Dealers and warranty work

[mainer]

I am wondering what kind of experience people have had with bringing there camper to a dealer for warranty work that wasn't the dealer you bought the camper from? I am looking to buy a new camper,but the dealer with the best price is eight hours away. If I need warranty repairs I don't want to drive eight hours back, I would like to use a local dealer. This is not uncommon in the auto industry, but not sure about the RV industry. Your thoughts please.

[Grumpy]

RV dealers are not franchised like automobile dealers. There are members here who have had good, so so and terrible experiences. I would ask about the specific dealer, you may get a better feel for what to expect.

[Larry G.]

And stop by more often as there many comments on this.

[Robbbyr]

I bought my unit 200 miles from home and have had warranty work done at a local Jayco dealer (Hartville RV), but my situation is a little different. I have a Seneca motorhome, Hartville RV only sells towables. So there isn't as much of a conflict since they don't sell motorized. They have never hesitated to get me in promptly when I need service. They obviously only deal with my coach issues, anything chassis-related goes to Freightliner anyway.

Something also working in my favor is that I have asked them to do other work for which I paid for, including the addition of a window awning and a vent cover. I also bought a Splendide washer/dryer combo unit from them, but I did install it myself. I also buy many consumables from Hartville, driving right past a Camping World only 10 minutes from my home. I have found Hartville's prices to be quite competitive with CW's anyway.

[Bookemdanno]

I will say this...My dealer was horrible to deal with at first! After our complaints, they hired a new manager over the service department. Since his arrival things have been night and day. I just wish that they would order the parts that I need and let me install, as it would streamline things. I get it, they want to CYA and make sure that everything is done "properly". I keep telling them that if they would just order the parts, I would sign off. After install its on me, but they keep telling me they want me to be covered. I can't fault them for that!

[bondo303]

I bought mine 200 miles away. My local dealer told me that he would not match the other price, or come anywhere remotely close to the price, and further more to not even think about bringing it in for service as they will not do it. Keep in mind that I had purchased a trailer from him a year prior. So when I needed service, I called jayco and they sent me to a starcraft dealer 15 minutes from my home and their service was fantastic. In my situation, I had other options that I only found out that I had after I made a call to jayco.

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[RyRoRyan]

I will just copy and paste this from another thread I just put this in...


From my experience, many dealers fuss if you bought from a competing dealer. By this I mean, a dealer that is within acceptable shopping distance from each other. When you dont do this, and tell the servicing dealer that you bought your unit from a dealer far away, they will more than likely be glad to service your vehicle if they know that they will have your service business for foreseeable future.

Edit...additional info. I say this as this is what I did. I made my purchase while I was in Austin TX. However I live in Albuquerque, so I brought it to the dealer here and they had no issues working on it.

[vtdanokim]

My parents just bought a used (2016) Winnebago View from the original owner. The first buyer bought it in town from the local Winnebago dealer. There were a few warranty repairs that my parents needed to get done. The dealer told them to take a hike because they didn't buy it from them, even though it still has all the same dealer's stickers all over the RV. We had to get Winnebago involved, and they still wouldn't look at their RV. It's documented with Winnebago thankfully so Winnebago will still cover the problem when they can finally get it repaired. It's a shame the marine and rv industry works this way... Imagine if Ford or GM tried to pull a stunt like that.