Hello From Mars, PA!

[jimmerz]

I have so many questions but I’m going to keep this first post short... I just put money down on a 2018 Winnebago Vista LX 35F, (11,000 miles). We are working out the details but it’s looking favorable for us.

I’m coming from a 2016 Crossroads Sunset Trail travel trailer and our Dream was a class A for years now. Our first choice was the Miramar 35.2. And the Winnebago was second. But availability and price led us to the Winnebago.

Any and all advice is welcome at this point since we will be new to Winnebago and class A motor homes as well!

TIA

Jim

[RD Eagle]

Welcome and Safe travels in you new rig. Read the manuals and get familiar with you rig and a few short shake down outings are a great way to do this.

[creativepart]

Buying from a dealer you need to keep a couple of things in mind.

1. Don't let the F&I guy/gal at closing go too fast, not give you time to read paperwork and NOT SELL YOU tons of stuff you don't really need. Remember that dealers buy service contracts cheap and mark up the price 100% or more. You'll do better buying your own service contract on your own AFTER the purchase. That's IF and only IF you've decided to buy such a contract. Many of us - including me - do not buy one at all.

2. Force them to spend a great deal of time going over the operation of EVERYTHING on the RV. If they try to schedule 45 or an hour tell them you want 3 to 5 hours of PDI and you'll want to test the function of every single item. Including things that take a lot of time to test. Heaters, AC units, Water pumps, heaters, drains. Everything. No really every little thing.

They'll tell you they've gone through your rig and know it's all good. But the reality is they'll give it a quick look and then sell it. Leaving the buyer to determine what's really working or not.

We try to camp in the RV the day we pick it up within a few miles of the dealership. That way we can test everything ourselves. We learn what works and what doesn't but we also learn what we don't know about how to work some things. Then we head back to the dealer the NEXT DAY with a list of things to fix AND ask about all the things we have questions on.

Lastly. Do not sign ANY purchase papers unless everything is working. Everything. Don't let them tell you "Go ahead and sign and we'll get things fixed later." No money, no signatures and no purchase until it's all there and all working. I can't stress this one enough.

Before the closing everyone will be your best friend, they'll have your best interest at heart. After the sale it will be "Who are you and what RV do you have?" You have to look out for yourself in these things.

[AJMike]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Remember that dealers buy service contracts cheap and mark up the price 100% or more.

When we bought our last RV we ended up going through the Finance office twice on separate days (we changed our mind about what model we wanted). The first time the Finance gal offered us a service contract for $8000 and I actually laughed and said "No thank you". She then asked me if I had been in the military and when I said yes she told me that there was a special military discount of $4000 and so the contract was "only" $4000. I again said no. When we went through the final time she told me that they had found a special coupon worth $1000 so the service contract was "only" $3000.

The point is that your comment about service contracts being a big money maker for the dealer is absolutely correct. If the cost of the service contract they were trying to sell to me dropped from $8000 to $3000 due to some mysterious military discount (they never asked to see my discharge papers) and coupon (which I never actually saw) then the cost for them must have been even lower because they were not about to lose money selling me a service contract.

[jimmerz]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Buying from a dealer you need to keep a couple of things in mind.

1. Don't let the F&I guy/gal at closing go too fast, not give you time to read paperwork and NOT SELL YOU tons of stuff you don't really need. Remember that dealers buy service contracts cheap and mark up the price 100% or more. You'll do better buying your own service contract on your own AFTER the purchase. That's IF and only IF you've decided to buy such a contract. Many of us - including me - do not buy one at all.

2. Force them to spend a great deal of time going over the operation of EVERYTHING on the RV. If they try to schedule 45 or an hour tell them you want 3 to 5 hours of PDI and you'll want to test the function of every single item. Including things that take a lot of time to test. Heaters, AC units, Water pumps, heaters, drains. Everything. No really every little thing.

They'll tell you they've gone through your rig and know it's all good. But the reality is they'll give it a quick look and then sell it. Leaving the buyer to determine what's really working or not.

We try to camp in the RV the day we pick it up within a few miles of the dealership. That way we can test everything ourselves. We learn what works and what doesn't but we also learn what we don't know about how to work some things. Then we head back to the dealer the NEXT DAY with a list of things to fix AND ask about all the things we have questions on.

Lastly. Do not sign ANY purchase papers unless everything is working. Everything. Don't let them tell you "Go ahead and sign and we'll get things fixed later." No money, no signatures and no purchase until it's all there and all working. I can't stress this one enough.

Before the closing everyone will be your best friend, they'll have your best interest at heart. After the sale it will be "Who are you and what RV do you have?" You have to look out for yourself in these things.

We probably already screwed up! We signed off on a form and put a $500 deposit so they would hold the rv. While they run all the info through the banks to see what interest rates we can get (this could make a fairly large difference and also could be a deal breaker). We will hear from them one day this week with the best offer they can get and then we have to decide if we’re happy with that or not. We’re pretty close to what we want so they may actually hit our mark and we’ll pull the trigger. My wife is concerned that even though they told us if things don’t work out we get our hold money back, they will try and keep it???

🤞🏼 It’s used, but it’s still a huge purchase and you really start to question if you wanna make that step!

Thanks for all the input, I’ve been through this with my TT so i will be VERY thorough on the walk through. I need to understand everything on the RV before i leave, and i need to test drive it also... we haven’t done that yet. 😲

[be happy]

Stick to your guns when it comes to the finance folks. To me they are worse than the sales folks. When I traded from my 2017 unit to this great 2007 rig I spent 8 hours with the finance lady. I ended up getting the monthly payment where I wanted and the length of term where I wanted. I know its hard but just be ready to walk if you do not feel you are being treated fair.

Do Not Do Not fall for their extended warranty stuff. Three rigs ago I had extended warranty from Good Sam. Had it on my 5er and truck. I used it on my truck and saved a bunch of money. At that time I did believe in it. So traded that for a brand new MH got the extended warranty form Camping World. It was added onto the loan payment. That was a big big mistake. I told my wife I would never get extended warranty from a dealer again. So with my current rig I called Good Sam and started with their warranty but because the rig was an 07 the cost was way to high.

Make sure the tires on the rig are all within a good date range. Very important as dealer can replace at a lower cost than you can.

It sound like you have a good grip on how stuff works just take your time during the PDI, remember you run the show not them.

Good luck and enjoy the Winnie