Wife and I are presently on the hunt for a new RV. Visited a few dealerships yesterday. I am struck by a few things from the dealers. Pretty much the same thing from boat dealerships where I have bought a few bigger boats. At Camper World, besides all the RVs being locked, a bunch of them were not even prepped before putting on the lot. Sawdust everywhere, other construction materials, and general uncleanliness of the units. A lot of these campers are flimsy and not built well at all. Sitting on the lot new with moldings falling off, doors not closing and latching, fought cut ends, and all kinds of stuff. There is a not a camper bathroom in a BH under 33 feet where the shower fits me. I am 6’4”.Camper queen sized beds are stupid.The big one for yesterday, the Camper World here wants $895 for them to prep the camper I buy, hook up all the systems, and to do a walk through with me. That is ridiculous. I am not paying that for you to sell me a camper. Same place wants $1400 freight for the camper. Other places I looked, local and bigger places, charged no prep and freight. That is an over $2000 difference in price right off of the bat.Some of these places do not act like they want to sell anything. Multiple salesmen made a comment to me about they are preparing for the early to mid next year influx of used campers from folks that bought them during Covid and decided they didn’t like it. Just some random thoughts on a Sunday.

Camping World has a horrible reputation for RV sales. We shopped there a few years ago despite their reputation just to see for ourselves, and it was a bad experience too.

dedmiston wrote:Camping World has a horrible reputation for RV sales. We shopped there a few years ago despite their reputation just to see for ourselves, and it was a bad experience too.I am doing my best to not buy from them. We found two we really liked there. There is one I really like that is at my local dealer. I am bringing my wife to look at it tomorrow. It is a Grand Design Pinnacle 28BH.

Definitely look at smaller dealers. You might do well with a rear bath model that has a corner or lengthways shower. I am 5'10" and had at least a foot of headroom in the shower of the Coachmen TT that my ExBF owned.

“The big one for yesterday, the Camper World here wants $895 for them to prep the camper I buy, hook up all the systems, and to do a walk through with me. That is ridiculous. I am not paying that for you to sell me a camper. Same place wants $1400 freight for the camper.”You seem hung up on the charge sheet breakdown. Doesn’t matter one hoot. The out the door price should be your only concern.

coolmom42 wrote:Definitely look at smaller dealers. You might do well with a rear bath model that has a corner or lengthways shower. I am 5'10" and had at least a foot of headroom in the shower of the Coachmen TT that my ExBF owned.The Grand Designs we are checking out tomorrow is a rear bathroom. Honestly, the only showers I have ever found in RVs that fit me are in big fifth wheelers and MHs. I will deal with it just fine.

Buying a New RV | Good Sam Community

Terryallan
Explorer II
Dec 09, 2020
Veebyes wrote:
cwhite6 wrote:
Thanks for all the replies folks. I cannot get a fifth wheeler as I do not have an appropriate tow vehicle for it. Plus, we do a lot of state park camping and want to do national parks. I don't want something as big as a fifth wheel.

We went tonight and looked at the one here local and talked with the salesman and sales manager this afternoon. We really like the ones we looked at and the people we dealt with so we will probably move in that direction.

Whaaaa!!! Who says that you have to get some monster 5er?

We got into it knowing that we prefer SPs, COEs & NPs. With that in mind we set our limit at 32' leaving a little wiggle room lengthwise for the right unit.

We wound up with a 34 by model number. Actual extended pin to bumper length is a little less than 36'. Can't say that we have never had a problem getting into SPs etc. Occasionally there is a problem. Most often sites big enough for us exist but they are occupied by class Bs, truck campers, class Cs, small trailers, even tenters. Most CGs seem to assign sites suitable to unit size but a few simply tell you to go & pick one.

that would be much to larges for camping on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our TT is 30', and at our favorite BRP campground. There are only 4 sites it will fit in. I would like to shrink it to about 25 ft. that would be a lot better, and we would have much better choices. As it is now. we rarely get to camp on the BRP.
cwhite6
Explorer
Dec 08, 2020
Veebyes wrote:
cwhite6 wrote:
Thanks for all the replies folks. I cannot get a fifth wheeler as I do not have an appropriate tow vehicle for it. Plus, we do a lot of state park camping and want to do national parks. I don't want something as big as a fifth wheel.

We went tonight and looked at the one here local and talked with the salesman and sales manager this afternoon. We really like the ones we looked at and the people we dealt with so we will probably move in that direction.

Whaaaa!!! Who says that you have to get some monster 5er?

We got into it knowing that we prefer SPs, COEs & NPs. With that in mind we set our limit at 32' leaving a little wiggle room lengthwise for the right unit.

We wound up with a 34 by model number. Actual extended pin to bumper length is a little less than 36'. Can't say that we have never had a problem getting into SPs etc. Occasionally there is a problem. Most often sites big enough for us exist but they are occupied by class Bs, truck campers, class Cs, small trailers, even tenters. Most CGs seem to assign sites suitable to unit size but a few simply tell you to go & pick one.

If I still had my F250 diesel, I would be looking at fifth wheels a lot harder. However, I have a half ton now, so no fifth wheels.

BTW, nice boat!
Veebyes
Explorer II
Dec 08, 2020
cwhite6 wrote:
Thanks for all the replies folks. I cannot get a fifth wheeler as I do not have an appropriate tow vehicle for it. Plus, we do a lot of state park camping and want to do national parks. I don't want something as big as a fifth wheel.

We went tonight and looked at the one here local and talked with the salesman and sales manager this afternoon. We really like the ones we looked at and the people we dealt with so we will probably move in that direction.

Whaaaa!!! Who says that you have to get some monster 5er?

We got into it knowing that we prefer SPs, COEs & NPs. With that in mind we set our limit at 32' leaving a little wiggle room lengthwise for the right unit.

We wound up with a 34 by model number. Actual extended pin to bumper length is a little less than 36'. Can't say that we have never had a problem getting into SPs etc. Occasionally there is a problem. Most often sites big enough for us exist but they are occupied by class Bs, truck campers, class Cs, small trailers, even tenters. Most CGs seem to assign sites suitable to unit size but a few simply tell you to go & pick one.
philh
Explorer II
Dec 08, 2020
cwhite6 wrote:
I have read many bad reviews of them. We went there mainly to look as their lot is huge. Their big store is real nice to in that you can see and put hands on spot of RV stuff. I am hoping to buy from one of our two smaller dealers.

Carrying all that inventory costs money, and people often buy on impulse :)
cwhite6
Explorer
Dec 07, 2020
Thanks for all the replies folks. I cannot get a fifth wheeler as I do not have an appropriate tow vehicle for it. Plus, we do a lot of state park camping and want to do national parks. I don't want something as big as a fifth wheel.

We went tonight and looked at the one here local and talked with the salesman and sales manager this afternoon. We really like the ones we looked at and the people we dealt with so we will probably move in that direction.
MikeDupont
Explorer
Dec 07, 2020
midnightsadie wrote:
get the mod number and lay out info ,call the factory and find a dealer that has one. you,ve read all the stories on here, don,t become one of them.
^^^^^ this ^^^^^
I promise that they made more than 1 of what you decide you want.
Veebyes
Explorer II
Dec 07, 2020
If you have bought bigger boats, which I assume are the too big to be trailerable variety, you can apply some of the same buying principles i.e. don't buy new & don't buy from a broker.

Set out your wants with the must haves & nice to haves. Do the research on builders. Don't be buying a Bayliner or a Sea Ray of the highway. No need to buy a Nordhaven or Outer Reef either.

The are a few decent 5er builders left out there. No harm in buying a used one if it has been taken care of. Like boats a bundle can be saved buying used. Some of that can be used for updating.
Terryallan
Explorer II
Dec 07, 2020
cwhite6 wrote:
Lwiddis wrote:
“The big one for yesterday, the Camper World here wants $895 for them to prep the camper I buy, hook up all the systems, and to do a walk through with me. That is ridiculous. I am not paying that for you to sell me a camper. Same place wants $1400 freight for the camper.”

You seem hung up on the charge sheet breakdown. Doesn’t matter one hoot. The out the door price should be your only concern.

In this case their extra charges put them at least $2100 more than the Grand Designs one I want before hard negotiation. They both have the same sale price, but the Camper World one has all the extra fees. I negotiated with them yesterday and got them as low as we can get. It is actually not a bad deal, but the local guy should be able to beat it.

Even if he don't. buy from the local guy. You will be happier. The local guy will more than likely stand behind what he sells. CW maybe not. the local guy wants to keep your business. CW don't care.
TomG2
Explorer
Dec 07, 2020
It is now a seller's market. The dealers can sell anything the factory will give them. I paid a few bucks more for a new trailer in October that I would have in June, but I am enjoying the thing greatly. Nobody made me buy it.
valhalla360
Navigator
Dec 07, 2020
Lwiddis wrote:
You seem hung up on the charge sheet breakdown. Doesn’t matter one hoot. The out the door price should be your only concern.

Yep, same when buying cars and trucks...you ask for the out the door price...if you have a trade, you want the out the door price with the trade included.

As far as shower headroom, most travel trailers have roughly the same headroom. You need to look at 5th wheels if you want higher ceilings.

I have noticed a change in the last few years where some places want to have a saleman with you when you go out looking on the lot. I guess for newbies it might be helpful but annoying when you want to discuss pros & cons internally and have to find a way to get away from him.. We just bought while passing thru Oklahoma and it was nice because they let us just go out and wander looking at all the rigs.

I think a lot of the Camping World hate is they are the big dog, so if 1 in 50 sales has a complaint, they have so many sales, they get more complaints...not that they are perfect but a lot of it is related to the volume.

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