Are RVs delivered winterized in cold environments?

Buying that rig, it seems a bit greedy to charge for winterizing- I would have thought they could throw it in. They don't give those things away.

There's no standard. Dealers love to nickle-and-dime things like this. If you know what you want, it behooves you to define it in the purchase agreement. Or, learn how to winterize the trailer yourself, and save $120 of that $132.

It was October 11 years ago when we bought our Roadtrek in Vermont. The dealer had de-winterized it when the rig was first put in his lot, but re-winterized at no cost for us. Your dealer should have included all the prep costs in your price negotiations. You may have been "took" a bit...

nothing new the dealers will charge what ever they think they can get away with.

Pretty much chicken shissh for the dealer to jack you up for a mickey mouse charge like that. You just gave him a whole bunch of money and it would show some good to throw this in.

It would leave a sour taste for me with that dealer for sure...
Best to just forget it and get on down the road.

Congrats and enjoy your new rig.

I doubt you work at whatever you do for free, why would you expect a dealer tech to? Obviously he won't so his labour is a cost that has to be covered, obviously by you whether it's a separate charge or buried within the cost of your new rig. Your dealer is in Florida so it seems reasonable your new rig would be delivered to you ready to use in climate typical in your part of the world at this time of year ... the fact you want to take it north to much colder climates is your decision, not the dealer's, so I see no reason he should absorb the cost of re-winterizing your rig. Capital cost of the unit, whether it's $20,000 or $200,000 has nothing to do with it, labour for work performed has to be paid for ... nothing in life is "free". :R

Mine came from the factory winterized with a sticker stating so. Why would you dewinterize? You can check out the water system by pressuring it up with additional antifreeze. The only thing you could not check would be the water heater.

I have bought a few new RV's and never had a dealer charge me a prep fee. In fact I have bought several used RV'S and never been changed a prep fee.

Living in the north, most people I know wouldn't take delivery of an RV in the winter. They would take delivery in the spring, then have 12 months of warranty running until the next spring to get the bugs out. (I took delivery of all mine around Memorial Day). Most warranty work would be done in the winter after using it for a full season; then check out to ensure the warranty work was done correctly in the following spring before the warranty is up. So this all goes to say I don't think your comparison to what we do in the north is a good comparison.

SoundGuy wrote:
I doubt you work at whatever you do for free, why would you expect a dealer tech to?

I didn't expect anything. I'm simply asking the question, is this normal? I did pay a prep fee and was wondering if that charge included winterizing. I'm not making a judgment call here on the dealer. I like the dealership and would / will buy my next RV from them again. I'm simply curious and would like to be armed with the best information possible in the future.

bid_time wrote:
Living in the north, most people I know wouldn't take delivery of an RV in the winter. They would take delivery in the spring, then have 12 months of warranty running until the next spring to get the bugs out. (I took delivery of all mine around Memorial Day). Most warranty work would be done in the winter after using it for a full season; then check out to ensure the warranty work was done correctly in the following spring before the warranty is up. So this all goes to say I don't think your comparison to what we do in the north is a good comparison.

Thanks for the insights. I love to read information like this. It gives me much better perspective.