Delivery Questions!

[Joellen]

We ordered a new Classic 30''.... got a call from the dealer today with a date it is due to come off the line (April 25).

The sales person said that we come out to the dealer and inspect it, nothing will be connected or powered on. Then we pay them in full. We leave and they take a few weeks to get it ready for delivery. When we come back, we do the demo walk thru, and take delivery.

I told her that I did not plan to take delivery unless everything was working properly and all needed repairs are completed.

I am worried about paying in full before I know everything is working properly.

What is the typical process when taking delivery of a new Airstream?

[switz]

Before giving them anything more than the purchase deposit, you will want to personally see, inspect and control all devices on the trailer. They will get it fixed and ready if they want the rest of the $100,000+ funds. Payment in full before the personal operational inspection and you have absolutely ZERO leverage to get them to do anything. They have six months to pay Airstream in full under a generous factory floor plan.

You want absolutely every discrepancy fixed on their dime as part of their pre-delivery inspection. I have seen too many dealers try and force the retail customer to sign the paperwork and then charge Airstream for the work they were supposed to complete during their pre-delivery inspection and fix all the factory mistakes and quality control issues.

I would make it a point to be there when the unit arrives to do an initial walk around to look for obvious damage from the road trip.

We had lots of interior damage in our 2014 Classic from excessive speed bringing the unit out West to the dealership. I had driven that 2000 mile route many times myself at posted plus 5 mph (remembering that in 2014, the stock GYM ST225/75R15D tires were speed limited to 65 mph). The single driver beat my time by a lot of hours. All the defects I personally photoed and sent in an email as well as pointed out in person to the final QC officer at the factory were NOT addressed.

I would strongly suggest a different dealer with some ethics.

We have gone with a third party for all the repairs and custom work and it is done properly the first time with the appropriate parts for the job often replacing the below inferior grade parts the factory uses.

Good Luck.

[comeonletsgo]

Hello,
We just took delivery on our 2017 Flying cloud. We live in the town next to you.
I'm thinking we worked with the same dealer. If you would like to talk about our experince off forum just let me know.

[overlander63]

I can't speak for how other dealers perform their new trailer deliveries and PDI's. I can tell you how a new Classic would be handled at ours.
The customer orders the unit, and makes a deposit.
The customer is informed of the production and delivery dates, if known.
When the trailer arrives, the customer is called to let them know it's at the dealership, and possible pre-walk through viewing is arranged.
The customer and finance office set up a date and time for the walk-through, as well as any hitch and brake controller work to be performed. The trailer is PDI'ed prior to the walk-through time, and cleaned.
At the appointed time, the customer arrives for the walk-through. I personally perform the walk-through, and thoroughly demonstrate every single appliance and furnishing in and on the trailer, answer any and all questions, offer some tips about how to get the most out of their new trailer, and make sure they are as ready as possible to take possession.This can take several hours. After the walk-through, the customers and the finance office take care of the paperwork, while I perform any hitch or brake work, as well as address anything we discovered during the walk-through. After paperwork is completed, the trailer is hooked up to the tow vehicle, lights and brakes are checked, and we take a short test drive to make sure everything works as it should. If the customer chooses to make any upgrades, or if whatever we found during the walk-through can't be taken care of, either an appointment for the repair or upgrade is made, or the trailer is retained until the repair or upgrade can be completed.
If the customer has never owned a travel trailer before, I strongly recommend they spend the night at a local campground that is less than 5 miles from the dealership, so they have a "safety net" if they forget anything, and need to be coached.

[FCStreamer]

Paying in full before the dealer does their prep smells fishy to me. If it were me, I wouldn't pay in full until I'm satisfied everything is working 100%. If you can't, walk away.

[n2916s]

Yeah, I am just not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling about your dealership. I wouldn't give them another dime until you have had eyes on the unit, it is flawless, and everything has been demonstrated to work.

[paiceman]

Walk. We've purchased many RVs including four Airstreams and never hear if anything like you've been told you had to do and would not accept their terms.

Our last purchase a 2017 Classic was smooth. We went to see it after making a small deposit. Inspected, walk thru about three hours and then went in and paid for it

Bud

[Mrjkq]

Don't do it! Vigorously object & stand your ground, no full payment until delivery, period. No ticky, no washy!

[Beach Bum]

Our experience, they did their PDI, we did our walk through with them, then we paid. We only found one major issue. It came in with the wrong countertops!!!!!!!! We negotiated a fair settlement on the spot. If I had already paid not sure how those negotiations would have gone. Also if you have paid there is little incentive to get the PDI correct or completed in a timely manner (several weeks ???).

Like others have said no money until after their PDI and your inspection is complete.

Safe travels

[cabinetmaker]

You do realize that once you pay and sign the papers it's a done deal.

Then they take a "Few Weeks" to get it ready???

Run Forrest Run....

[Troutboy]

This is not right. We just bought a brand new AS 2017 FC23D in December 16. Put $1000 down in October. Called when it arrived. Went to dealer. They and prepped. I inspected everything for 3 hours, they worked with me, with ladders, etc and made a few minor repairs. Then I went in, did paperwork and paid. This was in Colorado. I would never pay in full before I inspected and any repairs made to my satisfaction.

This sounds like a bad deal, run away!

[xrvr]

Talk to a different sales person or sales mgr or finance mgr or general mgr. This can't be the way they do business.

[StrmyWeather]

We bought an in stock trailer. We found that the dealer had the model we wanted. We put a deposit and chose a pick up date. We arrived, the trailer was prepped, including having the fridge on for a day, we did the orientation/inspection and then went inside to pay the balance due and finish the paperwork while one item the service person said wasn't right was replaced. I can't imagine being asked to finish paying for, or inspecting, a trailer or anything else that isn't ready for delivery and taking off the lot. We started a 10 day camping trip the day we took delivery. And then waiting weeks for them to get it ready? Walk away if you can, or at the very least, refuse to make payment until it's prepped and ready to roll. Sounds more like the dealer wants you to carry the cost. Not a good business practice. Best of luck.

[STREMN]

As the robot said - Warning, Warning, Danger...

You are right to be worried! If it doesn't feel right, don't do it.

I'm gonna WAG (wild ass guess) that your dealer is in NH. I'd be happy to share the experience I had with them last year.

Please PM if that is your case...

[lafla]

I'm so relieved to see this thread! We are in a similar situation, and with countless sleepless nights.
We ordered a new Flying Cloud 25' in November, paid our deposit ($5000), and were told we would need to pay the balance in full prior to scheduling the dealer pre-delivery inspection and demo. We balked at that and talked them into allowing us to do a visual inspection (no systems check) first.
The unit arrived at the dealer's 3 weeks ago. Our visual inspection found some minor things, but also a mis-aligned front window guard. Their Airstream rep assured us it is an easy fix with a new window guard. So we decided to wait and see. The replacement parts finally arrived this week; the dealer says the repair should be completed next week. So we can visually inspect again before accepting the unit and scheduling PDI/demo.
We aren't confident this will go well for us, as we are not good negotiators. Twice now we should have walked away, but now we are looking at a repaired unit, without even checking systems. Not to mention further delays for dealer prep, notwithstanding any systems defects.
Do we have any leverage to walk away now? And if we can manage to walk away at this point, do we have any leverage to get our deposit back?

[switz]

If the window "repair" is not to your satisfaction, you would have grounds for refusal for defective goods. Compare your unit to the others in stock and if the part does not look right, tell them to either cancel and refund the deposit or order another one. You are unwilling to pay for a defective trailer.

Not every dealer has a qualified metal man. Also, one needs to be sure they put the sealer behind the rivets as they instal them when the work is done. Failure to do so will turn those rivets into a future water leak.

We drilled out every attachment rivet (windows guards, awnings, stone guards etc) on both trailers and reinstalled them with the sealer in place just like the factory manual suggests, but is not always done on the assembly line.

[Troutboy]

Lafla
Most states have a window in which you can decline the deal. I want to say in average it's 30 days. Especially when financing. Since your unit has never left the lot, there is no wear or such in it, so you should be able to just cancel the deal and get money back. The deposit may be an issue. I have read on here that other folks have forfeited a deposit. It's different by dealer and state. But you do have rights and you are in a stronger position seeing that the unit has never been in your full possession.

[StrmyWeather]

Originally Posted by lafla

I'm so relieved to see this thread! We are in a similar situation, and with countless sleepless nights.
We ordered a new Flying Cloud 25' in November, paid our deposit ($5000), and were told we would need to pay the balance in full prior to scheduling the dealer pre-delivery inspection and demo. We balked at that and talked them into allowing us to do a visual inspection (no systems check) first.
The unit arrived at the dealer's 3 weeks ago. Our visual inspection found some minor things, but also a mis-aligned front window guard. Their Airstream rep assured us it is an easy fix with a new window guard. So we decided to wait and see. The replacement parts finally arrived this week; the dealer says the repair should be completed next week. So we can visually inspect again before accepting the unit and scheduling PDI/demo.
We aren't confident this will go well for us, as we are not good negotiators. Twice now we should have walked away, but now we are looking at a repaired unit, without even checking systems. Not to mention further delays for dealer prep, notwithstanding any systems defects.
Do we have any leverage to walk away now? And if we can manage to walk away at this point, do we have any leverage to get our deposit back?

If it's the local dealer, we put a deposit on a used model with their sister store in Tampa. We looked at it, it didn't look good, and I went back the next day and nixed the sale. You should have the ability to walk away. Look over your contract and don't offer to provide any additional funds. There's no reason to feel uncomfortable not wanting to close a purchase when you don't feel comfortable with it. It's a lot of dollars. Also, it did take a long while to receive our deposit. No hassle with the cancellation, but no deposit credit (done with VISA) until we called VISA and disputed the charge. This provided the incentive to refund our deposit.

[dames7]

Look, HOPE for the best, take your time on the walk thru and video it. Make sure that you turn on everything twice or more, Let things run for a while (everything at once) like you are camping.

You do have a warranty, over two years we have had the following thing replace:

Batteries two times, had a bad converter, finally got a Boondocker 4 stage and 2 6V Lifeline, problem fix.

Air conditioner replacement 2nd summer.

Outside water inlet broke, 1st summer. a $40 part, fix at dealerships in another state.

I did an extended warranty on Air conditioner and Frig for two more year's.

All cover under the warranty, no problem from AS.

We have travel over 15000 miles, And when you pull any trailer on some of our nation's bad roads, SH.

Water pump replace 2 summer.

Marathon tires bad after 9000 miles, replace w / Michelin 16".

[AWCHIEF]

Strange never any follow up from the OP.