July 24th 

The latest rants and opinions of the Urban Suburban RV’er. Today’s rants will cover 2 topics on my mind 

1-To Trade In, Sell Out Right or Go Through a Consignment Outfit

2-What is more important a reputable dealer or a well built coach?

To Trade In, Sell Out Right or Go Through a Consignment Outfit. 

We are still in the process of upgrading our current RV (2014 Forest River Georgetown 351). We have narrowed down the brands (Forest River Berkshire, Tiffin Allegro Red, Fleetwood Discovery). The biggest issue/unknown that we are facing right now is to how best to maximize the value that we have in our current RV. Should we Trade It In? Sell It Out Right or Go Through a Consignment Outfit?

Trade It In

A few of the dealers that I have casually interacted with are eager to sell me a new unit and are not to “generous” when it comes to offering a value for the unit that we want to trade in.

Sell It Out Right

I have listed it on 3 different websites and have received over 325 views and maybe 10-15 emails asking question and offering ridiculously lowball prices (5-10K) and terms (monthly payments)

Consignment Outfit

This seems like the worst option of all. Park it on a lot and you are not able to use it…uggg what a waste.

What is more important a reputable dealer or a well built coach?

Right now our current unit (2014 FR Georgetown) is at a local non camping world owned RV repair shop getting a few minor things fixed and tweaked before we head out at the end of the week. The dealer is the closest to my home but holy cow they are horrible at follow up, being friendly  and fixing things right the 1st time.

PS-Even though they are horrible..they are a locally owned dealer and we need more of these in America so I won’t trash their name…Once i have my RV back I will reach out to the owner directly

As I go back and forth with which brand we should buy should I focus on the dealer reputation first and then the brand or should I find the brand and then hope that the dealer treats me fairly/

What Are Your Thoughts/Opinions.

PS-If you know if any reputable   dealer and/or sales reps for Berkshire, Tiffin or Fleetwood  within 100 miles of the Washington DC area please forward them my information.

RV Limbo.

Ha is there such a thing? If you have read my previous blogs you know that we are actively trying to sell our current unit and then purchase a new or like new unit. Until we find the next ETCTA we are continuing our regularly planned and spontaneous adventures.

When considering our likes and dislikes for the new unit we a few months ago we narrowed our choices down to a Tiffin Allegro Red 38QBA or Tiffin Allegro Red 37PA. 

That was a few months ago. A few factors have influenced our decision.

1-Camping World has purchased the local Tiffin Dealer. To Tiffin's credit they do not sell new units through Camping World (so much for trying to do the right thing and buy local.

2-The next closest Tiffin Dealer (Gambrils, MD) has horrible customer service reviews. In the age of the educated RV Buyer I wonder why dealers don't do more to improve their customer service. I wonder what changes the owner of this dealership would make if he knew that people viewed his business in that light? Ok scratch that thought..Look at Camping World and Marcus Lemonis.

3-After reading a few different blogs and posts from a few different Facebook Groups about everyone who travels to Red Bay to get work done. I started thinking about it being a yearly pilgrimage for all Tiffin owners...:Heading To Red Bay" Then I read a blog (i forgot which one) and the writer summed it up perfectly. All RV's will have issues, all RV's will need to go in for service. Everyone who heads to Red Bay to have warranty work done or other issues fixed is doing it because Tiffin is very particular about who they authorize to work on their units. The most important things are to have a service plan (warranty and regular maintenance) and to work with a reputable dealer.

Today

We have since expanded our choices to a Forest River Berkshire XLbh (360 hp), Berkshire XL 40bh (380hp) and Berkshire XLT 43b. I really want the the XLT 43b due to the layout, interior space and current owner feedback (Thanks Habbs) Once we sell our current unit and sit down at the table (or the phone/internet) with a reputable dealer we will see which unit above will fit into our budget.

Until then we will continue to drive ourselves out of RV Limbo.

Trip Report-Fathers Day Weekend-Hershey Pennsylvania


We have stayed at a few campgrounds/RV parks that are connected to major amusement parks and the Hershey Park Camping Resort is definitely one of the best.

When we arrived on a Saturday afternoon the registration area was packed full of people. My initial thought was that I was going to be greeted by a teenager who doesn't handle stress very well. Luckily I am camping and I was about 15 minutes away from cracking my 1st adult beverage. When it was my turn to check in I was happily greeted by an attendant who was chipper, happy and who was more than willing to have someone show us to our site. I politely declined since I knew the lay of the land.


Our site was HUGE in length and width. In a typical RV park this spot would have held at least 2 RV's

Once I backed into my site. I kept noticing workers who were either helping other guests, picking up debris or cleaning up a site from a guest who had limited camping etiquette. All of the workers either waved or said hello. This was definitely a change from the normal RV park customer service experience.


Ok the real reason why were here was because of Hershey Park. This is probably the most family friendly fun park that I have ever been to. Every thing is clean and well maintained. The roller coasters are awesome. One of the best parts about the park is that there are customer service people everywhere who will happily answer your question or politely talk to a guest who is not exhibiting family friendly behavior.


If you are in the area and have time..stop by the Sweetest Place On Earth

Well the time has come to actively start the selling process of our existing RV (2014 Forest River Georgetown 351).

Are we going to give up the RV lifestyle?..NO! Not by a long shot…if anything we are going to maximize our use of available days off and hit the road more often. We have the next unit picked out (model/floor plan) that will meet our needs for the next 10-years. Our plan is not to make  a move on the new ETCTA until we completely sell the existing unit.

Why Now?

We both decided that NOW is the optimal time  of the year due to  fact that people on the east coast  are still outside camping and would be thinking about camping. If we wait until December  peoples thought process would  be around snow blowers and skiing not camping outside.

When finalizing out plans to sell we still have a full dance card (aka camping trips planned) and we didn’t want to stop or slow down. So our plan is to list it on every RV Sale website as possible AND at the same time keep dancing (aka camping) AND keep it in show ready shape all of the time (which we do). Our motto is that Life is Too Short to Sit Back and Wonder “If”.

Our Options To Sell The Current Unit

Trade In.-> This is our last resort. This would severely limit the amount of a downpayment that we could put on a new coach and thereby reduce our negotiation leverage. Also, my thinking is that the more money that I can leave in the family budget means that we can spend more days out on the road.

Old School

Park It and Put A Sign In It- I have seen this sale tactic in a few more rural areas—>What a waste of a valuable resource! An RV (at least ours) is meant to be driven to new adventures. Our RV is  either  is sitting it is resting from the previous adventure or resting up for the next one.

On Line Ad

We decided to start with this tactic because we could maximize our investment and then increase our negotiation leverage when buying the new RV by walking in with cash.

I posted my 1st Ad last weekend on (RVT, RVTrader & Craigslist). When searching for the new ETCTA I frequented RV Trader because it was easy to navigate and I could easily view the units that I wanted to see. I very rarely used RVT because they had very limited listings of Class A Diesels. Craigslist…I figured what the hell its free and lets see what happens.

At the end of the 1st weekend I have received 

Craigslist-cant tell how many people viewed the ad…but hey it was free

RVT-29 Views (cost $35 until it sells/10-pictures)

RV Trader-23 Views (cost $29.95 for 2-weeks/4-pictures)

My plan is to give the RVT and RV Trader ads 2 weeks to run its course and then I will update the pictures with different shots. In the meantime we will keep exploring this awesome country.

Thanks for reading...If you have any suggestions, comments or advice please post them below.