Dealer Direct Purchase?

Widows Son wrote:

Francesca Knowles wrote:

midnightsadie wrote:
but when you title it in your state there gonna want tax money.

X2...

Steep learning curve ahead!

Not so much. Truck campers in Colorado are not licensed. The truck is of course. Not the camper.

O.P. is from North Carolina. Different State, different rules...different Learning Curve!

If and when I ever buy again I will definitely make the trek to Oregon. Since we go out west every year anyway, I cant figure in the fuel and expense to go get it. I will save atleast $4K in sales tax and delivery plus another $4K+ in paying west coast prices versus east coast.

Francesca Knowles wrote:

midnightsadie wrote:
but when you title it in your state there gonna want tax money.

X2...

Steep learning curve ahead!

Not so much. Truck campers in Colorado are not licensed. The truck is of course. Not the camper.

Spending thousands on fuel and wear on the truck to avoid sales taxes may be a good move as you get a trip in the bargain. The downside is that if the factory screwed anything up what are you going to do if you notice when you first arrive?

Someone mentioned the dollar savings with a used camper and to that I would add that the first owner had to work through any problems with the camper as it arrived from the factory. I bought a very lightly used 3-year old Lance camper and saved 50% compared to buying one new and that is not also adding in the sales tax, dealer prep, freight or any other charges incurred when buying new.

AF does not allow direct factory pickup. I have asked them in the past about this and they are not setup for the once in awhile delivery. They also do not allow direct factory purchase. Thunder RV in LaGrande, OR is almost right at the factory so there shouldn't be much delivery charges.

x2 on Northstar, call Rex at the factory or there is a dealer in Kittrell NC. You can't beat Northstar customer service. You will talk to one of the owners everytime you call.

The only person I dealt with when buying my Northstar was Rex at the factory. There are no Northstar dealers in my state, or near me in neighboring states for that matter, and I was ordering a custom camper which is why I ended up dealing direct with the factory. Rex routed the paperwork through Truck Camper Warehouse in NH with no sales tax. I drove from PA to the factory in Iowa to pick it up and spent the first night in the Northstar parking lot making sure there were no initial problems. I left from there for a week in Montana.

I don't think AF will sell "consumer direct." To buy one near the AF factory it would have to be through one of the local area dealers - Thompson's RV in Pendleton, OR or the dealer in LaGrande, OR, which I forgot the name of.

Last I knew, both of those dealers pick up their units from the factory rather than having the transport companies deliver them.

Bought mine in Washington State, but did not have to pay sales tax since I was not a Washington resident :)!

kbaum wrote:
Many states (most) do not require licensing a truck camper. Are there any that do?

Yes. And the O.P.'s home state of North Carolina is among them.

Plus:

In some N.C. Counties, there's annual personal property tax attached as well.