Negotiated Price and Options by Phone

Sabina · 09-03-2010, 06:58 PM

We just spent two days negotiating by phone with a dealer that is further away than our local one (local one is not that close either). We put down a $100.00 credit card deposit, by phone on a 2,011 X17C Jay Feather Sport. If all goes well when we go to sign the contract, my husband and I will be owners of our first travel trailer. I am a bit worried since we don't have anything on paper that we negotiated by phone and wonder if anyone ever did it this way before and, if so, how did it work out? We didn't even see the trailer. The dealer closest to us only had 17 Z's on the lot and we did not want to travel back and forth so far to see the 17 C so I called about it. Before I knew it we found ourselves negotiating by phone. The pictures and floorplan look very much alike but the C weighs a bit less and is shorter - 17'11''. Our SUV can only pull up to 18 feet so we choose the C over the Z.

Hondopatrick · 09-03-2010, 08:34 PM

Sabina, we did about the same thing when we bought ours. I put $100 down without seeing the tt. (They never actually charged the card) When we got to the dealer we inspected the tt to make sure that was what we wanted, did a little more negotiating - basically had them throw in the Equalizer hitch - and finished up all the paper work. Everything worked out OK. Good luck and keep us posted!

hammerdown · 09-04-2010, 05:40 AM

We did almost the same thing. We negotiated over the phone on a new JayFlight 22FB and got the price down 30% (our goal). We didn't leave a deposit though, we drove to the dealer the next day did a complete inspection and bought it.

Denise · 09-04-2010, 01:33 PM

We researched through online/internet sites. When we saw the 30% off MSRP quote which we asked to have emailed to us, we took the "written" quote to the "local" dealer (via phone/email) to see if he would match it. He did and we bought over the phone. Do you know the formula to figure 30% off MSRP? Let me know and I can post or PM.

ByDesign · 09-04-2010, 10:31 PM

Good luck Sabina !!

We bought our first TT the same way. We had totally researched online and found the cheapest dealer and things went very very well. Actually we were more impressed by the unit when we were sitting in it than looking at it online.

Hondopatrick · 09-05-2010, 08:29 AM

Congrats Sabina! Have you made maiden voyage plans yet?

Sabina · 09-05-2010, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hondopatrick

Congrats Sabina! Have you made maiden voyage plans yet?

Thanks!

Don't want to go too far from home on our first trip. We have a few favorite places to camp but none have hookups. The closest very favorite to home is a state park in Delaware ( Cape Henlopen) which takes about four and a half hours fast driving to get to from where we live, water is on most sites and they have modern bathrooms and showers, washers and dryers. The park is gorgeous and many sites are huge, though. If anyone ever wants to go there we know you would love it. Another favorite is a D.E.C. park up in the Catskills, called North South Lake, (not far from here) but no hookups. As tent campers we never needed electricity or sewer so we camped in many different state or municipal parks in various states here on the East Coast, from Connecticut to Key West Florida. We have been almost everywhere in the state of Florida, tent camping. If anyone has suggestions for the New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania area let me know. We, of course, need full hookups so we can test everything on our new camper.

Denise · 09-05-2010, 09:17 AM

And of course, don't forget the pics!

Sabina · 09-05-2010, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by healthi

And of course, don't forget the pics!

I just mentioned pics in a different post. Anyway, I would love to post pics but have to wait for one of my kids to show me how. I know my computer can do it because when my daughter was staying with us (her husband is in Special Forces in the Marines so she and my granddaughter lived with us while he was in Iraq and than Afghanistan) she was posting pictures all the time using my computer. Talking about my daughter, she and my sweet,sweet, granddaughter, whom I miss terribly, just went back home to Colorado, where we hope to take the Jayco next year. After that we are off to California where one of our sons lives. We are hoping a small hybrid like our new Jayco 17C can make a trip like that from here in NY.

Texas Sam · 09-05-2010, 11:17 AM

Sabina,

Don't be afraid to "dry camp/boondock" without hookups or electricity for a few days at a time, then find a dump station at a commercial campground that will permit you to empty your grey and black water tanks for a fee. You might consider a one night stay at a commercial campground with full hookups near your residence just to try out all the features of your new trailer without having to tow it too far.

If you have not considered towing mirrors you may want to do so. The side mirrors on your Nissan do not extend far enough out to allow you to see the sides of the tt and traffic coming up beside it. The Nissan mirrors will allow you to see the front of the tt and not much else. There are several brands of clip on mirrors available; here is a link to the McKesh brand we use: http://www.hensleymfg.com/mckeshmirrors.html

Good luck on your maiden voyage!

Denise · 09-05-2010, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sabina

After that we are off to California where one of our sons lives. We are hoping a small hybrid like our new Jayco 17C can make a trip like that from here in NY.

We twice traveled from the west coast to the east coast with a tent trailer years ago. Your Jayco Hybrid will make that trip to California very nicely! What area of California does your son live?

Sabina · 09-05-2010, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Sam

Sabina,

Don't be afraid to "dry camp/boondock" without hookups or electricity for a few days at a time, then find a dump station at a commercial campground that will permit you to empty your grey and black water tanks for a fee. You might consider a one night stay at a commercial campground with full hookups near your residence just to try out all the features of your new trailer without having to tow it too far.

If you have not considered towing mirrors you may want to do so. The side mirrors on your Nissan do not extend far enough out to allow you to see the sides of the tt and traffic coming up beside it. The Nissan mirrors will allow you to see the front of the tt and not much else. There are several brands of clip on mirrors available; here is a link to the McKesh brand we use: http://www.hensleymfg.com/mckeshmirrors.html

Good luck on your maiden voyage!

Great idea, especially since my husband wants to go to the DEC campground in the Catskills. I'll look for a full hookup place nearby and we will go there for a day or two and than to the beautiful DEC campgrounds which has huge wooded sites. I think we can use the heater with our propane if it gets really cool at night, right? We will be sure to get the mirrors, too, when we pick up the trailer.

Sabina · 09-05-2010, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by healthi

We twice traveled from the west coast to the east coast with a tent trailer years ago. Your Jayco Hybrid will make that trip to California very nicely! What area of California does your son live?

He lives in Acata or is it Arcata? It is up north in Cal. He went to a college there for his Masters, after he graduated from SUNY Binghamton here in NY. We camped in Binghamton a few times while he was attending school there. On one camping trip at the state park near Binghamton, in September, we woke up to snow on the ground and on our tent. It was beautiful. It melted after a few hours, but it was quite unexpected since it was not that cold the few days before. I think that was the time that on one of our nights there our two little dachshunds decided to have a real fight in the middle of the night. They never did that before and never did it again. I don't know why it happened, but I thought they were tearing into one another. I screamed and some people in the camp came running asking if we were all right. Needless to say it was very embarrassing. Thank goodness they were little angels after that.

Denise · 09-06-2010, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sabina

I think we can use the heater with our propane if it gets really cool at night, right? We will be sure to get the mirrors, too, when we pick up the trailer.

As soon as you get the tt home, fire up the furnace and let it run a bit. You may have to take the the battery out of your smoke alarm. The furnace tends to stink a bit when it first runs. Once it burns off, then you won't notice any smell when you actually camp

Denise · 09-06-2010, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sabina

He lives in Acata or is it Arcata? It is up north in Cal. He went to a college there for his Masters, after he graduated from SUNY Binghamton here in NY. We camped in Binghamton a few times while he was attending school there. On one camping trip at the state park near Binghamton, in September, we woke up to snow on the ground and on our tent. It was beautiful. It melted after a few hours, but it was quite unexpected since it was not that cold the few days before. I think that was the time that on one of our nights there our two little dachshunds decided to have a real fight in the middle of the night. They never did that before and never did it again. I don't know why it happened, but I thought they were tearing into one another. I screamed and some people in the camp came running asking if we were all right. Needless to say it was very embarrassing. Thank goodness they were little angels after that.

Arcata is waaaaaaaaaaaay North near Eureka close to the Oregon border. Beautiful area.

Yikes, I bet that was quite a night you got to share with the dogs in the snow

JPBeck · 09-06-2010, 08:56 PM

Congratz on your new home away from home! I'm excited for you! Now you get to equip it. That's as much fun as the actual camping trip.

When you camp without hook-ups and run your heater your battery will drain quickly. We've been using a MR. HEATER for about 3 years now (they've gone way down in price BTW). It heats up our entire trailer and uses zero electricity or battery juice. Next to our generator, it was the best thing we bought for the trailer, you may want to check one out if your going dry camping (without hookups).

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-F232...3826906&sr=8-1
(the california model is the same as the other buddy-- it's just cheaper and has a different owners manual-- I've called the manufacturer and was told this in writing by them)

Next discussion-- Generators

RedWingsFan · 09-07-2010, 09:04 AM

Congratulations Sabina on the purchase! I second Healthi on the furnace burn off. I read that tip somewhere else on this site just after I picked my 17Z up. When I actually did it the fumes and smell were so bad my eyes were watering, I was coughing like crazy, and the smoke detector went nuts. I opened all of the windows and canvas and put a fan in the doorway to suck the smell out. I'm glad we did this though, the following week we went to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the first night it got down to 46 degrees and we turned the furnace on. Before purchasing I also did most of my research online and via telephone. I did see the trailer in person before putting a deposit on it, but only because we happened to be going near the dealer on a trip. Otherwise I would have put a deposit on it sight unseen. We semi boondocked on our first trip. We had electricity and water, but had to use the grey and black tanks. We camped for 6 days without filling the black tank,we dumped the grey once (private land so we just sent it into the woods). There was an RV dealer a few miles away that let us dump the black for $6 before heading home. The 17C has a good layout in the event it is cold and you have to "turtle" to conserve heat. Turtling is when you don't fold out the bunks and just use the hardside portion of the camper. It makes efficient use of the heat. There is a nice sleeping area when the dinette is folded down. We don't have that in the 17Z but I am working on a mod to span the distance between the folded down couch and dinette to make it useable as one big bed when necessary. Anyway enjoy the new camper, we love ours.

Sabina · 10-15-2010, 06:23 PM

I haven't been on here because since we started camping in the 17C we only come home to take my mother-in-law to her doctor appointments and do her grocery shopping. We found a great camping site with all the hookups about an hour and a half from home. The owner lets us leave the camper there for free anytime we like and we just pay for the days we actually use it since it is off season. We do the turtle down thing if we think it will rain on the day we leave. We close the tent up (we only use one) the day before and we sleep in the bed that converts from the dining area. It is bigger than a double and my husband , three little dogs and me are quite comfortable. It does get really warm inside with the tents closed even without the furnace on if we don't keep the window open even though it is pretty cold at night up north here in NY. For us the 17 C works great. If you are ever ever upstate NY Rip Van Winkle campgrounds in Syracuse is beautiful and they have a heated pool that they will open for you even after Columbus Day weekend. I've been using it everyday we camp there. It is just cold when you get out but I run into the hot showers and I'm fine. There is a beautiful creek with a beach to swim, too, but the creek water is much too cold for that now.

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