Early Model Explanation

Why using "early model" is important to us

All this 'early model' stuff is confusing--why do you do that?

We don't want to confuse anybody, but using "early model" is absolutely necessary so that you know exactly what you're getting. Here's why: most vehicle manufacturers begin the next model year before the next calendar year starts.

The reason is to prevent vehicles that are built in the winter from being considered a year old after January 1st (since they are actually less than a month old). Since factories don't want to shut down for several months at the end of the year and then be behind schedule on January 1st, manufacturers agreed that at a certain point in the calendar year their products can be designated as the next year's model.

In some cases the next model year label is applied to products manufactured before any real changes are made in the product's features, materials, or specifications. If changes are made later in the year there is now a difference between two products that are supposed to be of the same model year--that's a problem.

For example: Flagstaff used 17,000 BTU furnaces in all of their 2007 model year campers. By the end of the 2007 calendar year Flagstaff switched to 19,000 BTU furnaces ("Are they really 19K BTU furnaces?" Yes). Some campers had already been delivered that said "2008" on the title but had the smaller 17,000 BTU furnace. The newest campers being delivered in December and January had the newly upgraded 19,000 BTU furnaces. So two campers that were both ostensibly "2008" models had two different furnaces!

The real problem occurs when you buy a what you think is a full-fledged 2008 camper that you assumed had a 19,000 BTU furnace in it (since that's what the 2008 model year brochure said) and end up with a 17,000 BTU furnace (especially if you paid the regular 2008 price).

To protect our customers from situations like this and to be completely forthcoming about the details of our campers, we differentiate between early model-year campers and regular model-year campers (even if the changes from model year to model year are less substantial than a new furnace). In the example above we would call the campers with the smaller furnace an "Early Model 2008" and the camper with the larger furnace simply a "2008" model.

So, when you see "early model" just keep in mind that that camper has the same features and specifications as the previous year's model. In fact, without looking at the title you would probably be unable to distinguish between the two campers. Granted, the early model camper is a little younger than the previous year's model but it is not the next year's model in terms of changes or upgrades to the current model year's features and specifications.

More examples of why "early model" is important:

Both of the Flagstaff Classic trailers shown below are titled as 2013 campers. The one on the left is an early model 2013, the one on the right is a full-fledged 2013 after Flagstaff changed to black trim. This is another reason why distinguishing between "early model" and regular model-year trailers is vital.

In 2017 Flagstaff added a dormer to the T12BH. Early model 2017 T12BH campers did not have the dormer. Someone expecting a dormer on an T12BH advertised as a 2017 may be disappointed to learn the camper was actually an early model 2017 and had no front dormer.

The same thing happened to the T21TBHW in 2018. Early Model 2018 T21TBHW's had a flat front roof panel. The full-fledged 2018 T12TBHW's had a dormer.

Top of Page

Back to Current Models

Back to New Campers In Stock

Back to Used Campers For Sale