I have had this thought many times on which is the best to buy from, your local RV dealer or somewhat long distance dealer. Willing to travel 500 miles or a days drive. Well I don't want too. Sometimes the local guys do not have what you like and you may not even like them. Plus if you buy from out of town and get a good deal and try to service in town of course you are the guy who wasn't loyal to your local dealer and don't get treated right. Hmmm. The dilemma. It just seems every floor plan we like is in stock somewhere else. Any suggestions ,thoughts.

First trailer I bought was out of town and the local dealer would not match the price. I didn't give it a second thought. No problems worked well, took it to a another local dealer to repair hot water heater. Just bought another camper this year and was a little more hesitant after reading all the stories on here. No one close by had the trailer we wanted and one was on a lot 5 hours away. We went ahead and bought it. Since that time the fireplace broke and the dealer is going to have one shipped out. some plastic gutter pieces on the slide broke and the dealer sent me the replacements. As long as the fixes are easy I would rather to it myself and have them send me the pieces, instead of being tied up at the RV shop. Ig buying out of town talk to the dealer and see how they are going to address warranty items.

Look for a mobile rv tech guy. Our guy is certified to do and can do all kinds of warranty work. I know that's not possible with everything on the rv but a majority of time our guy can fix it.

If you have a reliable local dealer buy from them. They may be able to get what you want and often will come close to price matching if you ask.

We bought our new HTT from a dealer 2000 miles away because the 3 nearby dealers were thousands of dollars higher and refused to negotiate. Forest River found us local dealers willing to do the warranty work. Never had any issues and would do it again.

My first three trailers were used-one I bought from a dealer who was about 100 miles away, the second from a local dealer, and the third from a private individual. My fourth trailer I bought while full timing from a dealer who ordered the trailer for me and I drove over a 1000 miles to get it. Never had an issue with any of them getting what little service I needed.

Buying Local or Long distance | Good Sam Community

18 Replies

mgirardo
Explorer
Jun 08, 2017
Our nearest RV Dealer is in town, but they don't have more than a RV or two on the lot. Our next nearest dealer is almost an hour away, so for us there is no local dealer. We like Jayco and the nearest Jayco dealer (last I checked anyway) was 2.5 hours away. We ended up buying our previous MH from a dealer in NJ. Had to take it in for warranty work twice. We didn't use the nearest Jayco dealer because they were one of those, "didn't buy it from us, we'll get to it eventually" types. We took it to the next nearest Jayco dealer that was 3.5 hours away. They were happy to do the warranty work and had it done in about a week, both times.

If where you want to buy it from has local attractions, make a trip out of it. For instance, we took our MH to a dealer in North Charleston, SC, 3.5 hours away for warranty work, we dropped the MH off at the dealership, spent the day in Charleston and then went home. When it was time to pick it up, we did the same thing, spent the day in Charleston and then picked the MH up on the way home.

As Bmach said, keep the money in your pocket. Unless a major appliance fails or you have construction issues, most warranty work is stuff you can do yourself if you are handy. You the money you saved to make the fixes.

-Michael
Bmach
Explorer II
Jun 08, 2017
Put the money in your pocket not a dealers. Most trailers never need any work.
valhalla360
Navigator
Jun 06, 2017
Ask the remote dealer about how warranty work will be handled...assuming a reasonable answer, go for it.

Don't count on buying from the local dealer and getting great warranty service. Warranty work in general is filler work regardless of where you bought. They would much rather do jobs that pay full shop rates.
stickdog
Explorer
Jun 06, 2017
We're fulltime so price is more important than local service. Twice we had problems on the road and mobile RV servie took care of those. We figure 50 cents a mile so it would be easy to figure our savings from any deal near or far.
wildtoad
Explorer II
Jun 05, 2017
If your local guy doesn't sell what you want then go far. If he does, then give him the chance to compete. There is benefit to you to buy local, but only you can place a value on it.
darsben1
Explorer
Jun 05, 2017
JimK-NY wrote:
How do you buy your cars? I typically go to the dealer who has the exact car I want and is willing to sell at a reasonable price.

This is not a comparable answer.
All automotive dealers are required to do warranty work on the brand they sell whether or not you bought from them. RV dealers are not
darsben1
Explorer
Jun 05, 2017
lap527 wrote:
Look for a mobile rv tech guy. Our guy is certified to do and can do all kinds of warranty work. I know that's not possible with everything on the rv but a majority of time our guy can fix it.

This is a good answer and since OLSARGE is on earth there will be a mobile repair guy near him
JimK-NY
Explorer II
Jun 05, 2017
How do you buy your cars? I typically go to the dealer who has the exact car I want and is willing to sell at a reasonable price.
RedRocket204
Explorer
Jun 05, 2017
The other thing to think about is people move all of the time. We moved back to CO from OR which is where we bought our TT, in OR. If a RV Service department really doesn't want my money because I didn't buy my RV from them, well they will not get any money from me at all, including other types of purchases.

BTW, I get the feeling I know more about RV service than the RV Service facilities themselves anyway.

Don't compromise and buy something you really don't want only because a dealer is local.
oldsarge
Explorer
Jun 05, 2017
gafidler wrote:
It depends if you go some place or just stay around home, If you stay around home buy local if you travel it doesn't matter where you buy because it will only break when you are traveling.

I think you nailed it: I will mostly stay local for the majority of my trips. Local meaning range out to around 300 miles. Maybe a trip or two from Pa to Colorado and Florida from time to time. I think you gave me my answer. There are a few dealers 1 hour west of me and 1.5 hours east of me. Both good. Note, Plus they always break on the road. Never home.