Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club Info & Discussion Forum

Received an email from Brandon Dodgen at the Born Free factory. Below is repeated the content of that email.

All,

We have discontinued our relationship with Lazydays and are now partnered with RV World. They have two locations - one in Lakeland, FL and one in Nokomis, FL.

We're excited for this new relationship and will be shipping them product very soon!

Thanks,
Brandon

Born Free Announces Its Newest Dealer - RV World



Born Free is excited to welcome RV World, in both Nokomis and Lakeland, Florida, as our newest dealer! We couldn't be happier to share this news and invite current and future Born Free owners to stop in, say hello, and check out the new inventory that will be arriving soon at both locations. RV World is Florida's largest Class C RV dealer and specializes in high quality RVs and top notch customer service. Click here to check them out! http://www.rvworldinc.com

Click here to see an RV World video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-pTHJEWT1Q

We'd also like to thank Lazydays for representing Born Free over the last three years. It has been a pleasure and we appreciate the addition of each new owner who purchased at Lazydays to our Born Free Family.

See a 2016 Born Free at Oshkosh!



We're back at the Oshkosh Airventure this year and we're showing off our 2016 features and designs! We'll be in lot 805 in the Fly Market and will have one of our popular 23 foot Freedom models on display.

Come and visit to see vintage planes, exciting air shows, and a brand new 2016 Born Free!

Click here for more info on the 2016 Oshkosh Airventure http://www.eaa.org/en/airventure

Not surprised. Did they also drop LZ Days in AZ

No presence in the West?

Bill

I assume that Lazydays in Tucson, AZ is also no longer a Born Free dealership. This means that the annual co-sponsored Born Free/Lazydays rallies in February in Tampa, FL and in March in Tucson, AZ are history.

Born Free also has a new dealer in Eugene Oregon, George Sutton RV. Check the factory website for more info.

All I wish to see is for Born Free to successfully negotiate the changeover in ownership and continue its history of building a quality product. Dealerships seem to come and go with no significant effect on the success of the company. Oh how I wish it was still family owned, customer and employee centered, with sales only from the factory.

Has Born Free decided where it will hold the rally or rallies next? Nokomis RV World area campground?

I agree with Dallas.

We owned a Chinook Class C prior to buying our Born Free. It was a really nice coach, and a family owned business much like Born Free. When the original founder and owner retired and passed the reigns to his sons, they overextended themselves financially and the company went under. Really sad to see.

I think Born Free must continue to build a high quality coach and offer great factory service and provide customer/owner support to be successful. If they lose their reputation for those things, the value of our coaches will take a hit; and Born Free would just be one of many class C manufacturers, selling strictly on a price basis with no regard for quality.

John

Dallas Baillio wrote:All I wish to see is for Born Free to successfully negotiate the changeover in ownership and continue its history of building a quality product. Dealerships seem to come and go with no significant effect on the success of the company. Oh how I wish it was still family owned, customer and employee centered, with sales only from the factory.

Dallas, if it'll help at all, I've seen absolutely no change for the worse in the Born Free operations at all under the new ownership. The factory is still turning out the quality you're used to seeing, and both sales and service continue with the same folks and the same customer-centered approach. As long as the operation remains in Humboldt, IA I doubt you'll see much change there at all. The folks who make Born Free what is is are those who work for the company, and they're all long-term employees who are very accomplished at and invested in what they do. There are folks there who have worked for Dodgen for over forty years. When you start to see a large-scale employee turnover, that's when you'll know something is different, and not in a good way. Until then, I wouldn't be too concerned.

The Eugene, Oregon Dealer is about 150 miles from me.
They have 5 in stock. The cheapest one is 160k.
All the way up to this big boy.
Is it just me, but don't the prices just seem like they are going up and up?
And I wonder how much dicker room there is? 10 % ???
I hate dealing like this.
Guess I will continue to look for a newer used one.
Almost a 1/4 mil... WOW

That was what It thought too about the pricing but then I looked up the price of the Ford 550 and can see why it cost much more. It is a much bigger unit and heavier duty. It is not too bad really but the price is up a bit more then the inflation rate but I think all commodities till just recently have been going up as have labor costs.

Concerning purchases from RV dealers, I have always believed that a starting (and perhaps final) offer to purchase should be no more than 15% below sticker. Some years back Born Free made a move to set up dealers and immediately raised "list price". There was quite a furor raised by existing owners and the factory then offered a price reduction for sale direct. Do not recall whether that offer was only for existing owners. This was prior to the more recent involvement with Lazy Days. That all sort of faded away as did the agreements with those dealers.
Ralph