Price Break Near Indiana?

[Army11Bravo]

We bought our trailer two years ago from a dealer 120 miles away. We plan to upgrade to a fifth wheel in about two years and I am wondering...

Because so many RVs are built in Indiana, would it be better to shop in Indiana for our next rig?

We plan to travel all over the states, so service at the dealer isn't very important to us. We can get big items fixed most anywhere. If the price is substantially less, I don't mind driving the 1200 miles to shop.

[GoPackGo]

Please also see the PM I sent you. Was not able to post earlier.

[Army11Bravo]

Thanks everyone for the great info. As stated, we expect to do a lot of traveling and work camping, so we won't be near our house very much. Perhaps we can negotiate a better deal closer to our home from a local dealer, but we will do our research when the time comes for us to move up to a luxury fiver.

[tatest]

You will find high-volume discount RV dealers in the Elkhart area who specialize in out of state business, different dealers for different brands. Not all are in Indiana, some are in southwestern Michigan. Similarly in northern Iowa for the brands built there, eastern Kansas for the brands built in that area. These I know about, but I would expect a similar situation for RVs built in Texas, California, and the Pacific Northwest (which includes Canadian exports).

Finding these dealers? Ask the sales department at each particular RV manufacturer. Jayco has told me where to look for models not in the showroom, Winnebago makes similar recommendations for a Forest City dealership.

So the idea, in principle, is buying close to the factory (it is not always in Indiana) saves transportation costs, and buying from a high volume discount dealer who turns over inventory quickly often gets you a better discount.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

ExploreUSA in Mesquite Texas was discussed in detail on a thread about our axle issues.

I've also bought from RV-Max in Sherman Texas and they have the same policy, service system.

I would buy from either again - but the buy decision always depends upon the right rig at the right price. RV-Max had no models that came close to the features of our current Flagstaff - at the time we purchased.

[darsben1]

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
We just got our TT back after 31 days in the shop for an Extended Warranty repair. Two days for initial check and determination of problem, three days for extend warranty company to approve replacement of both axles, three days shipping from the company to the dealer, one day to install the new axles.

The other 21 days were waiting for the axle company to come to a point in their manufacturing line where they were doing axles for our brand of trailer. They apparently do one brand one week, another brand the next week, etc. (Yes, I talked to the axle company - that is what they said - the delay was not a dealer BS story).

The point is that the dealer got the repair done very quickly once they got the parts. This is the dealer where we bought the TT. They have seven stores in Texas.

If you bought the TT/5er/TH from one of their stores, it goes to the front of the line for eval/ repair at any of their stores when you need service.

A yearly axle repack is done in one day.

A good dealer is worth quite a bit. But I wouldn't have bought from them if they were not very, very competitive on price. Yes, I checked with dealers in Indiana/ Ohio.

So you like your dealer but chose not to share the name.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

We just got our TT back after 31 days in the shop for an Extended Warranty repair. Two days for initial check and determination of problem, three days for extend warranty company to approve replacement of both axles, three days shipping from the company to the dealer, one day to install the new axles.

The other 21 days were waiting for the axle company to come to a point in their manufacturing line where they were doing axles for our brand of trailer. They apparently do one brand one week, another brand the next week, etc. (Yes, I talked to the axle company - that is what they said - the delay was not a dealer BS story).

The point is that the dealer got the repair done very quickly once they got the parts. This is the dealer where we bought the TT. They have seven stores in Texas.

If you bought the TT/5er/TH from one of their stores, it goes to the front of the line for eval/ repair at any of their stores when you need service.

A yearly axle repack is done in one day.

A good dealer is worth quite a bit. But I wouldn't have bought from them if they were not very, very competitive on price. Yes, I checked with dealers in Indiana/ Ohio.

[Matt_Colie]

This can be a double edged gotcha.

Yes, you can save money by picking up the RV at the factory, but then you don't have a local dealer with responsibility for warranty work. The value of that is another question.

Matt

[jasoncw]

In addition to RV Wholesalers, also check out RV Direct and The RV Express. When I did my shopping around last summer, I get the best price from The RV Express, but my local dealer came close to it, and they also offered more for my trade-in.

[rexlion]

Delivery fees are based on distance from the factory. So, right there you can save some money by picking up at or near the factory.

Check out RV Wholesalers in Ohio. A decade ago I nearly bought a Rockwood from them, but in the end I used their price to negotiate with the local dealer and he came within $350 (covering delivery cost) so I bought local after all.

[bikendan]

we found that Midwest dealers were WAY cheaper than dealers in the West.

we drove 4000 miles RT, to save over $4000 on a $20k MSRP HTT.
even after trip costs.

if we buy something else, we'll be shopping Midwest Dealers.