I am looking for recomendations for RV Dealers in the Phoenix area .

I've never owned an RV and dont know squat about them , but Ive been thinking about buying one .

Could use some suggestions ? It would be for my wife and me .
Thanks

Terrible time to buy.

Best way to put it, it’s like going to PSA and buying an AR that was half the cost last year.with covid, sales went through the roof.


I’d suggest renting one and seeing what you like, don’t like.

Don't know who to recommend to buy from but don't buy anything from Little Dealer, Little Prices.
It would be OK to look at what they have and waste a salesmen's time, but buy it elsewhere.

I'll second staying away from Little Dealer, and add Bobby Combs to the list.

Never bought from Camping World, or La Mesa RV, but both have plenty of inventory out in the east valley.

Little Dealer is the worst.  I wouldn’t buy from them again if they were the last place in AZ. La Mesa RV is pretty fair.

We had a bad, bad experience with Little Dealer and will never go back.

Not sure about the sales side but there is a good sized RV show at the State Farm arena going until Sunday.  Low pressure way to check out different models.

That's a La Mesa RV show, I believe. They'll have a ton of stuff out there, unless inventories are still low factories shutting down last year.

Buy a used one....they don't hold much of their original value.  

If you don't have experience with an RV, rent one first.  They can be a lot of work to get ready, repair, up keep, etc.  

What kind of RV are you interested in?  Trailer, 5th wheel, diesel pusher, etc.  

On the up side, they can qualify as a "home", so you can write off any loan interest on your taxes.

I second buying used because the depreciation on them is outrageous. Pretty much anything that moves now is crazy priced and ppl are asking a crap load for even used stuff, but if you don't get in too much of a hurry you can find someone that needs to dump theirs and you can get a deal. If you are looking at travel trailers I suggest Lance brand. They are more expensive but are built a little better. I has a nice 2011 Lance dual axle and everything worked on it. Camper vans are all the rage now and they are even higher since they are so popular with the new hippies. I prefer a trailer so that when we reach somewhere we can unhook and go exploring with the truck.

My wife and I just purchased a new cargo trailer that we plan to camp in and it was still higher than giraffe tits. If we ever need to bug out or move then we will have room to take a lot of stuff with us.

I would be looking at  Motor Homes  , probably class C , but I'm not sure .

Get one with a Ford or similar power plant so you could get it worked on about anywhere. I looked at the Mercedes van things and besides being expensive you cannot get parts just anywhere and might be 300 miles from a dealer.

Something that may be overlooked when buying a new RV is the service department.

Look at the reviews online.

The first year I owned the travel trailer I have now, La Mesa RV had it for 3 months and then it had to go back again for about 2 months.  Nothing was terribly wrong, they just SUCK.  Terrible workmanship.

Service guy was a dipstick.  I then later looked at the reviews of the service department and everyone’s experience was similar to mine.

If you buy new, it’s going in for warranty work.  Guaranteed.

We bought ours from Tom's Camper Land on Bell Road and was very satisfied with the sales experience. Can't comment on warranty work because we have had no issues. It's a bumper pull 22' Apex ultra light. I'll second renting before you buy.

Other than Toms it sounds like the rest have ....issues...

My wife and I stopped at the Little Dealer place a few years ago just to look. I made the mistake of giving them my phone number in case they came upon what I was looking for. They spammed me for quite a while and blew up my phone until I finally blocked them.

Camping World is out too, IMO. It's been 12 years since I bought mine there but they definitely messed around
and literally burned more than 6 hours of my time at the dealership, I honestly think the tactic was to get you to
want to leave so bad you'd agree to anything..

Do not, under any circumstances, let them do the work for a brake controller install. That's a story unto itself.

I have a few friends who bought new genesis 5th wheel toy haulers from Rowley White and they are very happy. I almost bought one but skipped it due to the work and storage concerns.

Try State 48 RV.  They sell used RVs.

State 48 RV

Don't EVER work with Cruise America...

No real recommendations on RV sales because everyone has a bad story at one or the other. I dont think it matters where you buy it from.

Figure out what you want. Go looks at tons of different ones and walk through them. Find the particular model you want and shop the entire country. Its very common to order or buy them from dealerships in other states and either have them shipped to you or you go pick them up. You can save thousands that way. I just helped someone buy one in Ohio and it will be shipped out here. Even with the shipping, it saved her about 4k. Lots of dealerships are not negotiating much on them because they are so popular right now. But the majority of those are smaller ones. But there are lots of dealerships that automatically mark the price down and have kept them down and sell in volume.

Warrantees have their good and bad. If you buy new, most will come with at least a year with the purchase. 99% of the issues with it will be within the first year. Typically if you have major issues later, its because you didnt get something fixed in the first year or you didnt do your preventative maintenance. If youre even half ass handy, it will save you time and stress by doing it yourself. Lots of people drop their trailers off for warranty work and dont get them back till 3-6 months later.

Another thing to do is consider what kind of trailer you want and what kind of camping you do. Even if you dont have a toy to put in back, look at toyhaulers. They typically have a lot of advantages that a regular travel trailer will not. Toyhaulers typically hold a hell of a lot more water than a regular trailer. So if boondocking is up your alley, I would get a toyhauler. They also have a lot of room you can use for things such as a porch. They also usually have onboard generators and travel trailers dont. And the on boards are nice  because of the integrated fuel tank and you can just start the genny with the press of a button inside. Travel trailers will typically have larger insides due to the fact they almost always have slides and you dont typically get slides on a toyhauler unless you get into the really large ones.

Dont let them sell you gimmicks like LED packages or gap coverage. You can convert the LEDs inside with bulbs commonly found online for $20. Solar packages are nice only because the wiring is integrated. The solar products they put on there suck. But its very easy and cheap to upgrade and add panels. Gap coverage or loan/lease payoff can be purchased through your insurance company for2 bucks a month.

I personally have a 25ft toyhauler than can haul a 4door buggy. I specifically bought this length because lots of national parks have limits on length or if they allow larger ones, they only have a few spots allocated for them. I bought the solar package but mounted 2 180 watt panels on the roof and have (4) 6v batteries. I also converted to LED's and also run almost everything off 12v. The only thing I cant run without firing up my onboard genny is the microwave and the AC. I specifically shopped for a TV at walmart that had an adapter box on the power cord. That usually means the TV runs on DC but you need to make sure its the right voltage. I cut the plug and connected it to a fuse. Did the same with the blue ray player. My toyhauler holds 108 gallons of fresh water, but a lot of new ones will hold even more.

Dont be afraid of the size of the trailer when youre looking at it. Most first time buyers want the smallest one they think they will be comfortable in. They usually go to small. There might be rainy days when you are inside for most of it, so you dont want to be crawling around each other or dogs just to go take a piss. With practice, you will get used to towing.

Another thing to keep in mind is that trailers are made to be lightweight and therefore cheaply made for the most part. Unless you get into something like a grand design or similar in price, it will be cheap. They arent made with quality parts. Lots of plastic and lots of cheap wood.

I bought a bedcap for my truck from Tom's Camperland. No other experience beside that, but they were good-to-go.

Thanks for the information .

Do this

I’m currently building a toy hauler but everything on the market went up and in short supply, unless youre retiring and taking off accross the country now I would rent for a couple trips, try the sprinter van style and the big box on back style, don’t buy, Bidens gonna cause a deep recesion and then someone that bought a new one during this shortage won’t be able to afford the fuel and only took it out a couple times then their gonna sell it cheap