Buying from out of state? (Jeff Couch RV Nation)

[DrLewie]

We purchased our current 5th wheel (Arctic Fox) from an out of state dealer 90 miles away. The manufacturer has no dealers on the northern east coast and this was the closest. All of the warnings discussed here went through my mind. We drove to the dealership and looked at a used model similar (not exact) to the one we wanted. They made a fair trade in offer, sight unseen, on our Cardinal, and we negotiated a fair selling price for the new trailer. We discussed service/warrantee issues and told them when the trailer was delivered to them and prepped for us, we would drive out for the inspection, close the deal if satisfactory, and spend a couple of days with the rig at a nearby campground so the dealer could take care of any issues that turned up. That all worked out, except for a big nose decal that needed to be ordered and replaced. We brought the trailer home after all other issues were addressed. The route of our first trip brought us near the dealer, so we made arrangements to stop there for the decal replacement an a couple of other minor issues. Routine service is being taken care of locally.

One thing though. My wife wanted a smaller trailer than our Cardinal, which was 32'. The two choices we had were a 29.5' model and a 34' model. Both had good floor plans for us. I wanted the longer model, but my DW insisted on the shorter one. So that's the one we bought...sight unseen. Turns out the shorter one has much smaller basement storage space than the longer one or our Cardinal. So that's an argument to avoid purchasing an RV without seeing it first. We're managing with less storage, but even though she won't admit it, I think my wife would have gone for the longer trailer had she seen the reduced storage space. Then again, maybe not.

[dduncan]

When we bought our 5th wheel 2 years ago, we called and received a price from one of these wholesalers. Called a local dealer, two and a half hours away, gave them the price and asked them to match. After several weeks of negotiations they got within about 5k. Thought about price to go get trailer, and time. Decided to buy from local dealer so I would have a place locally for warranty work. After our first trip we had a list of about 15 things that needed work. Made an appointment and took it to them. Two months later they say they are finished. I asked the manager to double check everything on the list because of the long drive. When we got there only about half of the items on the list were completed. We picked up the trailer and I fixed the rest myself.
We had the leveling system not work about a year late and I called the dealer and they told me to call the factory. I found the problem and they sent me the part under warranty.
I wished I had bought from the wholesaler and made the trip to pick it up.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by dduncan

When we bought our 5th wheel 2 years ago, we called and received a price from one of these wholesalers. Called a local dealer, two and a half hours away, gave them the price and asked them to match. After several weeks of negotiations they got within about 5k. Thought about price to go get trailer, and time. Decided to buy from local dealer so I would have a place locally for warranty work. After our first trip we had a list of about 15 things that needed work. Made an appointment and took it to them. Two months later they say they are finished. I asked the manager to double check everything on the list because of the long drive. When we got there only about half of the items on the list were completed. We picked up the trailer and I fixed the rest myself.
We had the leveling system not work about a year late and I called the dealer and they told me to call the factory. I found the problem and they sent me the part under warranty.
I wished I had bought from the wholesaler and made the trip to pick it up.

Your story is pretty common. Many preach the "buy local" BUT it's no guarantee that you'll get better service or treatment.
Our first new RV was bought from a dealer 2000 miles away. FR found us local dealers willing to do the warranty work. I just had to be ok with being a the back of the line.
That was fine with me since I would drop it off in November, with my punch list, and told them I'd like it back in March. That way I got free winter storage.

[kermitvb]

My wife and I actually purchased our first TT from Jeff Couch’s RV Nation. They beat any deal I had locally by $4000. The salesman met our credit union for interest rate. All of the paperwork and coordination went very well. They even held the unit from Dec to March when we could get there to pick it up. The first day we arranged to pick it up we were loading up to leave when we got notice of a death in the family. I called the dealer and boy were they understanding. No problem. One week later we got to meet our new arrival. It was just as advertised. But...and there is always at least one but...

They crank out units in minutes, so make sure you get a walk through YOU are happy with. I had no experience with a hitch/ball for a TT and later found that they misrigged the the TT/hutch and it wasn’t level. As a newbie to towing a TT (I have towed boats and popup trailers for years), this misrigging caused a white knuckle drive the 360 miles home. They did a good job of showing me how to use and adjust the weight distribution hitch. Their installation of the electronic brake control was good.

One last thing was that someone forgot to give us our RED folder with all of the warranty and appliance paperwork, and the forms for me to register the TT in my home state. That meant they had to overnight it to me and did.

When we bought our new 5th wheel this spring we seriously considered purchasing it from them again...especially since we were smarter this time. They could beat a local dealer by at least $2500, but we found a good used unit locally and went that way instead.

BTW: RV nation was very quick to provide me a replacement wheel skirt when mine cracked and was under warranty. I was pleased with this.

So, I’d say that Jeff Couch’s RV nation has good pricing and provides good warranty support. Just make sure you are a bit knowledgeable about your new rig and don’t leave the lot until YOU are comfortable. Good luck

[poorturtle]

We have purchased from RVW twice and had no issue either time. We drove from AZ to OH and made a mini vacation out of the trip. Both time we were assigned a tech who fixed any issue [with a smile!] we pointed out. The trailer was powered on and water was applied to insure there were no interior accessory problems.Then while we loaded our gear the tech used the water hose on the slides to insure there were no leaks. Only then a young lady appeared with bucket and towels to clean the interior top to bottom.
When we got home on our seasonal site a minor crack appeared on a cold water line in the belly. I called my RVW Rep. Kelly and he cleared the repair with FR and dispatched a mobile tech who knocked on the door the next day to repair it. I would have no reservations dealing with RVW again because of price and SERVICE.

[Old Bleu]

We bought our Cedar Creek from Couch's RV Nation last October. We ordered the trailer with the exact options that we wanted, and it was ready for pickup in October. The price was exactly what the Couch web site quoted and I just brought a certified check for that amount.

The PDi was thorough, and all we found was a snag in the upholstery in one of the dining chairs. They immediately swapped out the chair for another one. Doing the paperwork was quick and easy and we were on out way back to Georgia well before noon.

They do accept trades, but told me up front that I would do better selling our Rockwood myself. I did that and got over $5,000 more for it than the trade in offer.

I was concerned about warranty issues, but it is only good for a year. As soon as we got home, I made an appointment with Amish Family RV for the following May when we had a trip to Michigan planned. Orvan easily took care of the few warranty adjustments that we needed and found a bunch of minor things that he fixed in addition to our short list.

I certainly recommend Couch, and would buy from them again. I was not comfortable with having our trailer delivered, and would recommend making the drive and picking it up yourself.

[Jcyesiam]

Wife and I purchased a 2019 surveyor 33 krlok in April 2019 have traveled the last 4 months. Price was $10,000 less then any price locally or on line. MAKE SURE YOU HOLD your final payment until after PDI.

[Jcyesiam]

Add on picked the unit up at RV nation in Ohio

[Dakota 1120]

Made my special order from factory from Apache Camper Center, Bellview Nebraska (suburb of Omaha).

Great people, great service, super PDI and no issues. Very up front and honest.

[Mike522]

I live in Central Arkansas and in July 2017 I traveled to Jeff Couch RV Nation in Hamilton, Ohio and bought our new Cedar Creek 5th wheel. I saved 6000.00 and it cost me around 650.00 in travel expenses. Ross Hawk sold me the trailer and I am glad I went up there for there was a damaged water heater door that I found in the walk through, and the drive was great. I saw a part of the US I had not seen before. I would do it again. Good luck with your new rig.

[Homebrew]

We purchased from Jeff and had a great experience.
Traveling from NJ and stayed at a local campground to test everything out. Saved $23,000 from local dealers.

[mad2dogs]

We ordered our 2015 Cedar Creek CKTS from Jeff Couch and saved several thousands of dollars from what local dealerships were calling their best deal.
We live in Missouri and traveled to Ohio to pick it up. We were very happy with the whole process, and we ever decide to buy again, will go back to them.

[breezyhillfarm]

We were not out of state but recommend Couch’s.

[SJB]

We live in Colorado and bought our Rockwood 2608 in Shipshewana, Indiana. It was a great experience with no problems. We drove our truck to Shioshewana, picked up the trailer after a walk through and stayed two nights at a nearby RV park before heading home. Overall, it was a great experience and we got a much better price than we could have locally.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Originally Posted by Dakota 1120

Made my special order from factory from Apache Camper Center, Bellview Nebraska (suburb of Omaha).

Great people, great service, super PDI and no issues. Very up front and honest.

Bought two trailers from Dave and Nancy at Apache over the years. Bellevue was actually the First town in Nebraska. Started as a trading post. Today it's a town in itself, not a suburb.

[Daycruiser]

Ordered and Purchased our 2020 Cedar Creek from Jeff Couch RV, no dealers in NC closest was many many thousands of dollars more than Couch. Hired an RV inspector out of Kentucky to do the PDI for me and present the issues to Couch's service department before I drove 10+ hours to pick it up. They fixed all the issues identified by the Inspector BUT, they don't have the breath of knowledge of somebody like Orvan Fry does at Amish Family RV in Topeka IN. I think if I had to do it all over again I would still purchase a Cedar Creek from Couch as the price and simplicity of dealing with them is worth the effort but I would take the new unit directly to Amish Family RV and leave it there for Orvan to go through and fix all the obvious issues and the not so obvious issues these things are guaranteed to have.

[Old Bleu]

I agree with Daycruiser. If you have the time, definitely take your new rig to Orvan for a going over. We didn't have the time in October when we picked our trailer up, but got it to him this past May. We had maybe 3 items for him to fix, a battery compartment door that wouldn't lock, a wire disconnected on one of the radio speakers and a window that would not open (guess we missed that during the PDI.

When we dropped our trailer off with Orvan, he went through it with me, and had maybe 3 pages of other items that he found to fix, all under warranty of course. He built these things for many years, so he knows just what to look for. I really think that Orvan is the Quality Control department for Cedar Creek!

A lot of the things that he corrected were just fit and finish items, but the biggest was that our main slide was too far out of square for him to shim. He had a representative from Lippert come out to his shop, and together, they "burned some camber" into the frame to get the slide into square. This was something that we were totally unaware of.

I think that if you can buy your trailer from Jeff Couch for the best price around and then get Orvan at Amish Family RV to go through it with you for the best service around, you'll come out a winner!

[Splashes3]

We bought our 2019 CC Hathaway from Couch's RV Nation, driving there from Southern MD....had a great experience...our Salesman, Brian, kept us well posted on the progress of our trailer as we ordered it. He answered the many questions we had before we ordered it...and it had all the options we ordered.

We picked it up, the walk through was great, the paperwork was fast and simple. They even had to send us a check in the amount of the sales tax as they did not deal with MD....we got our check back in less than 1 week! After the PDI, we drove straight to Orvan Fry and had him do a REAL inspection. He fixed, and adjusted several things, and of course the bill was sent directly to the factory. We made our date with Orvan several months in advance...and yes, our trailer came in on the date that the salesman said it would.

We had a trade in.....Couch's will inspect your trade, and yes, they may reduce their offer if they find issues....our 2009 CC passed their inspection and we received the agreed upon price. TIP - be sure that you do not mis-represent your trade. Couch's did tell us to try and sell it ourselves. They did offer more than one of the other dealer's I was trying to deal with.

We would buy again from Couch's.

[Columbia Ted]

Went with Jeff Couch's RV Nation and saved nearly two thousand dollars over the local dealers offers. We live in Maryland and drove to Hamilton Ohio to take delivery and get the informative walk-through. Big plus there. Even made a video of this so we could review later. Warranty shouldn't be an issue for out of state work. Had some minor warranty issues and got it done in Virginia. No problem. Stayed at Winton Woods Campgroun nearby. Had an issue with the door locks and drove it back to the dealership same day for quick fix. Recommend doing this before driving home. Call it a shakedown test.

[67L48]

Originally Posted by SJB

We live in Colorado and bought our Rockwood 2608 in Shipshewana, Indiana. It was a great experience with no problems. [...] Overall, it was a great experience and we got a much better price than we could have locally.

Exactly the same here. CO > Wana RV in Shipshewana, IN. Left on a Friday; back home on a Sunday.

Also, this subject is discussed quite frequently ... buying remotely, not necessarily Jeff Couch RV Nation. If you (OP) want more info about remote buying, searching will provide you with many, many conversations.