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Old 02-26-2021, 03:38 PM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
State: Tennessee
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Gander RV vs Lazy Days for new purchase

My family is in the process of securing a Thor Omni XG32. We are looking for any feedback when considering Gander RV vs Lazy Days RV. Thanks in advance.

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Old 02-26-2021, 04:16 PM   #2
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Gander RV is Camping World. You can do a search on Camping World and read all of the horror stories. I walked away from them a couple of time because of their fees and business practices. I don't have any knowledge about Lazy Days.
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Old 02-26-2021, 09:14 PM   #3
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Model: Omni sv34
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When we were looking
to order our 2021 Thor Omni sv34 we went go Lazy Days and Camping World.
Camping World was 35k cheaper.
The sales process was smooth and delivery was also.
We've had great service, no issues with CW.
No experience with LD in regards to setvice
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Old 02-26-2021, 09:39 PM   #4
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Model: 2019 Vegas 24.1
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Lazy Days!

Quote:
Originally Posted by KDavis View Post
My family is in the process of securing a Thor Omni XG32. We are looking for any feedback when considering Gardner RV vs Lazy Days RV. Thanks in advance.
I have several friends who have purchased from Lazy Days and all are satisfied. Like all RV dealers, their service department is very busy, but, overall, I think you will be happier than at Gander Mountain, aka Camping World. We have two Lazy Days within 75 miles.

I considered buying my RV from Camping World and was really "turned off" by the whole sales experience.
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Old 02-26-2021, 10:55 PM   #5
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Talk to the folks in the Service Departments at both stores.
It's the service after that sale that will have you either swearing at; or swearing by them.
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Old 02-27-2021, 01:31 AM   #6
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Great comments so far. Dealerships vary widely between locations and can change over time, to the better or worse. Definitely factor in the service. That's where C W has general but not universal bad rep.
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Old 02-27-2021, 02:52 AM   #7
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Lazy Days gets my vote.

Gander RV = Camping World = Marcus Lemonis. I've purchased from Camping World before, worst purchase mistake I ever made. They'd never get another red cent from me.
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Old 02-27-2021, 03:14 AM   #8
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I have purchased two travel trailers from camping world and to be honest I do not know why they get such a bad wrap. Both transactions worked out well and I would not hesitate to purchase from them again. No experience with lazy days but I would buy from them all the same. It doesn't really matter where you buy it from. I would go with the lowest price. For service you can take it anywhere. Just because you buy from dealer 'a' doesn't mean that you have to service it there.
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Old 02-27-2021, 04:00 AM   #9
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I’ve purchased from CW 4 times (3 different stores) and I have no complaints. They do have aggressive sales practices and we’ll trained staff but if you remember that everything is negotiable and you are willing to push back you can do just fine. I wouldn’t use them for service but their selection makes them a pretty good option for purchase.
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Old 02-27-2021, 08:29 AM   #10
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We have purchased 1 motor home from CW in 2016, the experience was ok, the walk thru and service was was not so great,
Purchased a new XG32 Omni from Lazy Days in Tampa last year and the all around experience was much better.
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Old 02-27-2021, 12:39 PM   #11
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I have not purchased from either but have purchased from different dealers in the past. I currently have a 2020 Magniude SV34 and here is my take.... but some of this advice will be dependent on your location.

Between personal experience and reading plenty of stories, it is safe to say that 90%+ of RV dealers are lacking in adequate customer service and technical knowledge when needing service after the sale. It is also safe to say that 90%+ of new RV's will need warranty service. It's also safe to say it often take weeks or even months to get an appointment and can take just as long to get the coach back.

All that being said..... I don't buy from a dealer for their service. I buy from a dealer for the best financial deal I can make and who I think will be motivated to resolve all the issues discovered during the PDI before I sign the paperwork..... and there will be issues uncovered during the PDI.

If you want warranty (and even non-warranty) service done right the first time, you will be well served by having the Thor Factory Service Center in Wakarusa, IN do your service. I've driven 6 hours one-way on two occassions to have them do work on my Magnitude and I would do it again.

All they do is fix Thor products... every day. They know the strengths and weaknesses of each model and how to fix things better than when the coach came off the assembly line. Dealers have a lot of turnover in their service department and they service dozens of makes and models and can rarely be an "expert" when it comes to servicing a specific model.

For small repairs, I have had Thor send me the parts (one of the reasons I hav stuck with Thor) and I have done the repairs myself because I know I will do a better job than most dealers and it will be much faster. For things I can't handle or major issues (like the issue I've posted about the Magnitude and Omni front cap flexing and separating issue, which you could experience), I have the Thor Service Center deal with it.

When you buy a car... or a boat.... or a snowmobile..... you may pay a little more for a dealer who you think will provide better customer service. When it comes to the RV industry, I think you are better off buying from the dealer where you can get the best deal and plan on getting your service from Thor.

You can throw all that out if you live to too far from Thor or you actually have a dealer locally that has a solid reputation for providing exceptional service.
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Old 02-27-2021, 01:05 PM   #12
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Remember that if you have to have warranty work done on it, you just can't take it to any dealer to have the warranty work done. It is not like a new car where you can go to any car dealership for warranty work. You either have to go back to the selling dealership, a Thor authorized independent shop or the factory for the warranty work. I have done like Judge and had Thor ship the parts to me and I fixed the issue at home myself as much as possible.

Paul
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Old 02-27-2021, 02:30 PM   #13
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It's not so much Gander RV Vs Lazy Days. It's that particular selling dealership that matters. There are horror stories about Lazy days out there just like horror stories about Camping World.

The Gander RV stores I have seen have minimum service departments, Lazy Days usually have very large service departments - the store in Tampa has multiple building for service.

We bought our current RV from our local Camping World and was pleased with the experience and deal, but this dealership, like many Camping World dealers, was an existing dealership that was bought by Camping World.

As long as the Lazy Days that you're looking at has a good reputation I'd lean towards them unless the price difference is enough to change the lean to Gander RV.
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Old 02-27-2021, 03:30 PM   #14
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Just some thoughts.
Might be worth thinking about what is most important for you. “Off-lot price” or “Warranty service.”
I’m not familiar with Lazy days, however, we were surprised to find out that Camping World / Gander RV for warranty work is a “Model specific relationship.” For instance, we bought our Thor Axis from Camping World San Antonio based on price quote (Which was about $10,000 lower than the local Thor Axis dealer.) … However, we found that our very close dealer Camping World Houston / Gander RV is a Thor Vegas dealer … and as such will not do warranty work on a Thor Axis!
We developed a relationship with the Thor plant prior to ordering. We contacted 7 major dealers and chatted about our needs and specifications. Once we had settled on the dealers and the exact specs we sent out a “request for bid,” with exact specs. and decision criteria, by email with a bid closing time and explained our plan to order the next day after bid close and analyses. In the bid process we explained it was a onetime, closed bid process. There was no going to and from one dealer to another or “checking with the manager.”
We received all the bids on a Tuesday evening and awarded the bid by COB the next day.
We bought for 34% under MSRP drive off the lot price.
(After purchase, the local Axis dealer did our significant warranty work)
Best Regards
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Old 03-03-2021, 07:42 PM   #15
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LazyDays

Over the years I've purchased three Class A coaches from the original Lazy Days location near Tampa, Florida. I've had nothing but great experiences and would not hesitate to recommend that particular location and staff to anyone. When it comes time to buy the next one it will be from them. Good luck with your purchase from whichever dealership you decide to go with!
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Old 03-03-2021, 08:14 PM   #16
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Model: Siesta 24ST
State: Maryland
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Put us in the Lazy Days column

No knowledge of Gander Mtn or CW, but we found the Thor Siesta 24ST model online at Lazy Days, negotiated a price and trade, picked up the coach in Tampa and have been back a few times for routine maintenance. They have like 300 service bays at their Tampa location as well as a nice RV resort on the property. No hesitation RE Lazy Days Tampa...
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Old 03-04-2021, 01:22 AM   #17
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Gander vs Lazy Days

Have worked with both with mixed results. My best advice is buy from a local dealer if possible. I bought out-of-state and found it difficult to get warranty work done.
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Old 03-04-2021, 01:39 AM   #18
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If you want the lowest possible price, I would go with Camping World/Gander Mountain. In my 30 plus years of buying new 'campers' Camping World has always had the lowest price for me. Everything else about Camping World is horrible. At best, the service departments are poor. Their technicians are poorly trained and not very knowledgeable. The stuff they sell on the shelves is overpriced. If government oversight ever catches up with their business practices, Lemonis will spend the rest of his life in federal prison. So if you want the lowest price, go to Camping World. If you want service after the sale, go somewhere else.
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Old 03-04-2021, 01:47 AM   #19
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Lazy Days might carry some brands that Camping World doesn't.
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Old 03-04-2021, 02:29 AM   #20
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Lots of great input here. I'll add my 2 cents.


We purchased a 2017 Windsport from Lazydays at the Villages in July. Price was competitive, even though the market was still crazy. We actually live in Tampa and had been shopping the various dealerships in the area including Lazydays Tampa, but inventories were very low. We found ours on RV Trader and put a deposit down site unseen.


We worked through the General Manager, and when we made it up to look at the coach it was in great shape with only 3800 miles. PDI was very smooth and they took care of everything on our list, with the exception of some minor body work that we took it back for in November. Service Department at the Villages does a pretty good job, and they actually talked us out of a few things we wanted to add, until we had a little more experience with the coach. Actually saved us some money. Service tech spent some time with us and encouraged me to be hands on with some of the routine maintenance.



At the Villages they have a small campground where you can stay with the coach overnight while it is being serviced. A real benefit for full timers.


One of the benefits of buying through Lazydays is access to their on call service technical support. I have taken advantage of that about half a dozen times since we have had the coach, mostly dealing with electrical issues. They actually debugged an issue with the wiring being misconfigured for the water pump and refrigerator while we were on the road to Oregon and the dealership fixed it at no cost when we returned to Florida.
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