Tom Raper RV Dealerships SOLD

[DocFather]

Officially, on 3/27, all 3 Tom Raper RV Dealerships were taken over by Camping World (Ughh!!). Raper was one of the most well-known and successful RV dealerships in the U.S. Richmond, IN: Columbus, OH: Cincinnati, OH:

Tom Raper started the Richmond, IN, car dealership in 1964 with a $2k investment, , right off I-70 and eventually dropped cars and added tent campers, etc, & grew to 60 acres and the rest is history. Dave Bane, long-time general manager, had owned the 3 Rapier dealerships since 2002.

Interestingly, Tom Raper passed away in FL 2 weeks after the signs were changed. I had met hem several times. He was a great man to deal with. R.I.P. Tom

 

[Nabo]

Seems like Camping World is buying up a lot of the independent dealership across the Nation. Tom Johnson RV sales in NC, hugely successful, was also bought out by CW. Sad to see the independs get bought out.

 

[simsfmly]

Wow. Tom Raper RV was a legend.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Garypowell]

I have a fun story about Tom Raper. When Linda and I were going to go on the road full time in 1996 we were advised by our churches traveling evangelist (who RV'd full time with his family) that I should call "Tom Raper" because that's where he always bought his rigs. We lived in Kansas City at the time.

I assumed he meant to call Tom directly. So I found the dealership name and phone number. I called and said "I'd like to speak with Tom Raper please". The receptionist said, "just a minute please". A few seconds later another secretary picked up the phone and I said, "I'd like to speak with Tom Raper please". She said just a minute....again the phone rang. When a third secretary picked up the phone I knew I had made a mistake and my friend had intended for me to call the dealership and speak to a sales person....but I thought....I'm going to hang in here and see what happens.

Once again I stated "I would like to speak with Tom Raper". She said, "he's not available right now but if you'll give me your name and number he will call you as soon as he can".

This was Tuesday. On Friday evening about 6 PM the phone rang and when I answered the phone it was Tom Raper....the man himself. He first apologized for taking so long to get back to me. Then he spent about 45 minutes with me on the phone as I told him our dreams and what we were looking for in an RV.

We eventually bought our first Rig there, a 5th wheel Travel Supreme. Once I arrived to pick it up I realized he had 100+ people at that time working for him. I continued to be impressed with the attitude everyone displayed and the scriptures he had over many of his walls.

He was a great man primarily for his faith and then he lived it in front of everyone.....most importantly in front of his customers. One of the small things that impressed me was that his secretary never asked me why I wanted to speak to him...she just took my name and number.

Thanks for putting this on the web.....brings a tear to my eye for he was a great man that I was Privileged to speak with.....but the best thing is I'll see him again!

 

[olcoon]

Sad that another great dealership is gone...they are few & far between. Camping World did the same thing in Kansas City, MO. Garypowell, you probably have heard of Nationwide RV in Grain Valley. An outstanding dealership, family owned & many of the employees were family members & the rest were considered family. They had been in business for around 20 years. Due to a lot of circumstances when Camping World made an offer, they took it, and kept all the old employees. Sounded like "maybe" things would continue as they had...WRONG! This was about 2 years, and I don't think any of the old employees are still there. They either got ran off, or got discussed and quit. I personally know of 2 friends (both HOC members) who had MAJOR issues with them, on work Camping World was "supposed" to do. I have to admit that CW eventually made things right, but had to go pretty high up the ladder to get it done. One friend eventually got a new rig because they did so much damage to his. They had only used it twice, and it took almost a year from start to finish to get their new one. Yes CW eventually made things right, but they weren't able to make up for what the people had to contend with before the problems were corrected.

 

[porthole]

Seems like Camping World is buying up a lot of the independent dealership across the Nation. Tom Johnson RV sales in NC, hugely successful, was also bought out by CW. Sad to see the independs get bought out.

No different then what the frame people are doing in Elkhart.

 

[Nabo]

Yes and it's not fun dealing with them either.