When it comes to RV dealerships, there are those that are poor, bad and very bad. There are no GOOD RV dealerships. I can say that having bought 5 RV's ranging from travel trailers and 5th wheels and motor homes. All RV dealerships are good when they are selling. The rest of the time you find that you are pretty much a stranger as you try to get warranty work done let alone scheduled in a reasonable amount of time. Once the warranty is up, than you will find yourself in an endless search for even a poor RV dealership to take care of you over the long haul. Now, I'm sounding grumpy here, but having owned a dozen boats and many RV's, a fact that can't be ignored is that boats, particularly any boat other than a stamped aluminum fishing boat, and all RV's are essentially custom built with whatever inexpensive parts the manufacturer can find for a particular model year. Being custom built, it is tough for the manufacturer to keep in place a build staff that does a consistent job. Quality assurance is relatively low on the list as well.
So, do I buy boats and RV's? Yes, and I love them. But you are as well off buying locally and not traveling many miles based upon a few opinions about how good a specific RV dealer is. Find what YOU want, not what the sales people want to sell you. Don't over buy unless you've had a lot of experience with RV's of various types. Over buying is the quickest way to experience a very stomach churning slide down the very steep depreciation curve on new RV's. They will drop 20% of value in a year and at the end of 6 years, you will have lost 80% of your investment. So, you are paying a lot for a few weeks or days or even months of fun and to me it is worth it.
So:
If you are new to RV's go in with your eyes wide open and understand that the dealer, all dealers will be your friend the day you buy. All dealers will try to talk you up in class and price range and sell you a very high profit (for them) Extended warranty product which is a waste of money because of hidden co-pays and finding someone to honor them. Do a thorough and I mean thorough pre-purchase look at the RV including lifting cushions, and best of all, take someone along who has a lot of RV experience if you don't. Those new RV's look so nice until the cupboard door has been opened and close 40 times and then falls off. You get the picture?
I have a friend who bought a half million dollar RV pusher who has had the same depreciation and technical problems that I've had with my 65 thousand dollar economy model gasser class A. I'm lucky because I have mechanical skills that let me do 99% of repairs and maintenance and I buy parts from the part manufacturer, not from the dealer or RV manufacturer who will charge up to 300% markup over the part manufacturer. Then I do my own installation.
In general, use a dealer with a long established history. They might fall in poor dealer bin and not the bad and very bad. New starts will probably cause you problems over time that they don't even know they will be causing you.
All that said, I have loved all my RV's and boats and hated ALL of the dealers, and enjoyed every dollar lost due to depreciation because of the fun of hitting the road.
Truly my own two cents and worth at least that much.
Happy RVing. Nothing is more fun than boats and RV's.
