Local Dealer vs. Lakeshore RV or Terrytown RV

[JCasper]

As much as I want to buy from my local dealer the pricing from Lakeshore or Terrytown is way lower. I live outside Portland Oregon so I know that my dealer has a $3-4,000 freight expense but still their pricing is high.

How many people buy from a dealer far away from home? Any concerns with doing this? I'd rather buy local and have the local support but it seems like I'll be paying an additional $5-10,000 to do that. That's a lot of $$$$.

I'm looking at some Cougars, Mountaineers, and Jaycos right now. I haven't decided on one particular model yet.

[ray8275]

I shopped online for several months and Lakeshore had the Toyhauler I wanted and my closest dealer had one too. My local dealer told me there was no way Lakeshore could sell me it for what they were asking.To make a long story short, I drove 800 miles to Lakeshore and saved $20000.00.

[minnow]

Good for you. Be sure when you local salesman calls doing a followup that you tell him, his lack of competitiveness cost him a sale.

[JCasper]

I bought the trailer from Lakeshore on Saturday. I couldn't get anyone local to come within $7,000 of their price, including the delivery fee. I hope to have it out here in a couple of weeks.

[JCasper]

My local dealers are $7,000 or more from lakeshore right now. The one at lakeshore is a brand new 2013 and I can get it to my door for $41,000. The next best is in Tacoma Washington at $48,000 and in my town at $51,000.

I have a hard time paying $7,000 extra just to buy it locally. I'm a little leary of buying a 1 year old RV, but it is still brand new.

[oneeyesquare]

far733 wrote:
To my knowledge, Terrytown RV and Lakeshore RV are owned by the samer person. I bought my unit from Terrytown RV which is about 2 hours from where I live. Another RV dealership was less than 10 minutes from my house, but they could not match or beat the deal that I was getting from Terrytown RV. The customer service before and after the sale were supberb. They definately went above and beyond for me. Good luck with your decision!

Actually its a little RV dealership empire. 6 or 7 different dealerships, all same ownership.

[WeBeFulltimers]

My local dealer got to within $400 of Lakeshore on same unit. Well worth that to buy locally.

[Seattle_Lion]

I'm in the minority here. Our local dealer is the largest in Washington and despite their size, the quality of the sales and service is great. Their prices are definitely competitive locally, but of course are higher than buying in the midwest. The issue to me is not so much the purchase price as it is the support I get in the years following. I feel the same way about our car/truck dealer. They know us and we get extremely well taken care of. That's worth more than a few thousand bucks to us.

[Seattle_Lion]

JCasper wrote:
My local dealer has found me two Cougar 320's that are coming off production soon. One is the wrong interior color, but loaded with the level up package, fireplace, etc. The other is the color we want, but does not have the level up package. I didn't know that was an available option and now that I know it is I kind of want it. Is it worth the money, does it work? Has anyone reading here had that from Lippert and are you happy with it. If it's not worth the $$ I'll just carry blocks like normal.

That's a bit off topic, but I am delighted mine came with the 6 point system.

[far733]

To my knowledge, Terrytown RV and Lakeshore RV are owned by the samer person. I bought my unit from Terrytown RV which is about 2 hours from where I live. Another RV dealership was less than 10 minutes from my house, but they could not match or beat the deal that I was getting from Terrytown RV. The customer service before and after the sale were supberb. They definately went above and beyond for me. Good luck with your decision!

[LeonardoDavinci]

Well hope this helps. I bought a new 2013 leftover Heartland Elk Ridge from Lakeshore RV, it was $13,000 less then the next guy out there and $20,000 less then a 2014 of the same exact model. The kicker, Lakeshore delivered it from Michigan to Philadelphia for free. Overall great deal, and Lakeshore was a dream to work with.

Now the downfalls, which not to sure who's fault it really is. As I didn't go to see the unit in person, I bought from photos from the dealer and direct from the factory. I felt confident it was the exact model I wanted. So I purchased, they delivered, and a few weeks after delivery when I really began to inspect the trailer, I began to find many flaws and things that will need service. Now the dealer got the factory involved faster then my email to the factory worked. Heartland is blaming Lakeshore saying they didn't do there pre-inspection properly. In my opinion there all factory issues and I think Heartland is just really terrible on quality and quality control. It was bad enough that if I where ever to buy another trailer, I will not even waste a breath on Heartland. Heartland tells me to take it to a Heartland authorized dealer for service, but they also said since I didn't buy if from that dealer they will make me wait, as they take care of there local customers before someone else who bought from the big wholesalers such as Lakeshore.

My advice, if they will deliver it for free to you go for it, but still drive out, fly out, review it, inspect it, and make sure everything works flawless. Hell even picking it up yourself, and getting some wheel time with your new baby is a great opportunity also. Take the time, and get exactly the one you want, the right color, the right options, make sure your happy. Only thing I wanted for my her, that it didn't have was the generator hook up. But with the money I saved when I get my solar panels and system put in, I will have them wire in a generator package also.

Goodluck, keep us posted on how you make out.

[Traveler_II]

huntram wrote:
I bought my Carriage Cameo from Terrytown in 2011. Drove all the way from SoCal to save 30k! They where great to work with and delivered as promised. My salesman has since received his MBA and has taken an accounting position at another company.
Brian

In the past we've always worked with a local dealers, because of our concern for service. When I tried to work with my local dealer in 2011 to buy a Carriage Cameo he pushed real hard on what he had in inventory, and what he had we didn't want. I went on line and got a price for what he was trying to sell me and the one we wanted, he also was about $30-$35k high on both. We drove from Minnesota to Elkhart, IN and worked with a great dealer, got a good price and have not had a problem getting needed service. Sales tax was not a problem, we just paid Minnesota sales tax for our cost to buy. Plus we were able to order the trailer we wanted, and love it.

[travelnutz]

Like Deb & Ed M said, both of the dealers you mentioned have long excellent reputations for price, delivery, and customer relations. They sell thousands of RV's each year and they are delivered by them all over the USA's lower 48, to Alaska, and all over Canada. Only being about 100 miles from the major RV manufactures and having many hundreds of RV units in all different trim/model their huge inventories right at their very large locations gives easy customer selectability optioned out in various colors to please.

We personally know one couple who lives about 13 miles from our Michigan home and each have their own diesel DRW pickups (one Ford and one Chevy). Each has been delivering RV's since the 1970's and they just retired this year. Now have a new 35' TT here roughly 300 feet from us at the RV park we're in here in Florida for their wintering. Sold the Ford DRW with 682K to the person across from them and kept the GM D/A DRW as it only has 596K and she says it rides so much better than the Ford and is quieter inside.

[JCasper]

My local dealer has found me two Cougar 320's that are coming off production soon. One is the wrong interior color, but loaded with the level up package, fireplace, etc. The other is the color we want, but does not have the level up package. I didn't know that was an available option and now that I know it is I kind of want it. Is it worth the money, does it work? Has anyone reading here had that from Lippert and are you happy with it. If it's not worth the $$ I'll just carry blocks like normal.

[hoopers]

they should be able to match the price, though you might have to pay more in freight charges. If not, tell them there are other dealers and you'll buy it somewhere else.
I played the same game on my 2013 bighorn last year and it worked! The local dealer actually gave me a better price too!

Oh, and if you plan on ordering, take the time and find out what non-advertised options (i.e. better tires, etc) are available from the factory. You may have to call the trailer brand's national # to find out. Sometimes the local dealers don't know.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

JCasper wrote:
I talked to my local dealer yesterday. It sounds like they want to deal and will order the 320QBS for me. I'll see how much he wants to deal when he calls me today.

Crossing my fingers they're hungry for your business!!