How far did you travel to "test drive" and purchase your trailer?

[SteveShall]

So......the wife wants to look at a couple trailers but we're not finding any local dealers that have what we want in stock.

How far do people usual travel in the southeast to "test drive" and/or buy their trailers?

[Dirtfan]

Our dealer is 2 1/2 hours away, so we sent the check in before we actually seen the trailer but we live in Minnesota

[Taurus2415]

Originally Posted by SteveShall

So......the wife wants to look at a couple trailers but we're not finding any local dealers that have what we want in stock.

How far do people usual travel in the southeast to "test drive" and/or buy their trailers?

We found a great price (almost too good) on a used 28BHDS and drove 4 hours to look at it. This was after wifey said "We won't know unless we go look at it." Made an offer and bought it on the spot. No regrets.

[Whistler]

Our last trailer we drove 250 miles for the right price, and saved thousands. The recently purchased Eagle was found online and negotiated on the phone, then drove 2 hours to pick up. We have plenty of RV dealers in our area, but none were willing to make the deal I wanted.

[Rob_Fla]

We went about 250 miles to get ours, got the 5er we wanted at the right price

[Mustang65]

We purchased our2012 EAGLE 284BHS from an internet dealer while we were camping in the North Ga Mountains for 3 months. We sold our TrailManor over the internet, dropped it off at the new owners on our way to Indiana, and picked up the new trailer at a dealer about a mile from the Jayco mfg plant. We drove back down to North GA and finished our stay and then back home to central FL. After deducting the cost of gas we saved just under $1K in shipping by picking it up. Great way to get used to the bigger TT.
Don

[Tex1961]

I am SO showing this post to my wife. . . She thought 1 hour drive to our dealer was bad..

Let me build on the original question, for those of you who store your TT how far away is your storage lot?

[weekender]

So I will play Devil's advocate here. For those that purchase trailers from dealers that are 1 or 2 hours or more from home to save money what do you do when you need service? Every trailer will have some issues from time to time and I was curious how you handle. A friend of mine bought his trailer from a dealer over 4 hours from home and had multiple issues he had to pay for while mine was bought locally and my dealer took care of any issues I had.

Just curious what you really save in the long run.

[Whistler]

Originally Posted by weekender

So I will play Devil's advocate here. For those that purchase trailers from dealers that are 1 or 2 hours or more from home to save money what do you do when you need service? Every trailer will have some issues from time to time and I was curious how you handle. A friend of mine bought his trailer from a dealer over 4 hours from home and had multiple issues he had to pay for while mine was bought locally and my dealer took care of any issues I had.

Just curious what you really save in the long run.

I normally do not buy new, just new to me so I do not have a warranty. Our 2013 308RETS was originally purchased in June by a retired Navy Vet who after two trips traded it in for a 40' 5er. I actually got to meet him at the dealer when I picked up the trailer in November. With this one, I did purchase a 7-year warranty with this one because of the purchase price and I never had one this nice..
The one I did drive 250 miles for was the only new we've ever had, and we did have minor issues that were taken care of by the local dealer. Service departments are separate from sales and will try to earn your recurring business (if their a good dealer) and warranty work is paid by the manufacture.

[Dirtfan]

The dealer I purchased mine from also owns another dealer that is about an hour away from the campground, they will do a service call for $75, I had them out once last summer and if it wasn't under warranty I would've fixed it myself, just wanted to make sure the repair was documented as it was a questionable seal on the top of the slide, this spring i'll get the roll of eternabond out and seal it the right way, not the half a**ed job they did

[RedHorse1]

Our first is an X23B which we travelled from Houston to Orlando to pick up. Saw a similar one at a local dealer but the RV Direct price was the deal breaker. That was about 980 mi one way.
This Friday we're driving to Dallas to look at a 5th. It doesn't have exactly the options we want so the plan is to visit and check out the floor plan. May discuss pricing on ordering a new one - or not. This will be about 260 mi.

[Tex1961]

Originally Posted by RedHorse1

Our first is an X23B which we travelled from Houston to Orlando to pick up. Saw a similar one at a local dealer but the RV Direct price was the deal breaker. That was about 980 mi one way.
This Friday we're driving to Dallas to look at a 5th. It doesn't have exactly the options we want so the plan is to visit and check out the floor plan. May discuss pricing on ordering a new one - or not. This will be about 260 mi.

RedHorse, what dealer in Dallas are you looking at? Since we live in this area we looked at most of them.

[Bassdogs]

To answer the devil's advocate, I will note needed warrantee items until after the Spring camping season and then take it to the closest dealer 11/2 hrs away. If its there for 2,4 weeks, or even longer it doesn't really matter because we will be into houseboat season. A good local dealer within a short drive [45min or so] from home is nice, but I visit a dealer for service just about as frequently as I go to the doctor. When I have a serious medical need, I drive 2 1/2 hours to the best hospital in the region. spending $5000 more at that local dealer to offset 2 or 3 warrantee visits that were a longer pull for service was an easy decision for me. We drive 75 miles round trip to buy our groceries. The local IGA's prices and selection are so subpar its again an easy decision. We bought 90% of the christmas gifts on-line because the closest retailers are over an hour away [just like the Jayco dealer].

400+ miles one way to pick up my 2014 W Hawk.

Typically local dealers don't offer the selection or the price and you end up spending a lot more money to get a unit that may lack features or have features that you don't want to pay for. My closest dealer said it was too late to order a unit from Jayco and could only sell me the one he had on the lot. I went online and ordered what he said couldn't be purchased and got a 2014 [his on the lot unit was a 2013] for the quoted 2013 price.

There have been other threads about the benefits and costs of local dealers. Check them out and make your own choice.

[BillMc40]

We drove 150 miles and about 3 hours. There are no dealers in the area, they dealer we went to is a little futher away, really seemed to want our business. I did not like the drive at all.
Bill Mc

[usmc616]

Originally Posted by weekender

So I will play Devil's advocate here. For those that purchase trailers from dealers that are 1 or 2 hours or more from home to save money what do you do when you need service? Every trailer will have some issues from time to time and I was curious how you handle. A friend of mine bought his trailer from a dealer over 4 hours from home and had multiple issues he had to pay for while mine was bought locally and my dealer took care of any issues I had.

Just curious what you really save in the long run.

I thought about this situation often when we were TT shopping, but then I figured what would happen if we had to move to a different state or if the dealership went out of business. In either case i would not have the option to go back to where I bought it for warranty work, so we opted to buy from RV Direct, save thousands, and take our chances.
It worked out that when we had only 1 issue with our TT while it was under warranty, the brake magnets were heavily corroded, when I called the dealership, they authorized a local mobile RV repair facility to make the repairs so i did not have to take any chances traveling to them with faulty brakes.

[RoyBraddy]

Having a local dealer has it benefits but hard for us country folks to find the trailer we want. My STARCRAFT dealer was over 3 hours away. I will take it to my local RV dealer for minor repairs etc... If something costly comes up I will have to drive back to the original dealers for warranty service I guess...

Most RV Folks are like boat owners I guess and fix everything that can fails. The bigger the RV the more expensive they will be maintenance wise... Since my OFF-ROAD POPUP purchase in 2008 my only out of pocket maintenance expense has been two tires and shocks. A local gas stations does my inspections... I maintain everything else myself. I am also into the mods to make things better for my lifestyle of camping which is primarily for camping off the power grid.

Roy Ken

[RedHorse1]

Originally Posted by Tex1961

RedHorse, what dealer in Dallas are you looking at? Since we live in this area we looked at most of them.

Hey Tex,
It's Nichol's RV in Mesquite. I'd like to hear your input.

[djalbrec]

My nearest Jayco dealer is 90+ miles from us. Dealer I purchased from is 110 miles away. Warranty work is taken to selling dealer. The closest RV dealers to me are 20 & 40 miles, but neither of them has a good reputation for repair work, especially if the unit wasn't purchased from them or at least their brand. Driving 110 miles for quality and reliable service is well worth it to me.

[JAMMFAM]

We drove 900 miles 1 way to save 6000 dollars. I figured we were buying a recreational vehicle to travel around in and we might as well travel to go get it.

[cekkk]

995 miles to dealer we purchased from. Most camper dealers are north of Denver around Longmont and Loveland, or 150 miles from home. That's where we found what we wanted but couldn't accept paying thousands more. As for service, we were lucky. I accumulated needed fixes and over 19 months came up with just two minor ones. I found a dealer who would handle them under warranty, but they were so minor I'd have paid a local handyman rather than drive even the 150 miles had we purchased "locally." Of course, if we had a lemon, well...