📌 Note: This post was neither solicited nor sponsored by Airstream of New Mexico. We wrote it because exceptionally good service deserves exceptionally prominent recognition.

Scan any RV forum or Facebook group and you will find a very common thread: the vast majority of RV dealerships have absolutely awful service reputations. We thought buying a high-end brand like Airstream would insulate us against this reality, but unfortunately the dealer in Austin, Texas where we purchased our travel trailer has proven itself to be no exception. We have since vowed never to return there.

That left us in a bit of a quandary because shortly after we bought our Airstream, minor warranty issues started to pop up. They were mostly minor problems that didn’t limit our use of the trailer, but as the months went by the list kept growing. Eventually, we knew we’d have to find another Airstream dealership. Late last summer I started searching online for recommendations and I was floored to find that even among Airstream dealerships most service departments had pretty dismal reputations. Only two stuck out in a promising way. The first was the “mothership”, the factory service center in Jackson Center, Ohio where Airstreams are built. Most reviews I found of their service were absolutely glowing. However, we neither lived near Ohio nor had any plans to travel that way anytime soon. The other option I found was Airstream of New Mexico in Albuquerque. I could literally only find one negative review of them, but it was easy to disregard because the customer came across as completely unreasonable. So, effectively, Airstream of New Mexico had zero negative reviews. And, importantly for us, Albuquerque was much more in line with our 2023 travel plans. We decided to give them a shot.

Then we did the most natural thing in the world. We procrastinated! Several months went by until a severe rainstorm in December cattle prodded us into action by revealing a disturbing leak in our Airstream’s roof. Suddenly, calling the dealership was a top priority.

When we initially called Airstream of New Mexico and asked for Christina, as directed on their website, we got her voice mail. We left a message explaining our situation and wondered whether we’d get the same flakey treatment that our selling dealer provided. But some thirty minutes later, Chistina returned our call and allayed our fears. This is worth emphasizing given the number of complaints I have encountered, both first- and secondhand, of dealership service departments not even bothering to return customer phone calls. Christina always promptly returned our calls and consistently followed up with us regarding our service needs. She was friendly, courteous, and empathetic. She listened and spoke with us at length about our repair work until all our concerns were discussed and all our questions were answered. After that first phone call, Jill and I were both supremely confident that Airstream of New Mexico would get our Airstream back into tip-top shape.

Christina asked us to email her a list of our warranty items that required attention, and then we scheduled a date to drop off our trailer a few weeks away. In the meantime, Christina said they’d pre-authorize warranty claims based on our statements, pictures, and videos, and order all required parts so they were ready to go upon our arrival. I can’t overstate how much we appreciated this emphasis on efficiency. It meant that our Airstream would sit on their lot for the least amount of time possible before we got it back. We’ve heard other dealers will keep RVs for potentially months before starting work on them, which is a patently absurd way of doing business. Airstream of New Mexico, on the other hand, estimated that all of our repairs would be completed within about two to three weeks—including the work necessary to fix our roof leak!

Although we had planned on arriving at Airstream of New Mexico early in the afternoon of our scheduled drop-off date, poor planning on our part and a few unexpected hiccups caused us to run behind schedule. When we finally pulled into their parking lot, we found a small group of employees eagerly awaiting our arrival. They excitedly waved us in toward a chain-link gate that led to the service area, like our own dedicated pit crew. One employee pushed the gate open for us while Christina approached my window with a smile and some quick parking instructions. We were horribly late, arriving just 40 minutes before they closed, but you’d never know it by the staff’s demeanor. They were friendly, professional, diligent, patient, and as efficient as—well—as a pit crew! Within 30 minutes, they had winterized our Airstream and reviewed every item on our long repair list with Jill while I frantically transferred loads of our belongings from the trailer to our truck. When they were done, they left us alone to finish “moving out”. No rush, they said. (We still rushed. lol.)

Ultimately, our trailer remained at Airstream of New Mexico for seven weeks, only because prior obligations prevented us from returning any earlier. During that time, Christina continuously kept us apprised on the status of all the work being performed. When the day finally arrived to pick up our Airstream, she again spent a considerable amount of time talking us through all the work that had been performed. With only one exception, every problem we reported was addressed to our satisfaction—including two problems they found that we didn’t even know about.

We left that day feeling incredibly fortunate to have found a dealership that actually cares. We can’t recommend Airstream of New Mexico highly enough. If we have our way, we’ll never take our Airstream anywhere else!

After picking up our trailer from Airstream of New Mexico, we drove a quick 30 miles west to the Route 66 RV Resort where we stayed for a week, just to make sure everything on our trailer was good to go before returning to Austin. Great place! We had some crazy weather. Very windy all week and even got a good amount of snow one day.