Guys it a HeartLand Landmark Key largo. Unit will be ordered, so both have the same options. Now lets see I have a full cabinet shop in the basement. Cutting torch and 2 welders. Can build cabinetry, Furniture
One of those jack of all trades and master of none. Even build my own motors. Body work and have painted a few trucks. Again no trade Again no trade were selling our camper. Should have that out of the way by next week.
We will be staying within site of the dealers lot for 3 days and nights.3 days and nights. Will only be taking what we need for the trip with us. Also will be back within 2 hours or less of the dealer 2 or 3 times this fall. Watching our Nephew Rob Henry #15 Play BQ at Purdue. So can always run it by for anything that would need fixing if it does come up.
Yes we have 2 dealers in Tn both in East Tn 4.5 hours to one 6 hours to the other. Or North Ms is the closest to us and its 2+ hours to them.
Pete
2004 Duramax/allison Trans C/C 4x4
2012 Landmark Key Largo
2008 Lund 1825 Pro Guide Tiller, With a Evinrude 90 HP E-Tec
I believe this industry has a long way to go before I would trust any of the dealers 100%. I would go for the best deal regardless of location. I live in Florida and found the best deal in Indiana and was fully prepared to go there and pick it up. One final call to the local dealer and they gave me a very competitve price when they saw they were not going to gert the order, so in the end I bought locally - only because of the price, not the serivce question.
2012 3055RL Big Horn - Dexter 7000 lb axles - G rated LT Tires
MorRyde, Genset, Dual Panes, 2 A/C, Yeti Package
2013 F350 DRW 4x4 Crew King Ranch
Pete_k wrote: Guys it a HeartLand Landmark Key largo. Unit will be ordered, so both have the same options. Now lets see I have a full cabinet shop in the basement. Cutting torch and 2 welders. Can build cabinetry, Furniture
Pete
I'd have no problem making the drive. But did you give the local dealer a final chance to match your out of town deal?
I'd put the ball in the local guys hands give my local guy one last chance to match deal. It is to your benefit to keep the $$ in the local economy and to have a good relationship with the local dealer.
If local guy failed to match I'd take the drive.
07'Duramax dually,12'Open Range 399BHS
Hawkshead TPMS,Hensley BD3,Killerbee exhaust brake
Blue Ox Bedsaver,air bags w/compressor
Arvika pin box bike rack,Bak Flip tonneau cover
5500 Onan LP,EMS-HW-50
14'Porta Bote w/8.0 Nissan
Vu Cube 2000,Splendide 2000S
Artemus Gordon wrote: If dealers don't abide by territories then manufacture, must provide you service in the place you desire. Lots of case law to back ths up! Good luck
I would be interested in any case law you came across. Cobalt Boats out of Kansas is one of those manufacturers that practice territory rules. You can't buy from other than your local Dealer, and if you are out of town and need service, the selling dealer has first writ of refusal and can demand the vehicle be brought back to the home Dealer for service. Needless to say - I won't own a Cobalt.
I also would not believe there is case law that applies to RV's. As explained to me by both dealers and more than one RV manufacturer, the dealers are independent businesses from the manufacturer. And as such dealers can make autonomous decisions relating to services they offer to their client base. And manufacturers may encourage them to provide warranty service. But cannot force them to provide that service to non-purchasing customers.
But more than that, based on my dealership experience, I would rather do most the work myself to make sure the job is done right. The only exceptions would be highly technical jobs or those requiring specialized equipment.
Last I knew, car dealerships were independent businesses, not affiliated with a manufacturer beyond selling those cars. I can not imagine too many dealers being dumb enough not to service a vehicle of one of the brands they sell. (I =do= happen to know of one Benz dealer that won't deal with a specific customer because of a warranty dispute that got out of hand, but I'd be willing to bet that they contacted MB and let them know about it so it wouldn't come back on them.) The whole RV game is, frankly, ludicrous. Were I a dealer, I'd be =advertising= that I did warranty (and non-warranty) work on X,Y,Z brands, whether I sold them or not. I'd have a =huge= service department because I'd be stealing the other dealers business 'cause they're stupid and are turning customers away, or putting them at the back of the line. Frankly, I can't understand why there aren't more RV service only (no sales) centers in hotbeds like AZ, FL, TX, where the snowbirds go in the winter.
Lyle
2002 GMC Sierra 2500 HD Duramax Crew Cab 4x4
Banks Bullet Tuner and Monster Exhaust
B&W Turnover Ball with 5th Wheel Companion
2004 Komfort 25FSG Fifth Wheel
1936 John Deere Model A
International Flying Farmers 55 Year Member
Had the same choice as you except my drive was 12 hours. Six months later I needed a part and went to the local dealer who wouldn't play ball and guess what? he was out of business
Ron W.
So you went bypassed your local dealer and drove 12 hours to save a few bucks on the trailer, then you wonder why the local guy would not "play ball"
Then your post a big grin that he is out of business. I doubt that "playing ball" with you and others who buy at wholesalers then expect their local guy to take the loss by providing warranty work for you is the reason he is out of business..
More likely he is out of business because people choose to drive 1000 miles to save a grand on a trailer instead of supporting the local dealer who pays for the road service calls, and the fully-stocked repair shop to help you when you need it, and the warranty administrator to service warranty customers.
Pretty soon you won't have any option than to drive 1000 miles because there won't be any more small independent dealers.
I had a guy tell me all about how he saved $1200 on a $29,000 trailer driving 14oo miles, Round trip.
Well right away knock off $500 of the "savings" just for gas. Factor in all the other travel costs, and his "savings" are down to about $400.
But he went to the wholesaler anyway, and guess what? he got a lousy pdi on a poorly prepped trailer, so he took it to his local dealer and expected the local guy to take care of his punch list.
But the local dealer is too busy servicing his own customers, so he tells the guiy to take his punch list back to the wholesaler.
But that "wholesaler" has no interest in building a relationship with you, so who knows when the work will be done.
Should the local dealer drop everything to help this guy or should he take care of his paying customers? What would you do?
Well lets take this one at a time:
First off it was a savings of $3,000 not just a grand.
Second, we use our camper and have NEVER had a warranty problem resolved by the "local" dealer it's always been a repair when on the road far from home.
Third, a lousy PDI is the new owners fault.
Lastly I would expect that my "local" dealer would not put my repair job high on his priority list, couldn't blame him for that...but 3G's in my pocket and I can afford to wait my turn.
Oh...they all have "Nationwide Service". And Nationwide warranty service too. Some dealers will provide warranty service, regardless of not selling the unit. But nothing says they need to. That would be their decision. And manufacturers will not usually force the issue. So some dealers refuse non-sales warranty service. And remember the RV business is a lot less volume centric than the automobile business. So there is much less incentive/motivation for them to provide free service to their non-purchasing clients.
You want to pay for the service? You can get it worked on "Nation Wide."
By the way, Manufacturers typically pay a lot less for repairs than the paying customer. And in some cases, they don't actually get paid at all. But the allowable and agreed authorized service amount is credited to the dealer and comes off their bill on future purchases from the manufacturer.
I agree it would be nice if RV dealers did do it. But it would also be nice if they could be depended upon to do good reliable repair work, too.
'12 F350 SB, CC, SRW, 6.7 PSD, 3.55 RAR, 6 spd auto, Ultimate Lariat pkg
2011 Open Range 393RLS 14,250 GVWR
Pullrite Super Glide 18K
New statement for all of us to remember when responding to the ubiquitous question! "What RV should I buy"? Only those that have "Nationwide Service" , especially warranty work, anywhere you travel"! Perhaps first criteria?
I was looking for a used 5th wheel. In anticipation of hopefully finding something we liked... I installed the rails, wiring harness, and brake controller. I held off on a hitch --- because many of the used 5th wheel listings seem to throw in the hitch too, in many cases. I was having a little problem getting my DW onboard with the whole idea...
I decided...maybe she should just LOOK at one. SO we took a drive down to our local RV dealer. The salesperson asked what type we were looking for...and I asked what he might have that's a "lightweight" 5th wheel...that I could pull comfortably with a 3/4 ton pickup. I told him that I had been looking at used campers...and had seen a few Wildcats that looked like a possibility. He told us about the Outback Superlight edition...and invited us to look it over.
I could tell by the look on her face... my DW was blown away with the spaciousness that todays 5th wheels w/ slideouts have. Her last "RV" experience was going cross-country as a youth with her family in a tiny little Nomad travel trailer. It seems the experience might have left a bad taste in her mouth. I needed to do my homework...but the saleman pointed to the price painted on one of the windows...
He said, "Well...that's the SHOW price...and the SHOW ended last week. BUT..... since it was a 2010 model...and the 2011's were due to come out soon.....I might, might be able to give you THAT price. Hmmmm....do you have a hitch???.... If you're REALLY interested in this unit...I might even be able to throw in a hitch...."
Very kind of him, I thought...but the camper was a bit too expensive for us to consider...so I left it at that. I needed to do more homework...but at least I could tell my wife was pretty stoked about the spaciousness of the 5th wheel.
So, I found a forum with people that had these campers and researched their posts...looking for reliability issues. I even joined in...and PM'd a couple of guys that had the exact model I was looking at. They had good things to say about their units. I just tripped across some posts about "wholesale" dealers... I took a look at one...and sure enough they had the same camper. So I clicked on the "see lowest price" dohicky...and got a mailbot reply with a price offer. IT was $10,000 less than the local RV dealer's "SHOW" price.
I'm sorry, but if the local RV dealer is that far away on price...and can keep a straight face... I have NO desire to do business with them. We're not talking an $80,000 msrp camper...we're talking about a $35,000 msrp camper... How on earth can they be $10,000 apart???
I wouldn't EVEN try to leverage a local dealer with another dealers price. It's important to ME, anyway, to devote my business to the dealer that gave me a good deal...upfront...no silly games. I don't want them to play games with me...and I think they deserve the same from me. I know plenty of people use the leverage a deal technique...but to me --- in the end you're punishing the dealer that was fair to you...and giving the business to the ones that wanted to take advantage of you --- before you started twisting their arm.
Sorry,,, against my principles.
I'm all for supporting your local dealers. I do...and can accept a reasonable price disadvantage by doing so. But at some point --- I draw the line.
We paid a delivery person to go pick ours up 1400 miles (one way) away, Hauled our trade out, picked up the new one and returned it to us. Total cost was $2400. Still saved $7K after paying him. Used Uship.com to get bids.
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