What do you think? - Montana Owners Club

scrowba · 01-15-2005, 01:58 PM

Hello All,
After around 2 months of shopping, we have decided on the 3685FL. Now the hard part, who do I buy from? This is where I am at:
I live in Maine and will be using it for a seasonal site, I do not have a big enough truck to pull the 3685FL..Yet.

Dealer #1 - North Carolina Montana dealer, will sell me the unit that I want for $37,500.00. $1,599.00 to deliver giving me a total cost of $39,100.00. I have no connections with this dealer.

Dealer #2 - Western Mass. Montana dealer, will sell me the unit that I want for $40,500.00 delivered. The owner of my campground is a master RV tech who worked for this dealer in the past and dealer states he would handle any problems with the unit I might have (Warranty).

Dealer #3 - Maine Keystone dealer but not for Montana, he will get me the unit I want plus extras (Central Vac, Slide out awning toppers) for $41,000.00. His dealership is 25 miles away from my seasonal site. I did not want to by his Everest but he went out and found me what I wanted.

Do I go for the lowest Price and hope for the best....

Any suggestions would be great.
Thanks
Karl

trukdoc · 01-15-2005, 02:44 PM

While shopping we looked at RV's till we were sick of looking at them.
We looked at a Forrest River product. It looked nice. It was $23,000 fortunately we still looked.
I stumbled on a Keystone dealer by accident. He tried to sell us a High end top of line Montana Big Sky. Way out of my realm of what I needed. I do not have the time to go out enough to justify $50,000 on a trailer. Very nice, but not at this time.
On the way out the salesman showed us the Mountaineer 328RLS and the price to me was easier to digest.
The point is that we could have bought a trailer for $23K that most likely would not have held up, and truthfully there were a lot of consessions as to what we set out to buy.
We ended up paying $33K and feel we got a lot more for our money. It is what we were looking for and more, so I do not feel like I "Settled" for something I really did not want but struggled to make do.
The question to ask yourself is "Will I be happy with the purchase?" Is it a quality that will hold up?
If not it is a waste of money!
Just my opinion.
Rick

azstar · 01-15-2005, 02:47 PM

Hello Karl,

I'll bet 4 slide toppers will cost about $1200 or more. That takes the cheapest up to $40,300. Now your only $700 apart from your local Dealer. Don't know how much the Central Vac. is, but add that to this price and the difference is getting even smaller.

You may be one of the fortunate few that never has a problem, but if you do I would think you'd be thankful you had someone only 25 mi. away.

Just my 2 cents

RC and Samantha · 01-15-2005, 02:56 PM

Karl,

Having our dealer only a few minutes away has been a God send. We haven't had any major problems but some small ones that they took care of. The service department personnel are super.

As many have said here before the dealer can make or break a large portion of your happiness with your camper.

I have to agree with Steve and Nina on the price difference. Those extras add up quickly. I know because we put a ton of them on our unit.

Maybe checking around and finding out the dealer's reputation is a key to your decision.

Patty

CmdrDewey · 01-15-2005, 03:32 PM

Just a thought Karl but check with Lee Family in Windham. Speak to Pat. Tell him I sent you. I bought mine there and have been satisfied with the deal, the rig and the service.

DHenry · 01-15-2005, 05:16 PM

I agree with aztar about the dealer being 25 mi. away. Our dealer is 250 mi. away, but I must say they are a great dealership, and it really is an inconvience to tow the rig that far for service. I do have a place to stay when I am there for service but even so I would have rather dealt with a dealer closer. Our local dealer is a jerk so I could not bring myself to do business with his firm. Good luck on your decision.

2007dura · 01-15-2005, 05:26 PM

Sounds like the local dealer is in the ballpark with the extras. If, that is the unit you want, go in, say you will give a deposit of (your preference), make sure it is refundable, for a few thousand under his offer. The most they can say is no. But, since you live in Maine, I wouldn't think the dealers are over run with customers this time of year. Sounds like he has found the unit you want, so all he does is the paper work, and he makes some money.

I think a local dealer is nice to have. To me, it can make or break the experience.

Good luck and let us know when you are the proud owner of a new Montana.

tbhd · 01-15-2005, 05:46 PM

Just some information about the price of slide toppers. We just had our unit in for some work and got a price from our dealer on the toppers of $1350. On the way home from picking it up we stopped at Camping World and got a price of $900. Both prices are installed. I do believe they said they were on sale right now at Camping World until 1/31/05 so going to call and order them next week. They will hold them until we want them installed in the spring. We have the 3670 with three slides. Hope this helps you figure pricing.

Montana_31 · 01-16-2005, 12:05 AM

I don't know if you have negotiated these prices, but if you didn't, I would be willing to bet you could choose which ever dealer you want and offer a lower price to close the deal. If one turns you down, try the other two.

foggyb · 01-16-2005, 12:32 AM

Go. to Webb's rv in Bangor. See Rodney. Best service and price in all 6 states I checked. Dan

countrygirl · 01-16-2005, 03:11 AM

I just had to jump in here and tell you all that we bought our Montana in Panama City , Fl.
We had been looking at Montanas and there is a dealer near us , about 50 miles from our home. We weren't really in the market for a new trailer, ours was just fine , but we wanted a little nicer one so, while down in Fl. 3 yrs. ago in the sping, we spotted a Montana dealership and stopped. We wound up buying a Montana trailer and saved about 3,000 dollars. Couldn't believe it, but its true. Soo, we came home pulling a new trailer.
It pays to shop around....now of course, having waranty work done and such is a problem.
We have been pretty lucky that way. We have found a RV place in our Longview , Texas which is 20 miles from here that did do waranty work and they were great.
Just thought that I would tell you that sometimes you can hit upon a great deal and it isn't close to home.
We are glad that we bought our Montana there and the folks that sold it to us were super nice. Countrygirl

Broome101 · 01-16-2005, 03:41 AM

Well for my two cents worth we have a 3685FL and love it. If you can save money get it where you save the most. if they are a keystone dealer they have to honor your warranty work according to keystone. know they may put you on the back burning not in front of other customers but they have to honor warranty claims. Thinsk of it as if your Ford truck broke down 5 states away and it's well under the manufactures warranty, you stop at Ford dealer and they fix it under warranty, same thing. We are from NC but i bet the dealer you are talking about is Terrell Camping Center, Sherrrills Ford, NC. Great bunch of people, they can tell you someone up in Mass that is good dealer as well. But whom ever you buy from it's a great unit, only problme I have had is figuring out the AC/Heat remote unit to get it to work as stated in literature. Good Luck

Montana_2785 · 01-16-2005, 12:02 PM

We had an interesting adventure with our Montana acquisition.

In October, we took our usual 2 week trip with our 1990 Starcraft TT From the Chicago area to N&S Carolina. On the third day out, I opened up the 'fridge to the dreaded smell of ammonia.

It kept cooling for the rest of the trip, but you could tell that it was beginning to lose it's cooling ability. We've kept this trailer up so it was in pretty good shape except that the frame was sagging enough to cause stress cracks in the outer skin and broke the frame in both doors. So, we called End-Of-Life and decided that this was the time to move to a 5th wheel like we had been planning.

A couple of years before, we had looked at the Montana and brought home the flyer on the 3575RL. For us, it was a pretty good match to our requirements: 1) Noisy utilities on the curb side and not under the awning. 2) Usable while folded up. 3) Enough space inside that we don't have to do a little dance while passing each other. 4) Big rear windows. The biggest downside is it's length... Anyway, we have had the flyer hanging up in the house for a couple of years.

When we got back home from our fall trip, I hopped on the internet and took a look. I've been watching the (re)sales of Montana's for the last couple of years so I had a good idea what they should be selling for. Wonder of wonder's, I saw a 2002 3575RL for sale on Ebay. The owners had not described it very well and someone else had to ask them what the model number was. Well, I hadn't shaken the piggy bank yet and wasn't about to bid. The auction only had 19 hours left on it when I found it. I emailed the owner and found out that it was pretty well loaded so I watched the end of the aution.

It didn't sell.

So I asked what they wanted for it. $25K. Where was it? North Carolina. We had camped within 20 miles of it during our trip. So I flew out there to look it over, found some self inflicted damage and negotiated it down to $24.5K (BTW: This was $3K less than they still owed on it !!!) We drove back out there over Thanksgiving and pulled it home.

We have only had it for a week after we got it home. It has been in Rockford ever since for repairs. It is taking a long time to get some of the parts. When we did get them, it was discovered that a fork lift had "speared" one of them. So we get to wait some more. At least we got to live in it for the three days we spent driving home.

The previous owners redecorated the inside a lot. Some of which we will redo to our own tastes. The rest of the rig is the way the factory left it. I have a number of things that we want to do. The short list includes installing a taller toilet. We feel like we are squatting on the floor.

Second: We are both working stiffs yet. In early spring and late fall by the time we both get out of work, get to the camper, hitch up and get somewhere it's DARK. I'll be duplicating my Backup-Lights-From-Heck that I had on my old TT. During the summer, I'll see about the belly insulation and heat supply situation. Beyond that, I have a list of other minor things that I'm sure I'll mention when the time comes.

I've always gotten our campers used so I'm used to not having any waranty available to rely on. I do most of the work myself (had to replace about 1/3 of the floor in the TT due to a bad leak). There are a number of things about the slide mechanism that I'm also sure I'll never attempt on my own, but that doesn't stop me from dealing with most of the rest of routine maintenance & upkeep. If nothing else, since I don't have any waranty, I'm less inhibited when it comes to "improvements" and the money I've saved in the purchase will pay for a good sized fix if it really needs it.

I have a couple of Montana dealers in the area for things that I would need them for so I'm not worried about having to drive long distances.

In the end, it is really a matter of access to waranty work since you have it available vs ready & able to take care of things yourself. I, personally, question why we call these things RECREATIONAL Vehicles since it seems that I spend a lot of my time each year WORKING on it

Eric

rames14 · 01-16-2005, 12:29 PM

Karl -

Lots of good ideas posted, but without a tow vehicle, you have a problem if you need warranty work. The dealer within 25 miles of your site may be willing to make a housecall, but I doubt that the dealer in North Carolina will. I would check on the local dealer and make sure that they have good service. I believe a lot of people shop for the lowest price without regard to any other factor. As you read through the posts, you find a good dealer is priceless. So, a good dealer close by would be my recommendation. You could eat up thousands in frustration and tow bills otherwise.

Bowie · 01-16-2005, 12:51 PM

Have to agree--a good dealer is worth his weight in gold. There are dozens of stories on this site which will convince you of that! And if the closest dealer is also the one you would be the most comfortable working with because you have found that he has a great reputation--the price differential might not be so painful. And the local guy did work to find what you needed....... Remember too, your time is money and a lower stress level is worth a lot. Good luck with the decision and keep us posted!

Montana_2893 · 01-17-2005, 03:15 AM

You may want to check out CampersInn (www.campersinn.com) in Plaistow, NH. They are a Montana dealer and offer free setup if you buy a trailer from them.

315RLS · 01-17-2005, 03:55 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by scrowba

Hello All,
After around 2 months of shopping, we have decided on the 3685FL. Now the hard part, who do I buy from? This is where I am at:
I live in Maine and will be using it for a seasonal site, I do not have a big enough truck to pull the 3685FL..Yet.

Dealer #1 - North Carolina Montana dealer, will sell me the unit that I want for $37,500.00. $1,599.00 to deliver giving me a total cost of $39,100.00. I have no connections with this dealer.

Dealer #2 - Western Mass. Montana dealer, will sell me the unit that I want for $40,500.00 delivered. The owner of my campground is a master RV tech who worked for this dealer in the past and dealer states he would handle any problems with the unit I might have (Warranty).

Dealer #3 - Maine Keystone dealer but not for Montana, he will get me the unit I want plus extras (Central Vac, Slide out awning toppers) for $41,000.00. His dealership is 25 miles away from my seasonal site. I did not want to by his Everest but he went out and found me what I wanted.

Do I go for the lowest Price and hope for the best....

Any suggestions would be great.
Thanks
Karl

Karl,
Just curious why you discounted Campers Inn in Platstow, NH? I don't have any feelings about them one way or another but I think we did get a good deal on our unit from them in 04 and they made some reasonable adjustments when Keystone couldn't ship ovens due to the part shortage and also on switching the braking and tow setup.

sreigle · 01-17-2005, 08:44 AM

Just wanted to add that quite awhile back we had a discussion on this forum about getting warranty work when away from your home dealer. As it turns out, there is nothing in the Keystone contract to require its dealers to do warranty work on Montanas they did not sell. Surprised me but that's what someone in this forum was told. Some have reported having a problem getting warranty work from a couple of dealers. So far, the one dealer we needed to help us while on the road treated us as any other customer. Maybe it was obvious from our tags that we were from out of state but in any case we had no problem. But the potential exists. And your local dealer may do your work after he does his own customers since you will obviously have bought from someone else even though you live near him.

Any chance you can show the offers from other dealers to him and get him to match it? We did that when buying our first Montana and it worked.

scrowba · 01-17-2005, 04:24 PM

Thanks for all your feedback on the topic. As of today, 1/17/2005, We are now the PROUD OWNERS of a 2005 3685FL in Desert Sunset

. Just to let you know, I went to my Bangor Montana Dealer with all my info about different prices I had found on the East Coast and he sold me my Montana for $100.00 bucks more than the lowest price I had. I love this guy.... A great deal and a great piece of mind...

Karl

DHenry · 01-17-2005, 05:04 PM

Congradulations, enjoy your new Montana.

You may also like: