Can't put all the blame on the dealer

[MAwolcott]

We were on our way home yesterday from Wytheville, Va going south on I-77. Just south of Fancy Gap, Va is quite on incline heading north, and that's where I saw it. Heading north, an older gentleman and his wife hauling what appeared to be about a 29 foot fifth wheel. Tow vehicle was definitely a Nissan, but it didn't look beefy enough to be a Titan. The only other pickup I'm aware of from Nissan is the Frontier, and I know they never put a big motor in them. But that little truck was struggling hard to get up that hill! Even the truckers were passing him. I would hate to see him going down an incline of that grade! At some point, the owner of the vehicle HAS to realize that no matter what the dealership tells you, your truck can not pull anything they have on the lot! So people please, be realistic with your tow vehicle. Not only will you destroy your vehicle, but you are endangering yourself and innocent others doing silly stuff like this.

[CaptnJohn]

TV dealers and RV dealers both hire salespeople and extremely few have an RV. Yes, the TV and RV salesmen look at the towing numbers and have no clue about tire, axel, or payload ratings. We have to do our homework,,, come to think of it some camping people have no clue about those numbers and others see them as a goal to exceed.

[DQDick]

But a Toyota pulled the Space Shuttle, I saw it on TV

[bigred715]

Hope I never see something like that, and it better be going in the opposite direction. Just last week I saw a triple in Oregon heading to the coast on a very winding road with some hills to be dealt with. Don't know if he came down the freeway from Washington or up from California. You rarely see a cop on I-5 in either direction, so he probably wasn't going to be stopped for towing triple. I think it is illegal in all west coast states.

[dfb]

Originally Posted by MAwolcott

We were on our way home yesterday from Wytheville, Va going south on I-77. Just south of Fancy Gap, Va is quite on incline heading north, and that's where I saw it. Heading north, an older gentleman and his wife hauling what appeared to be about a 29 foot fifth wheel. Tow vehicle was definitely a Nissan, but it didn't look beefy enough to be a Titan. The only other pickup I'm aware of from Nissan is the Frontier, and I know they never put a big motor in them. But that little truck was struggling hard to get up that hill! Even the truckers were passing him. I would hate to see him going down an incline of that grade! At some point, the owner of the vehicle HAS to realize that no matter what the dealership tells you, your truck can not pull anything they have on the lot! So people please, be realistic with your tow vehicle. Not only will you destroy your vehicle, but you are endangering yourself and innocent others doing silly stuff like this.

We pulled a 19 21, 24 lite with our 92 Dakota.... did great!... magnum v8....

[Loneoak]

I know the area you are talking about on I-77. We use this route to go to Florida every year. That is a very long grade. Very pretty views.

The only dealership I ever encountered that actually checks out your tow vehicle is Lazy Days in Tampa. The salesperson looks inside the door of your tow vehicle to check if you can tow the trailer you are interested in. If you cannot, they will deliver it to your place, but not let you actually tow it out of their lot.

[mhs4771]

My experience with Lazy Days was the Salesman looks up on a sheet and if your TV isn't up to the task you were asked to sign a waiver that you we informed you needed a bigger TV and you accepted any and all risk, for Lazy Days to cover their backside.
Might depend on which Salesman you're dealing with.

[Loneoak]

We did not buy a trailer there, we were just looking at the time. We ended up buying somewhere else.

[richfaa]

We sold Rv's at large RV shows for a few years in the 90's. It is very true that some sales people do not know their RV product particularly weights. The full time salespeople are also driven to make the sale as it is their livelihood. However in our experience working for several dealerships we found that the vast majority of salespeople do know the product and are knowledgeable on weights. In Fact both Helen and I were hired by dealerships for the RV shows because we were experienced Rv'ers and did know the product and weights.


The average buyer is the person who knows little or nothing about the product he is purchasing. We have had people insist that we are wrong when we tell them they do not have enough truck to pull the RV they are looking at even tho we are showing them the manufacturers specs.


It does not make sense for a dealer to hire a salesperson who does not know the product and the chances are that person will not last long as a salesperson.

[JandC]

Originally Posted by mhs4771

My experience with Lazy Days was the Salesman looks up on a sheet and if your TV isn't up to the task you were asked to sign a waiver that you we informed you needed a bigger TV and you accepted any and all risk, for Lazy Days to cover their backside.
Might depend on which Salesman you're dealing with.

When we purchased our new 2014 Montana there they did the weight sheet with us. We met the limits but that was unloaded. At least they make an attempt to get customers thinking about weight limits.

We are all assuming that the older gentlemen pulling with that small truck went through a dealership. There is probably just as good of a chance that he purchased it from a private individual.