Community Forums

Eratosthenes · 02-20-2016, 09:49 AM

So my wife and I have rented a 26 foot Sunseeker for two of our RV vacations. The last time we rented was a couple of years ago and we took a 3 week trip to Yellowstone. We want to have more RV vacations and we are thinking that owning an RV will be better than renting in the long run. The problem is that I have a lot of questions about which businesses should I trust in my hometown of Houston, TX.

So have any of you done business with anybody in Houston (or near Houston for that matter). My wife an I live in the north Houston suburbs. We want to buy a used RV (but not too used), so we need to find recommended businesses to do the following:

Dealerships to buy our lightly used RV
A business to maintain and repair our RV
A place to store our RV
An insurance company
A business that we have not even thought of yet because we are newbies

So anybody that has local knowledge of the Houston RV scene have any recommendations. Want to help a newbie out?

Thank you in advance!

Jon

dkrobath · 02-20-2016, 10:48 AM

Well a good place to start looking in Houston is PPL. No sales people to deal with it's like a RV show for used RV's. A great place to see whats out there and to learn about several brands and find a floor plan that you like. They have all types to check out.

JC2 · 02-20-2016, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eratosthenes

So my wife and I have rented a 26 foot Sunseeker for two of our RV vacations. The last time we rented was a couple of years ago and we took a 3 week trip to Yellowstone. We want to have more RV vacations and we are thinking that owning an RV will be better than renting in the long run. The problem is that I have a lot of questions about which businesses should I trust in my hometown of Houston, TX.

So have any of you done business with anybody in Houston (or near Houston for that matter). My wife an I live in the north Houston suburbs. We want to buy a used RV (but not too used), so we need to find recommended businesses to do the following:

Dealerships to buy our lightly used RV
A business to maintain and repair our RV
A place to store our RV
An insurance company
A business that we have not even thought of yet because we are newbies

So anybody that has local knowledge of the Houston RV scene have any recommendations. Want to help a newbie out?

Thank you in advance!

Jon

Might look and see what these people have in the Houston area. Was recommended to us several years ago from someone on this site.

Used RV's Motorhomes, RV Service & Sales Houston, Texas

NRF · 02-20-2016, 05:04 PM

Storage options would depend on your location in the Houston. I have used the same covered storage area in League City for 19 years. Definitely would use covered storage (if not enclosed). As per my answer to your other post, I suggest PPL and then also look at Demontrond.

Eratosthenes · 02-21-2016, 09:47 AM

Thank you all for your advice! I have heard about PPL and I live near Demontrond North and visited them about 3 years ago. I have never heard about Best Preowned RV before, but since I live so close to them I will have to check them out.

As far as storage is concerned, I am very interested in covered storage as I know just how brutal the heat and direct sunlight can be on a vehicle here in Houston.

Anybody here happy with their RV mechanic? This is a big deal to me as I am not a handy man and I would need someone I could trust not to rip me off on RV repairs and maintenance. How about RV insurance in Texas??

So many questions, got to figure out how much RV we can afford ...

Thank you all!

b17drvr · 02-21-2016, 09:59 AM

I use Safe Harbor storage in the Spring/Tomball area. It just opened last month and is really nice. Fully enclosed storage with electricity. They have air and water stations and restrooms. There is gated and camera security.
https://www.shstorage.com/self-storage-tomball-tx-f7924
As far as dealers in Houston - for used, PPL and new Demondtond.

b17drvr · 02-21-2016, 10:01 AM

For Service I've heard Action RV is good.
Monaco Coach Repair RV Service/Warranty Work|Recreation Vehicle Service||Houston, Texas|Action RV

Eratosthenes · 02-21-2016, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkrobath

Well a good place to start looking in Houston is PPL. No sales people to deal with it's like a RV show for used RV's. A great place to see whats out there and to learn about several brands and find a floor plan that you like. They have all types to check out.

I looked at your profile and I see that you live in NW Houston! So where do you store your RV? Where do you get it fixed? This is assuming you actually like the places that are using.

I see you bought a new MH. I have heard from some owners on this forum that it is better to buy slightly used so that most of the defects are fixed before you have to deal with them. Any comments about this?

Thank you for your advice!

Jon

dkrobath · 02-21-2016, 10:56 AM

Yea I get razzed all the time about buying a new MH. People tell me about the great deal they got on their used one in one breath and then go through all the repairs, upgrades, changes and all the money they spent in the next. Not counting the war stories about all the breakdowns on their trips and days spent waiting for the repairs to get done. Sorry that's just not me. I enjoy using it more than fixing it. Plus I wanted all the newer Tech that comes with a new one. So for me a few more dollars in monthly payments is well worth it.

I have an enclosed storage space at a place called Dry Dockers near 290 and Jones Rd. It's about 3 miles from my house. It has electric and so I can keep my refrigerator full and ready to go. It will keep my rig looking newer and cleaner as well.

Repairs has not been an issue yet, used the dealer for a few warranty tweaks and a place called Texas RV and Car care in Cypress for oil change, inspection etc. They did it in one day instead of waiting for 2-3 weeks to get into the dealership or Camping World

I did shop at PPL to learn what I liked and disliked in a coach and for me it led me to a new one.....but that's me. There is a lot to see there some nice ones and some not so much. I know a lot of people who bought there and several who told them what they wanted and got to pick from units before they actually get put on the lot.

mmhonomic · 02-22-2016, 12:13 AM

Like others said, start looking at PPL. You can look at the floor plans online and decide which ones you want to look at in person.

For north Houston I can recommend Camperland near 1488 and I-45. However on repairs they can be pretty slow but I understand all the RV repair shops are slow these days. They have more trailers than motorhomes but I have seen motorhomes in the shop when I have had my trailer worked on. I traded in my first trailer (which I had bought at PPL) when I upgraded to my current trailer.

I have not used Demontrand but they are highly recommended also, and sell a lot of motorhomes.
As for storage I use my son's yard. (grin) I sure wish it was under a roof as this hot sun is brutal.
Mary

Kuhlman61 · 02-22-2016, 02:42 AM

PPL is definitely the place to start, no pressure and you can compare almost every model out there. We just about purchased a used one from PPL but found a good deal on a new 27' sunseeker from Topper, took less time to close the deal than all of the cars I have bought.

As far as repairs go, we have had the new unit six weeks and have been on the road three weekends, and do have a few latches and mouldings that need attention, but after spending time ( year ) looking at the used ones we feel we made the correct choice.

JohnBoyToo · 02-29-2016, 09:01 AM

Take a nice weekend drive up to Alvarado, Tx to visit MHSRV and maybe to lewisville, tx for NIRV...

REV group is opening a regional service center in Alvarado next to MHSRV - should help with factory techs doing factory repairs !

Eratosthenes · 03-01-2016, 05:35 PM

Thank you everybody who have responded so far.

I live near Demontrond in North Houston and several people have said good things about them. I have also heard many bad things about Camper World across the US, but have not heard bad things about Camper World in Katy. Any comments about them? How about Holiday World or Ron Hoover.

We are going to check out a few places on Thursday ...

John219 · 03-05-2016, 08:14 PM

I have bought a motorhome at Holiday World and have had service at Holiday World. I would not do either there again. The service is absolutely horrible and I had to get with the manufacturer to help get some things done. I have not purchased from Camping World, but I have had service done there. And I would never have any service there again. I had to pay another shop to undo the problems the Camping World Service Dept. created. Camping World Service Managers were also horrible to deal with. I walked in with an appointment one day and they fought over who was going to have to work my vehicle issues. There were 4 or 5 of them sitting there and no other customers waiting.

Having said that, I have tried other shops, but none that I'm willing to recommend. Unfortunately, it seems the RV repair industry all suffers from issues of timeliness. But Holiday World and Camping World are at the bottom of my list.