Thor Forums

[TurnerFam]

for your first 'major' purchase, if that's your case, I would suggest not going too far away from your home base. The reason is that you don't yet know all of the systems and processes for the coach you may be purchasing, and your dealer is a good source for that help, and the needed warranty work that will certainly be a part of your first year of usage, if not within the first month of use.
while the lower pricing is alluring, as others have said, you may well find that the travel cost, time away from home, travel back home in your new coach, and problems along the way back may be what actually 'overwhelms' you. Plus, if financing, an initial higher price is spread out over the many months of payments and is probably easier to swallow than the certain bulk of out-of-pocket costs associated with travel to an out-of-state dealer.
your local dealer will also be more apt to keep your warranty and repair issues front-of-line versus other folks who did not purchase from them.

now, having said all that: We DID NOT purchase local. Our first Blackwood fifth wheel and Dodge Ram truck deal was purchased used 300 miles away. When then traded that setup in AlvaradoTX at MHSRV for a new Georgetown ClassA, which was 800 miles away. We then tranded at MHSRV again for our current coach, the Palazzo diesel 33.3.
But, we are full timers, living in our coach and traveling. We did not see the need for a 'local' dealer since we would not be in the same area for any length of time.
While we are full timers, we have never had an issue having any dealer, Camping World mainly, turn us away or delay us for any warranty issues or repairs. Most of ours, though, has been with the factory service center in Wakarusa, IN, which is a long 'drive', but when you're traveling full time it's just part of the journey.