Purchased My Forever Home

[Dreamsend]

Hello Forum Friends

First, best wishes in the new year to all, and hope your paths are filled with good fortune.

I did it!  I purchased my travel trailer forever full-time home yesterday.  It's an Outdoors RV, Timber Ridge 27 BHS, bunk house model--stock photo posted below.  Some of you may recall that I'm located in Indianapolis, and that Outdoors RVs are only sold in the west, so I've had trepidation all along about how all the logistics were going to work.  It couldn't have been easier, or a more pleasant experience.

I had decided to try to work with a dealer that was convenient to the Southwest US -- since this is where I mostly plan to be and warranty work or add-on stuff from a dealer would be easier that way.  I had 5 dealers identified.  First one I talked with seemed a bit clueless, and the salesperson and I just had different communication styles.  Oh well.  The next day I called the second dealer, located in Salt Lake City metro and decided to ask to speak with the Sales Manager first, for purposes of letting them know my situation and to get a feel for what I expected so that they could possibly recommend a salesperson.  Well, the Sales Manager just jumped right in there, friendly as could be, helpful beyond belief!  I got butterflies all over when his third sentence was that he had a 2018 model in the interior decor I wanted available!!!  Available meaning he ordered it last October, it will built in February and available March-April of this year.  Again, why is that a big deal?  Well, first of all it fits my desired timing to make this big move just perfectly.  Secondly, he had ordered 7 of these trailers in Oct for delivery in Mar-Apr, and had already sold 5 of them, mine was #6 sold.

All this of course pertains to new models, but as I've pointed out before, you just don't find used Outdoor RVs sitting around on lots.  Also, the factory only runs certain models at certain times of the year, and there are cut-offs for dealers getting orders in before that, etc. etc.  Did  I mention these are popular TTs?  Also, I needed to try to coordinate delivery of the trailer with when AM Solar (near Eugene, OR) would have an opening to install the solar panels and lithium batt I'm planning on.  As of right now, they are booking for April installations -- so once again, how much more perfect could the timing be?

But to the point.  After reading for 18 months about how pushy, shady, dodgy RV dealers can be I dreaded contacting them, but my entire experience was painless, in fact, just plain fun and couldn't have been better.  Of course, I knew exactly what I wanted - including a couple of options, so there was no need to fend off the "I don't have the one you're interested in, but let me show you this one" talk.  We talked about some things, and he gave me a very reasonable price.  I slept on it, came up with a counter offer next day and we settled on a price even lower than my offer because after a little grumbling from me, he subtracted the entire document prep fee from the trailer price.  The Purchase Agreement arrived within 30 minutes.  The down payment was by CC.  I know the purchase price is good because I've been lurking around RV Trader for months and had a really decent idea of the prices.

I think this guy really wanted to see his customer (me) happy.  I know I treat my clients like this, but it is more and more rare to find people who actually do business this way.  He was so personable, it was incredible.  Can you tell I'm happy?

So, this is one BIG load off my mind, and what I thought was gonna take weeks of haggling, and discussions, and overcoming objections etc. it was successfully done within less than 24 hours.  Quartzite 2019 Here I Come! 

Linda

 

[SeilerBird]

Wow, congratulations. Nice looking trailer. I know how happy you must be because the same thing happened to me last year when I bought my forever RV.

 

[jackiemac]

Congratulations Linda, you must be super excited!  Ask if you can stay on their site when you collecting to do your walk through and make sure you are happy with it and get any snagging fixed....keep us posted!

 

[RedandSilver]

Congrats on pulling the trigger and buying a RV.

I hope that after the sale service is as good as the before the sale friendliness that you received.
It can be common for a GOOD salesman to tell you what you want to hear and after the sale requests for service are not the same.

I hope everything works out just like it should. 

jackiemac has it right - spend a night or 2 on a dealers lot to make sure everything works as it should.
That might mean taking a shower so you know it doesn't leak and the water pump has enough pressure etc and
bring some food on board to prepare so you know the fridge and stove and microwave work as they should.  You don't HAVE to do this but it can't hurt IMO.
Once you leave it might be a hassle and/or long time to get it fixed and it's fairly common that new RV's need some things fixed
from the get go as the quality control seems to be lacking in comparison to an automobile purchase which is now pretty good.

 

[UTTransplant]

Did you work with Stewart?s RV? We tried Ray Citte first and got the world?s pushiest yet uneducated sales person ever. We bought our ORV from Stewarts, and the experience was painless. I really liked working with them. Make sure you check all the systems out before you pull off the lot. We found a couple of things Stewart?s fixed for us right then and there. We found a couple of other items later, but they were easy to fix ourselves, though I have heard ORV is pretty good about authorizing service at other dealers. There isn?t a camping spot at the dealer, but there are a number of private parks not far away. If you want to enjoy SLC on your pick up trip, I recommend the KOA on North Temple in SLC. It is a block from the Trax light rail system that can take you to downtown directly or transfer to ski buses or other places in the area. It keeps you from having to park a big truck downtown.

Enjoy your ORV.

 

[Armchair52]

Congratulations Linda and Kitty....enjoy.  We purchased our forever home last August and also had a wonderful experience with the Sales Department of an RV Dealer.  Their after sales service has also veen outstanding, and that is so important when you are new to living in the RV fulltime.  Enjoy and best of luck.

 

[jackiemac]

Congrats on pulling the trigger and buying a RV.

I hope that after the sale service is as good as the before the sale friendliness that you received.
It can be common for a GOOD salesman to tell you what you want to hear and after the sale requests for service are not the same.

I hope everything works out just like it should. 

jackiemac has it right - spend a night or 2 on a dealers lot to make sure everything works as it should.
That might mean taking a shower so you know it doesn't leak and the water pump has enough pressure etc and
bring some food on board to prepare so you know the fridge and stove and microwave work as they should.  You don't HAVE to do this but it can't hurt IMO.
Once you leave it might be a hassle and/or long time to get it fixed and it's fairly common that new RV's need some things fixed
from the get go as the quality control seems to be lacking in comparison to an automobile purchase which is now pretty good.

Adding to this, try everything..... heating even in the desert, air con even if its cold if you can.....

 

[Dreamsend]

Just wanted to say thanks to all who replied.  I also hope the after-sale service will be good, or least acceptable.  As to checking out ALL THE SYSTEMS before leaving the dealer, I learned that lesson here on the forum and have been making notes on issues or situations to check so as not to forget some things. I told the sales person I was completely inexperienced and concerned about the ultra-steep learning curve I was facing and he said they have pads where I can stay for a couple of days and become familiar with everything, and practice driving/backing etc.  I do want to cook in the RV, hook-up my new Coleman portable to the propane tanks, take a shower, wash the dishes, watch TV, turn on the furnace and AC, replace a fuse, flip a breaker, run the fridge, practice leveling, hooking and un-hooking, etc. etc.  before I drive off the lot.  So for me, it's a combination of checking to make sure things are right, but also doing some hand-on learning. 

UTtransplant -- interestingly, I did buy from Ray Citte, but worked with the Sales Manager only.  Stewart's was next on my list to call, but all in all, I didn't think I really needed to as I was happy with what I was hearing from Ray Citte.  The ORV factory Sales Manager I have communicated with for several months recommended both these dealers (they are in his territory) and indicated they both had good service departments.  We'll see.  Your experience with Citte's was like mine with the first Utah dealer I contacted--pushy and not at all familiar with the unit I wanted to buy.

One more tidbit.  I wondered if RV dealers had "hold-backs" like they do at auto dealers (the dealer pays the invoice price to the manufacturer, but gets a rebate when the unit sells).  Knowing this helps if you're negotiating and you know that there is hidden $$ the dealer is getting anyway.  At least for ORV, I learned there is a hold-back.  Don't know how much, but when my guy looked at his, he didn't hesitate to entertain my offer. 

Can I change my forum profile now, or would it more acceptable to wait till April?

Linda

 

[SeilerBird]

Linda - Be aware you cannot check out all the systems at the dealership. The heaters might work fine at the temps that day but how will they work when it is 20 degrees outside? How will the A/C work in 100 degree heat. How well does everything stay together after a 1000 mile trip? Does everything work on shore power and with the generator? You can get a pretty good idea of the condition of most everything in the RV but don't think it will be perfect when you leave the dealership. Good luck to you, sounds like you got a good one.

 

[Larry N.]

I learned that lesson here on the forum and have been making notes on issues or situations to check so as not to forget some things.

Are you including the checklists in our library? They can help with that.

 

[Debra17]

CONGRATULATIONS!!  Hope all goes well with finalizing the purchase/delivery and you have many happy years in your new home.

 

[grashley]

Are you including the checklists in our library? They can help with that.

X2 !!  The check lists are GREAT!!