What's the furthest you have traveled to buy an RV?

[StarGazer]

Just wondering if it's worth it to save a couple grand or would it be best to stay with your local guy? Got a real good price on a unit but it's 5+ hours away as opposed to my local dealer about 15 minutes. I'm thinking it's good to stay in the good graces with your local guy in case of future work needed.

[oldmanAZ]

I traveled 3,600 mi round trip (AZ to Middlebury). I would have LOVED to deal with a local salesman/dealership. The reality is I traveled hundreds of miles (Phoenix to Las Vegas and in between) looking for someone I could work with. EVERY SALES PERSON I ENCOUNTERED SUCKED.

Well, that's not totally true. There was one that seemed decent, but he couldn't give me a price and when he did (about a week later) it was for the trailer MSRP! He could have given me that within minutes of talking to him, not a week later.

I gave up and ordered my trailer online.

[Old skipper]

Spend a little time at your local dealer talk to the service writer then ask to meet the service manager. If you build a relationship with the service team they will save you $2,000 dollars in time parts and agrivation during the warrantee period.
Be honest tell sales and service you have a second quote and see what they can throw in to ease the pain and bring the price closer together. I am for trying to work with the local rep and consider his costs. Purchase where you can get the best value cost being only one of the factors.

[mtdawg]

We have purchased 3 fifth wheels all from the same dealer. Unfortunately they are 300 miles away. Each time we say, next time we'll go somewhere closer, but then they always have the best deal and give the best trade. At this point, I'm sure we'll never learn.

Jim

[ALJO]

I travelled once a 2200 miles roundtrip and the last used one I bought was a 900 mile roundtrip. If Jayco would sell direct I would pick them up at the factory. When the price is right including the travel cost........I would be on the road again.

[Turtle Tim]

New to the forum and funny how relevant this topic is.

I am about to go 2300 miles one way to pick up my new 355w Seismic.
I would buy local if the pricing was better. CW is the only dealer near me that carries the Seismic line and they are priced $10k more than I am paying for a unit that has $5k more in options. So a $15k difference. Well worth the drive for me.

My last toyhauler I went 1200 miles one way to buy due to great pricing. Had it for 2 1/2 yrs and sold it for $3k less than I paid new. It takes a little effort but pays off in the long term.

[oldmanAZ]

Welcome to the JOF and be safe picking up your new Seismic.

[Turtle Tim]

Originally Posted by oldmanAZ

Welcome to the JOF and be safe picking up your new Seismic.

Thanks....Love a good road trip.

[bono]

Planning to travel 2,300 miles one way this summer to pick up a trailer from Middlebury, IN.

[Aero_Dave]

Well, I just did an 1800 mile round trip, due to the cost savings. Closest Jayco dealer is an hour & 40 minutes away. I tried to give them my business but they priced themselves out. So I went to Colerain RV in Ohio. Couldn't be happier with everything.

Dave...

[charles_cincy]

Originally Posted by Aero_Dave

Well, I just did an 1800 mile round trip, due to the cost savings. Closest Jayco dealer is an hour & 40 minutes away. I tried to give them my business but they priced themselves out. So I went to Colerain RV in Ohio. Couldn't be happier with everything.

Hey, that's where we got ours (used)!

But it's only 25mins from us!

[Fairenatic]

I just made a 2400 mile round trip from Houston to Middlebury, IN.

You would think that living in a large metropolitan area like Houston that one could get competitive pricing. No such luck.

They would rather save their inventory for what I call, the "Big Fish".
You know who I am talking about. Those who buy on impulse or just have no idea that there is over 30 to 35% mark up over retail to be put back in your pocket.

So, after visiting over 10 dealers in my area and narrowing my choices down to either the Grand Design or the Jayco, I ordered from Indiana RV Connection. No haggling, no BS. Just a great price.

Saved $5000 over any local quote, got to go on a mini vacation with my GF, and took a tour of the Jayco factory.

RV One had to be the biggest joke. Never heard so many salesman "one liners" in one sitting.

[mtedelen]

I ordered our trailer (Eagle HT 26.5BHS) from a dealer about 8 hours away, 800 miles round trip. Currently its sitting at the Jayco factory waiting to get delivered to the dealer we used. Local dealer doesn't carry the Eagle HT line, and the next closest dealer couldn't come anywhere close on price. Would have liked to have stayed local if I could have, but it wasn't possible.

[NC Hauler]

Longest distance I've traveled to purchase a camper?...starting from 1975 through last August purchase... about 20 miles...and still saved a bunch of money in doing do

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by Fairenatic

snip...
You would think that living in a large metropolitan area like Houston that one could get competitive pricing. No such luck. (I had the same lack of luck in the Phoenix/Las Vegas areas.)

They would rather save their inventory for what I call, the "Big Fish".
You know who I am talking about. ...snip... (Yup. One 'salesman' actually left DW & I in middle of looking to go talk to a "big fish" that dropped by. We then stretched that session WELL BEYOND the point where we knew they had nothing to offer just to waste that salesman's time.)

So, after visiting over 10 dealers ...snip... I ordered from Indiana RV Connection. No haggling, no BS. Just a great price. (Us too. Same company, same smooth transaction.)

Saved (a bunch) over any local quote, got to go on a mini vacation with my GF, and took a tour of the Jayco factory. ...snip

The major difference between us was that DW got sick just days before the trip so I had to go solo.

[rsday75]

Originally Posted by NC Hauler

Longest distance I've traveled to purchase a camper?...starting from 1975 through last August purchase... about 20 miles...and still saved a bunch of money in doing do

Wish we had this luck in the Asheville area.

Had good dealing with Tom Johnson in Marion on 2 trailers, but for the newest, we liked the Jayco and the floorplan better than any brand Tom Johnson sold.

The local Jayco dealer, (Miles) didn't want to even come close to what I could get price wise with a little traveling. I really wanted to buy from them, and would have paid more than the "direct" dealer to do so. But, I was not willing to pay $6500 more. (Plus tax on that additional $6500.) I was even told by the salesman he wouldn't waste his time to sell at a price even close to our quote when others were willing to pay more....

[StevL]

We just purchased our first, a class A. Crazy thing is we have a camping world 5 miles away, they made us a price and I thought it was a little high. Started dealing with another CW 350 miles away, they came off another 20k, ended up a fair amount lower than I was willing to pay.

So I traveled 700 miles round trip and have a dealer 5 miles away that will take care of warranty work and maintenance


Steve

[glbtrekker]

Originally Posted by Aero_Dave

Well, I just did an 1800 mile round trip, due to the cost savings. Closest Jayco dealer is an hour & 40 minutes away. I tried to give them my business but they priced themselves out. So I went to Colerain RV in Ohio. Couldn't be happier with everything.

Dave...

We just ordered from Colerain in Dayton, well..."Wholesale RV Club." I know you said you were happy with them, but how was the delivery/pickup process? Which location did you purchase from? We hope to get ours soon.

To answer the OP's question, as far as necessary. Buying local is nice only if the local dealer is someone that you want to work with and if they are willing to negotiate a fair price. A dealer must earn my business, they are certainly not going to get it just because they are local.

We are traveling an extra 10 hour round trip to buy ours, but the local dealers were thousands higher and would not budge at all. Furthermore, they honestly didn't seem to care if they made a sale or not. There was no attempt to win my business, only a "that's cheaper than we can buy it" kind of response.

It is costing me an extra $100 in gas, and a campsite fee to save several thousand dollars...it's a "no brainer" to me.

[CapeCodFlyer]

We had purchased a Forest River MH which was over two hours away. When we went to pick it up, we discovered a major water intrusion problem with this brand new coach so we chose to stay close to home and go with Jayco's 2 year warranty.

We were able to get 2016 Redhawk 26X1 (Chevy chassis) from the local dealer for 25% off MSRP. I found comparable units online at a 30% discount but they were in Michigan (I'm in South Florida) however, I used that in the negotiations. I got the local dealer to throw in a spare tire and bumper mount, slide covers, tee for the propane tank and valve stem extensions, plus a small gift certificate to their retail store.

I figured that after the water problems with the Forest River, it made more sense to purchase from a local dealer in case of a problem. All in all, I think I made an okay deal and have some peace of mind of having a dealer 10 minutes away (although that may be false security)

[StarGazer]

Originally Posted by Fairenatic

I just made a 2400 mile round trip from Houston to Middlebury, IN.

You would think that living in a large metropolitan area like Houston that one could get competitive pricing. No such luck.

They would rather save their inventory for what I call, the "Big Fish".
You know who I am talking about. Those who buy on impulse or just have no idea that there is over 30 to 35% mark up over retail to be put back in your pocket.

So, after visiting over 10 dealers in my area and narrowing my choices down to either the Grand Design or the Jayco, I ordered from Indiana RV Connection. No haggling, no BS. Just a great price.

Saved $5000 over any local quote, got to go on a mini vacation with my GF, and took a tour of the Jayco factory.

RV One had to be the biggest joke. Never heard so many salesman "one liners" in one sitting.

RV One you say? They have given me one of the best price quotes for me. I'm actually ready to go with them. Like others I do have a dealer close by to do any needed service work I suppose. Just wish these dealers would give a good price to begin with rather than making you get price quotes from all over the place to try and get him to come down a bit.