My wife and I like NorthStar as obviously we have one, however there are no perfect RVs. When it comes to marketing, I think Rex could sell snow cones in the Arctic. One of the things I am curious about is they have been advertising for dealers in the last two issues of RV Business yet the wait from date ordered to date received already means waiting months. How is that going to work if orders increase?
There were several small problems with our camper, none of which were hard to fix, but shouldn’t have been and NorthStar has very few dealerships. No problem there, but if you call the factory number you got a recording that gave the sales manager’s number for sales and said to call the dealer for service. That just is not the best way to handle things in my opinion. I think it is fine when RV manufacturers want to imitate automotive manufacturers, but after decades and thousands of RVs, the biggest players in the RV industry are just getting to that point.
If I was not handy, the first time we camped with ours it would have required a 250 miles trek back the dealership. Now I know Northstar would say that was because the dealer didn’t do a good enough job on the Predelivery Inspection, but what tech would think to make sure the dead bolt worked so you could lock the door from the inside? Ours did not because the striker plate was mounted too high. That’s on the factory and the door distributor.
I would encourage NorthStar to do what many many RV manufacturers have done for years which is to also make service available at the factory. It is a heck of a marketing tool and really builds customer loyalty! They might even think of holding a “Homecoming” annually.
So in the end my wife and I like our NorthStar and would buy a NorthStar again, but expecting perfection is probably not realistic in my opinion.
Steve and Andra
2012 F350 6.2 gasser SRW LB
Fab Fours front and rear in case we run into a rhino
2019 Northstar Laredo SC
