RV Direct - Too good to be true?

[Campin__Nana]

Hello Everyone,

Someone on the forums mentioned RV Direct to me for purchasing a TT. When we got the quote last night, I nearly fainted dead away. LOL

How many of you have purchased from them and did you have any trouble at all? ANY cons at all to purchasing a TT that way? Anything we should know ahead of time? Can you haggle on the price they quote you? (Although, I don't know why we would! The price is amazing!) It just seemed too good to be true. Will be awaiting your responses. Thanks!

[Campin__Nana]

When I called and asked our local Jayco dealer if they would service a TT we bought out of state, his answer was "Absolutely! We want your business"!

[Mountaineer42]

Obviously you have never tried to get a local dealer to do warranty service on an out-of-state purchased rig! I purchased a new 5th and saved a bundle on the purchase price BUT when it came to getting ANY warranty service I got NOTHING! I tried every dealer for 150 miles around and every single time, the first question they asked was "Did you purchase out-of-state?" When I answered "Yes" they would flat-out tell me they didn't do work on rigs purchased out-of-state. Even though Keystone was willing to cover the cost under their warranty, as mlts22 states, for all intents and purposes there is no warranty as no-one will do the work.
Before calling anyone foolish and accusing them of spreading false information, maybe you should do a little fact-checking first.

spoon059 wrote:

mlts22 wrote:
I'm considering them as an option... but the downside of buying from them is that for all purposes, the unit has no warranty, so be prepared to assume that part of the purchase price is a slush fund to pay for teething problems out of pocket once the unit is at home.

This is just foolish. You still have your warranty. Perhaps you might have to work a little bit harder to find a local dealer willing to do the work, but you still have a full warranty. Why would you provide such blatantly FALSE information?

There is a lot of good information on this forum... but nonsense like this really muddy's up the water.

[Mountaineer42]

Now go to any of your local Jayco dealers and see if they will give you the same assurance. My bet, from personal experience, is that they will not service your out-of-state purchased rig! Jayco provides the warranty but if no-one will do the work it is worthless.
I'd still buy from RVDirect but be aware that the warranty issue is real.

Campin'_Nana wrote:
I just received this message back from RV Direct regarding whether or not you get a warranty.

"Yes. We are a Jayco dealer like your dealer down the road, no different. All Jaycos are covered by a two year warranty good at any Jayco dealer.
 
Thank you,
Jeff Blair
National Sales Manager
RV One Superstores, Inc"

[willald]

Campin'_Nana wrote:
I just received this message back from RV Direct regarding whether or not you get a warranty.

"Yes. We are a Jayco dealer like your dealer down the road, no different. All Jaycos are covered by a two year warranty good at any Jayco dealer.
 
Thank you,
Jeff Blair
National Sales Manager
RV One Superstores, Inc"

..Ask him if you have an issue while under warranty and no local Jayco dealer will help, if he has a service department capable of handling any warranty issues you may have. Since he's just like any other Jayco dealer, that shouldn't be a problem, right? 🙂

From what I have found, RV Direct has very little if any service department. They push that off on other dealers. They're all about sales, thats pretty much it.

It is true, that you still have the manufacturer warranty. However, like already said, getting warranty service can be more of a challenge when you don't have a local dealer that you bought from.

Will

[johnnyrv]

Had satisfactory experience buying first tt from them in Orlando. But they didn't want their own unit as a trade in when I wanted a bigger tt. Local dealer in Ocala gave me a good price for the trade and a new jayco tt. The Orlando store is in a very busy part of Orlando. Would not want to test drive a motor home there. So we upgraded again with a class c Bought it locally in leesburg. Both local dealers prices were as good as RVdirect.

[Ron3rd]

RV Direct's price IS true. I was ready to buy from them a couple of years ago until a local dealer matched their price.

[Campin__Nana]

I just received this message back from RV Direct regarding whether or not you get a warranty.

"Yes. We are a Jayco dealer like your dealer down the road, no different. All Jaycos are covered by a two year warranty good at any Jayco dealer.
 
Thank you,
Jeff Blair
National Sales Manager
RV One Superstores, Inc"

[4X4Dodger]

2012Coleman wrote:
I'd take the RV direct quote to a local dealer and ask them to meet or beat it.

If those local dealers are anything like Swenson RV and Capitol RV here in Minot they will laugh at you and tell you "we dont compete with the internet"

This is what happened to me. When I was told that I actually laughed, yes out loud. I then said to the sales manager (who I was speaking to) that with all due respect whether he knew it or not or whether he wanted to admit it or not His dealership WAS competing with the internet everyday. And I walked out.

RV dealers are a strange lot, Car dealers realize they are competing with the internet and most have embraced and admit this, but RV dealers seem to be living in some version of the Flintstones sales-tactics-wise.

[tsetsaf]

Alot of bad assumptions about RV dealers versus wholesalers. Wholesalers are a great way to save money; part of that savings is due to low iverhead and thinner margins. You take on some of the risk.

[Campin__Nana]

Unfortunately, we have not been able to find a Jayco dealer here in TN that will even touch RV Directs price. We would be saving 6K if we go with RV Direct, which is a no brainer for us. (I'd swim to wherever and pull it home with my teeth to save that much! LOL) Unfortunately, we can't get the model we want with RVD so we're trying to decide on a different model.

Does anyone know a wholesaler or build your own Starcraft dealer? They have the same floorplan we wanted in the Jayco.

[spoon059]

2012Coleman wrote:
I'd take the RV direct quote to a local dealer and ask them to meet or beat it.

This is what I did. RVDirect gave me a quote for 36% off MSRP. I took that price to a local dealer and they offered a price just a couple hundred dollars higher. I would have had to drive to Albany, NY to pick it up. My mom grew up in Albany and I used to visit all the time. I was fine with driving up there for a vacation anyways... but buying local saved me from a "forced" trip.

mlts22 wrote:
I'm considering them as an option... but the downside of buying from them is that for all purposes, the unit has no warranty, so be prepared to assume that part of the purchase price is a slush fund to pay for teething problems out of pocket once the unit is at home.

This is just foolish. You still have your warranty. Perhaps you might have to work a little bit harder to find a local dealer willing to do the work, but you still have a full warranty. Why would you provide such blatantly FALSE information?

There is a lot of good information on this forum... but nonsense like this really muddy's up the water.

[bikendan]

mlts22 wrote:
I'm considering them as an option... but the downside of buying from them is that for all purposes, the unit has no warranty

On what do you base this?

If it's new, it comes with the factory warranty.
Jayco-2 years
Forest River-1 year with optional 2nd year factory warranty for $150 more

[mlts22]

I'm considering them as an option... but the downside of buying from them is that for all purposes, the unit has no warranty, so be prepared to assume that part of the purchase price is a slush fund to pay for teething problems out of pocket once the unit is at home.

I'm not saying it isn't an option, as their prices are realistic, compared to trying to negotiate down from "MSRP" items and the tomfoolery that a lot of other dealers do.

[Mommalu]

We purchased from RV direct. We needed a TT to live in while our house was rebuilt. We paid nearly 8K less than the local dealer. I called the local dealer, they would match the price, but did not have that model at that time, we did not have time to wait. We picked up in Iowa, a great experience, no problems with the Jayco. Instead of paying 28K we paid 20K and 3 yrs later trade in was 14K. We are truly happy campers due to RV direct with pick up in Iowa.
Good Luck, may it all work out!

[willald]

We looked at RVdirect a few years ago, seriously considered buying a unit from them. Yes, their prices are sometimes soo much lower than local dealers, it seems too good to be true.

Their pricing is so low, because they have almost no service department to pay for. There is very little if any PDI done at all when you buy from them. They get it from the factory, and its yours. Period. You pretty much own the unit, sign all the papers, etc., before you even can SEE it.

Ultimately, that just did not sit well with us. The idea of having full ownership, responsibility, insurance, etc. for a unit before I even see it, just would not work for me. You could show up to get it, the unit be a complete mess, and it is YOUR unit, your problem by then. Not happening, at least not for us.

(..And thats not to mention, they really don't seem to want trade-ins, as they won't give you squat for them.)

Only way we MIGHT would consider purchasing from them, is if there was no tradein involved, and they had a stock unit like what we wanted, in which case we could look it over real good before signing any papers. Never would I order one, and make 100% financial commitment to it before I even see it. An RV is way too large an investment, too much risk, to do that.

Anyway, we ended up buying from a local dealer, and got a deal very close to what RV Direct was offering. Very glad we did, too, 'cause we've had a great relationship with that dealer, and they've been very helpful for anything we've needed.

Like already said, the one thing RV direct is good for, is using their prices to make local dealers a little more competitive. 🙂