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1handyhubby's avatar
1handyhubby
Explorer
Apr 27, 2016

Questions on purchasing campers from dealers.

Now that we've found our dually we're looking to retire our old Lance and get a newer camper. We've always bought used and from private parties but now that we're close to retirement and traveling more we're thinking about purchasing new. Anyone care to share their experiences with dealers? How long can you finance for and what kind of payments can we expect on $50-$60,000? I know I can check with a dealer but a little knowledge beforehand is always good. We don't have much to choose from in San Diego so we will probably head up into Oregon. Any recommendations on reputable dealers? My wife is drooling over pictures of a Host Mammoth so we'll be looking for that or something similar. Thanks in advance. Y'all have helped a lot.
  • I got mine at Apache Camping Center in Everett, WA.

    A little far, but I can't say enough good things about them and they are always there while I'm traveling if something goes wrong or needs looking at... usually, it's "Lessons learned" as the rig is slowly breaking me in... heheh.. but they are there and tolerant

    I send a photo of the problem, they respond right back...
  • We used SCATT Recreation in Roseville, Ca. We also live in San Diego and what a pain to camper shop. We settled with an Eagle Cap and worked with the factory and Jason, the owner at SCATT.
    The banks did not want to give us a loan until there was a serial number and we were ordering the camper to our spec's. Jason set us up with a bank that would give us the loan before it had a serial number.
    We had the camper shipped to Roseville from Washington to save time. It cost about the same, gas vs shipping.
  • Here is a thought to keep in mind. We are from Colorado and bought an Arctic Fox truck camper from Camping World in the Portland area. Since there is no sales tax there at the point of sale in Oregon, that savings paid for our trip to Oregon to pick up the camper. Colorado does not require truck campers to be registered, so there was no title issue and no tax paid in Colorado either. Camping World had a little trouble figuring that out, but in the end we closed the deal with no issues. We were pretty happy with how it all worked out.
  • Another vote for Thunder RV. Great dealer and Wayne in their service dept. is top notch!
  • We toured the Host factory before we purchased. The experience of seeing the production and quality of components used in construction clinched our choice.
  • Thunder RV in Lagrande is the closest dealer to the Northwood factory if your looking at Arctic Fox. Also Apache Camping centers in Portland and Seattle are interested. Host campers are built in Bend and appear to be good. But you would have to check for dealers.