First-timer buying experience

[Zardoz]

Picked up our new 2018 FC from a local AS dealer this past weekend and we’re obviously thrilled. Thanks to the contributions from folks on this Forum, we were able to negotiate a 19% reduction from the sticker price plus an Equalizer WDH. The one negative in the buying experience that surprised us was that neither our salesman or the person who conducted the orientation knew very much about Airstream’s standard features, controls, or specifications. Thank heavens for this Forum and the valuable information provided by its members; we appreciate you greatly!

[moosetags]

Hi Rich and Mary. Welcome to the Forums. We're glad to have you with us. Congratulations on your new baby. may you have safe travels and many great Airstream Adventures with her.

As to your dealer orientation experience, That is quite common among Airstream dealer salespeople. In many instances, these salesman were selling furniture two weeks ago. This is a common situation throughout the RV industry.

We're glad that you found Airforums where you can get many of your questions answered by very knowledgeable folks.

Brian

[Caffeinated]

Congrats on your FC.

First up, please read the many threads on battery maintanance. Second, do not use te interior door handle to shut the door from the inside, use the screen door metal grab handle instead. Threads on this too.

Mike

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Dealers vary a *lot* in terms of how good they are. Some know *way* more than you would ever want to know about the product they are selling .....

Bob

[moosetags]

Here is one other very important tip. NEVER leave the black tank valve in the open position other than when actually dumping the black tank.

I mention this because a number of years ago, an Airstream salesman told me that when I got set up at a campground, just open the black and gray water tank valves and leave them that way until we were ready to break camp.

Brian

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Ok, if we are into tips ..... by any chance did the dealer give you a can of spray grease for the hitch? Did they mention the need to lube the front end on a regular basis? ( If they did mention it did you remember what they said .... I didn't ).

Sort of once a week / once a month, spray the "hinge" part of the hitch assembly. It has flats on it that rub against the main part of the hitch. The Equalizer does not rely on friction at the front of the hitch to do what it needs to do. Lubricating this part of it makes moving the arms out of the way much easier. It also reduces the noise from the hitch quite a bit.

If you let things go for .... errr .... a while .... errr .... it gets to the point you pretty much can't swing the arms on the hitch ... errr .... not that *I* would know about this .... errr ...

Bob

[Zardoz]

Appreciate your replies, thanks! We’ve had two other trailers made by Escape in BC (19’ & 5.0TA) so we’re familiar with the basics but still lots to learn about Airstreams. We’ll be counting on the “kindness of strangers” here as we journey on.

[SilverWind]

Would like to see more dealers hire experienced Airstream owners to conduct new owner walk-throughs. One Southern California dealer does this.

A prominent Northern California dealer has recruited happy and savvy owners to lead first time campouts/rallies for new customers.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by SilverWind

Would like to see more dealers hire experienced Airstream owners to conduct new owner walk-throughs. One Southern California dealer does this.

A prominent Northern California dealer has recruited happy and savvy owners to lead first time campouts/rallies for new customers.

Hi

Why not just check out WBCCI ?...

Indeed, there's a lot you pretty much need to know before you pull out of the lot. It's going to impact what you do within a couple of hours ( = how does this latch on the hitch ball work? ...). There are other things that may not come up for a couple of days ( = cap off, hose on, slide open or is it slide open, cap off , hose on .. ).

Even after camping out for many decades, we still learn stuff on every trip ...

Bob

[Zardoz]

All of your comments are spot-on and helpful. What really surprised me is that Airsteam/Thor doesn’t hold their dealers to higher standards. I would have thought that they would have had a comprehensive trading program (or even a series of videos showing dealer’s staff how to conduct an orientation) before they could speak to a buyer. I’ve learned more from Patrick Botticelli at Colonial’s YouTube series than anywhere else. I bet he sells a bunch of these and makes a pretty fair income. Good for him!

[mpsgolf]

Congrats and welcome!!

You are in for many great adventures!!

As others have said, Airstream dealers vary widely! I purchased my second (and new) Airstream from Airstream Adventures NW in Tacoma, WA. They were excellent in both sales and service. We now live outside of St Louis and Bill Thomas Campers is good as well.

You would think though that Airstream would have standards and/or training to help less experienced dealers.

[Mollysdad]

The dealer should have assigned a tech to sit with you on delivery day and answer any and all questions from "How does the awning work" to "how do I make the DVD audio come out of the TV?"
It's a bit overwhelming, so I don't blame anyone for discovering they have questions after a while. I know I did. (Like, is the water heater ready to go? How much propane is in the tanks?)
YouTube is a good source as well as here.

Although my dealer was very good, I showed them the plastic clip to keep the hinges from falling apart, and not a single tech had any idea what it was.

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

spray the "hinge" part of the hitch assembly. It has flats on it that rub against the main part of the hitch. The Equalizer does not rely on friction at the front of the hitch to do what it needs to do. Lubricating this part of it makes moving the arms out of the way much easier. It also reduces the noise from the hitch quite a bit.

I called Equalizer to ask how tight the bolts holding the "bar sockets" should be. I was told 100 ft. lbs. at the factory.
I couldn't budge the arms with that much tension. Even with grease I had to loosen mine a bit.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by mpsgolf

Congrats and welcome!!

You are in for many great adventures!!

As others have said, Airstream dealers vary widely! I purchased my second (and new) Airstream from Airstream Adventures NW in Tacoma, WA. They were excellent in both sales and service. We now live outside of St Louis and Bill Thomas Campers is good as well.

You would think though that Airstream would have standards and/or training to help less experienced dealers.

Hi

Airstream has been in business for a *long* time. As far as I can tell, they never have done much in the way of direct dealer training at any level. Obviously doing something like that costs money and takes time (both the dealer's and the factory 's ). There aren't a lot of dealers out there. The factory has been near bankruptcy on a number of occasions. My guess - keeping costs low is a pretty important part of them staying in business.

Bob

[mfrez]

Inherent problem in the industry is that almost all RV salespeople and dealer staff don't RV themselves! They work 12 hours a day 6 days a week during the season so have no time to actually use one.
If anybody in the Denver area just bought one, or is about to, I'd be happy to show you the basics. Chances are you aren't going to get much from your dealer.

[MWBishop]

Luckily when we took delivery of ours the demo "kid" owned an Airstream.
Showed us everything and had all the right answers to all my questions.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by MWBishop

Luckily when we took delivery of ours the demo "kid" owned an Airstream.
Showed us everything and had all the right answers to all my questions.

Hi

When we picked up our new AS, the tech that worked with us both had an AS (though not a new 30' Classic) and the same truck we have. He both ran through the trailer hookup stuff *and* the truck setup side. I've run into sales people at several dealers who can get *very* deep into the tech side of the various AS trailers.

Indeed, I've also been at dealers where it quickly becomes apparent that the entire staff combined can't answer the most basic of questions about the product they are selling. Ask them a question about last year's model ( = what did they upgrade?) and you get a blank stare.

Dealers *do* matter. Picking the right one is pretty darn important. Driving an extra hour ( or three) is a tiny inconvenience compared to what a bunch of idiots can put you through. Paying 0.5% "to much" is (at least to me) pretty minor compared to your trailer sitting on their lot for 6 to 9 months while they try to service this or that ....( = yes, I believe in starting the relationship with the purchase of the trailer).

Bob

[SilverWind]

Originally Posted by Mollysdad

The dealer should have assigned a tech to sit with you on delivery day and answer any and all questions from "How does the awning work" to "how do I make the DVD audio come out of the TV?"
It's a bit overwhelming, so I don't blame anyone for discovering they have questions after a while. I know I did. (Like, is the water heater ready to go? How much propane is in the tanks?)
YouTube is a good source as well as here.

Although my dealer was very good, I showed them the plastic clip to keep the hinges from falling apart, and not a single tech had any idea what it was.

I called Equalizer to ask how tight the bolts holding the "bar sockets" should be. I was told 100 ft. lbs. at the factory.
I couldn't budge the arms with that much tension. Even with grease I had to loosen mine a bit.

I imagine that dealers would rather use their techs to make money for them in the service bays than dedicate their time to new owners who have purchased a new Airstream.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by SilverWind

I imagine that dealers would rather use their techs to make money for them in the service bays than dedicate their time to new owners who have purchased a new Airstream.

Hi

Oddly enough that was not our experience at purchase. When we did our walk through / orientation on the trailer, it was with a guy who mostly does just that. Once that two hour experience was over, he was pretty much out of the picture. The rest of our contact was directly with a tech who set up the hitch and was "the guy" for fixing any problems we found after living in the trailer for the first night.

When I think about our recent unplanned stop at JC, their approach is pretty similar. Most of my contact was directly with the lead tech who was doing the work to get us back on the road.

Bob

[Zardoz]

Hey Bob, thanks for your comments.

First, I want everyone to know that the young man who did our orientation was, well, “young.” And weren’t we all once upon a time? He was friendly, polite and very well intentioned. But with that said, whoever gave him this responsibility did (apparently) very little to help him succeed.

IMO, he should have been given the basic tools to do his job: a check list of items that must be covered in a basic orientation, a printed list of web-based informational resources (including YouTube channels; Airstream and others), and a short list of dealer personnel with contact information. None of these require any special training but would have been acceptable. He and I were both short-changed.

Airstream/Thor would be well-served by providing some closer oversight to ensure their brand’s reputation is maintained.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

As noted in many threads, Airstream's "control" over the dealers is very hands off. About their only "tool" is to drop a dealer. They do not own the dealerships or get involved in running them day to day. They have cut the dealer network way back from what it once was. If you go on the web site, there are many states that do not have any Airstream dealers. There are a number of dealers who specialize in only one part of the lineup (MH only).

Like it or not, the 5,000 or so RV's that AS makes a year isn't a giant number. Split equally among maybe 40 dealers ... not a lot of business. It very much is *not* split equally, with a few dealers each doing around 10% of the total. ( = less than ten dealers do over half the total) Those on the "tail end" are not moving very many RV's. That low volume in some ares only gives AS just so much leverage when recruiting (or controlling) dealers.

Bob