Suggested Dealers for Ordering View/Navion

[jk700]

I asked this question on the FB page but wanted to ask here.

I will be in the market for a new View or Navion. More than likely I'll be ordering the coach. Who are the suggested dealers that make the process easy and have reasonable pricing?

I live in North Carolina and would love to have a close dealer but that is not a deal breaker so traveling is fine. So far the suggestions are:

- Lichtsinn RV (told they don't accept refundable deposit which I don't like)
- Lewis RV
- NIRVC: only suggested once which I was surprised since the Newmar crowd always suggest them so interesting the Winnebago crowd doesn't mention them much.

Thanks in advance. This is my first post but have been lurking around for a while

[rprochnow]

We live in Houston and made the 1000 mile drive up to Lichtsinn for our 2021 View 24D in June 2020.

At that time, they had a 24D on their lot - and we were able to do a virtual walkthrough prior to agreeing to the purchase.

We rented a minivan and loaded it up with gear we purchased for the RV - so when we arrived at Lichtsinn we had (almost) everything we needed (linens, dishes, sewer hose, water hoses, power cord/adapters, ...) - and the few items we missed were either in Lichtsinn's store or at the Walmart in Mason City (about 30 minutes away - enough for a good "shakedown" drive).

They have power hookups in their parking lot - so we were able to stay a few days after purchasing our View and had them fix a few small items before we hit the road for home.

When we've had items needing repairs - for those that we can fix, we call Lichtsinn and they send us the part in a few days.

The problem is getting repairs that require service. Local dealerships either refuse to schedule or will require us to wait for months to get an appointment. We found a dealership about 4 hours away that will make appointments - and we've used them several times for repairs that either we can't do or can't wait for annual maintenance.

We checked with the NIRVC in Dallas to see if they would schedule our annual maintenance - and they indicated they had too many customers and wouldn't be able to do the service for us.

So we will be going back to Lichtsinn again this summer for our 2nd annual maintenance (we did that last year too). Since it's a long drive, we're planning a longer trip visiting parks and family in Colorado, North Dakota and Kansas and going to Lichtsinn as we come back south from North Dakota.

Last year when we arrived at Lichtsinn for service, our microwave went out. They contacted the company who agreed to send us a replacement under warranty - but it would take days to get the replacement to Forest City - longer than we planned to stay there. They were able to work out a swap with the Winnebago factory across the street (where Views and Navions are built) - so we could get a replacement microwave quickly - and Winnebago would get the unit coming back from the company.

So Lichtsinn does have an unfair advantage by being so close to the factory - plus their technicians seem to have experience at the factory.

Lichtsinn is in the process of yet another major expansion of their facilities - which we'll get to see when we're there in a few months.

Overall they've been great to work with. Their online videos are very helpful in learning the details of Views and Navions - before getting there. Their after-sale walkthrough takes several hours - when they walk through all of the details of the coach and how to use and maintain it.

The only major disadvantage is the distance from home - and that many Winnebago dealerships either refuse or strongly discourage appointments for anyone who didn't purchase through them.

[creativepart]

Remember, the factory warranty is only 1-year and not every RV built needs tons of warranty work. Who cares who services your RV after it’s out of warranty? Most of us find a good local or area shop or tech that can handle the stuff we can’t fix ourselves.

I would order from NIRVC if they were close enough. And Lichtsinn is a super choice as well. I couldn’t name any other “great” Winnebago dealers. And besides, “great” for sales and delivery is different than “great” for service after the sale. We bought ours from La Mesa RV and they were really good for sales price and PDI. But they were horrible for service.

[rprochnow]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Remember, the factory warranty is only 1-year and not every RV built needs tons of warranty work. Who cares who services your RV after it’s out of warranty? Most of us find a good local or area shop or tech that can handle the stuff we can’t fix ourselves.

That's true - though finding a "good" shop can be challenging.

We recently found a good mobile RV service group in our area - and will likely use them for as much of the work as possible - with annual trips back to Lichtsinn for the yearly maintenance.

[jk700]

Is it true Lichtsinn only takes a non-refundable deposit?

[rprochnow]

The agreement we executed in May 2020 required a non-refundable deposit of around 11.5% of our cash purchase price.

We only executed the agreement and provided the deposit after we had done a lengthy virtual walkthrough of our 24D (which we couldn't do in person from Houston).

I'll admit we had some anxiety about making that non-refundable deposit. However, we were also asking them to take that specific unit off the market and not sell it to anyone else - so a non-refundable deposit wasn't unreasonable.

Before executing that agreement we did a lot of research on Lichtsinn RV - and based on that, we were comfortable with sending them the non-refundable deposit.

And despite the long distance to their dealership - which we knew when we made the purchase - we have no regrets in purchasing from them.

And they have continued to provide outstanding post-sales support - and when we have scheduled trips for service, they've been able to provide us the dates we wanted - and allow us to stay in their lot overnight.

Especially if the dealership you are planning to use isn't local, it's prudent to do as much research as you can, before committing to an agreement and deposit. Search the internet & forums for comments. Look if they have any BBB complaints. If you can find other customers - get their opinions.

When we purchased our View almost two years ago, they had only recently moved into a brand new building - and they're now doing a major expansion. They must be doing something right - if their sales are growing enough to justify all of the new construction... It can't be from local sales...

[jk700]

Originally Posted by rprochnow

The agreement we executed in May 2020 required a non-refundable deposit of around 11.5% of our cash purchase price.

We only executed the agreement and provided the deposit after we had done a lengthy virtual walkthrough of our 24D (which we couldn't do in person from Houston).

I'll admit we had some anxiety about making that non-refundable deposit. However, we were also asking them to take that specific unit off the market and not sell it to anyone else - so a non-refundable deposit wasn't unreasonable.

Before executing that agreement we did a lot of research on Lichtsinn RV - and based on that, we were comfortable with sending them the non-refundable deposit.

And despite the long distance to their dealership - which we knew when we made the purchase - we have no regrets in purchasing from them.

And they have continued to provide outstanding post-sales support - and when we have scheduled trips for service, they've been able to provide us the dates we wanted - and allow us to stay in their lot overnight.

Especially if the dealership you are planning to use isn't local, it's prudent to do as much research as you can, before committing to an agreement and deposit. Search the internet & forums for comments. Look if they have any BBB complaints. If you can find other customers - get their opinions.

When we purchased our View almost two years ago, they had only recently moved into a brand new building - and they're now doing a major expansion. They must be doing something right - if their sales are growing enough to justify all of the new construction... It can't be from local sales...

Thanks. My problem is I may order from a dealer so I can get exactly what I want. If that's the case I'm guessing it takes 9 months to a year before it's built. Uncomfortable placing a nonrefundable in that situation

[rprochnow]

Fortunately, we were able to "buy off the lot".

Buying for a future delivery is more challenging, though if you can have some flexibility on the configuration, you may be able to get something sooner.

For example, we wanted jacks and lithium batteries - something that could come from the factory. Instead, Lichtsinn added those for us. If we had waited to get a factory unit with that configuration, it would have taken us months or longer. And having Lichtsinn do the installations - really isn't much different than having them done in the factory - they used the same parts for the lithium upgrade that Winnebago uses across the street...

[bmark]

We purchased a Winnebago Vita 1 year ago at Beckleys RV in Thurmont MD and had a positive experience.

[DrMack]

I can't offer advice on a dealer for a new purchase as we found our 2017 View 24J on RV Trader in June 2020. It was a phenomenal price for a very low mileage unit so we didn't care that the dealer offered no post-sale service. Rather than factory options, you might consider taking a bare bones unit with warranty coverage on all the major stuff anyway, and then customize it with high-end aftermarket mods. We had an Equalizer System automatic leveling system installed at the EQ factory in Elkhart (overnight on their property with electric hook-up, and then full install the next day), Battle Born lithium batteries and a Zamp/Vectron solar system installed in Austin, and Bostrom air ride seats with custom fleece upholstery for the front seats. All of these upgrades carry their own warranties so we didn't miss out on any of the warranty coverage by not ordering these as factory installed options.

I highly recommend these two YouTube channels for information on View/Avion ownership experience:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU0...m2gS3uGSfEVGQA
https://www.youtube.com/c/NewstateNomads

[PJTroyer]

Originally Posted by jk700

I asked this question on the FB page but wanted to ask here.

I will be in the market for a new View or Navion. More than likely I'll be ordering the coach. Who are the suggested dealers that make the process easy and have reasonable pricing?

I live in North Carolina and would love to have a close dealer but that is not a deal breaker so traveling is fine. So far the suggestions are:

- Lichtsinn RV (told they don't accept refundable deposit which I don't like)
- Lewis RV
- NIRVC: only suggested once which I was surprised since the Newmar crowd always suggest them so interesting the Winnebago crowd doesn't mention them much.

Thanks in advance. This is my first post but have been lurking around for a while

I bought a Class C View and a class A Vista from https://www.winnebagomotorhomes.com/class-c

I could not be happier. I live in Tucson, AZ. Highly recommend them. Very good deal and good service help by phone or referral on short notice. Lots of local service here and warranty was always respected.

[dajo]

We have a New View 24D on order from Lichtsinn. Put a $5000 deposit down. Delivery expected in the fall don't know when. So far Lichtsinn has been great to deal with. No one else touched their price and we get a new Rv not one with many miles from delivery. Just sold our 43' Dutch Star. Will be a big change going to Winnebago from Newmar. This will be our 10th Motorhome. Last three have been Newmar.

[ozon8r]

Originally Posted by jk700

I asked this question on the FB page but wanted to ask here.

I will be in the market for a new View or Navion. More than likely I'll be ordering the coach. Who are the suggested dealers that make the process easy and have reasonable pricing?

I live in North Carolina and would love to have a close dealer but that is not a deal breaker so traveling is fine. So far the suggestions are:

- Lichtsinn RV (told they don't accept refundable deposit which I don't like)
- Lewis RV
- NIRVC: only suggested once which I was surprised since the Newmar crowd always suggest them so interesting the Winnebago crowd doesn't mention them much.

Thanks in advance. This is my first post but have been lurking around for a while

I've owned four new RVs and every one of them had QC issues that needed to be addressed by the dealer during the warranty period. I purchased one of the four out of state and it was a real struggle finding a local dealer to address warranty work. And it was not reasonable to travel back to the out of state dealer to address these items. I would highly recommend buying local or at least within a days drive if you buy new. Also, anticipate leaving the RV for weeks, maybe months to address the items. Unfortunately, RVs are very complex vehicles and odds are you will certainly have issues that need to be addressed under warranty. That said, I would only buy out of state if I were buying used as used RVs generally have the bugs worked out by then. Best of luck.

[rprochnow]

We researched the local RV dealers before we purchased our RV from Lichtsinn - and the only 2 Winnebago dealers in the area (at the time) both had very bad reviews about their service.

While having a local dealer is more convenient - it's prudent to research those dealerships and verify the quality of their service.

Unlike buying normal vehicles, RVs have very few dealerships - and because of that the manufacturers don't seem to have much (if any) control over the quality of service being provided or even requiring them to provide service to vehicles not purchased at their dealerships.

Lichtsinn is 1000 miles away from us - so we only make trips for the annual maintenance in the spring.

We were able to find a Winnebago dealership in a smaller town that was able to do work on our 21D that couldn't wait for the annual service.

So if you buy out of state, widen your search for dealerships to go for service. If you can find one 3-4 hours away (and that lets you park overnight), that may work.