How important is it to buy local?

janegowest wrote:

Joyce in NY wrote:
Each of our rigs came from different dealers who had the unit we wanted at the time. One dealer was a four-hour drive from home, closest was an hour. Our current unit went in for service twice -- once for an improperly wired bathroom fan (which we ended up fixing ourselves because service didn't order the part like they said they would), and for a leak around the scare light. Most of the repairs we had on our rigs were done on the road. AC went while wintering in Florida -- repaired by mobile tech under warranty. Leaf spring broke in Amarillo, TX -- repaired by mobile tech. Replaced axles near Amarillo, TX. Front jacks wouldn't raise in Elkhart, Indiana -- Forest River sent us over to the Lippert Factory who replace them in their parking lot -- under warranty. Different rig -- axle replaced in Durango, CO under warranty. Had to wait a few days for the part because it was 4th of July weekend! Had a tire blow out near Erie, PA when a leaf spring broke that caused $6,000 damage to the side of the unit. A dealer in Erie promised if we could get it in by 4:00 they would get us on the road again, same day, but they closed promptly at 5:00 on Fridays. We got there, and true to their word, were on the road at 5:01. Another unit had the roof replaced under warranty -- our dealer sent it to a specialist 6 hours away. They had the trailer all winter, and come spring, we were set to roll again. Stuff WILL happen if you use your rig, but fixes can be painless. Small stuff, non warranty, mods, DH does himself.

We always buy the unit we love, regardless of where we need to go. The repairs WILL get done!

Yikes!!! Axles replaced!! That sounds pretty dangerous!! What were the symptoms? How and why is it that new rigs would need axles replaced?? And a new roof?? I don't understand why a new unit would need a roof replaced, either!! And a blowout? Ugggh!!

The axles on one rig were a recall from Lippert. We found out after a blowout, there was something wrong with the bend in the center. On the other rig, we were advised the axles that were original on the trailer were marginal for the trailer's weight -- and after doing some research we agreed. The roof was defective -- the edge where it met the trailer was not installed properly, causing a leak. Blowouts happen with cheap tires, that are not actually as new as the trailer. When you purchase, you should look at the dates on the tire. Our trailers get a lot of use -- we traveled a great deal -- most of the summer plus smaller trips during the school season. By the way, NONE of these caused a major inconvenience or ruined our trips.