General RV dealership experiences to share

[CantTakeit]

Hello. I was wondering if any of you have ever purchased a motor home from General RV, they seem to have good prices. Would like to hear your experiences with them. Thank you.

[Eagle5]

I recommend that you check the Better Business Bureau for your location-specific General RV:
https://www.bbb.org/
and also look for Gold Star Dealerships, as described on the Winnebago Web Site:
https://winnebagoind.com/dealer-locator/us-canada
Please let us know what ratings you find.

[CantTakeit]

Thanks Eagle 5! you're my buddy now! I'll let you know when I find out. Thinking of getting the 22m like you. Do you know if it has full body paint or the gel coating? A lot to learn! Reading specs, forums, everything I can get my hands on honestly. Going a little nuts in the process. For some reason when I called winnebago they said they don't have the 5 star rating system anymore?? Tried to find that, but couldn't, will try again. Dealing with the ohio store, so will check. Every dealer has mixed reviews, some are just plain no good stores to deal with, easy to tell. Out of curiosity, did you also look at the 25b when choosing? Thanks again, will let you know what I find out. Does Gold star dealership mean better servicing? Seems these dealers are horrible to get something fixed under warranty, makes one never want to get the extended warranties. Having to figure out which Ford dealer in my area is large enough to fix an RV, all the appliances have separate warranties, hope they're all no too far away. Thanks for your last post, i do understand all of the weight on the MH, but appreciated the calculations & much needed reiteration. How much was it to special order to upgrade to 450 chassis? Don't think dealers have the 450's on the lot. Would love to get a boat someday! We live on the water all summer long in our tandem kayak. Thanks again!

[ThomB]

We've got an 2010 Vista 32K with full body paint. I'm pretty sure I can say that any RV I will ever have will from now on have full paint and not be gel-coat with graphics. It's still looking good after nearly 10 years. -- If that helps with your choice at all I don't know but throwing it out there.


Is the General RV the one just outside of Akron? I've been there but we'd move out of the area before buying an RV. I thought that one had a pretty good rep.

[Eagle5]

Always good to have a new friend!
The side panels and roof panels are gel coated fiberglass with accent decals.
Winnebago still uses the Gold Star system. It isn't a five-star rating, but rather is an award. Here is the description from the Winnebago Web Site:

• Dealers with a star next to their name were awarded the Winnebago Industries Circle of Excellence.

Very few dealerships have the Gold Star. While I don't believe it is a requirement that your dealership be a Gold Star dealership, it is another factor in the assurance of honest dealings and good follow-on service. Your dealership will know where the Ford Chassis work can be accomplished (if required). I too am not a big fan of extended warranties.
When choosing what to buy, my wife and I first rented from Cruise America the 19', the 25', and the 30' motorhomes, as well as the Cruise America Truck Camper. For us, the 25' motorhome was the right interior size, but crawling into the bed was difficult for my wife with a bad knee. The 30' had a great walk-around bed, but oh boy is that thing long and very awkward to drive around.
When buying a new motorhome for ourselves, even shorter than 25' would be better, if only it still had enough interior room and better yet a walk-around bed. The new 22M model fit the bill!
Because I was dealing with -25% pricing, the out-the-door cost of the E-450 upgrade was $2,718.75, and the savings from not taking the stabilizing jack option was <-$598.50>, so for us the net added expense was $2,120.25. Another factor was that the Stabilizing Jacks were the departure angle low-point. Without them, the frame scrubbers are now the low-point, as it should be.
Good luck!

[Eagle5]

Originally Posted by ThomB

Is the General RV the one just outside of Akron? I've been there but we'd move out of the area before buying an RV. I thought that one had a pretty good rep.

Out of curiosity, I looked-up this on the Winnebago Web Site, and here is the results:

GENERAL RV CENTER
3063 GREENSBURG ROAD
NORTH CANTON, OH 44720
(330) 896-8977
(800) 996-9945

It did not have a Gold Star to the left of the name.
The BBB rating is B+, which isn't too bad.
I have seen F ratings on other dealerships; very sad.

Since your moniker is CantTakeit, does it have something to do with this Alan Parson song?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S6bMJBgGyw

[spowell]

Originally Posted by CantTakeit

Hello. I was wondering if any of you have ever purchased a motor home from General RV, they seem to have good prices. Would like to hear your experiences with them. Thank you.

I live 15 min from the North Canton, OH General RV and frequent the store regularly. We did not buy our coach from them as we found ours at a different dealer but we looked at several. I have friends that have bought from them and are happy. I would buy from them as well..

Their service dept is always behind and you work can takes weeks. I would say their service dept is about like most - average..

I don't set my expectations too high with RV dealers so YMMV but in comparison to most they are overall above average in my opinion. We bought our coach from RCD RV Sales in Columbus, Ohio - they were very pleasant to deal with...

[Bompa13]

Originally Posted by CantTakeit

Hello. I was wondering if any of you have ever purchased a motor home from General RV, they seem to have good prices. Would like to hear your experiences with them. Thank you.

My wife & I purchased our new Navion in summer of 2016 from General RV.
The Saleswoman bragged about being the Top Salesperson and would always be there for assistance. We believed her but immediately after we agreed to the sale and were led to office to do the financing, etc we ran into some problems due to her not explaining some of the steps we needed to jump through. She purposely steered clear of us for the rest of our experience.
Also when we did the orientation of the unit with the kid from service I knew more than he did from studying up on the unit before deciding.
We feel we got a decent deal but we became invisable after we had problems.

Buy for the price not for the service.

[McLee]

We bought two motor homes from General RV when we lived in the Detroit area and we’re pleased with the sales and the service. General has several locations in the area.

[KPaulson]

Purchased 2019 View 24D from General RV in Wixom, MI, last May, had a great sales person named Gordie Lambert. He was very knowledgeable no pressure. A couple of small items during PDI that were taking care of immediately. Three weeks ago before heading out East, I discovered I was having LP problems two days before leaving. General RV's new KEEP YOU CAMPING program made the repair the same day and I left town the following day, with no more LP issues...great place to purchase a RV!

[Jaeger]

We have not purchased an RV from the General RV near Pontiac/Wixom Michigan, but we shopped them twice and had a bad experience both times. I've had formal sales training and immediately detected the playbook they use...and as a consequence, I don't trust them. We were seriously shopping at an annual RV show and I couldn't even get a price from them without submitting to their sales process. We walked and I'm very glad we did.

[spowell]

Originally Posted by Jaeger

We have not purchased an RV from the General RV near Pontiac/Wixom Michigan, but we shopped them twice and had a bad experience both times. I've had formal sales training and immediately detected the playbook they use...and as a consequence, I don't trust them. We were seriously shopping at an annual RV show and I couldn't even get a price from them without submitting to their sales process. We walked and I'm very glad we did.

I'm not defending General RV in any way but I have never met a good salesperson or team that did not have a playbook. They ALL do whether it is RVs, Cars or in my business Cisco Network gear..

I guess since I never trust any salesperson, I am not upset when they break the playbook LOL! Actually I think I would be worried if they didn't...

Typical about not giving out a final price without going thru the process - they probably get hammered so much (especially at a show) that unless someone shows some serious commitment they assume they are simply getting "shopped"..

[Dentkimterry]

Bought our 2016 Vista from General RV in Wayland Michigan in Sept 2016. Sales experience was fine. Low key knowledgeable salesman. Finance guy was a little high pressure but not bad. When we picked up the RV a third person spent about an hour explaining all the features and systems. He was very complete except for one item. We were never told we needed to have the front end aligned after driving a couple of thousand miles. A year later with 11,000 miles I needed new front tires. Annoying! Several warranty items were taken care of quickly and to our satisfaction. Good experience and would shop there again.
Terry in Kalamazoo.

[sunvale1]

I have had bad experience with them They are so big all over the states and their attitude towards customers shows it. I will have to say one of the service people in Orange City, FL was very nice and helpful

[OhioVista]

I have purchased 3 RV's from General RV and for the most part have been satisfied. They push a Corner Stone warrantee which if you have work done at General RV they try to keep your out of pocket expenses limited to your deductible, however if you need work done elsewhere hold onto your wallet they only paid 50% of a 3K generator fix and 60% of a 4K engine repair. I had some run around issues with the service department until I ran into Bob Green at a RV Show, Bob got involved and things turned around. You need to have someone in Corporate to shake up the troops from time to time. Understand you lose 20K just driving off the lot so when you decide to trade up your head won't explode. All and all General RV has been an OK experience compared to some of the horror stories I've heard about other dealers.

[Jaeger]

Originally Posted by spowell

...I have never met a good salesperson or team that did not have a playbook. They ALL do whether it is RVs, Cars or in my business Cisco Network gear...

You make an excellent point and I should have been more specific in my post. Their sales playbook was, in my opinion, way too aggressive and not structured around the benefits of the product or the good of the customer. One example: the sales guy we spoke with practically insisted we meet his manager despite our having no need, want, or desire to spend the time to do so.

And with regards to the price at the show, we couldn't get any price from them at the show without being subjected to their back room pitch...and we simply did not want to take the time for that during the show.

[sunvale1]

we had a similar experience in Wayland, MI with General RV. Then when the sales man indicated they were charging $100 more per warrantee job if the unit was not purchased from them, we left. I have been told their attitude has changed some and they will now work warrantee if they sell the same unit from the manufacturer.

[NXR]

We did not buy from the N Canton location even though we were there multiple times and it was not because of the prices. The two Class A's we were interested in both had slide problems and the salesperson said that Service would not repair them before we purchased, only after. Seriously. We couldn't even test drive one because the slide was jammed part way out.

We then noticed they were part of the Costco Auto program, which the salesperson denied. We had to give him the name of the dealership employee. He then reluctantly gave us the Costco price, which was supposed to be 5% over dealer invoice per him. But the price he had quoted earlier was $3,000 lower than the Costco Auto price. He said it was because of a manufacturer incentive. I pointed out that the Costco Auto program said that any manufacturer rebates or incentives are supposed to be passed on to the customer. He just stopped responding and we walked. I've always believed that the best behavior you get out of a vendor is before you sign on the dotted line and their performance was just dismal.

I mean, really? The Service department is so backed up readying new deliveries that they won't fix two brand new Class A units so they can be test-driven? We were concerned about how long warranty service might take. But you might be more experienced so you may not be as concerned.

[Eagle5]

As I'm sitting here eating a late dinner, it dawns on me that I have your moniker CantTakeit all wrong! It isn't "you can't take it with you," but rather it is "I can't take it anymore!" Am I right, or am I right?
At the very least, let's all keep our motorhome floors clean!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNid0POX7ek

[CantTakeit]

Hello to you all. Thanks so much for the feedback, greatly appreciated. I followed RV hive guide online step by step how to obtain the lowest prices. It was a very interesting quest to say the least. This is our first time, had looked at used MH, but it seemed in order to save a substantial amount, would have had to go to much earlier years & afraid of problems with something we know little about in the first place. I did find the lowest price for the MW 22m at General RV. I had been looking at the Outlook 22c & 25j. Thanks to all of you, I realized a few things the current outlook models had that I didn't like, the MW seemed far superior, was very glad I asked the forum. I got the price down significantly, it's a 2019 22m, came from the Winnebago factory in Feb.,called them, guess clearing out their last year's inventory, making way for the 2020's that are on dealers lots now. We were thinking of waiting until fall to purchase, but wanted to learn about all of this & use it this season to make sure everything continues to work in real life. So we drove to Ohio with my 17.5 year old cat, she travels with us in the car on our annual trip to Florida & is very good, thankfully. She's got the best seat in the house! I too was in sales, so I know the drill. Dealt with an internet sales guy, so not any in store sales push which we liked. Yes, a kid showed us around & explained everything to us as I proceeded to make popcorn in the microwave, he took his time, everything worked, but being so new to this we felt we needed more lessons. We'll learn in time & I have no fear because we have all of you! I like that they have dealer/repair in VA, Jacksonville Fla., Tampa Fla., & Ocala Fla. I've also made a few acquaintances at local dealers while looking, they didn't carry the MW, had the outlook, so hopefully if we need any warranty repairs they'll be more forgiving. We got there at 1, they closed at 4, we were there later than 4, but I wish we'd had more time to check things out & follow the PDI list we printed, we would have needed another few hours. We stayed overnight with just electrical hookup they provided, it got cold at night, but the heat worked fine. Of course, now I'm looking for the lightest, most efficient, best MH electric heater! We waited to buy all the things we need for the RV as it was a long trip & needed to get home. Our friends have a MH & took us through the things we'll need. Of course now I'm looking at which brands have the best potable hose, leveling blocks, refrigerator & hot water heater screens, sewer hose & fittings, surge protector, water pressure regulator, temp. monitoring system, wifi or cellular for working off the internet, on & on. would appreciate help once again! We did join good sam's basic membership to secure lowest rates, the dealer got lower from them, & I believe they give a 10% off supplies. We get 1 year roadside assistance from our purchase, & have also secured it from our insurance annually. Eagle5, I know the song well! My husband reminded me we saw Alan Parsons project when they opened for Yes in July 1998 at Jones Beach outdoor Theater in LI, NY. Alas, no, I just simply can't take it!! I started this entire endeavor beginning with the possibility of towing an RV, practicing with a uhaul trailer, trying to back into our narrow driveway from our narrow street. My husband did well, got it positioned, but couldn't maneuver down the driveway. He didn't like towing anyway, so we moved on & here we are! Of course I now know everything about tongue weight, weight distribution hitches & so on. Complete change of course, many new things to learn. Would have liked the e 450, but we'll try this for now & hopefully we'll be ok. Thanks to all of you!!