Realistic?
Hi there. New here, and hoping for some insight into a process that is new to me - purchasing a travel trailer. This may be long, so hopefully you can forgive me. I like to think I'm pretty capable...
Forum Discussion
Sorry for the lack of updates. Just wanted to thank everyone for their insight into this matter. We ended up taking much of the advice we received here. We laid out what we wanted to see from the local dealer. "Here's your number, and here's mine. You need to come closer. Otherwise, call us when you change your mind." Well, while we let that linger, and knowing we were pretty much fed up with them, we got up early, and headed to the Hershey RV Show. Wow, is that show amazing. It's overwhelming. Especially for someone new to the RV world.
Well, we walked around, knowing which floor plan we liked, but staying open to other ideas. We saw a few that sparked our interest, but none of them lit us up as much as the 27DBS. We landed on one that was newer, had more features, and even had a newer paint job (yeah, yeah, it's the simple things). We worked with the dealer, got them to come down in price (using the "this dealer offered this price" runaround), got them to throw in a nice 4 point hitch and the P3, and had a done deal. I will say we didn't really save money compared to the local dealer, but felt we were treated better, plus got newer in the process anyway.
One thing we learned at this show is that you don't just hook your new trailer up to the back of your truck and head home with it. You schedule to pick it up later. In our case, it was the following week, and we'd need to pick it up about 10 miles away from Hershey. We made the 3 hour drive home excited, and then headed back up the next week. All went well. We took it camping for the weekend around that area (btw, Lake in Wood Camping Resort in Narvon, PA is great), found a few little issues, and swung back by the dealer to get those issues addressed. Now our trailer is home and ready for our next trip.
As for the local dealer, we haven't heard from them, but they still have all 4 of their 27DBS units. We tried. But no worries now!
In regard to warranties, we read much of the yay and nay discussion on them. Of course, we've been through it with regard to cars too. I'm pretty handy, and can research with the best of them, so we did turn down the extended warranty and coverage. We still have the rest of the manufacturer warranty to change our mind, but I don't see us doing so - knock on wood.
Thanks again!
Well, we walked around, knowing which floor plan we liked, but staying open to other ideas. We saw a few that sparked our interest, but none of them lit us up as much as the 27DBS. We landed on one that was newer, had more features, and even had a newer paint job (yeah, yeah, it's the simple things). We worked with the dealer, got them to come down in price (using the "this dealer offered this price" runaround), got them to throw in a nice 4 point hitch and the P3, and had a done deal. I will say we didn't really save money compared to the local dealer, but felt we were treated better, plus got newer in the process anyway.
One thing we learned at this show is that you don't just hook your new trailer up to the back of your truck and head home with it. You schedule to pick it up later. In our case, it was the following week, and we'd need to pick it up about 10 miles away from Hershey. We made the 3 hour drive home excited, and then headed back up the next week. All went well. We took it camping for the weekend around that area (btw, Lake in Wood Camping Resort in Narvon, PA is great), found a few little issues, and swung back by the dealer to get those issues addressed. Now our trailer is home and ready for our next trip.
As for the local dealer, we haven't heard from them, but they still have all 4 of their 27DBS units. We tried. But no worries now!
In regard to warranties, we read much of the yay and nay discussion on them. Of course, we've been through it with regard to cars too. I'm pretty handy, and can research with the best of them, so we did turn down the extended warranty and coverage. We still have the rest of the manufacturer warranty to change our mind, but I don't see us doing so - knock on wood.
Thanks again!
