Wholesale vs dealer purchase?

[Slinks]

Has anyone purchased their forester from motorhomes2go or any other wholesale dealer? Their prices keep me in the market but I'm told the local dealer does not have to fix them. Can't return to Michigan every time a problem arises. One dealer told me the average new camper has 50 hours of repair work, to tighten things up! Why don't they do that at the factory! Any advice would be very much appreciated. Ready to order any time now.

[Markiemark]

Has anyone purchased their forester from motorhomes2go or any other wholesale dealer?
Not them directly, but I did purchase 550 miles away, because of availability of a discontinued unit & price.
Their prices keep me in the market but I'm told the local dealer does not have to fix them.
Correct dealers can deny working on units, or putting you last in line, give you a hard time on warranty work, etc….Common selling tactics of dealers is that they will take care of you, if you buy from them. DO YOUR RESEARCH ON HOW WELL THEIR SERVICE GETS RATED AND IF THEIR SERVICE DEPARTMENT IS ANY GOOD
Can't return to Michigan every time a problem arises.
One dealer told me the average new camper has 50 hours of repair work, to tighten things up!
Scare tactic………Yes, normal to have some follow-up issues, would not bet that average is 50 hours.
Why don't they do that at the factory!
They do, but keep in mind RV’s are rolling houses, with many variables, and with use some items will surface. If you do purchase make sure to use a lot to find these bugs within the 1 year warranty (many barely use them and then discover potential warranty issues, after warranty period expires). A big part of RV ownership is getting to know your unit and proper maintenance and care…..There are a lot of Grey areas of what is covered under warranty, etc…

Any advice would be very much appreciated. Ready to order any time now.
When we decided to purchase out of my area, I did some research on service center in my area, which does not sell units, does work with warranty repairs, a very highly ranked service center also. There are times that Forest River will let you arrange warranty work through service centers, mobile techs, etc….With the right communication & documentation, of course. We did have some small warranty work needed (not 50 hours worth), and having it serviced and fixed through a service center, went smoothly and Forest River stood behind their product.

Good Luck
Markiemark

[GOTTOYS]

Local dealer service can be terrible. (mine was) where is the upside here? I'd save the money and buy where the price is the lowest. I doubt that it will even come close to 50 hrs of repair. I don't think spend 50 hrs. building the whole thing. If you shop around you can always find somebody to fix it. Appliances, furnaces, water heaters etc. are all generic. They can be fixed anywhere they sell or service them. There are few things on an RV that it will need to go to an actual dealer to have repaired.

[JLeising]

X2. Bought from local dealer. Had to re-do essentially everything local dealer worked on. Much better service from a local RV repair shop that does not sell RVs. In my opinion, service is a "necessary expense to be minimized" for dealer, but is the only business for the repair shop. In my experience Forest River reimbursed me for repairs at the RV repair shop (pre-approved). In truth, I would rather pay out of pocket for timely quality work at the repair shop than let the dealer hold the RV for weeks and then do poor work.

[AbdRahim]

Mine in body shop 3 days for warranty repairs (brand new). Tree more days coming in the spring.
3 hours repair after I paid for it that day. Would like a unit not stocked by local dealer , but don't want a 6 hour drive for every little repair that I cannot do. They get you coming or going.

[RubberNail]

I have owned several new units; slide in campers, travel trailers, class A's, couple of 5th wheels and couple class C's. All purchased from different dealers, and only one (now out of business due to deceased owner) wasn't a problem for warranty work. Last purchase was a "C" from 850 miles away (2013 Sunseeker 2300) and the few problems I had I managed to repair after telephone conference with the service center.

My advice is if the local dealer is within 3% or so, buy local (as within 100 miles). Otherwise budget $2000 to $5000 (worst case) to pay for repairs yourself (and hope for, don't count on, reimbursement.) I once had a FR Cardinal with really serious problems (including wall de-laminated, blisters) which would have cost more than the suggested amounts, but another FR dealer (not my selling dealer) sent it back to the factory for me and came back BETTER than new.

My experience where I had to have a shop do the work has been that NON-DEALER shops are hands-down the best, quickest and least expensive. Most RV dealers are little more that shady used car sales people so act accordingly.

[llberge]

We purchased our Flagstaff tt from RV Direct in Albany, NY which is about 90 miles from home. I shopped at 2 closer dealers as a comparison. One was just nasty, warning me that if I bought it anywhere else, he wouldn’t even look at it. The second was a really nice guy that I wanted to do business with, but was $4000 higher in price and would not come down.


RV Direct was easy to do business with, and there were no hidden costs. I found a couple of small things during the PDI, and they were fixed on the spot. They even helped me install my wdh from my old trailer.


Any problems that came up, I would try to fix myself rather than make 2 trips to Albany. We were fortunate to not have to go back for warranty work. I would buy from them again with no hesitation. Good luck.

[john.tucson]

My experience has been we have done much better when we shop for the "BEST PRICE" .... Our experience has been that most dealers after the sale service was spotty at best.. You are much better off finding an independent service person by checking with other RV owners to see who does good work at reasonable prices. We are still thousands ahead on the purchase of our 2015 Solera after paying someone else to go over it and fix what the dealer missed and messsed up themselves. We used RV Direct in Buffalo NY. for the purchase.

[jameszhawk]

Took my Georgetown in there to fix 4 small things new bathroom door, stove igniter, small tear on bottom of seat and a wind noise coming from drivers side window.
And just under 4 months later and two 3 hour trips there. Wind noise was still there. Long story short I left there with wind noise still there. And they also backed into something so it had to go to the body shop.

One good note Brian from forest river worked with me and sent a new window for replacement.

Never plan on going back there

[Steeljag]

Awaiting a price quote at this time on a Forester. If the local dealer can come within approx 3 % I'm good. If not, I have no issues flying to pick up a ordered unit.

[Gleaner]

My local dealer glad handed me all thru the buying process of how wonderful they were and how they would be there for my repairs/problems.......
I believed them.
They wouldn't return my calls or texts (and I haven't even had a major problem).
Love my V-Lite, but I will be buying from a wholesaler next time.
YMMV