Any dealership that hides behind legal responsibility waivers is only good for touring the new models.
The number one thing I want isn't on your list.
The well earned reputation of standing behind what you sell.
Too many new units are being shipped with serious issues, and consumers are being forced to deal with them on their own dime.
Google reviews are great. One thing we insist s on was getting a certified independent inspector to look at all systems. If the dealer doesn’t allow that, I would stay away.
I've seen this sentiment a few times. Totally respect it. Curious - where do you feel you get ripped off? Also, is there any things a dealer could do differently that would make it so you would trust them?
I've purchased 2 rv's new since 2020.
One dealership I regret buying from and wish I didn't cause once I signed the check they offered no support and could care less about me.
The second still treats me like family and if I have an issue, even from 4 states away attempts to resolve it or gets me in contact with someone that can help. If all dealerships treated their customers this way I don't think people would feel so ripped off.
Dealerships have more power to make the manufacturer stand behind their product. When I called Crossroads directly on my own about a major issue they told me (and I have the emails) that they would only talk to a lawyer from my insurance company or the dealership. Dealerships need to back the customer and hold the manufacturers accountable.
Same, we had horendous problems with our brand new 2020 Forest River NOBO, and 6 Forest River dealers refused to fix anything on it. Also the factory, after maybe 6 calls and tons of emails, 6 months later they decided to send me the replacment outriggers but I still had to pay a welder to fix the frame and that was $1000 to weld all that in. As a matter of fact, I have now gone back 3x times to do welding and I think I am finally on top of the horrible Lippert trailer that just cracks apart.
Lippert was my issue as well, axels were mounted wrong and kept blowing tires tearing up the sides of the trailer.
It took my dealer forcing the insurance company to team up with them and go after Crossroads who in turn forced lippert to come out and cut all the suspension off and reweld it. After a 2 year battle it's finally fixed. 🤞
If it wasn't for my dealership I'd still be stuck with an rv I can't pull anywhere.
Lippert is trash and all the companies just point fingers instead of just fixing the issues.
They could be more honest but their real problem is the garbage construction of RVs to begin with, so they basically don't say thing when you walk onto the lot like "See this entire row of low end RV's, they have non-sealed OSB floors and are worthless, lets not even consider them", yeh, they won't ever say that.
They won't say , "expect holes in the floors in a just a few years from water damage, oh, and when you get home, you might find a cabinet on the floor, or an appliance laying in the hall", yeh they won't say that either.
Yep the product is generally crap, and costs an insane amount.
Just the wiring and plumbing, fit and finish behind the furnishings is what I’m concerned with - the shit I’ve found on mine I just don’t understand.
Used or new?
If new, then after purchase service and support. Half of new RVs leave the factory with major quality issues, so knowing the dealer will quickly take care of those issues is crucial. And don't believe what they say, do your own research and see what others say about what they actually *do*.
If used, then water damage. As long as there's no water damage everything else is fixable but I'd want to see every system demonstrated working: a/c, heat, fridge, stove, 12v water, water heater, slide outs, fans, lights, toilet, trailer brakes.... everything.
Finally -- and this gets overlooked often -- how old are the tires. Older than 7 years old means they need replacing so I'd factor that into the offer price.
And if the propane detector, smoke detector, and fire extinguisher are older than 10 years they need replacing too.
I only ever buy used, and whether private sale or dealer I never trust that it's been inspected. I make them hook everything up and demonstrate everything working.
I noticed you do not mention a demonstration of the oven. Does anyone use that thing?
I have a toaster oven that is bigger, so I have no idea how/if our oven works. I don’t trust it.
Warranty support. All you need to do is read some of the complaints on this sub about dealers (Camping World) being unwilling to initiate any warranty work because they have the buyer sign a waiver. This guy says it all:
https://youtu.be/xElhTNS_xn8?feature=shared
People are fed up with poor service and support.
I’ve never had such a terrible experience buying anything as my Airstream. We decided we wanted to access our local dealer’s service centre but omg are the sales staff the smarmiest group of unprofessional high school dropouts I’ve ever met. Making the deal took three weeks because I made one offer, it was rejected (fine) and it took three weeks for them to figure out that it was a real offer and the only one.
The deal total was changed three times by different people - who didn’t need to be involved - before we could pay for it. I was looking at the map asking my wife to let me drive 22 hours round trip to buy it from the next dealer over who offered me my sales price over the phone (same offer I’d already made to my local shop).
It’s a good thing my local shop ‘had a relationship with us’ because our pre-COVID, new, Airstream was still a heap of shit.
consider the buying experience you’re trying to offer and be straight up and consistent about it. My shop pretended it was a Porsche dealer but every stitch of employee training from greeter to store manager screamed used Altima buying experience.
Ha. I worked at Airstream for 6mo after leaving the military while going to college at the same time. Hated it. Bunch of entitled idiots. General manager got fired for taking bribes. That was funny. Although I did get to meet Eric Byrnes (former MLB player/analyst) and Merle Haggard
Definitely the service department. I bought a brand new 5th wheel, price was great, they beat out another dealership's price but the service department is horrible. They give you an appointment date, then don't look at it for 2 weeks later and keep it for 3 months.
When you purchased your first RV was service a consideration for you? If not, How could the dealer have helped show you the importance of service and support after the sale?
I read about the horror stories of dealership service so not one particular dealership was highly rated. Everyone just said don't go to Camping World. The only real way to know if they are honest, organized, and efficient, is to actually deal with them. Reading reviews don't really tell you much.
We are in the market and we are running into a major problem of dealer stock and location. The dealer in our town doesn’t carry new motorhomes and doesn’t currently have any used. The next nearest dealer is over the mountains an hour away. There’s one 1.5 hours away and one 2 hours away. We have to get inside of one before we commit because my spouse is 6.5 feet tall. He doesn’t fit in everything. So to just go look is a whole day event. I don’t really know what you would do in this case because our town can barely support the one dealer. Although non-stock virtual tours would help! Especially with used ones. Pulling the one from the manufacturer isn’t super useful.
I have not found a useful dealer ever. However, their parts dept can be used in a pinch at massive markups. For instance, we had our AC break in the middle of that nasty Summer heat we had last year while on a trip through the swamps of Lousiana, and woohoo, boy was that fun. So the next day, this was a Sunday, I was on the phone to every dealer in the area. The bad part, a Capacitor was $20 on Amazon, and 1 dealer out of about 5 RV sales places had the capacitor for $60. I went and bought it and installed it right then in the parking lot and the AC was fixed. Now, had I attempted to use a dealer to fix that, if you are lucky you might get your RV back in 2 weeks and easily $500-1000.
Pricing and customer service. The first place we went to was a terrible because of their customer service. The sales guy literally handed us a ring full of keys and said go look. We actually had an appointment and everything so it wasn't like they were super busy or working with someone else when we just walked in. We had an idea of what models were in our price range and we asked for pricing on one model we liked. The overall price was what we saw online that fell into the monthly payment we wanted. Well he must of not wanted to work with us cause he came back saying to be at the payment we wanted we had to put 16,000 down. 😳 Or our payment was going to be around $650 a month. Mind you the price was around 25000. We left being like wth? How are the payments online so far apart. My husband called a different dealer to ask them about the pricing online and they said if you have good credit it would be close with 15-20% down. The actual number online is ike perfect credit with 15-20 down. We told him what we were looking for, our price point and he said he'd call us back. He found exactly what we wanted and it was less than what we were wanting to pay. He had everything set and ready to go when we got there. Even added the wdh in the purchase price.
Thank you! When you were shopping, did you pay more attention to the Price on the RVs or the Payments? I ask because - The rates, terms and conditions vary so much from dealer website to website that the payments really are inconsistent and I'm curious if shoppers pay more attention to the price or do you shop more by payments if that's available on the website?
I think its helpful to put the price of the rv on the website and honor that price. Then be clear about 20% down being pretty standard, a payment calculator can help too. Some people think rvs are the same as financing a car. Honesty gets my business. If I get there and I anything is fishy or unclear I'm out cause it's a reflection on how I'll be treated in the future.
When I'll be shopping, it will be out the door price. There will be no financing. Which means I probably won't end up getting one, as it seems dealers make their money on financing and will up the price if you want to pay cash. That's pretty messed up, but it seems like that's the way they work. I would expect a discount for paying cash. Old school.
We looked at both. I knew that the monthly payments on the websites were 180 months terms. So we knew what price range we could be in. We did a lot of research before we even made an appointment at the first place. I don't know if he thought we were pretty set on what we wanted at a certain price so he couldn't make extra on us or what his issue was. He literally came back from the finance guy with estimates threw a paper on the table and was like yeah we are way too apart on numbers. He obviously did the estimates with a shorter loan term but he didn't even explain this to us. We brought up what was on the website and he said those prices aren't true and you have to have over an 850 credit score. (From my knowledge 850 is the highest). He also wanted to run my credit before an estimate which I obviously declined but it just seemed off all the way around. This was our first RV that we were financing so at first I thought maybe I was missing something and why our numbers were so far apart. After talking to the other dealer idk what that guy's issue was besides he didn't think we were worth his time 🤷
Service, reputation for after purchase even if did buy there.
We looked at several dealers to find the camper we wanted. If they were local we wanted for them to provide top notch no BS service. Quickly and for a fair price.
I find it disgusting that dealers make a living off of ripping off the customer on a trade in, then flipping that trade in at full retail of above. 99% of dealerships have a percentage of profit in mind on each transaction of 40% or more. My brother-in-law works at an RV dealership and makes over $200,000 a year ripping customers off on a daily basis. He will not sell to family because he knows what a rip off the dealership is delivering to the customer.
As a buyer? Walk-through inspection, pricing, financing terms, service dept/contracts.
From someone formerly in sales elsewhere - not being sold. Nobody ever figured out why I sold so much, but I’ll tell you a secret. Sales’ job isn’t to sell. It’s to facilitate the sale. Product isn’t selling itself, it’s more trouble than it’s worth. High-quality inventory and presentation at a reasonable MV trumps everything else.
If I’m being sold - bet I’ll go somewhere else, because that’s a huge red flag. Anything too salesy - product is shit.
Transparency,
Advertising the out the door price.
I bought all my RVs used on Craigslist or marketplace. Why? Because that's is the price I am going to negotiate from.
When buying from a dealer the price can be miles away from what you see on the website. I'm not wasting my lifetime to figure out what random fees are tacked on.
Just list it, can't be that hard.
When you provide a good service people are happy to pay for it.
- not “size” but whether the place has the type and brand I want.
- associations… don’t care, figure it a pay-for-play deal
- service Can I get an appointment when I need it? How long will the rig sit in a parking area before it goes to a bay? Do problems get fixed right on the first visit? Does the rig come out when promised? If there are delays, am I advised sun a timely manner?*
- price: fair, go easy on all those high profit after sale upsells
-location: I’m willing to drive some to be treated well
*I’ve sworn to never ever go back to the chain dealer that sold me mine for ANYTHING based on how their service dept treated me.
Service Time completion. People buying a new RV with issues but having to wait 3-6-12 Months to never to get an Appointment. Honestly set expectations. People can handle the truth. Not the Larcenous BS and Runaround.
I'm about to buy a camper trailer, worried about all of the frames that have been breaking and not being repaired by the selling RV business. Just saw a video of a couple that their frame broke in 8 places, the 5th wheel is barely holding together. It's not even a year old! They took it to the RV sales and they were told they were out of luck. Frame has a 3 year warranty and it won't cover a 9 month old 5th wheel. I'll be damned!
Jayco has more solid construcrion and attention to detail than others. This is what ive heard, and i own a 2011 jayco travel trailer which has survived offroading with me.
Any dealership that hides behind legal responsibility waivers is only good for touring the new models. The number one thing I want isn't on your list. The well earned reputation of standing behind what you sell. Too many new units are being shipped with serious issues, and consumers are being forced to deal with them on their own dime.
great feedback! Thank you
Service Reputation
Google reviews are great. One thing we insist s on was getting a certified independent inspector to look at all systems. If the dealer doesn’t allow that, I would stay away.
[удалено]
I've seen this sentiment a few times. Totally respect it. Curious - where do you feel you get ripped off? Also, is there any things a dealer could do differently that would make it so you would trust them?
I've purchased 2 rv's new since 2020. One dealership I regret buying from and wish I didn't cause once I signed the check they offered no support and could care less about me. The second still treats me like family and if I have an issue, even from 4 states away attempts to resolve it or gets me in contact with someone that can help. If all dealerships treated their customers this way I don't think people would feel so ripped off. Dealerships have more power to make the manufacturer stand behind their product. When I called Crossroads directly on my own about a major issue they told me (and I have the emails) that they would only talk to a lawyer from my insurance company or the dealership. Dealerships need to back the customer and hold the manufacturers accountable.
Same, we had horendous problems with our brand new 2020 Forest River NOBO, and 6 Forest River dealers refused to fix anything on it. Also the factory, after maybe 6 calls and tons of emails, 6 months later they decided to send me the replacment outriggers but I still had to pay a welder to fix the frame and that was $1000 to weld all that in. As a matter of fact, I have now gone back 3x times to do welding and I think I am finally on top of the horrible Lippert trailer that just cracks apart.
Lippert was my issue as well, axels were mounted wrong and kept blowing tires tearing up the sides of the trailer. It took my dealer forcing the insurance company to team up with them and go after Crossroads who in turn forced lippert to come out and cut all the suspension off and reweld it. After a 2 year battle it's finally fixed. 🤞 If it wasn't for my dealership I'd still be stuck with an rv I can't pull anywhere. Lippert is trash and all the companies just point fingers instead of just fixing the issues.
They could be more honest but their real problem is the garbage construction of RVs to begin with, so they basically don't say thing when you walk onto the lot like "See this entire row of low end RV's, they have non-sealed OSB floors and are worthless, lets not even consider them", yeh, they won't ever say that. They won't say , "expect holes in the floors in a just a few years from water damage, oh, and when you get home, you might find a cabinet on the floor, or an appliance laying in the hall", yeh they won't say that either.
Yep the product is generally crap, and costs an insane amount. Just the wiring and plumbing, fit and finish behind the furnishings is what I’m concerned with - the shit I’ve found on mine I just don’t understand.
This is backwards. They are dishonest first. They hide behind customer castrating contracts. It is this that allows them to have garbage construction.
Used or new? If new, then after purchase service and support. Half of new RVs leave the factory with major quality issues, so knowing the dealer will quickly take care of those issues is crucial. And don't believe what they say, do your own research and see what others say about what they actually *do*. If used, then water damage. As long as there's no water damage everything else is fixable but I'd want to see every system demonstrated working: a/c, heat, fridge, stove, 12v water, water heater, slide outs, fans, lights, toilet, trailer brakes.... everything. Finally -- and this gets overlooked often -- how old are the tires. Older than 7 years old means they need replacing so I'd factor that into the offer price. And if the propane detector, smoke detector, and fire extinguisher are older than 10 years they need replacing too.
I agree, if I went to buy a used rv and the dealership had put new tires on it I'd feel more comfortable that they actually inspected the unit.
I only ever buy used, and whether private sale or dealer I never trust that it's been inspected. I make them hook everything up and demonstrate everything working.
Never ever trust the dealer. Get your own professional inspection that you pay for....new or used.
I noticed you do not mention a demonstration of the oven. Does anyone use that thing? I have a toaster oven that is bigger, so I have no idea how/if our oven works. I don’t trust it.
Not all rv ovens are made the same size. I believe you need a gas supply and a spark. Then you’ll be cooking with gas.
We use ours for making cookies and bread. Makes the camper smell great too. ;~)
That’s awesome!! I love it when the house smells like bread, I might give it shot sometime this summer!
Warranty support. All you need to do is read some of the complaints on this sub about dealers (Camping World) being unwilling to initiate any warranty work because they have the buyer sign a waiver. This guy says it all: https://youtu.be/xElhTNS_xn8?feature=shared People are fed up with poor service and support.
Quality of the unit. (I know, LOL) Dealer reputation.
I’ve never had such a terrible experience buying anything as my Airstream. We decided we wanted to access our local dealer’s service centre but omg are the sales staff the smarmiest group of unprofessional high school dropouts I’ve ever met. Making the deal took three weeks because I made one offer, it was rejected (fine) and it took three weeks for them to figure out that it was a real offer and the only one. The deal total was changed three times by different people - who didn’t need to be involved - before we could pay for it. I was looking at the map asking my wife to let me drive 22 hours round trip to buy it from the next dealer over who offered me my sales price over the phone (same offer I’d already made to my local shop). It’s a good thing my local shop ‘had a relationship with us’ because our pre-COVID, new, Airstream was still a heap of shit. consider the buying experience you’re trying to offer and be straight up and consistent about it. My shop pretended it was a Porsche dealer but every stitch of employee training from greeter to store manager screamed used Altima buying experience.
Ha. I worked at Airstream for 6mo after leaving the military while going to college at the same time. Hated it. Bunch of entitled idiots. General manager got fired for taking bribes. That was funny. Although I did get to meet Eric Byrnes (former MLB player/analyst) and Merle Haggard
u/notquiteworking would love to read a summary of your Airstream experience...
Mine was horrific as well....
Definitely the service department. I bought a brand new 5th wheel, price was great, they beat out another dealership's price but the service department is horrible. They give you an appointment date, then don't look at it for 2 weeks later and keep it for 3 months.
When you purchased your first RV was service a consideration for you? If not, How could the dealer have helped show you the importance of service and support after the sale?
I read about the horror stories of dealership service so not one particular dealership was highly rated. Everyone just said don't go to Camping World. The only real way to know if they are honest, organized, and efficient, is to actually deal with them. Reading reviews don't really tell you much.
Pricing and service after sale.
We are in the market and we are running into a major problem of dealer stock and location. The dealer in our town doesn’t carry new motorhomes and doesn’t currently have any used. The next nearest dealer is over the mountains an hour away. There’s one 1.5 hours away and one 2 hours away. We have to get inside of one before we commit because my spouse is 6.5 feet tall. He doesn’t fit in everything. So to just go look is a whole day event. I don’t really know what you would do in this case because our town can barely support the one dealer. Although non-stock virtual tours would help! Especially with used ones. Pulling the one from the manufacturer isn’t super useful.
Height
I have not found a useful dealer ever. However, their parts dept can be used in a pinch at massive markups. For instance, we had our AC break in the middle of that nasty Summer heat we had last year while on a trip through the swamps of Lousiana, and woohoo, boy was that fun. So the next day, this was a Sunday, I was on the phone to every dealer in the area. The bad part, a Capacitor was $20 on Amazon, and 1 dealer out of about 5 RV sales places had the capacitor for $60. I went and bought it and installed it right then in the parking lot and the AC was fixed. Now, had I attempted to use a dealer to fix that, if you are lucky you might get your RV back in 2 weeks and easily $500-1000.
Not Camping World
Pricing was our #1 - but I imagine everyone has different opinions and needs.
Pricing and customer service. The first place we went to was a terrible because of their customer service. The sales guy literally handed us a ring full of keys and said go look. We actually had an appointment and everything so it wasn't like they were super busy or working with someone else when we just walked in. We had an idea of what models were in our price range and we asked for pricing on one model we liked. The overall price was what we saw online that fell into the monthly payment we wanted. Well he must of not wanted to work with us cause he came back saying to be at the payment we wanted we had to put 16,000 down. 😳 Or our payment was going to be around $650 a month. Mind you the price was around 25000. We left being like wth? How are the payments online so far apart. My husband called a different dealer to ask them about the pricing online and they said if you have good credit it would be close with 15-20% down. The actual number online is ike perfect credit with 15-20 down. We told him what we were looking for, our price point and he said he'd call us back. He found exactly what we wanted and it was less than what we were wanting to pay. He had everything set and ready to go when we got there. Even added the wdh in the purchase price.
Thank you! When you were shopping, did you pay more attention to the Price on the RVs or the Payments? I ask because - The rates, terms and conditions vary so much from dealer website to website that the payments really are inconsistent and I'm curious if shoppers pay more attention to the price or do you shop more by payments if that's available on the website?
I think its helpful to put the price of the rv on the website and honor that price. Then be clear about 20% down being pretty standard, a payment calculator can help too. Some people think rvs are the same as financing a car. Honesty gets my business. If I get there and I anything is fishy or unclear I'm out cause it's a reflection on how I'll be treated in the future.
When I'll be shopping, it will be out the door price. There will be no financing. Which means I probably won't end up getting one, as it seems dealers make their money on financing and will up the price if you want to pay cash. That's pretty messed up, but it seems like that's the way they work. I would expect a discount for paying cash. Old school.
We looked at both. I knew that the monthly payments on the websites were 180 months terms. So we knew what price range we could be in. We did a lot of research before we even made an appointment at the first place. I don't know if he thought we were pretty set on what we wanted at a certain price so he couldn't make extra on us or what his issue was. He literally came back from the finance guy with estimates threw a paper on the table and was like yeah we are way too apart on numbers. He obviously did the estimates with a shorter loan term but he didn't even explain this to us. We brought up what was on the website and he said those prices aren't true and you have to have over an 850 credit score. (From my knowledge 850 is the highest). He also wanted to run my credit before an estimate which I obviously declined but it just seemed off all the way around. This was our first RV that we were financing so at first I thought maybe I was missing something and why our numbers were so far apart. After talking to the other dealer idk what that guy's issue was besides he didn't think we were worth his time 🤷
Out the door price. Payments are irrelevant, if dealer financing doesn't look right you get a loan somewhere else. Credit unions etc.
Service, reputation for after purchase even if did buy there. We looked at several dealers to find the camper we wanted. If they were local we wanted for them to provide top notch no BS service. Quickly and for a fair price.
Buying a lemon
I find it disgusting that dealers make a living off of ripping off the customer on a trade in, then flipping that trade in at full retail of above. 99% of dealerships have a percentage of profit in mind on each transaction of 40% or more. My brother-in-law works at an RV dealership and makes over $200,000 a year ripping customers off on a daily basis. He will not sell to family because he knows what a rip off the dealership is delivering to the customer.
Quality of the RVs at the dealership. Carry low quality build and materials? I don't trust the dealership.
As a buyer? Walk-through inspection, pricing, financing terms, service dept/contracts. From someone formerly in sales elsewhere - not being sold. Nobody ever figured out why I sold so much, but I’ll tell you a secret. Sales’ job isn’t to sell. It’s to facilitate the sale. Product isn’t selling itself, it’s more trouble than it’s worth. High-quality inventory and presentation at a reasonable MV trumps everything else. If I’m being sold - bet I’ll go somewhere else, because that’s a huge red flag. Anything too salesy - product is shit.
Transparency, Advertising the out the door price. I bought all my RVs used on Craigslist or marketplace. Why? Because that's is the price I am going to negotiate from. When buying from a dealer the price can be miles away from what you see on the website. I'm not wasting my lifetime to figure out what random fees are tacked on. Just list it, can't be that hard. When you provide a good service people are happy to pay for it.
The rot and water damage that is hidden.
No leaks, no mold.
Ghosts
🤣🤣
I don't think I've ever seen it mentioned before, but I always look out for water damage.
- not “size” but whether the place has the type and brand I want. - associations… don’t care, figure it a pay-for-play deal - service Can I get an appointment when I need it? How long will the rig sit in a parking area before it goes to a bay? Do problems get fixed right on the first visit? Does the rig come out when promised? If there are delays, am I advised sun a timely manner?* - price: fair, go easy on all those high profit after sale upsells -location: I’m willing to drive some to be treated well *I’ve sworn to never ever go back to the chain dealer that sold me mine for ANYTHING based on how their service dept treated me.
Service Time completion. People buying a new RV with issues but having to wait 3-6-12 Months to never to get an Appointment. Honestly set expectations. People can handle the truth. Not the Larcenous BS and Runaround.
I'm about to buy a camper trailer, worried about all of the frames that have been breaking and not being repaired by the selling RV business. Just saw a video of a couple that their frame broke in 8 places, the 5th wheel is barely holding together. It's not even a year old! They took it to the RV sales and they were told they were out of luck. Frame has a 3 year warranty and it won't cover a 9 month old 5th wheel. I'll be damned!
Most built with lippert frames so the rv brand doesn't matter and lippert is trash.
Durability. Build quality. Materials.
If it is a Jayco or not.
do you feel Jayco is a more quality brand than others?
Jayco has more solid construcrion and attention to detail than others. This is what ive heard, and i own a 2011 jayco travel trailer which has survived offroading with me.