RV Salesmen

[jsmith948]

The DW and I visited our local Camping World yesterday. There was a used 2016 Cardinal 5er on display, so we wondered over to take a look. A friendly young man approached us and asked if he could help us. I explained that we just wanted to look at how the auto level jacks were arranged and that we were wondering if there was a lot of tail end movement due to the amount of 'overhang' past the rear leveling jacks. He assured us that these units were 'rock solid' when the leveling jacks were deployed. He then started explaining all of the rig's features such as full body paint, Onan generator, residential frig and on and on. I didn't want to waste his time, so, I told him we were happy with our little Cougar and, besides, we couldn't pull a 16,200# trailer. His response was: "What do you have for a TV?" When I pointed to our 6.7L F-250, he said: "Oh, you can pull anything on our lot". I told him that, while our truck could certainly PULL the trailer, it couldn't handle the pin weight. He started to look for the dry weight on the sticker so he could calculate the pin weight. When I told him he needed to use the GVW of the trailer he disagreed, saying: "That is the fully loaded weight, no one tows like that" He kept on talking about towing capacity. When I explained how to figure payload capacity he said: "I never knew that". Sorry for the long winded post, but, I just wanted to share our encounter with a very nice, well intentioned young man who happened to be clueless about how to match a trailer to a TV.

[66joej]

Sounds fairly typical as far as RV salespeople goes. Nice to hear he took your advise to heart. Next time he will get more info before saying "you can tow anything on the lot".

[CWSWine]

About a month ago we looked at the Nissan Titan XD Diesel and the salesman told use because it was diesel it would tow any 5er on the market today. It had a goose neck connection in the bed of the truck so ready to go with my B&W hitch. Check the payload on the door post and was a whopping 1490 lbs. Ask him how it would handle my 14,000 5er and he said "You won't even know it back there" LOL

[Desert185]

That false speak, for whatever the reason, unfortunately is not mutually exclusive to the RV world. The older I get the more skeptical I become when I see moving lips in a sales atmosphere.

For disclosure, I was briefly in sales a long time ago...until I came to my senses. Elected bureaucrats...well...I'll just leave it at that. :facepalm:

[chuckster57]

We had a. Customer come in to pick up his new to him Class A motor home after some warranty work.

Salesman with more than a year selling these things comes and finds me because he can't figure out why a light on the auto level system is lit. I explain that it's showing him which side is low. Then because it has air suspension I show the customer AGAIN how to set the high idle on the engine.....salesman says " I never knew that".

[marcortez]

And on the "other" side.......

The dealers "internet manager" in Oregon, whom I am dealing with told me flat out when posed the Q...."Do you see water leaks from units kept outside in the rainy Oregon"..

He answered without hesitation....."yes absolutely" and went on to tell me how the "crew" tries to keep the leaks at bay.

I had a list of components I wanted either purchased from that dealership and or installed.
He was right on with everyone of my choices that I had researched to death.
Even offered to "gently" persuade the local Discount Tire shop to give a take off credit on the OEM tires.....which DT ended up doing.

Completely advised how to wire up and install an inverter, wire up batteries, suggested a heavy duty shackle upgrade and immediately ditching the junk OEM "C" rated tires. All of which squared up with my research.

This guy said the OEM tires installed on new TT units are the cheapest a manufacturer can get.
Never ever did I find his advice and suggestions to be out of line with what I have extensively researched.

Full kudos to Curtis RV in Portland OR and to Erik, the internet manager, for being so straight with me

[itat]

RV salespersons often don't camp and don't know their product. I often know more about their product than they do. Once they realize that, they stop talking so much.

Nowadays, when I look at units at the RV show, I'm only interested in the fit and finish of an unknown brand, and how easy it is to service. You can see just about any model on YouTube - I want to see what they don't show you in the video.

[Ken / Claudia]

I have purchased 5 Rvs. Shopped at Curtis in Portland several times. The last time I bought the listed trailer there. We were meet by a salesman as normal. Told him what we where looking to buy. He than asks before anything else. What do you have to tow the trailer with and where are you going to keep it stored. I felt by him asking those questions up front he might know what he is talking about and he did.

[CaptnJohn]

I have purchased 2 units from the internet manager at CW in Myrtle. He would not sell a Landmark to someone with a 2500 diesel, said it required a 3500 minimum and probably a dually. No sale there.

[zuley]

I chuckle to myself whenever I come across a post questioning the integrity of a RV salesman. I certainly realize there are very upright and outstanding salemen in the field but I have came across a few in my life that certainly taint the whole basket. I've told this story a few years back and certainly try to when the opportunity presents itself. A few years back when my wife and I started discussing the purchase of a TT we attended the Toronto RV show. We were newbies still wet behind the ears and as green as new grass. We stopped by the Ruston RV display and were sitting in a 28 foot trailer, both of us knowing it was too much trailer for our tow vehicle. In walks super sales and the first thing he says to us is, "you've been in here for more than three minutes, that suggests to me you are interested in this unit". I explain to him that our tow vehicle was not adequate to tow this unit but yes it is nice. He asks what we are towing with. At the time it was a Grand Cherokee diesel. Told him the tow rating was 7000 pounds to which he relied (and I'm not exagerating) "This units weighs in at 6800 pounds so you are good to go." My wife knew what was coming next so she got up and left at that point. We had what turned out to be a heated discussion as to why, or why not depending on the point of view, my Cherokee would tow a 28 foot trailer. He finaly made the comment, "I've been selling trailers for 50 years and I know you are good to go." At that point I told him he should have got out of the business 50 yearsd ago because he did not know "f all". I had to get past him to get to the door at that point. Didn't know how that was going to work out. I was so worked up by the time we got to the next display I was actually pretty rude to the salesman. Stopped him dead in his track pretty quick. All worked out well as we ended up buying from those people. I ened up apologizing to him after relaying my Ruston Story. Incidently when my wife and I bought our first popup it was Rustons who talked us into buying a particular model. It was also Ruston's who talked us into buying it somewhere else.

[flybouy]

Salesman have one job, sell the product. If an RV salesman tells you your tv is incapable of towing what you like, then he loses the sale and if this happens with any frequency he loses his job. Do your homework, search the internet and talk to people that know. I look at the RV shows and just chuckle at whatever the salesman opines. If I'm really interested in a particular unit then I'll go to the dealer and talk with service dept. and ask what typical issues present with that unit. Ask them what the customers are complaining about etc. And don't worry about "show price" any dealer will give the "show price" back at the dealership.

[itat]

Salesman have one job, sell the product. If an RV salesman tells you your tv is incapable of towing what you like, then he loses the sale and if this happens with any frequency he loses his job. Do your homework, search the internet and talk to people that know. I look at the RV shows and just chuckle at whatever the salesman opines. If I'm really interested in a particular unit then I'll go to the dealer and talk with service dept. and ask what typical issues present with that unit. Ask them what the customers are complaining about etc. And don't worry about "show price" any dealer will give the "show price" back at the dealership.

That's the approach of a salesperson that wants to make a single sale.

If they want to sell you your next one and have an opportunity to get some business from your family and friends they need to do better. Find something that's a better fit for the buyer...know they're stuff and be able explain why that trailer is too big for the buyer's TV. If the buyer ignores the advice, so be it.

Even if you have a great salesperson, a poor service dept will lose that next sale to you.