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Truck Camper Magazine visits Fraserway RV’s location in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Can the flagship dealership live up to the hype? Is that a stealth fighter?
Have you ever had a movie ruined by hype? Every time you heard, “You’re going to love it” the higher your expectations would rise. Even if the movie was fantastic, it’s almost impossible to satisfy your hyped expectations. Of course there are rare exceptions, but most of the time hype leads to a predictable let down.
Everyone who had been to Fraserway RV’s flagship location in Abbotsford, British Columbia had raved to us about it. They would say, “You won’t believe it”. As we approached the dealership this past August, the hype machine had our expectations set for stunning.
LEFT: Half way around the traffic circle, we saw it. Is that a stealth fighter? Or maybe it’s an alien spaceship preparing to assimilate Canadian citizens! Good thing we’re from south of the border, we’ll be safe. Where did we put our passports?
Maybe we’re having too much fun with this, but Fraserway RV’s main building in Abbotsford is truly stunning. The multi-faceted glass and metal architecture looks more like something you would see at a brand new BMW or Lexus dealership than anything in the RV marketplace. Without having stepped foot onto the premises, we were already impressed.
CENTER AND RIGHT: Even the signage was impressive and further reminded us of a premium auto dealership. Just past the entrance sign was another sign clearly directing us to one of six destinations; the service center, a dump station, big rig parking, the showroom, the parts store, and regular parking. There was no doubt that the Fraserway management team had spent a lot of time thinking about the presentation, purpose, and flow of this dealership.
LEFT: It can be a challenge to find dump stations when you’re long distance traveling. More and more dumps are now charging for the privilege making websites like www.rvdumps.com and www.sanidumps.com critical resources for any RVer.
We were delighted to find a well marked and well maintained free RV dump in right at the entrance of the flagship Fraserway RV dealership. Don’t pooh-pooh this important point. Nothing stinks more than not being able to find a dump when you need one. We applaud Fraswerway RV for having a free dump. Every RV dealership should have one.
CENTER AND RIGHT: Just beyond the free RV dump is one of the most impressive RV service centers we’ve ever seen. With twelve bays in the front and twelve bays in the back, it’s also the largest RV service center we’ve ever seen.
During our service center tour, Ken North, General Manager of the Abbotsford location, explained that he considers the service department to be as important to sales as anything that happens on the lot or in the showroom. For this reason, he makes sure Fraserway RV customers see the service center during their pre-purchase research.
Ken told us that the service department is so large that it can often accommodate same day or next day appointments. With how precious every day off can be, anything that prevents lost vacation time is incredibly valuable to the consumer.
Inside, the service center was full of every type of RV imaginable including motorhomes, towables, and truck campers. A few service bays deep into the service center, we found two 2010 Adventurer 80GS truck campers. One of the two units had been sold to a customer and was bring detailed for delivery by Krystle Poitras.
LEFT: Directly across from the service building is the main building and showroom. The architecture on this side of the building is as striking as it is from the street view with more pronounced angles and a continuation of the modern and sophisticated style.
CENTER AND RIGHT: Stepping inside the building you find yourself at one end of a large open showroom with about ten RVs on display. After we gave Amanda Henschell, Fraserway RV's Event Coordinator, a browbeating about the lack of a truck campers in the showroom, she assured us that we had just missed one that had been on the floor. There were several events that weekend and much of the Fraserway RV inventory was in attendance.
Like Easter Eggs, there are lots of fun and tucked away details to discover as you explore the showroom. Look up and there’s a canoe paddling overhead (left). Look next to the receptionist desk and there are fish swimming against a flowing waterfall (center). And Harley was most surprised by the animals he found here, there, and everywhere (right). No worries Harley, they’re friendly.
And the discoveries don’t stop there. In the center of the showroom is a campfire with chairs and logs to sit on (left). A few steps away are sofas, chairs, a children’s area, HDTV, and a fireplace (center). Directly behind this sitting area is another table and chair set and free coffee and drinks (right). It’s clear that the Fraserway RV team wants you to be as comfortable as possible as you shop the RV inventory or wait for your service to be completed.
Where better to gather the Fraserway RV management team than in their own showroom campsite? If you look closely, you’ll fund Harley enjoying a scratch from Ruth Goodall, Assistant to Fraserway RV’s President, James Epp. She and Harley are behind the red cooler.
LEFT: On the other side of the showroom is the RV parts and supply store. As we walked over, we admired the full wall painted mural with an Adventurer truck camper. Immediately we noticed that the camper in the painting is the exact camper we were traveling in, an Adventurer 90FWS. Ruth suggested that I pose with the camper as if it were real. Evidently others have done this and it made for a fun shot.
CENTER AND RIGHT: Just outside of the store we found a display including a Torklift SuperHitch and Fastgun tie-down and turnbuckle system. Inside the store we found more Torklift products and an entire area dedicated to camper jack accessories. If there was any doubt that Fraserway RV was serious about truck campers, the nearly life-side truck camper mural and prominent Torklift display put those doubts to rest.
LEFT AND CENTER: The store was very well stocked and organized. Each isle was well marked and there were several team members there helping customers to quickly find what they needed. What impressed us the most was the amount of products they had for maintaining or repairing your RV.
RIGHT: For example, they had a display of gimp, molding, and wall panel types. Having access to these materials as consumers is fantastic as it allows you to make repairs and maintain your camper without going through a potentially expensive service department. We don’t recommend everyone do their own repairs, but those of you who are talented and hands on know who you are.
LEFT AND CENTER: The Abbotsford store had just about any truck camper you could imagine, as long as it was an Adventurer. We enjoyed exploring the complete line of Adventurer campers they had on display in what the Fraserway RV sales team calls Camper Land. At their Edmonton location, Fraserway RV also carries Northern Lite campers.
At the entrance of Camper Land they also had a truck and camper combination with a 2010 Adventurer 80SK. With a TCM wet wait of 2,006 pounds (1,296 dry), the 80SK makes a compelling match for a late model half-ton with the available payload.
RIGHT: As we saw in their showroom, Fraserway RV carries a wide variety of RVs. From the office balcony of James Epp’s office, we could see Camper Land and an ocean of travel trailers, fifth wheels, and motorhomes on display.
Speaking of a wide variety of RV’s, inside their showroom Fraserway RV in Abbotsford has a poster that helps customers to identify which RV type is “best” for you. If you’re reading this article and are still unsure, please read our heavily biased and completely accurate article titled, “Do More and Spend Less with a Truck Camper”.
This past Spring, we noticed that more than half of the inquiries coming into the Go RVing campaign were for rental RVs. More than half. Considering how many hundreds of Class-C motorhomes we recently saw in places like southern Utah, this doesn’t surprise us at all. What does surprise us the continuing fact that it’s nearly impossible to rent a truck and camper in the United States. For all those thousands of inquiries, truck campers aren’t even in the game. We lose because we don’t play.
Cross the border into Canada and that all changes. Fraserway RV rents practically brand new truck and camper combinations from their seven locations throughout Canada. During our visit to Fraserway RV in Abbotsford, all but one rental truck and camper combination was out. The only one left was an Adventurer 100WS and Ford F350 crew cab. Behind the lone rental truck camper were five Adventurer Class-C motorhomes ready to go that weekend on a rental adventure.
At the end of our visit with Fraserway RV, a load of brand new 2011 Adventurer truck campers pulled in from Yakima, Washington. We had been at Adventurer’s factory just a few weeks prior and probably saw these very campers on the production line or in the yard. Coming out to greet Dirk Meyer, the driver, was James Epp, President of Fraserway RV.
It was a Friday afternoon and James had just returned from the ice cream store with end of the week treats for his team. Believe it or not, it can be quite hot in Abbotsford in mid-August and we enjoyed the surprise treat. Hey, we work hard too. Thanks James!
What makes an excellent dealership has much more to do with the the dealership team than the dealership facility. Give me a used car lot with a team that’s attentive, helpful, fair, and knowledgeable about truck campers and we’re thrilled. In short, it’s not the facility, it’s how the team uses it.
After meeting the Fraserway RV team in Abbotsford and watching them in action with customers, we would recommend Fraserway RV even if they were on a used car lot. Now that they have a state-of-the-art facility, they look as good as they are. Put another way, the facility doesn’t make the dealership, but it sure helps. That’s something we can hype about.
To learn more about Fraserway RV, visit their website at www.fraserway.com.
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