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Old 05-28-2017, 02:46 PM   #1
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Spring , Texas
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Newbie plan to buy 2018 International

Hi all,

Very glad to join the forum. We live in Houston area and been camping for 2 years. Plan to sell our current LittleGuy T@B Sofitel and buy the Airstream.

Would like your advice on:
1) Is it possible to order directly from Airstream and pick up from its Factory?
2) if not, who is the dealer with best inventory, customer service quality and on time delivery and price? We are willing to drive to the dealer to pickup even if it's hundreds miles away for that.
3) if not available then what is the process and lead time to order?

And anything you can advice are greatly appreciated.
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Old 05-28-2017, 02:55 PM   #2
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Newbie plan to buy 2018 International

1) I don't believe so.

2) Patrick Botticelli at Colonial Airstream in Lakewood NJ. We live in a Tampa FL, and have driven to NJ twice, just to buy from Colonial.

3) We waited about 3 months from order to pickup in fall '15 on our '16 FC 27' FB. I am not sure now but would guess order time might be a bit longer these days.
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Old 05-28-2017, 03:02 PM   #3
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Bruce Miller Haydocy Columbus Ohio. An individual and a dealer with clout! It is way worth the the call!!!
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Old 05-30-2017, 11:58 AM   #4
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Thanks to you all for the feedback. After spending 2 days on the web reading blogs we think the Sports 22FB maybe the right choice for us due to its lighter weight, narrower, and lower max height and the layout. However all our research was done on web with no hands on.

We live in Houston area and the local dealer has no inventory for the next 60 days. So we plan to expand our search to Dallas area and maybe even Ohio or NJ as you suggested. But not sure for NJ or Ohio due to the distance vs just wait the Houston inventory to arrive.

Your thoughts and advice are greatly appreciated
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Old 05-30-2017, 12:29 PM   #5
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My suggestion would be Colonial in NJ. I lived in Atlanta and obviously I thought it was worth the drive. You can't buy straight from factory. Colonial has inventory and may have what you are looking for, check out there website for current and immediate inventory.
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Old 05-30-2017, 02:03 PM   #6
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My suggestion would be Colonial in NJ. I lived in Atlanta and obviously I thought it was worth the drive. You can't buy straight from factory. Colonial has inventory and may have what you are looking for, check out there website for current and immediate inventory.
Curious why the multiple recommendations for Colonial? We're narrowing in on a FC25 or 28 and planning on staying local in the Phoenix area as our local contact at Desert Autoplex has been fantastic. A few quotes from Colonial over the last few years indicated they were coming in no where close to 20% and their emails seemed like there was no room to negotiate. Kind of turned us off.
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Old 05-30-2017, 02:09 PM   #7
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Curious why the multiple recommendations for Colonial? We're narrowing in on a FC25 or 28 and planning on staying local in the Phoenix area as our local contact at Desert Autoplex has been fantastic. A few quotes from Colonial over the last few years indicated they were coming in no where close to 20% and their emails seemed like there was no room to negotiate. Kind of turned us off.
Good point. We live in Houston and Colonial will mean more than 1,000 miles one way. Future Service maybe an issue due to distance and not sure the pricing will warrant a more than 2K miles travel and many days on road.

As we are new to Airstream, can anyone tell us if there is any room for price negotiation of the listing price and what other incentives are available for a new Airstream?

TIA
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Old 05-30-2017, 02:36 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by playc View Post
Good point. We live in Houston and Colonial will mean more than 1,000 miles one way. Future Service maybe an issue due to distance and not sure the pricing will warrant a more than 2K miles travel and many days on road.

As we are new to Airstream, can anyone tell us if there is any room for price negotiation of the listing price and what other incentives are available for a new Airstream?

TIA
We purchased from bruce at Haydocy in Columbus and we are very happy with the service and knowledge they have to get you started. I went in determined to get 18% off and was offered 19% off on the first go round. I just took it!

We were looking in the 22 ft range and drove out with a 27 ft. front bed twin! We just figured we wouldn't be back in three years looking to go bigger. Pull with a Ford 150 ecoboost 6 cylinder. Great combo.
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Old 05-30-2017, 03:23 PM   #9
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Welcome!

1. No
2. The dealer closest to you IMO due to the number of trips you'll have to make back to get repairs done if you buy new. I've been back to my local dealer 3 or 4 times since Feb. Quality control doesn't seem to be what it used to be from AS. I would establish a relationship with your local dealership. Head over to RVdirect.com and get a quote on the model you want and then ask your dealer to match it or beat it. Worked for me. Colonial is the largest but they only offered me somewhere between 5 and 10 percent off MSRP while my local dealer sold me one around 21-22 % off MSRP, matching RVdirect.com. This being said, I would look for a gently used one with all the issues addressed already. You'll also save over the initial hit of depreciation. Just my 2 cents.

3. No clue

Best of luck. This forum has been instrumental in learning all there is to know about my new AS. Folks on here are Amazingly helpful if you have questions.



Quote:
Originally Posted by playc View Post
Hi all,

Very glad to join the forum. We live in Houston area and been camping for 2 years. Plan to sell our current LittleGuy T@B Sofitel and buy the Airstream.

Would like your advice on:
1) Is it possible to order directly from Airstream and pick up from its Factory?
2) if not, who is the dealer with best inventory, customer service quality and on time delivery and price? We are willing to drive to the dealer to pickup even if it's hundreds miles away for that.
3) if not available then what is the process and lead time to order?

And anything you can advice are greatly appreciated.
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Old 05-30-2017, 04:14 PM   #10
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Newbie plan to buy 2018 International

Quote:
Originally Posted by kb7our View Post
Curious why the multiple recommendations for Colonial? We're narrowing in on a FC25 or 28 and planning on staying local in the Phoenix area as our local contact at Desert Autoplex has been fantastic. A few quotes from Colonial over the last few years indicated they were coming in no where close to 20% and their emails seemed like there was no room to negotiate. Kind of turned us off.

We got approximately 20% off in our deals with Patrick. Obviously market conditions vary, and things have changed since 2015 and 2016.

There were no hidden charges with Patrick. We negotiated from the online price. The deal quoted was the deal we got.

He installed our ProPride hitch for $300.

Service and support after the sale have been outstanding.

Our fridge on our 2016 used unit was not cooling below 40. Despite being out of warranty, Brian in Service contacted Dometic and got approval for a new cooling unit (aka fridge guts) free of charge.

If you can get a better deal at Desert Autoplex, go for it. We had two warranty items addressed there last year while in Tempe. Their service department was excellent.

Personally, I'd call Patrick and ask for his best deal. Factor in the drive, fuel, and a hotel the night before pickup into your decision, then choose what's right for you.

Rich
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Old 05-30-2017, 04:20 PM   #11
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Spring , Texas
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Again thank you all for the advice.

1. Will check out RVDirect.Com as suggested.
2 ~ 20% discount of MSRP? Really? That will be super.
3. Dallas dealer quote 2018 22FB MSRP ~ $54,300. and saying not to expect much discount as it is best selling. Like to learn from Anyone bought from Dallas dealer ...

Hope soon we will be towing one Airstream and meet you all on the road or campgrounds.
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Old 05-30-2017, 04:26 PM   #12
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"Curious why the multiple recommendations for Colonial? We're narrowing in on a FC25 or 28 and planning on staying local in the Phoenix area as our local contact at Desert Autoplex has been fantastic. A few quotes from Colonial over the last few years indicated they were coming in no where close to 20% and their emails seemed like there was no room to negotiate. Kind of turned us off."

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Several years ago when I was shopping for a new AS, I called dealers from NJ (ie, Colonial), through the midwest, and into the west coast. Like you, Colonial came in right in the middle of the pack in terms of price, and like you, they seemed to be unwilling to negotiate. The fellow I spoke to at Desert Autoplex was probably the most knowledgeable sales person I talked to among several dozen --- he really knew Airstreams, their models, their history, the works (and he was the one who, with his experience, convinced us to get a 27 instead of a 25, which indeed has worked better for us). And he also was quite willing to deal. With some regret, I found a substantially closer dealer (Toscano, in Los Banos, CA) who offered a lower price, so we wound up driving to the San Joaquin Valley to get our AS. Driving to Los Banos saved us approx. $9K compared to the "best" price for the same trailer offered by our local dealer.
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Old 05-30-2017, 05:37 PM   #13
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I highly recommend you decide exactly what you want and then shop around. I did that and found a 20% deal close to home. I had a perfect delivery and have had zero issues. This was a new 2017 28' International that I waited 2 months for but that was fine. If I need tweaking my dealer is close.
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Old 05-30-2017, 08:45 PM   #14
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Spring , Texas
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I highly recommend you decide exactly what you want and then shop around. I did that and found a 20% deal close to home. I had a perfect delivery and have had zero issues. This was a new 2017 28' International that I waited 2 months for but that was fine. If I need tweaking my dealer is close.
Thanks for the advice.

For what we want - 2018 22FB the local dealers in Houston and Dallas are quoting MSRP $54,234. A 20% discount will mean $10,846 savings. Is that realistic expectation?
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Old 05-31-2017, 11:26 AM   #15
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I too am contemplating a purchase. Had not actually been in an AS until I went at Colonial a couple of weeks ago. I live in NYC, so he would be my 'local' dealer. He had about 80 AS' in stock. Was complaining he usually had over a hundred, but they were all selling fast.
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Old 05-31-2017, 11:32 AM   #16
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2019 27' Globetrotter
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Bayer RV in Dublin

We are also in the Houston area, made several trips to Katy over the course of a couple of years while doing research. Of course they were several months out on inventory with the model we wanted (23FB) so we expanded our search to find a 2017 in stock to save a little money. Found Bayer RV in Dublin, TX and could not have been happier. Steve with Bayer handled most everything over the phone or via e-mail. Went up to close the deal and hung out of a couple of days while they did the prep work, even toured the Dublin Bottling Plant.

The AS site is lacking when you try to search for dealers based on your zip code. We did eventually back out far enough in the results they presented to find other dealers in TX, but it was easier to just use your favorite web search engine.

We spent the first night on a shake down trip at a nice campground in Stephenville. All in all it was a fun way to spend spring break.
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Old 05-31-2017, 12:03 PM   #17
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Thanks to you all for the feedback. After spending 2 days on the web reading blogs we think the Sports 22FB maybe the right choice for us due to its lighter weight, narrower, and lower max height and the layout. However all our research was done on web with no hands on.

We live in Houston area and the local dealer has no inventory for the next 60 days. So we plan to expand our search to Dallas area and maybe even Ohio or NJ as you suggested. But not sure for NJ or Ohio due to the distance vs just wait the Houston inventory to arrive.

Your thoughts and advice are greatly appreciated
I would try Camper Clinic outside of Austin. Usually have good selection to look at .Also Colonial
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Old 05-31-2017, 12:06 PM   #18
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Spring , Texas
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We are also in the Houston area, made several trips to Katy over the course of a couple of years while doing research. Of course they were several months out on inventory with the model we wanted (23FB) so we expanded our search to find a 2017 in stock to save a little money. Found Bayer RV in Dublin, TX and could not have been happier. Steve with Bayer handled most everything over the phone or via e-mail. Went up to close the deal and hung out of a couple of days while they did the prep work, even toured the Dublin Bottling Plant.

The AS site is lacking when you try to search for dealers based on your zip code. We did eventually back out far enough in the results they presented to find other dealers in TX, but it was easier to just use your favorite web search engine.

We spent the first night on a shake down trip at a nice campground in Stephenville. All in all it was a fun way to spend spring break.
Thanks for the info. For sure will check it out. We are in Spring so not too far from you. Like to learn as much here as this will be our first and "final" Airstream if everything goes well. We like to take it to our September Pensacola trip to watch Blue Angels flying practice.
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Old 05-31-2017, 12:10 PM   #19
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Another vote for Patrick at Colonial. I bought my 2007 25'Classic from him. It was a special order from the factory with some additional windows and a few other things. The transaction went without a problem. My daughter also bought a 30' bunkhouse from him. The price on both were excellent.
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Old 05-31-2017, 12:24 PM   #20
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Welcome! You'll not regret the move to Airstream. We went through
the factory at Jackson Center several years ago, and our guide said it was possible to watch your trailer being built. Maybe you have to order and pick up from a dealer, but he distinctly said it was possible to watch the process. At any rate, even if things are different now, it's worth the trip at some point to watch the manufacturing process.
Let me add the name of Dan Dissmore at Holiday Travel Trailer Sales in Albuquerque, NM, as a possible dealer. Holiday (now Airstream of New Mexico) is a smaller dealer, and inventory is down now because of the demand at this season, but we have dealt with Dan twice and found him to be very accommodating and very willing to meet your needs. It looks like you'll have to order a new one, anyhow, so stock levels are not so much an issue. In fact, we're on our shakedown trip in our "new" 2013 FC 27 twin right now. One more thing about Holiday, their service department is second to none, and they have the kudoes to prove it.
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