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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / RVs / September 2007Suggestions/resources for buying a pop-up?
Hello all. My wife and I bought a new Fleetwood/Coleman Avalon pop-up camper back in 1996 and while we loved it, we bought it without doing any research or shopping around for price. We ultimately sold it when we moved overseas for several years (I'm active duty military). Anyway, I'm considering the purchase of a Fleetwood Americana Series "Bayside" model ... I like the floor plan and I think I've heard Fleetwood's are "the way to go." Here are my questions: 1. Is Fleetwood still a good brand these days? 2. Are there other brands I should consider? 3. What are the best on-line resources to shop for price on a new or very gently used pop-up? 4. Any other recommendations/considerations I should know about? Thanks so much for your time-- Kind regards, Rich > 2. Are there other brands I should consider? A strong influence on your choice should be the availability of a reputable dealer within reasonable driving distance.  SignatureChris Cowles Gainesville, FL > 1. Is Fleetwood still a good brand these days? > 2. Are there other brands I should consider? > 3. What are the best on-line resources to shop for price on a new or > very gently used pop-up? > 4. Any other recommendations/considerations I should know about? I've found that finding a very good dealer in your area that will take care of any issues after the sale is more important than brand. There are too many shady RV dealers around so finding a good one is well worth it. That said I have never cared much for Fleetwood products. I owned two Coleman Popups which were made by Fleetwood. They weren't bad but had a lot of small nagging problems that Coleman/Fleetwood would not fix under warranty without a ton of hassles. My two personal favorites are Starcraft and Jayco. Both stand behind their products. Starcraft paid for minor repairs after my warranty had long expired. > Hello all. My wife and I bought a new Fleetwood/Coleman Avalon pop-up > camper back in 1996 and while we loved it, we bought it without doing [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > 1. Is Fleetwood still a good brand these days? I have a 2000 Bayside. Still works for us. I think the Fleetwood brand still has the most solid frames, but they have cheapened a lot of other things to reduce manufacturing costs. Other brands seem to have done the same. > 2. Are there other brands I should consider? Jayco, Sarcraft, Palomino, Forest River, and Viking all make products that are more-or-less comparable with Fleetwood. If you are not bound to the traditional canvas pop-up, then TrailManor, Aliner, Chalet, and Hi-Lo make some interesting products. > 4. Any other recommendations/considerations I should know about? Like others have said, dealer, dealer, dealer. Finding a local dealer with a decent reputation is more important than what brand of trailer you choose. Austin > > Hello all. My wife and I bought a new Fleetwood/Coleman Avalon pop-up > > camper back in 1996 and while we loved it, we bought it without doing [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > > Austin When I was shopping for a pop-up, I went inside the dealers showroom and "looked around" for a short while. Two salesmen were busy discussing something between themselves. Two other employees were behind their desks. All four ignored me up to the point where I was looking to see how the indoor/outdoor propane cook top was attached to the outside wall. Then one salesman came over and told me he didn't appreciate me messing with his merchandise... I said "Excuse me" and left. I drove a few miles down the road where I bought a very nice new pop-up, with a/c. I wonder what the service after the sale would have been like at the first dealer..... >1. Is Fleetwood still a good brand these days? >2. Are there other brands I should consider? >Rich In 1999, we bought a Starcraft popup from our local family-owned dealership. They have always been very responsive to our needs with fast turn-around times on repairs/maintenance. 2004 we started looking at travel trailers. We started at our local dealer and found one we immediately put at the top of our list. At the urging of our dealer, we went to a local RV show that had at least 8 trailer manufacturers there (including my Starcraft guy). We found 4 others to put on our list. I bought the www.rv.org material and looked at their ratings. That brought the choices down to 3. We ended up buying our original choice at our Starcraft dealer. The dealership has been equally as good with the service/maintenance on our TT. So I would pick a popup with the dealership in mind. Mark 2004 Homestead Settler 255RS 1999 Chevrolet Suburban 2500 Thanks to all of you for taking time to answer my questions ... I didn't know anything about Starcraft, but I'll be sure to look them up right away. I'll also take a look at www.rv.org ... not sure about good dealers in/around the DC area ... I suppose I'll just need to start visiting them. Thanks again! Regards, Rich |
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