I’m all about signs when it comes to making a purchase. If I feel as if something in this universe is sending me a sign, I make sure to listen. If you have been following along with S’More RV Fun, you know that we are in a refinancing saga with our bank right now that is going on for 4 months! I’m going to call this sign #1.
We have had our eye on one travel trailer (Forest River 32 BHDS) this entire time and after finally getting word that we were close to closing we decided to go and put money down to hold it.
We arrive at the dealership around 10 am and immediately go straight to our trailer on the lot. As we near the door, a family is coming out of our trailer and seemingly, touring all of them on the lot. We think nothing of it. We are taking our time this go around with the trailer – I even brought my measuring tape to get measurements of all the compartments and bedding.
After about 10 minutes of inspection, it seemed like every time we turned around we found an issue with the trailer we were looking at. Here were a few notable issues with the Forest River 32 BHDS:
- A water leak in the bathroom from rain.
- The outside kitchen door hinge broken and the door was skewed from the transfer to the dealership.
- Window blind in the family area broke off.
- The plumbing under the sink was all was loose to the touch and barely together.
- Tires were not Goodyear.
We were shocked by the lack of quality in the Forest River model but again I would have never thought to have looked if it weren’t for the Facebook groups I joined months ago. Ugh. Sign #2.
We kept inspecting and as I was taking measurements in the bedroom I heard a tumble down the stairs of the RV. Steph had missed a step and fell to the ground while holding our 7-month-old. Luckily she was in mom mode and he never touched the ground. She rolled her ankle and scraped up her knee pretty good. Sign #3.
After she gathered herself, the family from earlier returned and my wife who is super concerned at this point tells me “I’m going to ask them if they bought it.”. I encourage her not to because it’s none of our business and she demands that it is our business. She asks. They bought it. Literally, while we were in it. Sign #4. Game over.
Now, Steph, Ross Jr. and I are sitting in the RV dealership lot with no RV to buy. Rather than letting defeat get the best of us, we decide that we are going to look around the lot and really explore the other travel trailers. The first we look through was the Jayco version of the 32BHDS and we were shocked by the difference in quality. Nice finishes. Solid construction. No visible leaks, loose pipes or bad woodwork. This can’t be! We spent the last 2 months researching Forest River. We made two videos talking about buying the Forest River 32 BHDS. We belong to 3 Facebook groups!
What we quickly realized at this moment was how all of our research led us to a brand that we didn’t know much about without seeing it, touching it and inspecting it for quality. We think these are common buying RV mistakes. We didn’t know the difference between Forest River and Jayco. As I sit here today, I can tell you that Jayco makes a better product. The price is slightly higher, but we also learned that we could finance a trailer of $25,000 for 3 extra years, making your per month price point the same. That is what we budgeted, the monthly price, not the overall cost.
The bottom line is that no amount of research and reading really prepares you enough to buy a camper without giving it a thorough once over. You need to have some idea of what to look for and the Facebook groups are a great resource for that.
In case you are wondering at this point what we did, we finished looking through the Jayco thoroughly and immediately put money down on it. We are excited to hopefully finally take delivery next week, as long as our refinance finishes up!
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