Canadians! Where do you buy/sell your airstreams?

[redstart]

I just looked on ebay and noticed there are NO airstreams listed for sale in Canada. I am curious - where do you look for your airstreams, at dealers mostly? Or this forum? Has anyone sold on ebay in Canada - is it complicated? Do you have to be careful of scammers on the selling end too?

I bought mine from a dealer in the US.

[tinhutjohn]

Bought our 74 privately through an ad in the local "pennysaver". I've seen them listed on Ebay.ca and on Kajiji. Caveat emptor applies throughout.

[Happycampers]

Hello from Peterborough... We bought our last Argosy from the classified on here and sold our other Argosy in the US... no problems either way

[Sharleen]

We bought ours in 2008 from CanAm in London Ont. after a visit to the spring RV show in Toronto. Highly recommend them. Great service and treatment.
Shar & Gord

[truckasaurus]

I bought mine from California through Craig's list, there was nothing worth a first let alone a second look locally.

[kevin242]

We found ours through www.kijiji.ca in Winnipeg (1100 km. away from us). I have also seen good selections on www.buysell.com and www.autotrader.ca . The local newspaper seldom has them for sale where we live. Canada has 1/10 the population of the U.S. and proportionately fewer Airstreams. Someone mentioned Canam in Ontario - I know people in Saskatchewan that have bought from them, and that's 3500 km. away!

[DieselDale]

I constantly monitor the Airforums classifieds. I use my Uncle's zip code in Oregon to give me an idea of distances of the various units for sale listed in these classifieds. I'm in Alberta, willing to travel the Pacific Northwest for my purchase.

Seems the nicer ones are in the deep south, but I do find the odd nice one in Oregon and/or Washington States. I haven't made the plunge yet, but the dollar here is getting better everyday........

We did have an Airstream dealer in Calgary (Balzac) but I never saw any used ones end up there. They dropped the line and the closest dealer now is TRX in Saskatoon. Again, I never see any used ones listed with them, and I haven't met any people personally who have a purchase with TRX.

I don't mention e-B(*)y in my house as I fell "Hook, Line, and Sinker" on a bogus listing a few years ago. It was such a bad experience that I didn't want to have anything to do with an Airstream (even though it was never thier fault) until the last few months and I only begun to start looking again.

[redstart]

Quite a variety! We Canadians are a patient bunch aren't we? Thanks for the replies. I never thought to check autotrader.

I am trying to convince my husband to sell our 34' and go for a smaller vintage airstream, but he feels we got lucky with the last one in such great condition, we won't get that lucky again. Plus he loves the big one! I guess since I am not driving it...I shouldn't complain. I think I am destined to own more than one... in about 10 years!!

[kevin242]

TRX Rv in Saskatoon is an Airstream dealer, but they keep about 3-4 new ones in stock and have not had any AS trades on their lot. They keep a list of people looking for used ones and if a trade is coming in they let people know that way. I suspect they don't want the hassle of dealing with used trailers.

My brother in law is looking for an AS so I put "wanted" ads on Kijiji, Buysell, etc. and he did get quite a few calls from people with trailers that were not yet advertised (he hasn't found "the one" yet...). I think wanted ads are an under-used strategy by most people.

[dluker]

My wife and I just purchased a 1985 Excella from Denver CO. It is hard to find used AS in Canada. Buying from the US is quite simple. There is no need to stop at the US border of forward any docs as you must do with a car. Just show up at the border with your bill of sale and deed, pay the GST and away you go. You will have to then follow your provincial regulations in order to register it in your province.

When you buy sight unseen it is always buyer beware. In our case we got ours from a Dealer who gave us excellent service and detailed everything about the the trailer even though he was not an AS dealer. In addition I recommend that you use the services of an AS inspector (see Portal rt side) to go and see the trailer. In our case I was very lucky. I found a contact who lived 10 minutes away. Centennialman was great, he went and saw the trailer and really put my fears to rest, as I had already purchased it. When we picked up the trailer we met with him and now we have a new friend so it was all good.

[Ganaraska]

I check Kijiji regularly and a few turn up every week. I notice here in Ontario if an Airstream turns up with a decent price it sells quickly. And when I say a decent price I mean "only" 25% more than it would go for in the US.

Here's a tip. Go on Google and do a search for "Kijiji Airstream" and you will find ones for sale from all over the country. Likewise "Craigslist Airstream".

[redstart]

thanks for the tip Ganaraska... now i have found yet another way to procrastinate in writing my thesis

there is even a cool looking Travelux for sale in my town
22' dual axle camping trailer, airstream style, ready to tow - London, Ontario Cars & Vehicles - Kijiji London, Ontario

I would guess that Can Am rv in London must buy a lot of the used airstreams for sale privately in Ontario anyway - they have such a HUGE selection of used ones!

[Wingeezer]

When we decided to buy a newer used AS last year, I checked kijiji, craigslist, autotrader, internet search, local dealers in Ont. for several months and couldn't find one in the size/age bracket that I wanted.

Eventually found one not too far away at a dealer on Ohio, close to Jackson Centre.

We left a deposit on it when on a motorcycle trip to Florida, then went to pick it up once we returned home.

The importation process wasn't much of a big deal - did have to pay PST & GST of course.

Seems to have worked out ok - there was no warranty on the trailer, I had expected to get at least 30 days! They did give us a two hour walk thru however to demonstrate everything and show that it all worked! No major problems with it yet, just a few very minor issues that we have resolved!


Brian.

[bradk]

We bought ours in the US as no Canadian dealer was willing to bring one up for us. There's a real disconnect I find as an Airstream owner up here as there's no repair facilities, mostly pseudo-dealers, and anything you need has to come up from the US (Airstream won't even ship parts/accessories to Canada).

The purchasing experience at Brett's RV in Montana was the single worst purchasing experience we've ever had and would drive to Jackson Centre for a new one before setting foot on that property again.

Hopefully we'll get a dealer in Calgary/Alberta with an interest in carrying Airstreams. The interest from the buyer is there, everytime I park the thing in front of our house I almost have to charge admission.

I've seen a few pop up on Kijiji / Autotrader, but again buyer beware foresure!

B.

[DieselDale]

Thanx BradK for all that info.

First of all, your experiences do not suprise me except the parts situation. And I am glad you let me/us know.

Should I ever find a unit to fit my budget, application and ability of my towing vehicle, I have made up my mind that I am sort of on my own. i'm cool with that.

I have spent years around Highway Motor Coaches (Prevost and MCI) and I found there is no actual dealer network in Canada. But we have always had support from the factories for parts.

Should I get into an Airstream, I was ready to tackle almost any repair issue (with the exception of structure) as long as I could get parts. If this is the situation with parts in Canada, I may not have the background to source various parts that maybe "Airstream only" in nature.

I wonder if other Thor Industry products run with the same electrical, plumbing and fixture items that Airstream runs?

Thank heavens for this forum. No doubt help is as close as the computer! I guess this is another reason to become an Airstreamer. You would never get a network as great as this with SOB.

Regards.

[Aage]

Got mine through Kijiji, after watching everywhere mentioned here for many months. The listing went up and the owner said he was surprised to hear from me so soon, as he had only listed it an hour before I emailed.

Bought it the next day, and it was a three hour drive away. It still is, in fact!

As for parts, if it is available from Airstream, Can-Am in London can get it for you quickly. The only hassle is paying freight.

If it isn't available from Airstream (for older trailers), well, ask on here. You just never know, what with the huge network of good folks on Airforums.com!

[CdnSafari]

I bought mine privately near Ottawa.I've seen a couple in the Buy&Sell here lately.

[gypsygirl1]

We bought our 'baby' after a friend had seen it hiding in the bushes on his way to play golf. It had been sitting for about 9 years surrounded by cedars. The owner had purchased it in Montreal in '69, and brought it to Windsor to live in while his house was being built. They used it at a campground in Vermont for many years before returning it back to Windsor for storage. When we found it, it was FULL of stuff (and mice), but the owner was more than willing to part with it. He was actually considering selling it for scrap!!! Thankfully we got there before he did THAT, and now she's a beauty. We took it by the previous owner's place when we had her done, and boy was he shocked!!! We love it.....
We took her on a four-month road trip across the Souther States, and she behaved very well -- no trouble, hauls wonderfully.

[SmokelessJoe]

The story of how I found my trailer in rural Ontario - twice - is here, in post #16 of my main thread:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f227...e-18448-2.html

Sergei

[CdnSafari]

I might know of one for sale in Quebec if it is still available.