty work, but with that being said if your traveling and have a problem they can call a local dealer for you and get you to the front of the line. So if your traveling it's different. If its only because you bought from another dealer because of price they can refuse.....

clr · 08-08-2016, 12:57 PM

Forest River cannot force any dealer to perform warranty work on your unit. The only dealers that had to work on a new RV was Jaco but now that they have been bought by Thor I doubt that they keep that arrangement for much longer. You may be able to fine a RV repair shop closer to you to perform the warranty work, or a local mobile tech can also be approved by FR to perform the warranty work. Find a shop that has a good reputation and use them for warranty work.

satdog01 · 08-08-2016, 01:12 PM

Have the same issue with dealer 130 miles away. BUT they had the closest unit that we really liked, the unit was on the lot and was tricked out with some extras. Find out about warranty issue after purchase, called Flagstaff maintence number on FROG links and they looked up FR dealers in my area. They gave me two within 30 miles of me, one sells Rockwiood, the other Salmen and Sandpiper etc. either dealer will work on my Flagstaff if I have issues. Feel like FR is will to work with us if needed on the 2017 we just purchased. One note, do have a serious couch issue, opted to drive to the FROG rally 450 miles away to deal with it!

DKRITTER · 08-08-2016, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNA Dan

.....So finally my questions - ....is having a dealer nearby a very important aspect of owning one of these things? ....

You're making an assumption that once the sale has been made that the "dealer" local or not will be concerned about your trailer and even if they were how competent or in most cases incompetent is the service department. Either and or both of these assumptions will usually get you pretty upset in the long run.

My experience with 4 different RV's is to never count on the dealer after the sale.

I either fix it myself or use a mobile service guy for the bigger stuff and he works with me on the extended warranty stuff.

P.S. Spend 3-4 hours doing the PDI and do not take possession of the trailer until all items are correct even if you have to walk away.

run2jc · 08-08-2016, 01:17 PM

We purchased a 2015, Micro Lite 19fd. We love it, how ever our local dealer wanted $21,000.00.
I googled the model number and found a dealer in Dallas Texas 5oo miles north. They listed it for $14,000.00 same unit makes no sense. So we drove to Dallas! Buying local isn't always best, and when it comes to warranty work your local dealer will honor the factory anyway.

Funny thing I learned was MSRP is so blown out of proportion, if you want to know what your unit is worth, when you leave the lot you have to look at wholesale prices. I learned my great deal 12 month later is only worth $10,500.00 trade in value. I am so glad I didn't pay $21,000.00

I hope this helps.

Michael

DNA Dan · 08-08-2016, 01:52 PM

Thanks for all the responses! I am usually a "fix it myself" sort of guy, however I am concerned more about the larger stuff, like structural issues, slide-out issues, etc. I am not prepared to deal with those. I think I will go for the cheapest price I can find. I have had warranty work done on cars and stuff before and DKRITTER is correct, they leave a lot to be desired.

I was just shocked to read that dealers can pick and choose over their service like this. With a car, if you drive to a Chevy dealer they will fix your car. Doesn't matter where you got it from, it's either a Chevy or not. Too bad the trailer industry doesn't operate the same way. I mean warranty work is warranty work right? Don't they get reimbursed the same by FR if it's a local purchase or not? Why should the dealer even care?

mulltrr · 08-08-2016, 01:54 PM

When it comes to warranty. I was so disappointed with dealer I purchased from I wouldn't go there again if I broke down. In front of the dealership. I went to my local campers world and they were more than happy to do warranty work for me luckily i only needed some minor fixes. I know I'm I. The minority here but my experience with campers world has been very good

Witch Doctor · 08-08-2016, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mulltrr

When it comes to warranty. I was so disappointed with dealer I purchased from I wouldn't go there again if I broke down. In front of the dealership. I went to my local campers world and they were more than happy to do warranty work for me luckily i only needed some minor fixes. I know I'm I. The minority here but my experience with campers world has been very good

You are definitely in the minority group...

DKRITTER · 08-08-2016, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mulltrr

When it comes to warranty. I was so disappointed with dealer I purchased from I wouldn't go there again if I broke down. In front of the dealership. I went to my local campers world and they were more than happy to do warranty work for me luckily i only needed some minor fixes. I know I'm I. The minority here but my experience with campers world has been very good

Quote:

Originally Posted by Witch Doctor

You are definitely in the minority group...

I spoke to a couple of people in the service dept at CW up the road from us about having them install something for me once. I hate to say this but I don't think collectively the IQ of that department would go into 3 figures.

5picker · 08-08-2016, 02:18 PM

You really need to ask yourself is your closest dealer really going to take care of you when needed?

You mentioned you went there.
What was your impression?
How much time did you spend there?
Did you visit their service/parts departments?
Have you talked with any other owners who purchased there?

You need to ask yourself... when you are staring in the eye of a major warranty event, is this the place that will go above and beyond to make it right?

If the answer is anything other than a resounding yes, go elsewhere and save yourself a bunch of money. Use it to travel wherever necessary to get whatever work might be needed.

mort · 08-08-2016, 02:29 PM

Do yourself a favor and get a quote form Wanarv.
I did and it was over 10% less than where else. They put me up at the campgrounds to trouble shoot everything for a few days, made a list of stuff to fix,gave them the list and they fixed everything while we ate lunch!!!!
When we got back to Florida we filled out the paperwork where we picked our local dealer for any future maintenance work. (Didn't have any problems).
So who you buy from makes no difference.
I am just trying to help you save some money and not get lied too.
Mort

GOTTOYS · 08-08-2016, 02:38 PM

I bought from my closest dealer. Their service was terrible. I never went back. We travel a lot. If the trailer would have had an issue on one of our trips we would have been a long ways off anyway. I'll buy out next one anywhere there's a great deal. If the local can't compete too bad for them..

Witch Doctor · 08-08-2016, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mort

Do yourself a favor and get a quote form Wanarv.
I did and it was over 10% less than where else. They put me up at the campgrounds to trouble shoot everything for a few days, made a list of stuff to fix,gave them the list and they fixed everything while we ate lunch!!!!
When we got back to Florida we filled out the paperwork where we picked our local dealer for any future maintenance work. (Didn't have any problems).
So who you buy from makes no difference.
I am just trying to help you save some money and not get lied too.
Mort

wI am just trying to help you save some money and not get lied too.
wow, wow, you posted this: who do you think is making a lie, that's pretty strong words. You might have been a lucky person, but FR can not make dealer do warranty work on a unit that was not bought from them. What would a member gain by telling any OP a lie?...

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