How Do You Check Out A Dealer?

[Hogladyrider]

How does one go about checking out the reputation of a dealer, especially if you are 1500 miles apart or more!

Has anyone had any experiences with RV Outlet USA.

Their prices almost seem too good to be true!

 

[lmcclure]

You can start with doing a search with the Better Business Bureau, then post on here and RV.Net forums asking members to give you the truth about the dealership, you can also ask the dealership if they will give you any names of customers that you can contact. Of course they will only give you the best customers.

 

[tmcran]

Just remember the ole saying "if something seems to good to be true." Also where will you be having your warranty work done?

 

[boatto5er]

If you are referring to RV Outlet USA in Danville, VA, we didn't buy our Sundance from them, but I've heard from and spoken with others that did and they all seemed very satisfied. Like others have said here though, I would be a little worried about being so far away for warranty purposes. Many dealers will give you the "I won't work on it if you didn't buy it here" pitch.

 

[Nancy Gloucester Pt Va]

I am glad you asked that question. I was just on their website and was wondering the same thing. And you are right their prices do seem to good to be true.
Nancy Gloucester Pt Va

 

[Hogladyrider]

Warranty

Well please enlighten me, I thought if it was a "warranty" issue that as an RV owner you could take your RV to any "factory authorized" warranty dealer, not necessarily the dealer you purchased from.
Susan

 

[jmgratz]

Well please enlighten me, I thought if it was a "warranty" issue that as an RV owner you could take your RV to any "factory authorized" warranty dealer, not necessarily the dealer you purchased from.
Susan

RV dealers do not work like car dealers. Some, not all, RV dealers will refuse to do warranty work on your RV if you did not buy it from them. That is just the nature of the industry. A good dealer (my opinion) will work on it regardless of where you bought it. Most dealers will put you in line behind their customers so it could be a longer wait for repairs. I found that some dealers will put fulltimers at the front of the line. You just have to ask. BTW if you do not have a Heartland warranty dealer to you close you can have an independent repair facility do you warranty work you will just have to get it pre-authorized by Heartland. If you have any questions you can call Heartland Customer Service.

 

[Hogladyrider]

Thanks

Great info, thanks.

We do have a Heartland dealer near us, the only reason we have not purchased from them is price!

We can drive to pu an RV and save on the freight, our local Heartland dealer gets $2k for freight!

 

[soos]

hi,
I have a perhaps somewhat ignorant question. We are considering a Bighorn 3055RL to go full time, but just for a year....if we don't plan to be in one spot for more than a couple of weeks, and have no "home base", does it then matter who we actually buy from?
thanks for any input!
Sue

 

[dewwood]

Excellent question Sue. You are correct in that if you are fulltiming it does not matter where you purchase your unit because you will most likely not be there when you need service. As noted above most service people will give some priority to fulltimers and Heartland is good about working with independent repair shops also.

 

[soos]

thanks for the reply...do you feel that Heartland has a good dealership base?
my husband would be leery of a company that doesn't have a reasonable infrastructure,,,
thanks!

 

[jmgratz]

Heartland does have a good dealership base. The concern, and it is not just with Heartland but all brands, is will a dealer service a rig they did not sell. Many dealers only want to service the customers they sell, as manufacturers do not pay as much as the dealers feel they should for warranty repairs. Heartland will, in most cases, authorize an independent shop to do a warranty repair. So if you are on the road and need a repair any reputable repair shop most likely will be able to do warranty service, including mobile repair services. For questions or concerns about warranty service, talk to the folks at Heartland Customer Service. They will be more than happy to answer any of your questions.