RV Direct and RV Wholesalers

**Herk7769** · 05-23-2012, 08:14 PM

Other than using RV Direct and RV Wholesalers to get quotes for buying from a local dealer, can someone who has bought from either company explain to me how they work.

For example:

How does RV direct get your camper into your hands? Does it go through a local dealer who agrees to deliver it to you?

ResQMoore · 05-23-2012, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by herk7769

Other than using RV Direct and RV Wholesalers to get quotes for buying from a local dealer, can someone who has bought from either company explain to me how they work.

For example:

How does RV direct get your camper into your hands? Does it go through a local dealer who agrees to deliver it to you?

How we purchased our trailer:

After figuring out the make and model trailer we wanted (Forest River Roo 21SS) we did an online search to find out where we could purchase it and we found RV Direct. We made contact with the sales people at RVD and ended up making the purchase. At that time we were given a pickup date and drove to their facility (at Albany RV, Albany NY) and took possession of our trailer. Then it was ours to take home.

Barnman1 · 05-23-2012, 08:39 PM

Friends of ours got a Rockwood Ultralite from RV Direct. It was delivered to them by someone hired by RV Direct, kinda like if you buy a car from a dealership but it is not there and they won't trailer it to the location.

TURBS · 05-23-2012, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barnman1

Friends of ours got a Rockwood Ultralite from RV Direct. It was delivered to them by someone hired by RV Direct, kinda like if you buy a car from a dealership but it is not there and they won't trailer it to the location.

so your friends that ordered theres and had it delivered . they had no pdi ?

Mad4sax · 05-23-2012, 08:48 PM

I will report back in July when my 233s is delivered to my house by them.
Hopefully before July!

melbornj · 05-23-2012, 08:56 PM

I just picked my camper up from RV direct today. I drove the half hour to Albany and did my demo and took it home right after writing them a large check.

poohbearntigger2 · 05-23-2012, 09:07 PM

We just got our camper last week from RV Direct. We had it delivered to our home and had a PDI. I must say that the driver who delivered our camper was very thorough and was here for several hours. We got an online quote from them in Feb. Called and placed the oder with a 10% deposit on our credit card. They emailed me a few days later the confirmation from the factory. We obtained financing on our own so I don't know how the application process is with them. So far we are happy with the transaction....but we've only had the camper for 6 days.

Snowsail · 05-23-2012, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by herk7769

Other than using RV Direct and RV Wholesalers to get quotes for buying from a local dealer, can someone who has bought from either company explain to me how they work.

For example:

How does RV direct get your camper into your hands? Does it go through a local dealer who agrees to deliver it to you?

Lou, I'm in Canada and got 3 prices for the exact same FW Rockwood 8280 diamond. Then I got 5 quotes from the internet, all in the U.S. the best deals were from RVW and RVD. Included in the price was the delivery to Champlain NY.
So RVW handled the delivery, with Durnell's. I had the delivery man's phone and we met in a McDonald’s parking lot just 3 miles from the Canadian border. He showed me around and answered my questions, about 1/2 hour. Then I signed the papers and I hitched it to my truck and off I went to the Canadian border. The papers they gave me were all I needed to register. In all I must say they are very professional, well organized, and made my purchase a pleasant experience.

Barnman1 · 05-23-2012, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by f1100turbo

so your friends that ordered theres and had it delivered . they had no pdi ?

No they didn't. I really didn't want to get into this but I figured there was going to be someone to bring it up. Do you get a pdi when you buy a car? It is a matter of what people are comfortable with. I know some that do a pdi and don't get all the info they need. It is all personal preference

**Herk7769** · 05-23-2012, 10:25 PM

Maybe I needed to be more clear. I am interested in learning the PROCESS; not whether or not you were happy or not. That would go in the dealer review forum. (TJ, I moved your post to the review forum)

I wanted to know (eventually from both companies):

How the quote went - did you do everything online and they emailed you the quote (like RVW did for me - Did RVD do it the same way?)

How the sale went - 10% down (I got that and credit card OK fro RVD)

How the delivery went - pick up or home; Did they accept a check? Cashiers or two party?

If you needed warranty work at delivery who did it? Could you have taken it back to them? Did they arrange with a local company? Were you on your own?

That kind of thing.

Barney1 · 05-23-2012, 10:37 PM

I have had a very different experience with RVW. Once we decided on the model we wanted (Roo 233S) we shopped around in Canada and online one the states. We found a good price at RVW.

We got financing through them - RVW in turn outsourced the financing thru a broker to a Canadian bank (Royal Bank of Canada). It just happened to be a bank I already deal with.

We drove 6 hours to RVW to pick it up. We had the option of border delivery or home delivery in Canada.

During the PDI we noticed evidence of leaky bunk-ends. RVW stopped the walkthru right there and arranged for the unit to be sent back for repair. They also offered us the choice of swapping the unit for a brand new one from the factory or one already on back-order from FR. We chose repair option.

RVW arrange the repairs and a new PDI date (again delivery was offered). RVW reduced the price of the trailer by the cost of our fits trip down - Gas, hotel stay, restaurant meals, and dig boarding costs.

Bunk-ends repaired to perfection by FR.

Now we have found a skylight leak. RVW has arranged with FR to fix it under warranty. Now FR has scheduled to pick the rig up from our driveway take it back to the factory for repair (new roof) and deliver back to our house.

I find dealing with warranty issue thru RVW to be fine. You must be firm in what you expect them to do, but at the same time you must be nice when dealing with them. Firm but nice seems to be the key in all business transactions.

**Herk7769** · 05-23-2012, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barney1

You must be firm in what you expect them to do, but at the same time you must be nice when dealing with them. Firm but nice seems to be the key in all business transactions.

I could not agree more.

TURBS · 05-23-2012, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barnman1

No they didn't. I really didn't want to get into this but I figured there was going to be someone to bring it up. Do you get a pdi when you buy a car? It is a matter of what people are comfortable with. I know some that do a pdi and don't get all the info they need. It is all personal preference

Ummm yeah I have always done a pdi on new car purchase.
Just bought a nissan and had an hour long pdi with salesman.

Barney1 · 05-23-2012, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by herk7769

Maybe I needed to be more clear. I am interested in learning the PROCESS; not whether or not you were happy or not. That would go in the dealer review forum. (TJ, I moved your post to the review forum)

I wanted to know (eventually from both companies):

How the quote went - did you do everything online and they emailed you the quote (like RVW did for me - Did RVD do it the same way?)

How the sale went - 10% down (I got that and credit card OK fro RVD)

How the delivery went - pick up or home; Did they accept a check? Cashiers or two party?

If you needed warranty work at delivery who did it? Could you have taken it back to them? Did they arrange with a local company? Were you on your own?

That kind of thing.

Sorry herk

Let me answer your question more directly.

We had decided already on the rig we wanted - a Roo 233s.

We shopped around in Canada and on US websites. We found a good price on the RVW site.

Getting that price is part of their Sales process. The do not post their full discounted price on-line (none of the web sites do). When you hit the RVW website a sales person chat window pops up. Once you start chatting with a sales person you finally get to price. By this point you are either talking on the phone with the sales agent or exchanging emails or both. I took us over a 36 hours to close the deal. Back and forth on price and dealer throw-ins.

The down payment we agreed on was closer to 5%. Then there was was an exchange of electronically sign sales documents.

As for delivery the options were pick-up from the RVW lot, border delivery, our delivery to our Canadian home address. We cleverly the best PDI would be done on the RVW lot so we chose that.

After that it was just a matter of driving down and picking it up.

We have had a few warranty items and RVW has be good with handling them, so Internet sale didn't hurt that.

**Herk7769** · 05-24-2012, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by f1100turbo

Ummm yeah I have always done a pdi on new car purchase.
Just bought a nissan and had an hour long pdi with salesman.

Me too, the salesman who sold me my GMC truck (for exactly dealer invoice) spent over an hour explaining the features of my truck and also programmed my XM radio for my favorite stations.

Rugged Brown · 05-24-2012, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by f1100turbo

Ummm yeah I have always done a pdi on new car purchase.
Just bought a nissan and had an hour long pdi with salesman.

When I buy a vehicle, RV or any other major purchase, I have done my research am usually better versed at the product than the sales personnel. An informed customer is usually a happy one, because he knows what he is getting and what to expect. I have actually demonstrated vehicle functions to the sales people. An unwitting customer should take advantage of a full pdi.

schrederman · 05-24-2012, 09:26 AM

I shyed away from RVW because they told me I HAD to finance with them to get the deal. Delivery to Texas, financing charges, etc. added up to about what I paid at a local (within 100 miles) dealer. I arranged my own short-term financing and insurance. Like Rugged Brown, I do lots of research and generally know what I am getting. To top it off, I didn't like the wheels and the dealer swapped them for me at no additional cost, and threw in an outside grill, gas hose, and a power tounge jack... at no extra charge...

Barney1 · 05-24-2012, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rugged Brown

When I buy [an] RV ... I have done my research am usually better versed at the product than the sales personnel.
...
I have actually demonstrated vehicle functions to the sales people.

I had to show the guy who did our PDI where the water heater by-pass was and also the Genesis WIFI feature.

I also needed to inform him of the torque setting for the E2 hitch he was installing. His response, "Oh we just get Em as tight as we can by hand". I made him go get the torque wrench. He was only off by about 10 ft lbs doing it by hand.

Better safe ...

wolfpack21643 · 05-24-2012, 12:19 PM

I found the TT we wanted on RVW'w web site which stated it was on order from FR.

I called them and asked them what the price was and they told me ($6,000 less then the best local quote I got).

I had the sales person list out out everything that was on the TT including all options. I was told that I could go onto Youtube where they had a 2 minute video of the exact same TT that I was intrested in. I watched the video and then called RVW back.

They told me to fill out the online credit app which I did.

They called me back 30 minutes later and told me I was approved (820 credit score) They told me I had to put $1000 down with a credit card which I did. They sent me a confirmation by email 10 minutes later.

This was the last I heard for about a week. Then they sent me an email with my VIN number.

I called them to ask about the fininacing part and they passed me to thier buisness department. They guy I spoke with aplogized that they had not contacted me sooner then a week. He advised that my salesman was no longer employed by RVW and that he would get me straight.

Within 10 minutes I had my interest rate locked in (5.5%) and my term and monthly payment cost set. He gave me the bank info (Bank of the West) and told me to go get my insurance and fax him a copy.

I hung up drove down to my local nationwide dealer and added the TT to my existing car / house account. Nationwide gave me a paper which I took home and faxed to RVW.

They sent my an email and advised that as soon as my TT shows up on the lot that they will call so that I can drive to Ohio to pick it up.

They told me that I will sign all the paper work do my PDI and be on my way about 4 hours after I arrive which includes putting the hitch system on my truck.

Except for the salesman's depautre the whole thing went very easy and they were very helpful. All I have to do now is wait to pick it up so I cant comment on that part of the transaction.

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