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Old 11-21-2016, 09:07 PM   #1
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Question about not buying local

I am just starting to look for a TT, and it seems that RVDirect will be about $8K cheaper than the 2 dealers I have local. To me, that is an easy decision to travel about 800 miles (I live in NE Texas) to save that much money.

My question is concerning getting service. I have heard stories about how the local dealer will not provide warranty service unless you buy from them. I would like to hear from people that have bought non-local, and what your actual results were trying to get local service.

Thanks
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Old 11-21-2016, 09:32 PM   #2
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I bought my TT from Indiana RV Connection. I would have preferred to buy locally (that means within AZ or Las Vegas), but had no reasonable discussions with any local salesperson. It was worth the 3,600 mile round trip, 6 days on the road, and 6 nights in motels.

All my warranty work and other service work has been happily performed by Affinity RV in Prescott Valley, AZ (I haven't tried their service facility in Prescott). The work and the scheduling have been top notch.

I couldn't happier with my purchase or my dealer. Not everyone on this forum has been as happy. So, as they say, YMMV.
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Old 11-21-2016, 11:40 PM   #3
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There has been reports on these forums of dealers either refusing service or putting people at the bottom of the list, if they bought elsewhere. It seems to depend on the dealer.
Have you tried getting your local dealer to price match? I did this with my local, relatively small, dealer. He could not match the price but he did get close enough that it was not worth it to me to drive and have to pick up the trailer from far away.
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Old 11-21-2016, 11:43 PM   #4
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Tim, I looked at online prices too when we bought our 5'er but was warned heavily that RV dealer support is not like a standard Chevy/Ford dealer. I did however use the quote from RV direct for bargaining power and got the best price I could find in all of Texas (yes we drove to everyone in our hunt). If you are buying in Texas, I would tell you to give Randy a call at Jerry's Campers in Abilene. While he was higher than online, as expected; he beat every other dealer by almost $5k. Customer service was always amazing and same day fast. Good luck and happy hunting, Mike

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Old 11-22-2016, 12:05 AM   #5
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What your going to find here is that some have had issues getting service and others have not... but at the end of the day it gets down to the specific dealer.

I also agree that an 8000$ price difference is significant but I would try to strike a local deal that both parties would be happy with using that as a negotiation tool.

I am very fortunate in that I have a smaller local dealer who understands his market and prices his rigs competitively while at the same time providing top notch service to his customer base. If you were travelling through the area and had a true emergency such as a slide that would not go in, I do believe he would work you in to get you back on the road.... however if you showed up with your air conditioning not working and a gripe list a mile long about loose trim pieces, a door askew, or some other non-emergency I'm certain you would be told that your rig isn't a priority and it will be dealt with as they have time...

It's the nature of the business, most of these guys don't have twenty mechanics and ten bays to work in... most of the smaller guys have a small staff and the ability to work on a few rigs at a time, and the same staff is prepping the new stuff for their customers.

So really i think the best thing you can do is find out what the policies of the dealers your likely to use will be and see how it plays out.... most of the answer will depend on how you ask the question so be prepared for that.

Honestly, if your somewhat handy, have an 8th grade education, or a desire to learn, there is very little on a travel trailer you cannot take care of yourself short of a major system failure that truly need dealer authorization to warranty. With all the rigs I've owned the only time I truly needed dealer intervention was with a cracked heat exchanger on my Arctic Fox, everything else has been pretty trivial and I've done most all of it on my own.
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Old 11-22-2016, 03:38 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DanNJanice View Post
There has been reports on these forums of dealers either refusing service or putting people at the bottom of the list, if they bought elsewhere. It seems to depend on the dealer.
Have you tried getting your local dealer to price match? I did this with my local, relatively small, dealer. He could not match the price but he did get close enough that it was not worth it to me to drive and have to pick up the trailer from far away.
Exactly what I did. Their deal was close enough that I bought locally, but definitely price shop to have a target price.
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Old 11-22-2016, 04:40 AM   #7
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We bought our Pinnacle from Colerain in Ohio. Beat our local dealers by way more than $8000. Haven't had any warranty problems other than a collapsed awning which they worked with Carefree and had another shipped to me. Since buying last July, there's a couple TSBs that have come out and at first I had a bit of a problem with the local dealer, but a call to Jayco seemed to solve that. No problems since.
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Old 12-10-2016, 07:41 PM   #8
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We bought our 5er on line from a Tucson AZ dealer. We have had warranty work done at other dealers than where we bought it and have had no problems getting service in a timely manner.
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Old 12-11-2016, 08:01 AM   #9
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Shop local dealers and ask them for their best price. Let them know you are shopping several dealers. I would not threaten them with an online price and then show up 6 months later with the RV you bought online.

I bought online and have had my W Hawk serviced at one of the dealers that I shopped before buying. Having not made a scene with them, I doubt they remembered me a year later. Service was good and timely.
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Old 12-11-2016, 12:31 PM   #10
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I bought from a dealer 500 miles away, mostly because he had in stock what I wanted. I had no problems with getting warranty service in my area. Now that the warranty has run its course, I do most of the service myself and take it to a non-rv-selling mechanic for items that are too large for me to handle.
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Old 12-11-2016, 04:24 PM   #11
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I travelled 2600 miles to save $3,500 & it was worth the trip but than again I am retired so I have plenty of time. Pro's : saved $$, got to test it out for a couple of days 1 mile away from dealer/ Jayco plant, & got comfortable with towing it home by myself, Con: local Jayco dealer said I would be on the bottom of list for warranty work as "We serve our local customers first" but than again they were a scummy dealership & I wouldn't have bought from them anyway( that is another story). I found camping world will do warranty work for me without any of those BS statements.
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Old 12-11-2016, 05:32 PM   #12
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I bought online , 400 miles away from home . first repair I had to have called jayco they gave me a list of dealers in my area . I called the closest one to me had no problems getting it fixed. a dealer gets paid from jayco to fix your rv. it is hard to turn down $80.00 a hour.
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Old 12-12-2016, 09:32 AM   #13
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My local Jayco dealer is a POS...
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Old 12-12-2016, 02:48 PM   #14
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I did not buy local but the local dealer has been excellent doing work for me. I also had an issue while on a trip and a camping world that was the dealer worked me right in. There is also a local RV repair shop that has been such a resource and when I had a forest river unit, they allowed warranty work through him. Jayco has been excellent with warranty work and has been readily accessible through phone calls when needed.
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Old 12-12-2016, 02:52 PM   #15
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I don't think we made a scene...had the invoice from the dealer we bought from, but I did not present it to the salesman. I told him where we needed to be cost wise, and he was not interested in pursuing any further.
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Old 12-14-2016, 09:41 PM   #16
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We just picked up our new Jay Feather 7 from our local CT dealer on Tuesday and were able to save almost $10k off msrp by showing them the ad from a dealer in PA. I emailed it to the local guy and said "save me a trip to PA". They called me within a couple hours and got me within $500 of the PA dealer's price. I figured between gas, hotel and time to get down there I would have spent almost the $500.
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Old 01-02-2017, 02:07 PM   #17
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Yep, I am looking at a new 31V, and the local dealer is about $10K more than a dealer 300 miles away has the same exact RV listed for on RV Trader online.

Called my local dealer's service department this morning and asked about warranty work if I bought it someplace else. He said they are not taking on any warranty work for RV's not purchased from them, been this way about a year.

I really want a new Jayco, but if this is the case, I am going to have to look at other brands.
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Old 01-02-2017, 02:59 PM   #18
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Yep, I am looking at a new 31V, and the local dealer is about $10K more than a dealer 300 miles away has the same exact RV listed for on RV Trader online.

Called my local dealer's service department this morning and asked about warranty work if I bought it someplace else. He said they are not taking on any warranty work for RV's not purchased from them, been this way about a year.

I really want a new Jayco, but if this is the case, I am going to have to look at other brands.

I'm sure you could get Jayco involved and "force" the dealer to perform the warranty work, but the reality is that your unit would be perpetually at the back of the line, and it would probably sit on the dealer's lot for weeks and months before any work was performed.
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Old 01-02-2017, 03:14 PM   #19
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I don't think it matters where you buy.......
I bought from a dealer 100 miles away from me, had to wait 3 weeks to get an appointment. My fifth wheel sat there couple of days shy of exactly a month & they did 1 repair out of about 15. They could not even get a price for slide toppers for me in a months time.........
I went and picked it up and WILL NOT be going there again. I have found a local dealer that does NOT sell Jaycos that said they will do warranty work for me. I will be going g to them when I need warranty work.
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Old 01-02-2017, 03:42 PM   #20
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10 Grand will buy a whole lot of warranty work! But seriously not being able to get warranty work done in a timely fashion is becoming the most complained about issue on RV forums, even for many that bought from the dealer. They just cannot keep up with the work especially now during this RV sales boom. This is not unique to Jayco or Thor. Go on the Forest River forum or others and read away.........
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