New to RVs, San Diego area dealer question

[puckhawg31]

Hello all,

We are seriously thinking about jumping into the RV life with a travel trailer. I was at one of the local RV dealers here in San Diego and when pricing came up, I mentioned online price comparison and trying to find the best deal. The salesman got a bit nasty and said that most of the RV service centers will not even look at your vehicle unless you either purchased it from them or are passing through from out of town. Anyone know if this is true for San Diego? Everyone wants the best deal for a new TT so if we find one in another city/county/state, we should be able to proceed without having to worry about warranty service, right? The process of getting into the rv life really took a bad turn with that interaction. I know we will have to deal with sales people, how do you get through it without getting frustrated or disillusioned?

Thank you and if there is a more appropriate forum to post in, please send me in the right direction!

 

[SpencerPJ]

Well. the guys is correct.  What he failed to mention is, that even the place you buy it from will likely give you extremely poor warranty service.  RV Dealers are nothing at all like Car Dealers, nothing.  Buying a used Travel Trailer, you are much better off finding a slightly used on, in hopes that any / all minor things are taken care of.  RV salespeople have a reputation of being lower in the 'liked or ethical' category than used car salesmen.  Does that tell you anything.  Yes, there are good ones, just not common.  What is most important right now is decide what you are able to pull with your Tow Vehicle, OR do you plan on buying a new truck?  RV salespeople are Very notorious for letting people buy stuff that their vehicle has no business pulling.

 

[Koodog]

Well. the guys is correct.  What he failed to mention is, that even the place you buy it from will likely give you extremely poor warranty service.  RV Dealers are nothing at all like Car Dealers, nothing.  Buying a used Travel Trailer, you are much better off finding a slightly used on, in hopes that any / all minor things are taken care of.  RV salespeople have a reputation of being lower in the 'liked or ethical' category than used car salesmen.  Does that tell you anything.  Yes, there are good ones, just not common.  What is most important right now is decide what you are able to pull with your Tow Vehicle, OR do you plan on buying a new truck?  RV salespeople are Very notorious for letting people buy stuff that their vehicle has no business pulling.

X2. Do some research about warranty work on this and other forums.
RV Dealerships are way more about the sale than warranty service. Their bays are full of RV's with full rate work. Warranty work isn't as lucrative.
I'd suggest going used and spend some time on Youtube learning how to repair minor stuff.

 

[Arch Hoagland]

Go back to that dealership and sit down in the service department for an hour or so.

Talk to the people who bought their RV at that dealership and ask them how the service is. 

 

[puckhawg31]

Thank you, all great input. We did think about used but we are pretty set with Rockwood GeoPro for size and light weight rating. It is relatively new so there are not very many used ones out there at least in SoCal.

 

[Kevin Means]

We live in San Diego (east county) and we spent several hundred thousand dollars on our coach when we bought it from a local dealer. We've known the salesman for more than 20 years, but even so, the last time I tried to make an appointment to take the coach in for its annual service, there was a three month backlog for the privilege of letting them change the oil at $125.00 an hour. I'd probably still be waiting if I had been trying to get warranty work done.

That was three years ago, so I did some shopping around and found an experienced RV shop to do the annual chassis service. Never looked back.

Kev