RV Wholesalers

Has anyone bought or know anyone who bought from any of the wholesalers near Elkhart? We are considering RV Wholesalers in Lakeview, OH. Would like to hear from you if you know about them. The prices they quote are really good. We're concerned about getting local warranty work done here in TN though. Supposedly any FR dealer is required to do it, but.....
Thanks for any help you can give.
Jackie

When you get the price from them , go to your local dealers and see how close their price is. If you take into account the cost to go get the unit and the hassle of getting someone close to work on it ,it may not be such a bargin . We bought ours local and the were within a hundred dollars , and we get good service. Jim

Jackie,

Welcome to the forum. I think I remember a post on the old Wildcat website www.wildcatonline.com about RV Wholesalers. Also you might do a Google search on them and see if any of the other forums have posts about their service. I think one of the complaints was that they don't do trades and it was a long, long way to go for warranty service.

As Jim said, get a price from them and try your local dealer. I think that avoiding the warranty claim work hassle of dealing with a dealer where you didn't buy the unit is a number one priority.

Color me stupid, but I try to buy local on my major purchases. I know where they live and they're not 700 miles away.

JMHO .....

We live in California and bought from them back in 2007. We were lucky and had very few warranty issues. RVW mailed me the needed parts and I fixed it myself. The only local dealer was a real pain in the !@&^$! He made the wife really mad with his arrogance. Even with shipping, we saved a ton of cash.

We bought ours from them in 2004 and live about 500 mi from them. No issues. Just make sure to ask for the 2nd year Forest River warranty.

I priced the Whole sellers and all dealers in the 100 mile circle around home. I bought from a Dealer within 90 miles of Home. There was a dealer within 35 miles but I got the best deal and service from the Dealer at 90 miles.
Main thing is to have a dealer that will look after you long after the sale.

We bought exactly one year ago from RVW. They were straight forward and nothing hidden. My only complaint with them was about the Forest River extra one year warranty. I asked about it and was told that they would send me something in the mail. Well that was wrong, and if I had read all my paperwork (my bad) I would have seen that. So I ended up missing the time frame to purchase the coverage.

As far as service, yes Forest River dealerships are required to work on their product, but, not all dealerships that sell Wildcat are "official" (for lack of the correct term) dealers. I was told this by Rod Batts from Forest River. I have an rv dealer near my house that sells Wildcats but is not one of the dealerships he mentioned. I have another dealer near me that does not sell Wildcat, but is one of Forest Rivers "official" dealerships. My camper is in there right now having some warranty work done.
Jim

We bought, though not a Wildcat, from RV Wholesalers. They delivered exactly what they promised - nothing more or nothing less. Though they were very helpful in straightening out a brake controller issue for us at delivery time!

We had no problems with a local dealer doing our post delivery warranty work. That same dealer, when presented with our RV Wholesaler's quote maintained their quote nearly $3000.00 more. Since we had lived in Ohio for many years, it was no real inconvenience for us to go "up north" to take delivery - then to visit friends in the Buckeye state.

Best of luck to you, whatever decision you make.

Just wanted to post my thoughts. We are currently done one week of our 8-10 week wait to get our new trailer from RVWholesalers. We have been talking to Mitch And Rod at Forest river. As you mentioned we are paying an extra $150 US for an extra one year warranty.They are still trying to sell us a 3 year protection package which they probably make money on and not the other one. We went with them as it is saving us around 9000 CDN even after they ship it from OHIO to MONTANA and I drive 400 miles to get it and bring it back home...

As far as warrenty , unless it is a major appliance I thnk all RVERs repair it themselves. I tried to get our local dealer to get us a price and he never after 3 months so we went else where. The local dealer is to fix your issues but you "are " going to be on the back of the list. Who wants to wait for the local dealer to fix a leaky tap? I think that if even you did not purchase from there than they would want to make money on the warranty items.

RVWholesalers Has a Nation wide service center , email them, and see where one is in your local area. We are nice enough to have 3 with in a couple hours drive and one locally.

See we live in Canada and with the dollar being so good it was a no brainer to save all that cash even if it puts miles on the wheels before I get a chance to do it first..

James
2011 FR Wildcat 32QBT
2004 dodge Dually 5.9l diesel

Thanks for all the replies. We would definitely buy local if we could find the unit we want local. The 2 that we could look at had roof seam issues. Now RV Wholesalers says they don't have a unit for us to look at either. Because of the roof seam issue, we are afraid to order and must actually see the unit we purchase. It's really discouraging.

If you have purchased from a dealer within 400 miles of Knoxville, TN and have been happy, please give me the dealer's info.

Thanks again,
Jackie

Jackie There is a dealer in Lavern . Tn. I think the name is R V sales and service . We stopped by there when we were looking and the people were nice . We bought ours from Tri-state Polaris and rv in southern Illinois, web site yourbestrvdeal . hope this helps. Jim

Minty wrote:Just wanted to post my thoughts. We are currently done one week of our 8-10 week wait to get our new trailer from RVWholesalers. We have been talking to Mitch And Rod at Forest river. As you mentioned we are paying an extra $150 US for an extra one year warranty.They are still trying to sell us a 3 year protection package which they probably make money on and not the other one. We went with them as it is saving us around 9000 CDN even after they ship it from OHIO to MONTANA and I drive 400 miles to get it and bring it back home...

As far as warrenty , unless it is a major appliance I thnk all RVERs repair it themselves. I tried to get our local dealer to get us a price and he never after 3 months so we went else where. The local dealer is to fix your issues but you "are " going to be on the back of the list. Who wants to wait for the local dealer to fix a leaky tap? I think that if even you did not purchase from there than they would want to make money on the warranty items.

RVWholesalers Has a Nation wide service center , email them, and see where one is in your local area. We are nice enough to have 3 with in a couple hours drive and one locally.

See we live in Canada and with the dollar being so good it was a no brainer to save all that cash even if it puts miles on the wheels before I get a chance to do it first..

James
2011 FR Wildcat 32QBT
2004 dodge Dually 5.9l diesel

I just joined the forum. I'm also considering buying from RV Wholesalers. They've given me a great quote on a 323QB. My only concern is that different local dealers tell me that "they're selling you a unit from the Indiana plant. You wan't the better build quality from the Oregon plant. That's what you need for Canada." ??? Yeah, the FR website does show West Coast and East Coast models for some of their lines, but not the Wildcat. Is there really a difference between Wildcats made in Indiana vs. those made in Oregon? This will be my first trailer and I don't want any headaches. Thanks.

FortyTripleD
2010 F350 SuperDuty Crew Cab Lariat SRW
No Fifth Wheel Yet!

Welcome to the forum, FortyTripleD.

I know that there used to be some differences between East and West in the Wildcats. I don't know about now. Ask one of those local dealers to get specific about what makes the West Coast model better for your needs... or ask what the differences are between those made in Oregon and those made in Indiana.

They might be telling you something important, or they might just be trying to get you to buy from them. Did you ask if anyone can meet the price that RV Wholesalers offers? If one of them can come close, you might want to deal with someone local.

A quick chime in on this . GLad to see that your going with them. Make sure your comfortable about spending some time trying to get warranty .After about 8 months I finally found a local that will do the work with out having to pay out of pocket first..
As far as the quality from East to West is still up for debate but according to Rod Batts and Kyle Hilliard of Forest River the East Coast Plant builds 90% of all wild cats and if they need to change something on the assembly line West follows.. Hope this helps.
Now back to snow...

Jim&Dianne73 wrote:When you get the price from them , go to your local dealers and see how close their price is. If you take into account the cost to go get the unit and the hassle of getting someone close to work on it ,it may not be such a bargin . We bought ours local and the were within a hundred dollars , and we get good service. Jim

My story is the same my dealer matched the offer that I was quoted from RVWholesalers. I was glad to keep the purchase somewhat local and service has never been an issue EVER!

My contact at RVW called Chris Barth at Forest River, who is the Midwest Regional Sales Manager for the Wildcat line. Chris Barth sent me a personal email this morning:

"My name is Chris Barth and I'm a regional sales manager for Forest River's Wildcat brand. Kyle from RV Wholesalers asked me to contact you with regards to my product line, specifically the differences between the east and west coast production. Unlike some of Forest River's east and west coast versions of products, Wildcat's goal has been to keep the brand as similar as possible, thus the reason there is no distinction on our web site or literature. Please feel free to call me at my office in Indiana on Monday to discuss further. I'd be happy to assist you!"

I'm S-L-O-W-L-Y starting to have more confidence in the folks at RVW, and at the same time, get more suspicious that local dealers are trying to put seeds of doubt into my decision process, so that I buy through them instead (and conveniently pay an extra $8k to $10k! Ouch!!). Thanks for the replies, everyone.

40DDD

I just found and joined the forum. Looks like exactly what I have been looking for. I purchased my wildcat about 4 months ago and will be driving to Lakeville to pick it up next month. After reading about some of the postings I am wondering if I made a wise choice. I did save over $2000 over dealers here in MN and I was on top of the world but now I have to deal with the warranty issues that I knew very little about. Driving about 700 miles to deal with a problem will not happen. I hope a local will be willing to help me. Can someone let me know of a fix it shop that will work with me on warranty issues in my twin City area? I have planned to camp very close for two nights and will try out every part of the unit. Could anyone also give me a hint on what breaks down first or what I should be sure to ask about? Thanks

I talked with Chris Barth from Forest River. The only difference between the Elkhart plant and the Oregon plant is that at the Oregon plant, they also make the Sierra. The Sierra is a bigger trailer, and to save on OVERALL production costs, they use the same 6000LB rated axes on the Wildcat as they do the Sierra. At Elkhart, they use the perfectly fine 5200# axles, which is typical across all manufacturers for that size of trailer. Another reason why the Oregon trailers are (apparently) more expensive is because many of the identical parts, components and perhaps even sub-assemblies have to be shipped from (generally) the eastern part of the continent. This is the real reason why the Oregon-made Wildcats are more expensive... not because of "higher build quality", as some dealers would have you believe.

Last week I put my deposit down with RV Wholesalers for a new 2012 323QB. RVW has a service network, including here in Alberta and Edmonton, where I can get my trailer serviced, no problem. They've partnered with different service shops that actually want the work. RVW is also a member of the BBB. I found a dealer in Michigan that was about $600 cheaper, but they didn't pre-screen their recommended service centres like RVW, and they weren't listed with the BBB. For me, those extra assurances are worth the extra few $$$.

5200# axles may be fine but I am glad that I have the 6000# axles and 16" wheels. Many on this forum have up graded to 16" tires and wheels. You may want to inquire with RVW if the 6000# axles and 16" wheels are available

There's a lot of things I got, including the 16" wheels.

My brother-in-law is a mechanical engineer, and I talked to him about it. He said in most lilelihood, the bearing diameter for the wheel hub is the same on both axles. And also most likely, is that the shafts come from the same manufacturer, made of the same steel, and are heat treated the same way. The hardness of the shaft inside the bearing will be the same, and so they'll wear the same.

We did some quick searching on the internet, and it seems that both axles are 3" diameter, but the 6000# axle is solid, and the 5200# axle is hollow with a 0.18" wall thickness (does anyone know for sure?). He says that when it comes to bending forces, it's all taken up by the diameter, not the thickness. That's why beams used in buildings or houses have all the "meat" of the beam at the top and bottom. And the shear strength of typical carbon steel is 21,000 psi. Even with the 5200# axle (with an actual load of 5200#), the stress works out to around 6300 psi, which is barely 33% of the ultimate capacity of the axle. (This guy did the math in the margins of the newspaper on our kitchen table... unbelievable.)

He then asked me about the weight distribution on the Wildcat. I showed him the spec page for the 323QB, and it shows a GVWR of 11990#, with 1830# at the pin. That leaves 10160# on the axles. And for two axles, it's 5080# each. A 5200# "rating" is fine, because there's always safety factor built in, he tells me.

And because the load is placed on the outer ends of the axles, near the wheels, the difference between a 5200# and a 6000# axle would be miniscule when it comes to actual deflection of the axle in the centre of the trailer. If the loads were placed in the middle, then the difference between a 3" solid axle and a 3" hollow axle would be visible. I'll have to take his word for it.

He says what's more important are the bearings, the hardness of the metal on the shaft where the bearing rides, the suspension, the tires, and the alignment. I think he's right. I've heard / read of potential issues with bearings, alignment and suspension and tires, but I've never heard of an outright axle failure. We've got thousands of trailers here in Alberta (haul, horse / cattle, rv you name it), putting on thousands of miles year-in and year-out, and not once have I ever heard or seen a news story on an accident or traffic tie-up because the axles broke on a trailer. It just doesn't happen.

Has anyone heard of a 5200# axle BREAKING on a Wildcat? How about another brand of trailer? I'm not talking about wheel or tire or bearing problem or suspension problems... but the actual shaft itself.

I'm still glad I went with the 16" wheels. I'll pay attention to alignment, too.

I also purchased from RVW. We were extremely happy with our purchase. We had bought and sold 4 campers in a little over 2 years. RVW was by far the best to deal with. Our local dealer had the exact same unit on thier lot but was manufactured 11 months earlier. We had the 2 batteling back and forth and ended up purchasing from RVW for almost $1000 cheaper on a 2011 rather than a 2010. They gave me a smokin price, nobody could touch them. They have a nationwide service network for warranty work also even thought they are only about 55 miles from me. The distance did not mean much for me, I bought our first toy hauler from Texas.

We bought our first TT from a wholesaler out of state. Distance travelled to save a few thousand dollars seemed to be a no brainer....UNTIL......we needed warranty work done. Our local brand dealer REFUSED to do any warranty work because we didn't buy it from them. Was it the end of the world? No. But did we end up paying someone else to fix the problems out of pocket? Yes. Granted the money spent on the repairs/fixes were NO WHERE near the initial money we saved, but it was still money spent. (NOTE: Manufacturer was NOT Forest River.)

When we bought the Wildcat - - - we went local and paid close to $3000 more than RV Wholesalers quoted. (We special ordered the Wildcat.) We have had LOTS of warranty work done on our unit - fiberglass repair, seals, gaskets, fender skirts, flooring and the list goes on. I feel that our decision to spend the extra money with a local dealer was money well spent.

Our two cents.

IF you can do most small repairs yourself and are mech inclinded.,,, RVW is the way to go.
And their repair network may be up to par but I've never had to deal with it.

We saved almost $20 000 ordering from RVW as opposed to the Cat dealer about and hour north from us in Canada, we ordered what we wanted, told them our options list and the time we wanted to pick it up. We drove 6 hours picked it up spent 2 nights at Indian Lake State Park(which is VERY nice) and have had no issues at the border, they had all the paper work in order, just handed the customs folks the package and drove straight on through. It was their warranty network that sold. It was between RV Nation and RVW the difference was only $5 in quotes. So not having to drive to Cinci to get warranty work done sold us.

[quote]I spent a little more and bought my trailer local. I'd rather put my money in my own backyard anyways.
[quote]



Ditto...