Buying our first FW tomorrow-advice?

bradswife wrote:
I am happy to share that we bought a 2014 Cruiser 335ss yesterday! We will have the hitch installed and pick it up on Friday! Thank you for all of your advice. We are really looking forward to some great fall camping!

Awesome!
...and congratulations!
Even tho we had a fifth wheel previous to the one we have now we went crazy and bought all new stuff for the new fifth wheel.

It was like starting over LOL.
Have great time in that new coach!

Cool! Now for some now-that-you-have-a-5er advice. These are some of the biggest gotch-ya's. Make sure you have enough clearance between the 5er and your truck box, if you have one. Make sure the hitch jaws are closed before you drive away. Watch out for trees. Get a rocker hitch if you camp on really uneven ground. Make sure the 5er doesn't smack the cab, on tight turns. Make sure you know how much distance you need to stop. Turn wide. Craig

I am happy to share that we bought a 2014 Cruiser 335ss yesterday! We will have the hitch installed and pick it up on Friday! Thank you for all of your advice. We are really looking forward to some great fall camping!

mileshuff wrote:

Vulcaneer wrote:
Camping World will not do warranty work on your trailer. Nor will any other dealer. Only the dealer that you buy from will perform warranty work. Just the way it is.

This is simply not true! While some have had trouble with this, others such as myself have not. My local dealer has no problem doing excellent warranty work on my new trailer I purchased in another state. I've also had emergency service required when 100's of miles away from my home town. Never had any trouble with other dealers. Full timers often do not have any home town and would be very difficult to have to return to where they purchased from. I refuse to buy from any dealer that would not service a trailer not purchased from them. Possibly the issue is in certain parts of the country or with certain dealers. But it is NOT a matter of fact policy. In my case my local dealer did not have the model RV I wanted and would not be getting it in a timely fashion so I bought elsewhere. I had asked my local dealer service manager about warranty work and they said no problem, thats how they make their money so bring it in!

I mis-spoke. Some will do warranty work on trailers they did not sell. But they are in the very slim minority. You have found one. And some may say they will, but will put you at the end of the line. As such they will never get to you. They put their own customers first. Then non warranty work. Then non-customer non warranty work. Several Camping World locations have told me they will not perform warranty work on trailers they do not sell. But they will do non-warranty work on an as needed basis. So the best advice is...Don't expect others to do warranty work on trailers they do not sell. Best to ask first, those dealers that you want service from. Just don't expect it.

bradswife wrote:
We are planning to purchase our first RV tomorrow!

My advice to you folks:
Take some pictures of yer new rig and post 'em so I can share in your excitement!

Then go see that wonderful part of the country you live in!
Here's to many happy miles!

hitchup wrote:
The only advice I have is to quit reading other campers advice.

Buy what you want to be comfortable.

Agree. So many people here use this forum as a scare tactic. It doesn't have to be that way. You'll know when you are ready to buy, not anyone else here. Buying an RV is fun and exciting and should be enjoyable. My wife and I just bought our third trailer couple weeks ago and loved the process more than the first two. Our first one we bought July of last year was a 1992 and sold that because we wanted a real bed up front. Second one was a 1995 and were going to keep that for a few years, but that burned down couple months after we bought it. The newest one is a 2011 and this was more fun because we had several to choose from with the larger budget.

So all I can say is have fun and enjoy the ride!

Vulcaneer wrote:
Camping World will not do warranty work on your trailer. Nor will any other dealer. Only the dealer that you buy from will perform warranty work. Just the way it is.

This is simply not true! While some have had trouble with this, others such as myself have not. My local dealer has no problem doing excellent warranty work on my new trailer I purchased in another state. I've also had emergency service required when 100's of miles away from my home town. Never had any trouble with other dealers. Full timers often do not have any home town and would be very difficult to have to return to where they purchased from. I refuse to buy from any dealer that would not service a trailer not purchased from them. Possibly the issue is in certain parts of the country or with certain dealers. But it is NOT a matter of fact policy. In my case my local dealer did not have the model RV I wanted and would not be getting it in a timely fashion so I bought elsewhere. I had asked my local dealer service manager about warranty work and they said no problem, thats how they make their money so bring it in!

The only advice I have is to quit reading other campers advice.

Buy what you want to be comfortable. The average ownership of an RV is only 3.5 years, so most people find as life changes, their needs may change. Also, manufacturers are notorious for changing finishes every few years to entice you to upgrade.

As for extended warranty, it depends on what you're comfortable with $$. Most items that go out are components and you need to check with what the warranty may be for the WH, Oven/Stove or Refrigerator to decide if it's cheaper to fix it on your own vs pay out up front with high deductible.

If that is what you think you want, just go get it. Sure, you will learn some things along the way. Buy just jump in. If you wait to listen to everybody on this board, you'll never get what you want.

Extended warranty...probably not. Maybe consider it when your factory warranty is up. You'll know if your trailer is prone to issues, where the ext warranty could be useful.

Negotiate the hitch from the dealer.

Camping World will not do warranty work on your trailer. Nor will any other dealer. Only the dealer that you buy from will perform warranty work. Just the way it is.

The electric fireplace is a good addition. And you'll save propane by using campground electricity to augment your furnace heat.

Slide Toppers...I recommend them. Keeps a lot of stuff off your slide roofs. And if you ever need to pull in the slides during a rainstorm, it keeps most of the water outside the trailer. Without the toppers it gets pretty wet inside when you pull in slides after/during a rainstorm. Also make it quieter to sleep in a slide with toppers.

Extended warranties are a good thing for those that made use of them and not so good for those that have not. I'm one who has work done under extended warranties and came out ahead in several cases. However, I would not pay the initial asking price. For a 6 year warranty dealer wanted $4000. I kept saying no until he got dropped it to $1700. For me thats worth it from past experience but again, it varies widely from case to case.

Keep in mind that the extended warranty doesn't kick in until the manufactures warranty runs out or otherwise won't cover a needed repair. The extended warranty company will want any repairs covered by the manufacture done at the manufactures expense first!