Dealer reviews? |
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Snaproll
Newbie Joined: 07 Apr 2012 Status: Offline Points: 14 |
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Posted: 13 Apr 2012 at 12:47pm |
Is there a forum or area to post rpod dealer reviews? I've seen forums or threads on this in other RV forums and wondering if there is a place here?
My wife and I are rpod hunting and looking for a reputable dealer in our area for sales/service. The first dealer we worked (Quietwoods, Menasha) gave us an "out the door" price but when we came in to close on the camper they suddenly has amesia as to what "out the door"meant and tried to add in a bunch of extra charges. Needless to say we walked.
Are they a good dealer or not? Is our experience with them typical or an anomaly? It would be nice if there was a 'dealer experience' forum so we could get opinions on what others have experienced as well.
The closest was a warranty forum, is that used for dealer reviews as well?
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Ratdog
Moderator Group Joined: 11 Mar 2010 Location: Central Florida Status: Offline Points: 1175 |
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Give Couch's RV in Hamilton, OH a call.
We had a similar experience with our local dealer. I asked for his best out the door bottom price and then got a quote from Couchs that was $2K less so we signed up for the one at Couch's. About a week later the local dealer called to find out if I was still interested. I told him we got a better price somewhere else. His response: Why didn't you call me back? We could have done better. So we drove from MN to OH, picked up the rpod and camped with it on the way home. -- Steve
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Steve, Anne, and Paige the Rat Terrier 2013 Lexus RX 450h Hybrid AWD 2011 RP-177 (aka: The Circus Wagon) |
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Peggy L.
Senior Member Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Location: Dunnellon, FL Status: Offline Points: 510 |
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Since this forum is maintained by Couch's RV Nation (see the header), we are not allowed to post links to other dealers. Our experience was pretty much the same. We looked at pods at a dealer near us, then got a quote from Couch's. The difference was huge. Well worth the 800 mile drive to Ohio.
[edit] I wanted to mention another thing about Couch's. When we got our quote it was for a fully equiped pod, including air conditioner, convection/microwave and entertainment center. It is important to know that Couch's orders the pods from the factory with these things already installed. Our local dealer bought all his trailers stripped down and then added the components himself. There were people on the this board that had problems with their with their air conditioners. I always wondered if these were factory or dealer installed. In the two years that we've owned our pod (and close to 30,000 miles we've put on it) we've never experienced any problems except normal wear and tear.
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Traveling with Herb and the Boon-doggie
2010 r-pod 171 pulled by '11 Silverado |
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Sixgunner
Senior Member Joined: 18 Apr 2011 Location: West Virginia Status: Offline Points: 228 |
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Same experience here.
I was shopping for a RP-177, got prices everywhere, then checked with Jeff Couch in Hamilton, OH. Big savings, easily justifying the couple hundred mile trip. Don't know what they're charging for the service right now, but they have (or did have) a couple old boys who'll deliver to you... Go to http://www.couchsrvnation.com and look at the inventory and prices. Click on the "get lowest price button" and see what you come up with for something that interests you. Don't hesitate to give them a call with any questions you have. They're good people. Anyone here will tell you the same. |
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feo fuerte y formal
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tsunami
Senior Member Joined: 05 Oct 2009 Location: MINNESOTA Status: Offline Points: 426 |
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I was pleased with Couch's also. I was unable to drive out to Ohio and pick up my Pod. Couch's had a trailer delivery service transport the pod 900 miles, and still came in more than $1K less than my local dealers. The one caveat I had was whether or not my local dealers would do warranty work if needed. One dealer (the most expensive) absolutely refused to commit to warranty work. A second dealer readily agreed to do some minor warranty repairs...subsequently he has had all of my seasonal maintenance jobs. My two year extended warranty coverage has lapsed so eventually, he will more than make up losing the original sale.
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tsunami
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jato
Senior Member Joined: 26 Jun 2011 Location: Kewadin, MI Status: Offline Points: 209 |
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We tried two different dealers, Cadillac (LP of Michigan) and Hill-Top in Escanaba (UP Michigan), Cadillac was only 1 hour away, Escanaba was 4 hours). We went with Hill-Top at they beat the other dealer by 1500.00. It definitely pays to shop around. So if you aren't too far away you may want to check out Hill-top as well.
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God's Pod
'11 model 177 '13 Ford Explorer Jim & Diane by beautiful Torch Lake |
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Snaproll
Newbie Joined: 07 Apr 2012 Status: Offline Points: 14 |
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Thanks for the input and stories folks. I did email Couch's. They gave a price of $12,995 and I am seriously contemplating driving out there, but that would mean taking the trailer through Chicago among other things. There is at least one other dealer in the area to check out which we will do next week. That's Horn's in Sheboygan. So far (over the phone) they are way high, like $14.5K and "can't go a penny below that". Uh-huh, yeah. I understand these guys need to stay in business, but how can these prices be so all over the board? At least car dealers quickly all come down to pretty much the same price. These guys are all over the place. Hard to believe in a recession that they could try and "hold out" for pie in the sky prices.
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Tom and Carol
Groupie Joined: 23 Aug 2010 Location: St. Cloud, FL Status: Offline Points: 69 |
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Being new to towing a camper, I didn't want to drive from Florida to Ohio for the best price and tow back to Florida on my first trip. Believe me, I paid quite a bit more as a result. Now that I have some experience towing and finding campgrounds etc., I would definately make the trip for a substantially better price. I'm not upset about the price I got, because at the time, it was the best choice for me.
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Tom and Carol
R-Pod 177 2006 F-150 |
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cmjmoore
Groupie Joined: 09 May 2011 Location: Port Arthur, Tx Status: Offline Points: 91 |
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Our 176 we stole from our local dealer, he had had it fora year and hadn't been able to move it so even though it was a 2010 purchased in 2011 we got the full warranty. I had never pulled a travel trailer but it was not a problem. I would go with Coach and pull it home. After 100 miles you will be a pro... Go for it! 👍
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TRI-POD
Me, my Honey & Max our GSP 2013 Surveyor SP 240 2012 Toyota Tundra Crew Max 4x2 5.7L V8 |
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Footslogger03
Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2011 Location: Laramie, WY Status: Offline Points: 140 |
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We stopped in at Couch's last summer while we were back east camping (in our previous RV). Had a serious sit-down with the sales rep and he admitted that one reason they can low-ball the price is that they do not charge for "delivery", as they go directly to the factory and haul their RV's back to the dealership. The other reason is quite frankly, that they do enough volume to justify the lower pricing.
That being said ...we actually live in Wyoming and weren't "quite" ready to buy while we were there. So, I got a quote on a 177 and then we came home and did a search for Forest River/Pod dealers. Had to drive almost 3 hours (one-way) to visit that dealer but he had 2 of the 177 models on the lot (HRE models though). I showed him the quote from Couch's and his eye's rolled back a bit ...but we were paying cash so he was willing to deal. We ended up paying about $2K more than the Couch's quote but this was the HRE with the larger tires, axle lifters and diamond plating. All things considered we were very pleased with the experience and we really like our 177 !! MJ |
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