TT's

[Deuce222]

couple questions
1. when and if I buy a TT, if I buy it "out of my own state" and bring it back, can a local dealer take care of warranty issues if needs be and if so how much headaches will that actually be?

2. state and federal parks: is there a TT length limit? which might prevent me from going certain public places or have those been lifted?

[mileshuff]

For warranty work there is no need to go to a dealer. Take it to a local RV repair shop. I find their work better, often lower prices and no issues. They'll get approval for any warranty work required through the RV manufacture or for items such as fridge, awning, A/C, furnace, toilet etc. they'll contact the manufacture of those items directly.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

I have no idea how widespread it is - but the place I bought my TT charges $155 per hour labor. They get $90 from Forest River they get less from some other RV manufacturers. I also understand Dometic pays $87.50 no matter what make of trailer the faulty component is installed in.

Another thing. I had my Suburban furnace repaired 10 months ago, it was done under an ExtraRide Extended Warranty which the dealership sold to me. Those repairs were done at $80 per hour for labor.

I've also heard that some manufacturers are trying to go to the automobile labor standards.

If your transmission fails and has to be replaced under warranty from Ford, Chevy, Dodge - the book list X hours for labor for the repair/ replacement. That is what the car dealership gets for the repair, no more, no less. How many hours work is actually done has no bearing on how much the dealership gets paid under warranty.

So of course, the dealership shop foreman urges his workers to speed up, cut corners is possible, all to make a 4 hour repair take 3 hours.

[drsteve]

SoundGuy wrote:

Optimistic Paranoid wrote:
Generally speaking, factories will compensate dealers for warranty work at a much lower labor rate than they charge regular customers for non-warranty work.

An oft repeated old wives tale with no basis in fact. :R However, what factories will often do is attempt to minimize the amount of time for the repair that they'll agree to pay for, forcing the dealer's service writer / service manager to go back and forth with the factory warranty rep, arguing the point that a proper repair will take more time.

A distinction without a difference. The end result is the same: for a given repair, warranty work is less profitable.

[Deuce222]

ok, thanks, info helped.

[SoundGuy]

Optimistic Paranoid wrote:
Generally speaking, factories will compensate dealers for warranty work at a much lower labor rate than they charge regular customers for non-warranty work.

An oft repeated old wives tale with no basis in fact. :R However, what factories will often do is attempt to minimize the amount of time for the repair that they'll agree to pay for, forcing the dealer's service writer / service manager to go back and forth with the factory warranty rep, arguing the point that a proper repair will take more time.

[DutchmenSport]

1. As stated, dealer specific. If you have a local dealer that sells the same brand you have better chances.

2. As stated, campground specific. No two campgrounds are ever the same. Private run campgrounds are handled different than State and Federal. For Private run campgrounds, you usually call and give them the length of your camper. They fit you where you fit. Some private sites have on-line registration and may or may not give the site length.

The State Park / State Recreation parks (more and more states) are using Reserve America. Reserve America will display a map of the campground and when clicking the desired site, you'll get more details and even a photo of the site. Site length, distance to water, and sewer provided or not on site are always identified too for each site.

If you take the Reserve America map and open a second browser and go to Google Earth or Google Satellite map, you can locate the same campground and see an ariel of the actual site. Between the 2 maps and the detailed information provided, you can determine if this is a site you can navigate or even want. The Reserve America campground maps don't show things like, trees and brick walls that may be on the other side of the road preventing a longer camper to back into comfortably.

So, basically, every campsite in every campground is different. Do your homework, make your reservations, and you'll have no problems finding a spot. Mine is 35.5 feet long, with my cargo carrier, I'm 38 feet long. With tow vehicle I'm 59.5 feet long. My camping is East of the Mississippi River and we've not found a campground yet we've not been able to camp at. The site might not be the one under the trees, along the river bank, with at pristine scenic sunset view, but we get a place to park somewhere.

[Lwiddis]

"2. state and federal parks: is there a TT length limit? which might prevent me from going certain public places or have those been lifted?"

Our California state park department, for instance, shows the limits here: http://www.parks.ca.gov/RVlength/

I believe most states do also. Length limits are why I'm in a 22 box...26 overall TT.

[2oldman]

1. If he feels like it.

[Optimistic_Para]

Generally speaking, factories will compensate dealers for warranty work at a much lower labor rate than they charge regular customers for non-warranty work.

So their business priority will be:

1: Non-warranty work.
2: Warranty work for people who bought their trailers from the dealer. (The hope will be they will become regular repeat buyers.)
3: Warranty work for strangers who didn't buy their trailer from them.

[donn0128]

1. RVs are nothing like the auto industry. While a local dealer may work on it, you more than likely be plafed at the bottom of the list.
2.length limits is all park dependent. In NF parks at least in the far west most were built in the 50s and 60s. They were built for tents and very small RVs. Some have been upgraded, but not many. We used to camp host in state parks. Our favorite park was built in the late 60s. We started camping there in the mid 70s. Other than upgrading to 50A service in part of the park and new pavement the past few years, the park is exactly the same as when built. Meaning the sites do not handle todays super sized RVs.
Generally speaking if you want to visit state and NF parks, stick with the smalles RV your comfortable with.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

1. Have you ever purchased a car "out of state". It is pretty much the same deal as far as service, and don't forget you will have to pay home state sales taxes, though many (or most) states have agreements so that you only pay the higher state sales tax of the two states.

Warranty issues - most RV dealers do not do a good job of working on warranty repairs for a model they sell purchased elsewhere. In general, a lot of people are unhappy with warranty repair. The dealer I purchased my TT from has seven outlets in Texas and the time's I've gone in, they have been very quick to work on mine.

Also remember a TT is not like an automobile. The basic frame and fittings are warrantied by the TT manufacturer. The slide mechanism is warrantied by the company which built the mechanism (often Lippert), the axles are warrantied by the axle mfr, the fridge, stove, furnace, water pump, water heater, microwave, television - are all warrantied by the different companies which manufactured them.

I once was in Florida in late Feb and the water pump was acting up. The company which built the pump would only authorize a diagnostic visit to one RV dealer in Fort Lauderdale. That dealer had a 2 to 3 month waiting list before I could pull the trailer on their lot. Then it would be at the end of the line of at least 100 other rigs before they could look at the trailer/ water pump. That would be another 2-4 months. If they found there was an issue, they would contact the MFR and see if they would authorize a repair - at least another month. For a less than 1 hour repair. 5 to 9 months wait time.

I paid a mobile RV service technician $200 to buy a new water pump and install it.

For things like hinges coming loose, screws coming out of fittings - buy a couple square head screwdrivers and take care of them yourself.

2. Maybe. Basically older campgrounds like many national parks and US Forest Service parks have not updated the roads and camping spots, so they do have length limits. Many newer or rehabbed parks can hold any size rig. Often it is not the length of the site, but the length of the rig that needs to be turned around trees, rocks and other obstacles. I have a 36' TT and a 22' long pickup to tow it. Seldom in the 46 states we have visited in that rig have I had to choose an alternate campground. But I now have a lot of experience towing and parking the rig, so I can get into places now that I could not have gotten into with my first trailer which was 10' shorter than this one.

Experience towing and parking the trailer is important.

[rvshrinker]

every park is different. need to research where you want to go. my nearby national park (mt rainier) has a 27’ trailer limit for two of its major campgrounds and an 18’ limit for another. in doing my research i found 27’ would get me into 95% of the places I want to go, so that’s what I bought. i just took my TT to Mt rainier this weekend and 27’ fit well, snugly, but not tightly. in general i think the limits are accurate and would plan to adhere to them. obviously, the shorter the better, but we needed a bunk model and like our floorplan for an outdoor camper (it doesn’t have a sofa and wouldn’t be great as a full time trailer or extended indoor living in the snow, humidity, or rain). anything smaller and we would have had to give something up. plus we were set on a particular brand so we had only so many lengths to choose from.

[troubledwaters]

1. Yes a local dealer "can" take care of warranty issues. But "will" he is a totally separate question. He may or may not, you should ask him. Many won't or will only do it if he has nothing else to work on that day.

2. There is always a length limit. Some it may be so astronomically high that it's not even a consideration. Some places the longer sites get reserved so fast that it's for all practical purposes it's impossible to get in. In general, a 19-foot TT will never have a problem getting a site (if the campground isn't booked up). The longer your TT, the less and less sites you will fit into (you can't put a 40-foot trailer on a site that is only 20-feet road to road). The longer you wait to reserve, the less and less likely you are to find a site to fit into.