Hello everyone, and welcome to the RV Inspection and Care Podcast and Video. I’m Duane and I’m a certified RV inspector. Today, we’re going to be talking about my list of the top three travel trailer brands and models that you should be buying right now if you’re looking for travel trailers.
Now, travel trailers are by far the most popular RV, and that’s because in many cases, they’re the most affordable. They also fit into people’s lifestyle a lot easier. You know, if you have a larger SUV or if you have a truck that you use for your daily driver, well then a travel trailer is going to fit in real well and it just goes right into your lifestyle very nicely. Also, if you’re thinking about getting into RVing on a more permanent basis, well travel trailers are a great place to start to get used to RVing itself.
Now, when you get to looking at travel trailers, you’re going to see that there are just an incredible number of brands and models to choose from. It’s a crowded field so the question is how do you know which brands are quality brands, the ones that you want to buy. Here’s the other thing that is interesting to note that quality doesn’t stay level in this segment of the RV industry. Very often, you’ll see brands where they get some years where they make good quality and then other years where it’s not so great anymore. So it’s important to stay up with it what brands are making the best quality now. Well, this video is about that. It’s about the top three travel trailer brands that I can personally recommend for you within the last three to four years.
Now, what am I basing my decisions on? Well, there’s three big things that I am choosing as the basis for my list and number one is build quality. That’s something that as an RV inspector, I pay a lot of attention to. But the second is customer service. You know, you want build quality before the sale, but you want to know that you’re going to get support after the sale. And finally, the third point is resale value because you want to be able to make sure that you can sell the travel trailer later on and get a good reasonable amount back out of it.
So let’s go ahead and let’s talk about the top three travel trailer brands that I’m recommending for you. Number one on the list is Grand Design. Now, Grand Design may seem like they have been around forever because they’re so ingrained in the RV culture now, but the truth is they’ve only been in business for about 10 years. Believe it or not, but in those 10 years, they have made tremendous strides. They are known for quality and they are also known for exceptional customer service after the sale. So give them a real consideration. The models that you want to look for are the Transcend and generally speaking, the Transcend will allow you to buy at the lower end of the market from Grand Design, the Imagine that fills the slot in the mid-range, and then the Reflection that can go up to the higher end of travel trailers. Now, the costs when you go on to RV Trader and you look for the variety of costs here, Grand Design travel trailers can start anywhere around the low 30s and go all the way up to the low 90s.
So, that is a wide variation within there. You’ve got almost any price range that someone could be buying at. So, if you’re considering an RV, well then grand design in the travel trailer segment has got a lot to offer.
Now, let’s move on to number two on the list and that is Northwood. Northwood is well known for making true four season RVs. Now, that means they build with quality and they are not a large quantity builder. You might have a little more challenge finding Northwood travel trailers, but when you do the quality is apparent. They have a lot of very loyal customers and fans who are also really vocal about their support for the company. So, that’s a good thing.
Now, as far as their models to buy, there’s two main travel trailer models that Northwood puts out at this point and that is the Arctic Fox. That’s what they’re probably most well known for and the Nash. If you look on RV Trader, the costs are going to run anywhere from the mid 30s all the way up to the mid 80s. Once again, you’ve got a lot of variation in the price ranges there to choose from. So, whether you’re buying on the lower end, in the mid-range, or the higher end, well, there’s something that Northwood has to offer you there.
Let’s move on to our third brand on my list of the top three travel trailer brands to consider and that is Lance. Lance is one of the fastest-growing RV builders in the current market and just, I have to say, they make exceptionally higher-quality travel trailers than the majority of their competition. So, really consider Lance if you’re looking in the travel trailer segment. As far as the models are concerned, they go about things a little bit different than most anybody else does. They don’t give their models names; they give them model numbers. So, the numbers range anywhere from 1475 up to 24.65. There’s a lot of them in between there. As far as the cost is concerned on RV Trader, you’re going to find that most Lance travel trailers are going to be between the low 50s up to the mid 90s. So, not quite as large a range of prices there from the Lance travel trailer segment, but there’s still quite a bit there that most people could choose from.
All right, so those are the three brands and models that they make that I wanted to recommend to you. Once again, number one Grand Design, number two Northwood, and number three Lance. Now, are these RV brands perfect? Is that why I’m recommending them to you? Absolutely not. There is no brand of RV out there that is perfect and these days especially so. So, understand that RVs are still being made generally by hand, so there can be a great variation in the sustainability of the quality level. So, understand that you can get a lemon in almost any RV brand out there, but these brands of travel trailers are going to put the odds on your side that most likely you’re going to get a very good RV.
Now, I can’t cover all of the travel trailers that I recommend either in just a YouTube video. I’ve done the top three here and really, I could have done some other brands. There’s several that are right there at the top, but I can’t put them all in a top three consideration. But I will be very soon releasing a guide to buying newer travel trailers and they will provide all of the brands and the models that I recommend, not just the top three, but all of them and list them in order as far as quality, customer service and resale value are a concern. So, keep an eye out for that guide, it is going to be released not very long from now.
By the way, if you have a favorite brand and you’re really convinced that they build with quality and so on and I didn’t mention it on my list today, don’t get shook about that. It probably means that you’re going to see it on my full list when it comes out in the guidebook.
All right, now the last point I want to make is actually a couple of things. Number one, as always these days, before you buy a new RV or a slightly used RV, make sure that you get it inspected by a certified NRVIA inspector. Now, why? Because if you watch any of my videos, you know that I keep making the points that the factories are turning out RVs these days that really aren’t up to snuff in many cases and the dealers are not fixing those problems in many cases before you buy it. So, get an RV inspection before the whole buying process is ended. Then, once that inspector gives you the punch list of all the problems, here’s the final point: do not take delivery of that RV until all those issues are fully resolved.
Now, if you’ll do that, you’re going to find that you’re going to get a good RV and you’re going to eliminate much of the frustration and irritation that so many new RV buyers are experiencing these days. And going along with that, let me also recommend that you consider getting my buying guides for new and used RVs. Now, these are not about the models and the brands, I have those buying guides, but I have two buying guides that specifically give you the buying process that you really should be going through to make sure that you get a good RV and that you’re not unhappy with what you get after the purchase. So, take a good look, there’s a buying guide for new RVs, there’s a process for buying them and there’s a process for buying used RVs and they’re very different. So, take a look at those, it’s a step-by-step process for buying RVs the right way and I highly recommend it.
Well, that’s it for now, have safe and happy travels my friends until next time.
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