Tom's Camperland BS with Host assist
Despite my aversion to the practices of Host industries regarding marketing and pricing of their TCs, I had decided that the floor plan that they offer in the Everest was just too convenient to pass u...
Forum Discussion
Bedlam wrote:run100 wrote:
Arctic Fox used to do the "mandatory option" package, but I'm not sure if they still do. That was a big turn-off to us when we were shopping.
The way Arctic Fox justifies the mandatory option is that when you are comparing other campers, their competition does not make these additional items mandatory. Their thought is to compare fair price or weights they needed a configuration that more closely matched the others.
Our Weekend Warrior toy hauler had many standard features that were optional in other haulers. It made the WW look overly expensive and heavy until you dug into the details and realized the value you were getting with the standard feature set.
I think this why the well appointed campers will more likely have mandatory packages, yet advertise lower prices and weights than are actually available when they ship.
I have an AF and I'm still disgusted that the "wet weight" printed on the camper's sticker is 1,000 lbs under its actual weight. These are substantial numbers we're talking about, not just rounding errors.
Even the option weights listed on Northwood's website are uniformly low. They list a 125lb Onan generator at 75lbs, for instance.
Honestly, Lance is substantially more upfront about the weight of their campers and options.
The GVWR/payload stickers on automobiles are extremely accurate and take into account every "as-built" option on the vehicle. There is no reason, other than a lack of industry support or government regulation, that this should not also be the case for recreational vehicles, especially truck campers, where you don't have a manufacturer supplied chassis to handle the weight.
