Buying local vs the national dealers

Service from the dealers I have dealt with was poor at the best. I learned my way around them and fix e'm myself. Even the warranty on the prior one. The one we have now I bought used 1100 mile away and picked it up. I expect nothing in return and receive the same. Saved a bunch.

In the past, we bought 1 pop-up and 2 travel trailers locally. We were pleased with the price and service was fine. But, when we did research on our new 5th wheel, price was a deal breaker locally.

We ended up ordering from a national wholesaler and picking up in Iowa (a 900 mile trip for us). We figured it was worth the trip to save $15,500 over MSRP and $7,200 over the best price we could get locally. We were able to order the trailer with all the options we wanted and didn't have to worry about it sitting on a lot somewhere with all kinds of people in and out of it.

It was a little scary going to pick up something we had never seen, but it turned out GREAT! We love the trailer, the walk-thru was very thorough, and we haven't had a single problem.

Now, we know a problem could arise, but we are confident that our manufacturer would handle it and we would be able to get things fixed. Plus, we usually fix the "little things" ourselves because we know we will do a better job than most dealers.

I bought from a dealer about 80 miles from home. I am satisfied with their service and 80 miles is not far.

Us out West wrote:

WyoTraveler wrote:
Depends on amount of savings. If it gets into the thousands I'm into the savings.

Yup, how about $7K we saved after our local dealer would not deal. We had purchased a new TT from them 2 years earlier.

Not worried about service from that dealer, which they used as a tactic to buy from them, as any service we've needed Jayco approved at another local dealer.

We gladly took a road trip to get our new unit.

Oh forgot to mention our rig was an order out and not sitting on the lot.

Being a small business owner for 32 years I tend to favor local businesses. The savings would have to be huge for me, after all negotiating, keeping in mind what I would have to do for warranty service.

Other factors come into play also; dealer reviews, attitude from staff, models available, etc.

I have 2 RV dealers within 15 minutes from my home but bought from a dealer 1 hour away. But that's still kind of local.

Best of luck.

If I ever need repairs that I can't handle, DRV has been excellent about authorizing and working with independent repair shops or even mobile repair services. We bought our previous DRV from a local dealer - it didn't make any difference as far as service was concerned that I could tell. One warranty visit for a broken slideout gear was handled OK by the south Houston lot while the other (at the RV dealer's north Houston lot) for a failed Dometic fridge cooling unit was terrible.

We saved a LOT of money by purchasing our current DRV from a dealer located 1000 miles away. Service hasn't been any problem since the DRV hasn't required any shop visits since purchase in May 2014.

Rusty

WyoTraveler wrote:
Depends on amount of savings. If it gets into the thousands I'm into the savings.

Yup, how about $7K we saved after our local dealer would not deal. We had purchased a new TT from them 2 years earlier.

Not worried about service from that dealer, which they used as a tactic to buy from them, as any service we've needed Jayco approved at another local dealer.

We gladly took a road trip to get our new unit.

Price is one thing, service after the sale has to weigh in. How does the shop look? Orderly like they take pride in it? Ask each, if your trailer needed service "today" what is the first available appointment? Each of these are somewhat subjective, but need to be a part of the equation.

I was lucky, and a big national dealer is our local dealer.

Best of both worlds.

Depends on amount of savings. If it gets into the thousands I'm into the savings.