Areas of the Country with Multiple RV Lots in Same Vicinity
NINK said
03:49 PM Dec 19, 2011
Hello. My husband and I are interested in buying a motor home during 2012. The two of us have never looked at motor homes together, so we need time to shop and see what's available that will meet our needs, budget, etc. We are currently living outside the U.S., but hope to be returning to the U.S. within the next four months. When we return we'd like to settle near an area that has multiple RV lots in the same general vicinity so that we can shop as time allows. Ideally, we'd like the lots to be within a couple hours' drive of each other so that we don't have to spend days traveling from one location to another. I've learned that there are several places in the Houston area and I'm familiar with places in the Washington, DC area as well. Any other suggestions as to locations we might consider? Thanks.
GENECOP said
04:28 PM Dec 19, 2011
Elkhart Indiana....
bjoyce said
05:51 PM Dec 19, 2011
Tampa/Orlando, Florida has multiple dealers including Lazydays in Seffner, which is huge. Also Phoenix/Mesa, Arizona and Riverside, CA (East Los Angelas) have multiple dealers with lots of inventory.
RickandJanice said
06:39 PM Dec 19, 2011
I would have to agree with GENECOP on Elkhart Indiana. If you have time and can travel to that area, you can not only look at various brands, you can also tour the manufacturers of the ones you are interested in. A plant tour can tell you allot about how they are constructed and be very informative about the different construction techniques used and why they are used.
injunear said
07:18 PM Dec 19, 2011
Along I-30 from Benton to Arkadelphia, Arkansas..
kb0zke said
08:37 PM Dec 19, 2011
I second the suggestion to visit some factories. This past summer we visited three, and those three quickly changed some of our thinking. We'll visit more this coming summer, and maybe more the following summer. I'd love to spend a month in the Elkhart area, just touring all the factories there. Don't miss the Airstream factory in Jackson Center, Ohio.
One caveat, though. There are LOTS of places with good food that can negatively impact your personal GW, and one factory tour won't begin to burn off what you ate!
Bill Adams said
08:47 PM Dec 19, 2011
There are not that many manufacturers left in the Elkhart area and there are not many campgrounds in that area that are worth their salt. I would suggest the Phoenix/Tucson, AZ area but it sounds like you are more interested in an Eastern location. Is there a specific brand/model/type/size RV that you are looking for? If you want to look at Lazy Daze RV's you have to go to the factory. If you want a Winnebago the factory is in IA but you can find their RV's at dealers throughout the US.
Trabuco said
09:13 PM Dec 19, 2011
When I started my MH hunt a year ago I had set my research area to 500 miles. I'm in Southern California so 500 miles included Nothern California, Arizona and Nevada. I was looking for used and came accross a bunch in Arizona. Although I found mine about 60 miles from my location I was preparing to go to Arizona to look at several.
I just didn't want to buy one site unseen many miles away even if I did have an inspection done. Many of these dealers will deliver anywhere in the country, but again I wanted to look at it myself.
NINK said
09:11 AM Dec 20, 2011
Thanks to all for your responses. Our current thinking is that we'd like to buy a used Class A diesel pusher, 36-40' range, preferably a wide body with no slides. At the moment, Tiffins, Country Coaches, Monacos, and Foretravels are high on our list, but we're not ruling out anything since we're still researching. As with Trabuco, we don't want to buy anything site unseen. We'll need to rent a place in an area where we can shop for RVs. At this point, we're not set on any particular area, although we would prefer not to spend time in colder climates.
Paul Eskin said
06:55 AM Dec 21, 2011
As bjoyce said there are many large RV dealers in the Orlando/Tampa area. I have personally purchased three RV's in the last four years from Orlando RV. I found them easy to deal with and great pricing. They are part of RVONE which owns 4 or 5 dealerships and is still family owned. If you would like any information about the area I would be happy to do what I can.
NINK said
07:19 AM Dec 21, 2011
Thanks, Paul. I'll check out their website shortly.
Jack Mayer said
11:56 AM Dec 21, 2011
A DP without slides implies you are looking for something fairly old. I doubt you can find a DP without slides after around 2000. There may be some minor exceptions, but in general I'd bet that is true. And there will not be many of them.
So given that, I don't really think location is going to make a huge difference. You will be doing internet searches to find these rigs, and looking at a lot of photos first to screen out the undesireables. If I was selecting a location, though, I'd probably select the Tampa area or the Phoenix area. You can easily check PPL out online and fly there if they have the exact coach you want.
NINK said
09:03 AM Dec 23, 2011
Thanks, Jack, for the response. At the time I started researching, I didn't realize that so many RVs had slides. We were hoping to find something in the 7-10 year old range, but it's definitely a challenge to find RVs without slides in that range. We may just have to settle for at least one slide, but RVs with only one slide seem to be few and far between too.
Alie and Jims Carrilite said
09:37 AM Dec 23, 2011
The further back you look, the fewer the slides except for the bigger/more expensive RV's-companies. We have a 17' single slide on our 1996 Carri-lite.
Hello. My husband and I are interested in buying a motor home during 2012. The two of us have never looked at motor homes together, so we need time to shop and see what's available that will meet our needs, budget, etc. We are currently living outside the U.S., but hope to be returning to the U.S. within the next four months. When we return we'd like to settle near an area that has multiple RV lots in the same general vicinity so that we can shop as time allows. Ideally, we'd like the lots to be within a couple hours' drive of each other so that we don't have to spend days traveling from one location to another. I've learned that there are several places in the Houston area and I'm familiar with places in the Washington, DC area as well. Any other suggestions as to locations we might consider? Thanks.
I would have to agree with GENECOP on Elkhart Indiana. If you have time and can travel to that area, you can not only look at various brands, you can also tour the manufacturers of the ones you are interested in. A plant tour can tell you allot about how they are constructed and be very informative about the different construction techniques used and why they are used.
Along I-30 from Benton to Arkadelphia, Arkansas..
One caveat, though. There are LOTS of places with good food that can negatively impact your personal GW, and one factory tour won't begin to burn off what you ate!
I would suggest the Phoenix/Tucson, AZ area but it sounds like you are more interested in an Eastern location. Is there a specific brand/model/type/size RV that you are looking for? If you want to look at Lazy Daze RV's you have to go to the factory. If you want a Winnebago the factory is in IA but you can find their RV's at dealers throughout the US.
I just didn't want to buy one site unseen many miles away even if I did have an inspection done. Many of these dealers will deliver anywhere in the country, but again I wanted to look at it myself.
Thanks to all for your responses. Our current thinking is that we'd like to buy a used Class A diesel pusher, 36-40' range, preferably a wide body with no slides. At the moment, Tiffins, Country Coaches, Monacos, and Foretravels are high on our list, but we're not ruling out anything since we're still researching. As with Trabuco, we don't want to buy anything site unseen. We'll need to rent a place in an area where we can shop for RVs. At this point, we're not set on any particular area, although we would prefer not to spend time in colder climates.
As bjoyce said there are many large RV dealers in the Orlando/Tampa area. I have personally purchased three RV's in the last four years from Orlando RV. I found them easy to deal with and great pricing. They are part of RVONE which owns 4 or 5 dealerships and is still family owned.
If you would like any information about the area I would be happy to do what I can.
Thanks, Paul. I'll check out their website shortly.
So given that, I don't really think location is going to make a huge difference. You will be doing internet searches to find these rigs, and looking at a lot of photos first to screen out the undesireables. If I was selecting a location, though, I'd probably select the Tampa area or the Phoenix area. You can easily check PPL out online and fly there if they have the exact coach you want.
Thanks, Jack, for the response. At the time I started researching, I didn't realize that so many RVs had slides. We were hoping to find something in the 7-10 year old range, but it's definitely a challenge to find RVs without slides in that range. We may just have to settle for at least one slide, but RVs with only one slide seem to be few and far between too.