How far were you willing to travel to buy your rv?

[Gottaluvlife]

Originally Posted by parise

I didnt expect to hear so many interesting and positive experiences, so thanks everyone.

How do you make sure theres no bait and switch on the purchase? You are kind of buying unseen, right? How does that process work, a buyer's agent?

Chris

We researched ahead of time to find what we wanted, read reviews, visited RV dealers closer to home & went to RV show to see units in person. Then when we knew exact model & options we contacted several dealers to get best price. Placed custom order w/RVW.

[Wiscampsin]

On our 6th camper and always by locally, within an hours drive.

[Timan]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Did you buy from House of Camping? We did and drove from NorCal and back with our Roo.

We actually found our Roo on Rvtrader. It was a private sale. Guy thought we were crazy. It was in January and -18 degrees. Saved a bunch of money though.

[chriscowles]

Originally Posted by parise

... How do you make sure theres no bait and switch on the purchase? You are kind of buying unseen, right? How does that process work, a buyer's agent?

With a reputable dealer, that's usually not a concern. You don't need an agent. You can learn here which of the dealers should be avoided on that point. Some do used car lot sales tricks but most don't. The large national internet sales dealerships like RV Wholesalers or RV One are successful for a reason. Others are certainly worth considering, though.

If you're buying a special order, the inspection would be the same regardless of where you bought it. If buying something already on the lot, I like NMWildcat's approach of using video chat.

I'm not sure any of the above applies if you're considering quarter-million dollar Class A diesel pusher. That's outside my experience.

[ChrisParise]

Chriscowles, thanks.

I had a buyer for my MH last year and their credit union required a picture of the VIN, odometer, and multiple pictures of the unit as well as the title, lien holders and payoff amount.

I would expect very similar, except for the payoff amount, on a new Motorhome. Maybe 5vers, and TTs are different

Chris

[AlaskaErik]

Originally Posted by parise

I didnt expect to hear so many interesting and positive experiences, so thanks everyone.

How do you make sure theres no bait and switch on the purchase? You are kind of buying unseen, right? How does that process work, a buyer's agent?

Chris

I got a purchase order e-mailed to me and I made sure that that was the out the door price and that there would be no surprises. There were no surprises. This was at Wilder RV in Clinton, MO. And Clinton turned out to be a very friendly town.

[mtnlvr]

I “used to” live in California and flew to Iowa to RVDirect to pick up my Mercedes Solera. It was about a 1,700 mile drive home but well worth the $40,000. savings. I had a 3 hr. PDI going over everything and found no issues. I would definitely do it again.

[eaglecrest]

I live in Arizona and I drove to RV Nation in Ohio. I saved $16,500 so the trip was worth it for me. The extended warranty was 1/2 the price for a 6 year warranty. Some will say the extended warranty is not worth the price - I've used it twice and works great. Took the unit to a repair center and they got approval in 1 hour which meant I was back on the road within 48 hours.

[TruckDriver1973]

Originally Posted by alvinmb

We have started looking at upgrading to a fifth wheel, some of the models we like do not seem to be available locally. Found plenty in the midwest and in the southern states. I am in California, that is quite a drive, just wondering if someone has done it and was it worth the time and effort to travel?

Wife and I drove about 550 miles from Va to Oh to get our cedar creek...saved about $5k doing so...so it was well worth it for us. Plus, I’m a truck driver, so any chance I get to drive I take it

[TruckDriver1973]

We got ours at RV Nation as well...super impressed with that place. Glad to hear their extended warranty has worked out for you, as we got that too.

[idahobaker]

We live in Idaho and traveled to Alabama to buy our Sunseeker MBS 2409.

[Rdgillilan]

I chose buying local from Campers Inn Acworth Ga for local service and gave up $2000 savings from Couch in Dayton. That was a very big mistake. Campers Inn has got to be the worst dealership for service they can’t keep help and the GM is nothing but a liar. If I had it to do over I would have made the trip to Dayton and found a local full service shop with a good rep able to do FR warranty work.

[poorturtle]

AZ to OH. Made a vacation out of the trip. Saved major bucks. The minor items that came up were addressed by a local RV Tech at our campsite.

[Daycruiser]

Originally Posted by Rdgillilan

I chose buying local from Campers Inn Acworth Ga for local service and gave up $2000 savings from Couch in Dayton. That was a very big mistake. Campers Inn has got to be the worst dealership for service they can’t keep help and the GM is nothing but a liar. If I had it to do over I would have made the trip to Dayton and found a local full service shop with a good rep able to do FR warranty work.

I had a very similar experience with Campers Inn here in NC. GM Lied like a rug, when the Gen Set wouldn't run for more than 15minutes before it ever left the lot. Told me they replaced the Gen Set and it tested good so I'd take delivery. Got home called the factory and checked the serial number of the Gen Set and low and behold it was the same serial number the factory installed. Guess what still didn't run longer than 15 minutes. I found and fixed the problem with the Gen Set then sold the RV. My wife has a special hand signal for every Campers Inn we pass along the way now. Never again. Ordered our Cedar Creek from Couch and saved just about $10K of money over the semi-local thieves who's service departments couldn't fix an RV if it came with a how to book. Amish Family RV did all the warranty work, I take care of everything after that.

[bikendan]

There are many who bought local, for supposedly better service, only to be terribly disappointed.
Buying local does NOT guarantee better service.

[dpkelly3]

Ordered my RV from a place in upstate NY. I live in Alabama, took a train (sleeper car) to pick it up. Great trip, worked out great. Glad I did it.

[Saluki100]

I'm going 1015 miles one way to pick up a new rig. Have relatives where I'm going so we'll just make it a mini-vacation and break-in trip. Reasons for doing so are 1) Zero availability in my area of the model we wanted and 2)pricing was 4k less in comparisons for more amenities, like dual A/C and and a few other items we were looking for. If something is amiss when I get there. We'll make it a mini-vacation without the purchase. I don't anticipate any issues however.


I don't like the idea of "local" dealers not performing warranty work. These RV's are meant to travel around and you never know when you'll need work performed. If that is an issue I would think a reputable manufacturer would intervene.

[B-Rave98]

I will never buy an RV far from where I am living again. I bought one at the Hershey RV show and picked it up 6 hours away in New York state. I only found one place near me to do work on the RV, but they won't do the warranty work. I wasted the money on an extended warranty that is useless now. I'll never make that mistake again.

[PR1984]

I found an awesome deal and my wife and I felt like being spontaneous, so we drove 1600 miles (each way) to pick ours up. It was a great time we’ll never forget. You get the added bonus of trying out your new camper on the return trip.

[RetiredSoldier919]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

See post #11

I've not found a independent tech that will do work without immediate payment, even with FR pre-approval. I couldn't find a local dealership that would fix it unless purchased from them. So I'm left with going back to Camping World. ��