New to RV, Would you recommend Airstream Adventures Northwest Covington, WA?

[ROC]

My wife and I and her brother and his wife are both looking to get an RV. We’re all retired, finally, and are thinking this will be a good way to travel with our pets.

After finding what I thought was a well-built trailer (not inexpensive), I stumbled on the Facebook page for this brand. After reading several of the reviews of the manufacturer I decided maybe this isn’t for us.

My next option was Airstream. My perspective on “inexpensive” changed immediately Checking Facebook again, there were folks who had issues but by far, most folks seemed happy with Airstream (at least those that didn’t get the new Basecamp).

It seems there will be issues no matter what you get, hopefully less with Airstream, but now I’m thinking you want a great dealer in your corner. We made a trip to Airstream Adventures Northwest in Covington, WA and spent some time with one of the sales folks (Mike I believe) looking at various trailers. Did I mention my perspective in “inexpensive” changed?

I’ve seen a few threads here talking about this dealer and the two other dealerships they own. Most of the talk was about the Oregon and Idaho dealers. One thread was in the 2014/2015 timeframe and one was mid-2017.

My question is: are folks still pleased with their experience with the Covington, WA dealership? Any information pro/con will be appreciated.

Thanks - Barry

[Caffeinated]

I cannot definitively answer your question, but...the majority (although not all) of the comments here about Airsteam Adventures NW are positive both for sales and service. At least, that's my impression.

I have only dealt with the Gladstone OR location. We bought our FC new from them in June of '15, had a few issues resolved under warrenty, and generally like the service we have recieved. It can be a bit of a wait for a service appointment, as more and more people gravitate towards the AS brand. Based on my experience with the Gladstone store, and what I have heard about the Idaho and Bay Area location, and the Ultimate Airstream customization shop in Clackamas that is under the owners umbrella, I would say you are probably safe in going with the Seattle store.

[ROC]

Originally Posted by Caffeinated

I cannot definitively answer your question....

Thank you. That was my impression but it never hurts to ask.

[Lara Me]

I’ve bought two AS trailers from Covington and had both serviced under warranty. Happy with this team.

[vlaming]

Yes. We worked with Linda and Jocelyn when we were buying. They gave us all the time we needed when initially shopping, and after we found a preowned unit at their Boise location 15 months later. I had just bought a new truck when we did pull the trigger on purchase and was still in the pre-tow break-in period. Instead of storing it until I hit the magic mileage number, they arranged to tow it to our home in Lakewood. The service folks I've talked to have been helpful as well.

[hrreed]

We bought our first new Airstream at Airstreams Northwest and worked with Mike Moser.
It was a fun buying experience.
Had some warranty work done, no problems.
Great staff, Matt who set up our hitch went above and beyond.
Highly recommended

[Taj MaHaul]

Have had nothing but good things to say about them when they serviced our old 2008 A/S and their sales and service department delivered our new 2018 this past winter and everything worked right from the start. We were even allowed to pick up our new rig at their Boise location so that we could do a shakedown trip before we put it away for the winter. They seem to have built a good, customer oriented organization.

[reddogboyce]

On my 5th Airstream purchased from them. Good response in general, in the busy season you may have a wait to get scheduled in.

[Rob Cope]

I took delivery at Covington of a new FC about 18 months ago and I am satisfied, adding the model I chose was brought in from the Idaho branch and have the impression (seeing a lot of care for pre-delivery was done at Idaho) that 'Idaho' does good work as well. As I had concerns regarding quality control where manufactured, I was pleased Covington arranged for a tow and return from a campground so I could make a lot of tests prior to taking actual delivery.
I applaud you for making the purchase and delivery transparent, as we consumers need to hold providers to high standards. Thank you.

[Anders79]

I almost bought a trailer from them (had a contract signed etc) - but turned out their Oregon office had sold the same trailer that same day (but earlier). BUT - Things happen - and I still get invited to all their owner workshops - which i think is fairly unique for a dealer. I have been to two of them, and very informative and everybody is very helpful. Have now had them do some major work on my trailer last year - and again found their work very good. I also have a niece and her husband who purchased a new AS from them and they are also very happy with them. So - bottom line -- expect they are one of the better dealers in the US.

[dmcgaugh]

Bought two Airstreams from Covington. First was late summer 2014. Second was spring 2017 (from Mike I believe). Have been happy with both experiences and Patty who runs the service coordination has been great on warranty work, going above and beyond on a few fixes. Also, you can assume the inventory from all of their locations is one virtual pool. We actually bought our first in Covington but it was on the Portland lot and they brought it up for us.

[Rgentum]

Airstream NW owns dealerships around Seattle, Portland, Boise, two in San Francisco, and a customizing factory (Ultimate Airstream) outside of Portland (Wilsonville). Accordingly to ASNW, they collectively sell more new Airsteams than any other AS dealer, which must give them some significant influence. Mind you, ASNW has been in business for less than ten years, according to my understanding, so their growth is a remarkable achievement.

My experience (in 2015): I went to their Covington (Seattle) dealership and got a salesperson who was less than interested and only marginally helpful. He quoted me $79,750 for a new 27FB, which I thought was high. I went home and began calling AS dealers across the country (except in the south) and got approx. 20 quotes for a new 27FB, which generally ranged between $73-75,000. The two best were in CA, $70,750 and approx. $72,000 (he said he could quote me less if he had an 27FB on his lot, which he didn't, so he'd have to order one, at increased cost). The next weekend I went back to ASNW and talked with the salesperson and told him what I had found. I told him I would prefer to buy locally but given the disparity in price, paying a $9,000 premium to do so made no sense to me, so I asked him to give me his "best price." He replied "$79,750 is our best price." I drove to CA, bought an identical 27FB for $70,750, saving $9,000, and had a nice drive back home. The dealer in CA (Toscano, in Los Banos), its manager, and its salesperson were superb, no problems whatsoever.

Numbers of salespersons across the county with whom I spoke volunteered a variety of experiences and understandings about ASNW. What I inferred from them was that ASNW was begun 5-10 ago by a prior high volume VW dealer who wanted to significantly change the AS sales experience, away from how AS trailers had traditionally been sold to more like the usual high volume car sales dealership. If so, ASNW appears to have succeeded.

When the AS 33 came out in the last year or so, I drove down to Covington to inspect one. The salesperson, different from the one above, was very pleasant and helpful --- couldn't really be better. I asked him "How much?" and he respondent $158,000, the MSRP price. I said, "OK, that's MSRP, what's it going to sell for, so I don't have to start calling around getting quotes from others?" He said, "That's our price." Upon arriving at home, I began calling other AS dealers and the lowest quote I got was "We don't have one in stock right now, but we'll order one for you for $119,950." Almost $40,000 less --- ouch!

My AS warranty ran out last November. In the two year interim since new, I had collected a variety of issues needing work under warranty, including a crash that would be insurance reimbursable, so in October I took the AS to Covington and asked them to do the work. They were most helpful and did the work expertly, pleasantly, and without problems.

ASNW sponsored the recent International Airstream Rally, in Salem, OR. My impression is that they are trying very hard to be very "touchy, feely", wanting to please, emphasizing the emotional aspects, etc. --- almost obsequious.

My and many others' experience is that new AS trailers sell for 20% off MSRP. I just haven't had any experience with ASNW doing that. Perhaps others have.

So, you get to take your pick: Pay the money to buy an AS locally at ASNW very pleasantly or take a drive elsewhere and buy an AS at significantly less cost, also without problems. My best to you, however you decide.

[RVDreamer]

We bought our 2015 27FB from Nick and Karyn at Airstream of Spokane.

We couldn't have asked for a better buying experience or a better deal. Nick does a great job of checking the entire trailer over and fixing all the known typical problems before the sale. He let us sleep the a couple of nights in the trailer on his lot before we left so as to find any and all issues. He also spent a lot of time going over the systems and demonstrating the correct procedures to avoid problems in the future.

It must have worked because we have had little to no issues since purchasing our trailer new in October 2014. Our trailer was a custom order and everything was cleaned and adjusted before we took delivery.

They are a smaller dealer but will go the extra mile for you.

[FarFetched]

I ordered my 2018 FBQ 27' Serenity from them in November. Mike Johnson was our salesperson. We went in to look at units several times before sitting down to negotiate. I got quotes from other dealers at 21% off and after a couple of back-and-forth exchanges Airstream Adventures gave me 20.8% off, and threw in aluminum propane tanks and a Fantastic Fan cover. I found our interaction with them to be professional and courteous, though they do employ a couple of eye-roll-inducing sales tactics like having extra short chairs for the customers to sit in at the salesperson's desk.

Our delivery was not problem-free, though they made it right for us in the end. Our salesperson was off that day, and there was miscommunication about our appointment time. So when we arrived, they were just starting to get our unit ready. We looked at it through the window of the dealership, and spotted a fairly noticeable dent in the front upper corner. No one there had seen it yet. Two weeks earlier we had insisted on being notified when the unit first arrived from JC, prior to PDI and delivery, and we took pictures then. The dent had clearly happened in Covington. They apologized profusely, and we did not sign any papers or exchange any funds that day. We later agreed they would replace the panel and comp us installation of the Easy Start on the A/C.

According to the sales manager, they had three new lot employees that had damaged a few units accidentally, and they'd been let go. Indeed there were a couple of faces I'd seen in my previous visits that I haven't seen since.

We've had a few warranty issues, and their service department has been extremely accommodating and courteous. They have even spotted and proactively fixed some problems that I'd say were cosmetic. I anticipated there may be such issues, so even though this dealer is the closest to me, I chose them based on their service department's reputation and I've been glad I did.

[charlesk]

On our third new Airstream from Covington.

1. Sales Person - Danny on the last two.. He’s been GREAT!
2. Service has been very good BUT they do get booked up out in advance
3. Pricing - they were willing to negotiate or provide a compelling price
4. They can pull units in from one of their other locations (BTW - the Boise people are great and even have a FREE mini-camping area.

We are very happy with Airstream Adventures.

[guskmg]

When searching for a new dealership be sure and ask how many and when their techs went to the factory for training. If they won't tell you, call Jim Parrot, National Service Manager, at Airstream. Techs that are not trained in the construction and handling of Airstreams are damage looking for a place to happen.
guskmg

[hoagy_007]

Originally Posted by ROC

My wife and I and her brother and his wife are both looking to get an RV. We’re all retired, finally, and are thinking this will be a good way to travel with our pets.

After finding what I thought was a well-built trailer (not inexpensive), I stumbled on the Facebook page for this brand. After reading several of the reviews of the manufacturer I decided maybe this isn’t for us.

My next option was Airstream. My perspective on “inexpensive” changed immediately Checking Facebook again, there were folks who had issues but by far, most folks seemed happy with Airstream (at least those that didn’t get the new Basecamp).

It seems there will be issues no matter what you get, hopefully less with Airstream, but now I’m thinking you want a great dealer in your corner. We made a trip to Airstream Adventures Northwest in Covington, WA and spent some time with one of the sales folks (Mike I believe) looking at various trailers. Did I mention my perspective in “inexpensive” changed?

I’ve seen a few threads here talking about this dealer and the two other dealerships they own. Most of the talk was about the Oregon and Idaho dealers. One thread was in the 2014/2015 timeframe and one was mid-2017.

My question is: are folks still pleased with their experience with the Covington, WA dealership? Any information pro/con will be appreciated.


Thanks - Barry

We purchased our 2018 30' Flying Cloud Bunk model from the Covington, WA dealership. We are very happy with the Airstream and the sales process. There wasn't a lot of heavy sales push and they were fair during negotiating the price.

One thing I would've liked was more attention to details during the pick-up and walk through process. Being new to towing we didn't know a lot or what to ask, so bring a list and ask a lot of questions.

[cegardner]

We just purchased our 3rd AS at the international rally in salem. We worked with Mike Moser. It was a treat and great experience. We are having our 27 serenity modified with their sister company Ultimate Airstream to refit to a grand lounge. Definitely check them out. Numerous on site models to view and options. Since we live in AZ we will ge using Boise for our annual checkups. Go and explore their inventory. No hard pressure sales!!!!.

[zigz]

We just purchased our second trailer from Dusty at the Portland dealership. We first bought a 2016 25ft. Flying Cloud and just moved up to a 30ft. International Serenity. Our experience both times couldn’t have been better. Dusty was fabulous to deal with. When we bought the 25 ft. Flying Cloud, it was our first RV. Dusty was so honest and helpful!!! The service department has been just as wonderful to deal with. Drive to Portland and compare the two dealerships. You can buy in Portland and have it serviced in Covington.

[skyguyscott]

Just to step back a minute and question the presuppositions...

You seem to be proceeding from the premise of buying a brand new trailer.

But, if are open to the idea of instead buying a recently used trailer, you will realize the following major advantages:

• Avoid the huge depreciation hit when you drive of the lot
• Procure a trailer with most or all the bugs already eliminated
• Many "needed" extras/modifications/additions already added/included
• MUCH CHEAPER

And, if it indeed does not work out, you can easily sell a used AS, only now you will get back a much larger percentage of your investment. Indeed, there are stories of those who, after a few years of use, sold their trailer for about/same/even more than what they paid for it.

This whole line of reasoning prioritizes the economics and avoidance of a lemon, but for many, the need to have a fresh trailer precludes these considerations, and so, if you have to have new, realize the costs to you in depreciation and dealing with shakedown fixes and adjustments.