We’ve Had Both Good & Bad RV Purchase Experiences – Make Yours Great!

Buying an RV can be a frustrating and often exhausting experience. We’ve heard from lots of fellow RVers about the declining quality of RVs and their components and the hard-sell tactics (and lack of support) at some RV dealerships. So, what’s going on? Why are stories about poor-quality RVs and pushy/unhelpful RV dealerships so common? Most importantly, how can you avoid a bad purchase experience and walk away with a top-quality rig and a great impression of the dealer who sold it to you?

After a year of research and our personal experience buying a great RV from an excellent dealer, we’ve got some tips that can help make your RV buying experience as satisfying as ours.

Has the Quality of RVs Gone Downhill?

There doesn’t seem to be too much debate about the overall decline in the quality of RVs in general, and the lack of satisfaction many buyers experience at RV dealerships. After dropping tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of dollars on a brand-new rig, they drive it off the lot and then find themselves navigating all sorts of issues due to poor-quality components, shoddy construction or installation, inadequate PDI (Pre-Delivery Inspection), or all of the above. But why are we continuing to hear about this being a common experience?

1. Manufacturers Cutting Corners: RV manufacturers are increasingly cutting corners to save money. This results in the use of lower-quality components as well as fewer and/or less-well-paid employees who are responsible for producing quick work for fast turnaround.
2. Economic Issues: Economic problems back in 2008-2009 caused a lot of belt-tightening as many RV manufacturers went under and the rest worked to stay afloat. As many RV manufacturers struggled to stay in business, they tried to avoid increasing sales prices (potentially chasing away new buyers) and instead opted to reduce costs, and therefore quality.
3. Component Manufacturers Facing Pressure: The quality of the components being used by RV manufacturers has been compromised because component manufacturers are under increasing pressure from the RV manufacturers to reduce the cost of their parts and supplies. That of course led to cutting corners and decreased quality.
4. Demand vs Supply Constraints: A significant boom in the demand for RVs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with supply chain constraints, negatively impacted the overall quality of RVs. Now, with year-over-year sales lower than what they were during the peak of the pandemic, manufacturers are under even more pressure to get sales numbers up. This can increase the pressure salespeople put on customers.
5. Corporate Satisfaction Over Customer Satisfaction: RV and component manufacturers are more focused on pushing out volume to meet targets, satisfy investors, and beat the competition than they are about satisfying customers.

Why Some RV Dealerships Should Be Avoided

Some dealerships should be avoided because doing business with them won’t result in a positive buying experience or a satisfactory result. Unfortunately, these types of dealerships aren’t a rarity. You can find them almost everywhere, as they face many of the same pressures that affect RV manufacturers.

1. Cost-Cutting Measures: In addition to manufacturers cutting costs, dealers also cut corners to save money. This is a double whammy we want to avoid.
2. Questionable Sales Staff: If a dealership has too few staff members or an unqualified sales team, it can affect your buying and ownership experience. Also, many RV salespeople have never even RVed before, so they can’t provide good insight into the pros and cons of specific makes, models, and floorplans and can easily lead customers astray as a result.
3. Poor Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI): We’ve had personal experience with poor quality pre-delivery inspection. Our Newmar Mountain Aire (a pretty expensive 43′ diesel pusher) had no PDI at all. We had to clean and fix a slew of issues on our brand-new luxury Class A RV ourselves. As a result, that dealer is no longer a Newmar dealer, which doesn’t surprise us a bit. In hindsight, we wish we’d refused to take delivery until everything was made right, but our situation put us in a bad spot, where we needed to take delivery and get going.

If a high-end motorhome dealer can provide poor quality control and customer service, you could run into this problem no matter where you’re shopping or what you’re shopping for.

Things We Considered When Researching and Buying Our New RV

Knowing all of the above, we spent about a year planning and researching to buy our newest rig. Here are the top things we carefully considered, all of which contributed to our final decision to purchase an Outdoors RV travel trailer:

1. Quality and Fit and Finish: We were accustomed to the quality of a high-end diesel pusher manufactured during what some consider to be the “Golden Age” of quality in the RV industry (ours was a 2005 model). We knew our new rig would be very different in some ways (especially size), but we wanted a brand that at least made an effort to approach the quality that we were used to. We knew it would be challenging because towables have different cost & weight considerations, resulting in manufacturers choosing lightweight, cheaper materials that don’t generally go hand in hand with high quality.
2. Personal Recommendations: Two different friends of ours have owned Outdoors RV travel trailers and have loved them. And after seeing their rigs, we understood why they were such happy owners. Their satisfaction is one of the first things that turned us onto the brand.
3. Careful Research: Our research confirmed that Outdoors RV is highly regarded for its quality reputation. It’s one of those rare brands that we see, read, and hear very few negative comments about. And considering how much more likely people are to speak up and complain (especially online) about problems vs praising positive experiences, that’s really saying something.

Our personal experience so far has borne out ORV’s reputation for quality. While our rig does weigh more than most comparably sized trailers from other brands, it’s clear to us that this is because the build quality and materials are so solid. Also, when we announced the new RV we’d chosen, we experienced a huge outpouring of positive feedback from other Outdoors RV owners.

Finding an Awesome Dealership

We also put a fair amount of time into researching dealerships. This is so important when buying a new RV because you want a positive buying experience and you also want excellent customer service after your purchase. Once you’ve settled on a brand, it’s time to ensure you buy it from a reputable dealer.

1. Experiences of Other Buyers: As we continued researching online, we encountered a multitude of positive comments about Thompson RV in Pendleton, Oregon, which happens to be the largest Outdoors RV (ORV) dealer in the United States. Since we’d already settled on the ORV brand, it made sense to us that their largest dealer was only an hour from the factory.
2. Dealer Videos: We watched many of Thompson’s video tours online, hosted by Corrin Thompson (this is a family business, and Corrin and her brother are third-generation owners — and RVers — and their mom still works with them). We appreciate her knowledge of each model and floor plan, thanks to her many years of experience as an RVer herself. She has owned and used so many different sizes, styles, and floor plans of RVs, and really knows her stuff.
3. Personal Observation: We had the opportunity to visit Thompson RV on our way through Oregon, well before we were ready to actually pull the trigger on our new rig. Not only were we impressed with the way we were treated, but we both watched and spoke with other people in various stages of RV ownership (buying, taking delivery, in for service, etc). We saw and heard how happy everyone was with their experience at Thompson. When the time came, our own purchase turned out to be no different.

The following video was key in introducing us to both the Outdoors RV 19MKS, which we ultimately purchased, but also to Thompson RV… and Corrin.

How to Ensure a Positive Experience When Buying an RV

To ensure that you’re more likely to have a positive experience as a buyer, take into consideration the following ways to avoid lousy dealers and a few suggestions on how to find dealers that are more likely to offer you a great buying and ownership experience.

Avoid Bad RV Dealers

When you’re in the market for a new RV, if you notice any of the following signs from a dealership, you’ll likely do well to avoid them.

1. They’re only focused on selling/price instead of the quality of products and services, and your needs. If they don’t spend more time finding out how and where you RV than what you’re willing to spend, move on.
2. High-pressure sales tactics. Statements like “What can we do to get you into an RV today?” (ick… we need a shower now) are huge red flags, not to mention a massive turn-off. When a dealer is only interested in selling you something, that’s a good reason to walk away.
3. You notice that the dealership is understaffed, so it’s hard to get anyone to help you.
4. You hear other customers grumbling about poor service. Remember, after-sales service is as important (if not more so) than the buying experience.

Ways To Look For Good RV Dealers

A great way to learn which manufacturers and dealers have the best reputation is to research online forums and websites.

1. iRV2.com
2. Brand owners’ Facebook groups and other brand owners’ online forums
3. Google reviews
4. Better Business Bureau

We hope our full year of research helps as you look for the best RV and RV dealer for your needs. All that research certainly paid off for us. We not only had an excellent purchase experience, but we also drove away with a top-quality RV, and we couldn’t be happier with our Outdoors RV travel trailer.

After taking delivery of our new rig, we had the opportunity to stop back at Thompson RV on our first big road trip. We were so happy with absolutely everything about our experience that we asked Corrin if she would talk to us about what she thinks makes her family’s dealership so popular. She appeared on camera to discuss it in the video below.

Our discussion included a very important topic — towing and weight limits, as well as choosing the right tow vehicle for a particular trailer. If you’d like more details on that incredibly important topic, be sure to subscribe to receive our daily newsletters (assuming you haven’t already). We’ll be covering towing in detail in an upcoming post.

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