How important is it to buy local?
I heard a long spiel last night on a youtube video about it being very important to buy local, because RV dealers always prefer to work on their own customer's rigs first. One MORE criteria!! : ...
Forum Discussion
The Sales and Service Depts at most dealers for RVs (or any other type of vehicle) are almost always two completely separate business units. Yeah, Sales will hype up their Service dept to make the sale, but after you've signed they typically won't step in to help if you have a problem dealing with their Service dep.
Warranty work is a slightly different matter. Any dealer who sells a particular manufacturers units is contractually obligated to service those manufacturer's units if they have a service dept. They can tell you about their workload, backlog, etc but they can't refuse to service your unit without endangering their contract with the manufacturer. But you may have to complain directly to the factory to get things to happen.
My last three RVs were all bought from the same local dealer, in fact from the same salesman. This dealer handles the brand that will probably be my next purchase, but they aren't getting my business. I like the salesman and I usually get a good price, but their Service dept is terrible and I've made it clear that's the reason I'll be buying someplace else even if it means traveling halfway across the country for a deal. For what it's worth I've ended up doing most of the warranty and repair work myself because of poor service depts and long wait times at most of the local RV shops.
Warranty work is a slightly different matter. Any dealer who sells a particular manufacturers units is contractually obligated to service those manufacturer's units if they have a service dept. They can tell you about their workload, backlog, etc but they can't refuse to service your unit without endangering their contract with the manufacturer. But you may have to complain directly to the factory to get things to happen.
My last three RVs were all bought from the same local dealer, in fact from the same salesman. This dealer handles the brand that will probably be my next purchase, but they aren't getting my business. I like the salesman and I usually get a good price, but their Service dept is terrible and I've made it clear that's the reason I'll be buying someplace else even if it means traveling halfway across the country for a deal. For what it's worth I've ended up doing most of the warranty and repair work myself because of poor service depts and long wait times at most of the local RV shops.
