Long distance purchase

CampinHappy wrote:
As I'm looking I can't find the particular model anywhere in the region. The closest I can find on RVtrader is all the way across the state (and I live in Texas, so yes like 450 miles). I would really prefer to buy close by so when I have a repair issue they will do a good job.

Long distance? That's just a days drive and you'll have a RV to sleep in that night!
I wouldn't put much stock in warranty/dealer service unless you are incapable or really against doing your own repairs.

I've driven further for less. Last boat came from 600 miles away, bought a snowmachine, 1000mile round trip in a day. Last sled was down in Oregon. 86 Chevy pickup, hooked up the trailer, drove 250mi down to Oregon, loaded it up, headed home in time for dinner.

You're getting a RV, and you live in TX, so one would presume, a little drive wouldn't be too onerous.

Go get the camper YOU want!!

rlw999 wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
I am constantly amazed at the lengths that folks are willing to go to buy an ordinary common object like a RV..

One must ask themselves, "is this REALLY worth the hassle to get this one layout?"

Some people know what they want, and if they are going to spend $50K - $200K on it, they want what they want, not whatever happens to be local. Traveling half way across the country for something you're spending $100K on and might own for a decade seems reasonable.

Some folks like myself REFUSE to waste hard earned money on an extravagant purchase of a $50K-$200K depreciating asset like a RV..

It IS the main reason as to why I was able to retire at age 55.

A $50K-$200K RV today in less than 10 yrs will be worth the exact same price as a $20K RV and not a penny more.

RVs unlike a sticks and bricks home depreciate in value over time, instead of buying overpriced hunks of junk with bells and whistles you can buy a lower priced RV with less and add in some of the gadgets you really want and get better quality..

In reality, you really only need four walls, roof and floor, heat and A/C and some basic plumbing and electrical.

The floor plan thing, one CAN workaround a lot of floor plan issues, often times floor plans are a non issue once you get in it. But I get it, folks are far more picky, far more finicky than I am..

I would not have any problem walking on a lot, walking through what they have and picking out something that can easily work..

I don't spend days, months, yrs searching and haggling..

I make up my mind with the price I am willing to spend then find things already in that price range and then perhaps haggle a bit..

For instance, when I go to a car dealer for a new truck, I have already setup a limit on how much I spend. If it means dropping to the lowest trim level with the least bells and whistles that IS what I do.. That means I don't buy a Platnium, King Ranch, Lariat level.. Typically XLT works fine for me price wise and feature wise with out all the additional fluff that breaks..

For my TT, I bought a very old 1980s fixer for $700, gutted and rehabbed it myself, spent $4K in materials and have owned it for 10 yrs now.. It is basic, no frills, no slides to break or jam, no cheap RV electronics like Furion TVs and Jenson stereos to break. It is dead reliable and dead cheap and at this time I have spent less than $500 per yr amortizing the cost of purchase and rebuild..

A $200K RV for 10 yrs of ownership would have cost me $20K PER YR not including interest and other normal repairs..

That nearly $200K I would have spent on a RV went directly into my retirement investments which allows me to no longer HAVE to work.. Now all of my time is totally free to do what I want instead of working for the company.. No longer a slave to the time clock = PRICELESS!

I drove 250 miles to get our last 5er. Only other dealers near me (50 & 70 miles) wouldn't deal. The dealer furthest away was a small mom and pop type dealer. Did the whole deal over the phone. I bought sight unseen but din't have to sign papers unless we were happy. Never even had to put a deposit down.
We had been in the same 5er at other dealers so we knew we liked it.

I'd drive whatever distance it took to get the least expensive deal. No reason to pay more just so in case something goes wrong you need to take it back to the dealer of whom may or may not fix it right.

FWIW when we bought our 2nd TT the selling dealer went belly up about 18 months after.

As of late last year one of the biggest RV dealers quit the business in my town. Wife looked up his financials and it seems he failed to pay state taxes and venders.

He was a huge Grand Design dealer. I would imagine that there's a lot of PO'd buyers locally.

If you really want it... I suggest you make the drive. Best of luck on negotiations. Try not to let the dealer know you are so far away and that you are that hungry for it.

Gdetrailer wrote:
I am constantly amazed at the lengths that folks are willing to go to buy an ordinary common object like a RV..

One must ask themselves, "is this REALLY worth the hassle to get this one layout?"

Some people know what they want, and if they are going to spend $50K - $200K on it, they want what they want, not whatever happens to be local. Traveling half way across the country for something you're spending $100K on and might own for a decade seems reasonable.

I am constantly amazed at the lengths that folks are willing to go to buy an ordinary common object like a RV..

One must ask themselves, "is this REALLY worth the hassle to get this one layout?"..

Sometimes those layouts may look great on paper but when you actually get inside you start finding things you don't like or care for. A good one I have noticed is some layouts which look OK on paper end up with slides blocking access to the rest of the trailer when in.. Important to be able to get around things like a slide when in since there may be times when you will not be able to have slide out.. Have a cousin that ran into that, the only place they could park their trailer at home had no space to pull the slide out.. Cutting them off from most of their trailer..

Have you considered going to some of your LOCAL dealers and kick the tires of what they have in stock? Many times most floor plans are pretty similar across multiple brands since only a few independent RV companies exist, most brands have been bought up by Thor Industries..

Something else to consider, RV dealers unlike auto dealers are not tied to the brands for warranty purposes. They do not HAVE to "honor" warranties of a brand that they sell which was bought from another dealer. Typically what will happen is they will do warranty work on a RV they did not sell, BUT you may find yourself put way back the line in the repair que.. Giving priority to their customers first..

As far as having a "dealer buy from another dealer", yeah, that is going to be up to the dealers. They are not bound by any laws to provide that and good chance many won't do that and IF they were to do that, your local dealer will be tacking on a hefty fee to do it.. They have to make a profit and the only way to do that is to add in additional costs to the price they negotiate from the other dealer..

Even auto dealers are not bound by any laws to require them to do a dealer to dealer purchase, it is up to the dealers if they wish to work out a fair trade or buyout. Most won't some will..

If it's a new unit, you could have the local dealer order it from the factory.

The only reason I would make a purchase closer to home is to save the inconvenience of having to drive 450 miles, otherwise I do all the service, maintenance, and repairs myself. Under warranty our dealer would provide the parts, that way I didn't have to leave it there for some unknown time, and have someone haphazardly install parts on our rig. Did that once at CW, 3 weeks later they called saying it was ready. Battery totally dead and ruined, and shoddy repair work is all I needed to never have someone else do repairs, warranty or otherwise. Hope you get a great deal on your new TT!!!

If it is a new rig there is a possibility a local dealer could/would buy it from the other dealer and bring it in to sell it to you. Of course the dealer that currently has it on it's lot will price it to your dealer with a profit for themselves, otherwise what is the point. Then your dealer will price it to you at a price that includes their profit plus the costs of bringing it in. That cost of transportation will include a profit for the transporter (450 miles round trip would be two days of wages for the driver, fuel, and food. There would be a night of lodging involved so plan on at least $600.00+). So you are probably going to run up $2500 to $3000 at a minimum over just buying it from the dealer that has it in stock. And there is no guarantee your local dealer will be as good or better than the original dealer or that you will get any quality service at all regardless of where you buy it.
Buying an RV is very much Caveat Emptor, let the buyer beware. I don't know of any manufacturer/dealer/repair center etc. that doesn't have a significant percentage of unhappy customers. You are basically driving a house down the road and that house has been made with the lightest, least expensive materials the manufacturer could find. Throughout the entire construction process of any RV compromises have to be made to keep the rig road worthy and the costs kept down to a point that people can actually afford to buy them.

We bought ours in Indiana and we are in Pennsylvania. We had a lot of pictures of just about every spot inside and outside of the unit. Back in 2010 it cost us around $350 to have it delivered to a local RV repair shop where I met the driver, inspected the unit and signed off on the deal.
Buying it from Indiana saved us around $10,000 over local prices. And I support the local RV repair shop to this day buying parts and getting annual state inspections done there.