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Old 08-26-2018, 08:09 AM   #41
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Originally Posted by Rapid Robert View Post
I find to very disappointing that possibly 99% of RV owners would not recommend the dealer they purchased theirs from. I have purchased 12 new RV's since 1975 and stand at 100%. Some things never seem to change, you have to wonder why all the terrible dealer reviews out there don't seem to have any impact.
It makes no impact because they are only interested in dealers who can stock large inventory! Service is a secondary issue. That is why so many people travel back to the factory to get service which is truly a shame.

We had a paint issue that we had to travel back to Forrest City to have fixed after 2 failed attempts by our dealer.

As long as we keep buying their coaches they will continue to saddle us with poor servicing dealers
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Old 08-26-2018, 10:19 AM   #42
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2X on Lichtsinn RV have only used the parts department but the advice and parts were right on, quick to respond to emails price on parts was 1/2 what my local dealer wanted
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Old 08-26-2018, 12:29 PM   #43
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We have bought every RV we have ever owned through private owner sales with no outside inspector. If you do choose to buy from a Private owner/seller I would first strike up a friendship with a local RV repair shop. We bought our first a simple 15ft travel trailer. I asked my local shop what to look for and they helped me out. Almost every rig we bought after that has bigger and more complicated and we still buy everything we need from our local shop. If something is beyond my skills they do the work, most of the time I have been satisfied but once in awhile I'm not. When I'm not happy I bring it to their attention and we discuss why I'm not happy or why they did this or that in the manor that they did. A time or two the rig I bought was in much worse shape than I planned but I never pay NADA book on anything and I Try really hard not to buy anything with a roof leak or Pluming leak. If you can buy the rig right you can afford to fix most of everything else!
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Old 09-05-2018, 08:39 PM   #44
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I'd suggest contacting a friend or family member who have RV experience. Word of mouth is the best advertising. I rarely use Web reviews as the potential of bias or fraudulent claims are high. My wife and I just purchased a 1999 30' diesel Brave. A good neighbour suggested it and so far so good. Of course you will find issues when you buy used but, thats what happens when your in a 7.5 earthquakes going down the hiway. Things break and get loose and stop working especially the electronics. Happy RVing
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Old 09-25-2018, 08:09 AM   #45
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Davis motorhomes in Memphis, Tn. They, by far, have some of the best prices in the country!! Plus, we did buy from them and they are excellent!!! I'm sure if you flew into Memphis, they'd even pick you up. Just my two cents.
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Old 09-25-2018, 01:15 PM   #46
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Thanks
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Old 09-25-2018, 01:39 PM   #47
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I would also Lichtsinn RV. Dealt with Nicole Blazer. She was very knowledgeable and had a much better price than my local dealer. Very good dealer before and after the sale. I am headed back there next month to get some service done (5 hour drive) after having a horrible experience with the local dealer.
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Old 10-28-2018, 08:36 AM   #48
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Hi,

We are Canadians heading to the US to purchase our first Winnebago. We are looking for a fairly new 30-33 ft Class A. We understand that Florida (Miami) and Arizona (Phoenix) are the best places to head. Anyone have any specific suggestions?

Cheers
We live in the Phoenix area and over the years have bought 2 RVs from LaMesa RV. They are a very large operation with dealerships all over the US, and they have 2 in the Phoenix area, one in Phoenix proper and one in Mesa, and seem to be a good place to do business.

The Mesa area is full of RV dealerships although some cater more to specific types of RVs. LaMesa seems to have a good sample of a lot of different types - Class As, Class Bs, Class Cs, 5th wheels, regular trailers and toy haulers.

They are not a discount dealer and do not sell anything more than 10 years old (as we found out when we bought our current RV. Our trade was 13 years old).
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Old 10-31-2018, 05:41 PM   #49
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Originally Posted by Vandi View Post
Hi,

We are Canadians heading to the US to purchase our first Winnebago. We are looking for a fairly new 30-33 ft Class A. We understand that Florida (Miami) and Arizona (Phoenix) are the best places to head. Anyone have any specific suggestions?

Cheers
The OP has hopefully already made their decision but I ran across this thread and found it interesting. I recently purchased from Lazydays and sadly cannot recommend them. They wine and dine to make the sale but afterwards have terrible service.
1. They quoted one price for the extended warranty and charged a higher price. I called them on this later and they did refund the difference.
2. The finance guy seemed very disappointed that we were paying cash and forced us to sit through a 5 minute high pressure presentation on why we should take out a 20 year, 5.5% loan. Fortunately we saw right through that one.
3. Though we explicitly stated we did NOT want a loan, he went ahead and ran credit checks and shared our personal information with financial institutions!
4. They failed to send me the coach title in timely manner resulting in a hefty penalty from my state. They only sent it after persistent prodding on my part. It arrived one business day before the deadline. I work out of town and could not get to the tag office in time. They deny any culpability.
RV sellers would do well to understand that the after sale service is the most important aspect of the sale.
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Old 11-04-2018, 12:09 PM   #50
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Originally Posted by BellOnWheels View Post
The OP has hopefully already made their decision but I ran across this thread and found it interesting. I recently purchased from Lazydays and sadly cannot recommend them. They wine and dine to make the sale but afterwards have terrible service.
1. They quoted one price for the extended warranty and charged a higher price. I called them on this later and they did refund the difference.
2. The finance guy seemed very disappointed that we were paying cash and forced us to sit through a 5 minute high pressure presentation on why we should take out a 20 year, 5.5% loan. Fortunately we saw right through that one.
3. Though we explicitly stated we did NOT want a loan, he went ahead and ran credit checks and shared our personal information with financial institutions!
4. They failed to send me the coach title in timely manner resulting in a hefty penalty from my state. They only sent it after persistent prodding on my part. It arrived one business day before the deadline. I work out of town and could not get to the tag office in time. They deny any culpability.
RV sellers would do well to understand that the after sale service is the most important aspect of the sale.
That is a very sad story.

We shopped at LaMesa RV in Mesa, Az and found them to be honest, straight forward and very patient. We had a difficult time deciding not only on what RV we wanted, but what class of RV we wanted. We spent a lot of time looking at and deciding on a Class B and test driving one only to change our minds and start looking at Class C RVs. They took in all in stride, never raised their voices, patiently transferred the down payment from the Class B to the Class C and acted professionally the entire time. They were probably very relieved when we finished the purchase of the Winnebago Fuse we bought, and got it delivered very quickly.

They did try to sell us a service contract, and it took some firm "no" responses to stop the sales pitch, but they never batted an eye when I talked about paying cash. I am sure they make money on the financing but the offer they gave me for financing was under the rate I could get from my credit union. In the end I finally got so many "discounts" for the service contract that I decided its price was comparable to that from Good Sam and did buy it.

In my mind the most important things about a dealer are (a) vehicle availability, (b) honesty in the sale and (c) a good service department. I can speak to (a) and (b) about LaMesa, but not (c) as we have not had any real experience with their service department beyond the state of the RV when it was delivered.
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Old 01-17-2019, 06:28 PM   #51
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I live in Florida & heard Florida was overpriced. Im buying used & just going to try to find something on the internet & travel.
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Old 01-17-2019, 08:23 PM   #52
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Where to buy first Winnebago?

In 2017, I retired and start looking to buy a Class A RV. We had rented a Thor bath and a half for a trip from TX to P’cola FL with friends. Although the Thor was “okay”, it made a lot of noise driving.

We had seen a 2013 Winnebago Adventurer 37 F bath and a half floor plan Class A here in TX and it looked really nice, had only 16,000 miles, and was priced at $87,000. So, I went online looking for the same model Class A for comparison. I found a dozen units for comparison ranging in price from the one for $87,000 here in TX to one in CT for $194,000. We bought the one here in TX and feel we got a good deal. There were a few problems because it had sat so long (Onan generator carburetor was so gummed up it needed to be replaced and the tires had dry rot). I used the FMCA Michelin Advantage tire deal and bought six new tires and saved $106 per tire and had Camping World (yeah, I know - Newbie miskate) replace the generator carburetor. We are very pleased with our purchase but haven’t used it much yet. My wife will retire in March 2019 and then, with her four cats, plan to hit the road Full Time.

In my search, it appeared that the best deals for used units were in FL , TX, and AZ because of the number of retirees selling their units. The highest prices, generally, seemed to be on the West Coast.

Good Luck!
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Old 01-17-2019, 10:41 PM   #53
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This is probably largely irrelevant for most of you, but in Alaska the only Winnebago dealer I know of is Great Alaska Holidays here in Anchorage. While it is a dealership, it is primarily known as an RV rental company mostly for tourists but for locals too. We bought our Minnie Winnie as a unit that was in the rental fleet for three seasons, after which they take them out of the fleet, spruce them up as necessary, and sell them at a very significant discount from the original MSRP. At first glance it looked like a brand new rig! We are extremely happy with our rig. Was it perfect when we took it home? Not quite, but the defects were very minor. In fact the only thing I remember now was having to fix loose drawer slides, one of which was missing quite a few ball bearings. (Fortunately the Ace Hardware just down the road from us sells replacement ball bearings!)

There are a few other RV dealers/RV rental agencies here but only one is anywhere near the status of Great Alaskan Holidays (GAH). We stopped there (before we looked at GAH) where a salesman greeted us but just invited us to look around and to come back and see him if we had any questions. None of the units appealed to us and since the staff didn't seem interested in us, we went down the road to GAH where there were several of the prior rentals in the showroom and we were treated very well. As for the other few RV rentals around town, they look more like fly-by-nighters and their rigs also look the part. I'd never consider even renting from them let alone buy one.

So, the upshot of this is that if there is an RV rental company nearby, it might be worth checking out to see if they eventually sell their rentals, how long were they in the fleet, and how well they have been maintained. You might find a real gem like we did for a very reasonable price.
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Old 01-20-2019, 07:29 AM   #54
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I live in Florida & heard Florida was overpriced. Im buying used & just going to try to find something on the internet & travel.
During my recent internet search for an RV I did not particularly notice that Florida RV's were higher priced than other locations. However, our Meridian 40R, which we purchased in Florida at Lazy Days (whom I definitely do NOT recommend - see earlier post in this thread) was priced higher than comparable coaches around the country. But we liked the colors and finishes of this one enough to go ahead and pay the premium.
My daughter just purchased a new 5th wheel from Creative RV in Atlanta. They stock only Forest River products and the Atlanta location is small with a limited selection, of which there are only 5th wheels and pull-behinds. None-the-less, the price was exceedingly competitive. If you're open to non-Winnebago products it might be worth a gander.
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Old 01-20-2019, 07:34 AM   #55
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I live in Florida & heard Florida was overpriced. Im buying used & just going to try to find something on the internet & travel.
One other thing to keep in mind: if you buy new make sure a dealer or repair shop nearby your residence will perform warranty work. Some dealers are reticent to make warranty repairs when they didn't sell the RV.
For pre-owned RV's, I haven't found resistance to those repairs with or without and extended warranty.
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Old 01-22-2019, 12:34 AM   #56
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I completely agree with Sarah in recommending Lichtsinn RV in Forest City, Iowa. When we were starting to get the itch for a motorhome I checked out their website and found it, and the company, to be very helpful. One of their salespeople even started an email chat with us.

I saw that others also recommended Lichtsinn (by the way, its pronounced Lit-sin [the c & h are silent]), but I didn't see that any mentioned the dealership is located just a couple miles from the Winnebago plant where most of their RVs are built. Winnebago has a very nice visitor center and offers factory tours.

I do remember it being mentioned specifically on their website that they get many customers from Canada.
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