Heading to Negotiate the Deal Soon

SB_James · 07-15-2019, 04:08 PM

My wife and I have been planning and researching for almost 2 years, and it has all built up to this week! We have an appointment with our salesman this Wednesday afternoon to haggle the deal on a custom-order Eagle 321RSTS. We are excited, but we don't want him to see it while we negotiate!

Any tips on negotiating that you found useful when you bought your rig? I'm always open to suggestions for getting the most fair price possible.

Thanks, and wish us luck!

Leedillion · 07-15-2019, 04:16 PM

Several suggestions. Be pleasant. Be firm on your out the door price for all the options you want, such as decent batteries, AC upgrades, etc. Be ready to walk if they say they can’t meet your price. I would also suggest taking my wife as she can out negotiate anyone, even me, and that is what I did for 40 years in my pre-retirement life.

MikeThompson · 07-15-2019, 04:32 PM

Go to rvone.com and get a custom quote for the exact model you want. Take that with you to the dealer. They probably won't match it, but it may help to get a lower price, and like said above, be prepared to walk out.

Jim Smyth · 07-15-2019, 05:04 PM

Get everything agreed to put down in writing...............Otherwise there going to have amnesia after the fact.

ecksdude · 07-15-2019, 05:11 PM

I've only ever bought one, here is what I did:

I called about 10 dealers over a 4 state area, told each of them the exact trailer with the exact options I wanted to have ordered. Let each know I would be making a decision within 48 hours and asked them to email me their quotes.

I took the lowest quote to my local Camping World dealer who had quoted me several thousand dollars higher and I told them:

"It would cost me about $400 round trip to go pick up the trailer from this other dealer with this offer. If you can come in within $400 of their offer, I'll buy from you."

They did exactly that. I think I got a decent deal, about 33% off of MSRP.

I'd also note: I was perfectly willing to buy from the other dealer far away in another state if they had not met my price.

Edit to add: I would also suggest, when you finally pick up the trailer, sign nothing until you have done the inspection and any issues fixed to your satisfaction. Once you have signed and paid, they have little incentive to put you at the front of the lines for repairs. I learned this lesson the hard way when I bought my truck several years ago. When I inspected my trailer and they needed to fix the furnace, the guy tried to get me to come in and sign while they looked to see if they had parts. I declined and said I'll be happy to wait, but won't sign anything until the trailer is good to go.

They didn't have the parts. Ripped a furnace out of another trailer on the lot to replace mine. I'm certain beyond a shadow of a doubt if I'd signed those papers right away, I'd have been waiting another week to take delivery.

SB_James · 07-15-2019, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Smyth

Get everything agreed to put down in writing...............Otherwise there going to have amnesia after the fact.

Haha! Yes, good point. We've also reserved our Saturday for further negotiations in case we need to walk out on Wednesday and let them marinate for a few days...

SB_James · 07-15-2019, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecksdude

I've only ever bought one, here is what I did:

I called about 10 dealers over a 4 state area, told each of them the exact trailer with the exact options I wanted to have ordered. Let each know I would be making a decision within 48 hours and asked them to email me their quotes.

I took the lowest quote to my local Camping World dealer who had quoted me several thousand dollars higher and I told them:

"It would cost me about $400 round trip to go pick up the trailer from this other dealer with this offer. If you can come in within $400 of their offer, I'll buy from you."

They did exactly that. I think I got a decent deal, about 33% off of MSRP.

I'd also note: I was perfectly willing to buy from the other dealer far away in another state if they had not met my price.

We're doing a similar approach. 4 different dealerships over several states for the same rig, and this one gave us by far the best initial quote. His first quote is 30% below MSRP, but I'm sure that isn't his "out the door" price.

Thanks for the tip!

RipinSC · 07-15-2019, 05:58 PM

You can look on RVTrader .com and see what other dealers are selling them for. I used the price I got from Camping World (without adding the famous $1000 document fee they charge) and told the dealer that I do not like to deal with CW. He beat the price by $1500. Make sure you understand that when it needs to have warranty work done, you will need to go to the dealer that sold you the camper or wait for months to get in. Check the dealer reviews also.

RipinSC · 07-15-2019, 06:01 PM

Make sure you get the low profile front ac and the Morryde pinbox. Without 2 ac you will not cool the FW down.

SB_James · 07-15-2019, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RipinSC

Make sure you get the low profile front ac and the Morryde pinbox. Without 2 ac you will not cool the FW down.

We live in the "Hotlanta" area so a 2nd AC is a must. The spec option sheet says "ultra low profile 2nd AC" but I will double confirm it is actually the low-pro unit.

Our build options are:
2nd AC
MorRyde pinbox
MorRyde Step Above steps
King bed (we'll replace the mattress ourselves!)
13.5 cu. ft RV fridge
2nd awning
Theater seats
Auto leveling

AKRUEBBE · 07-15-2019, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SB_James

My wife and I have been planning and researching for almost 2 years, and it has all built up to this week! We have an appointment with our salesman this Wednesday afternoon to haggle the deal on a custom-order Eagle 321RSTS. We are excited, but we don't want him to see it while we negotiate!

Any tips on negotiating that you found useful when you bought your rig? I'm always open to suggestions for getting the most fair price possible.

Thanks, and wish us luck!

28 to 30% off list price should be obtainable

RipinSC · 07-15-2019, 07:01 PM

SB We also have the king bed and found the mattress to be very comfortable. Jayco upgraded them for the king bed in 2019. We went with the residential frig and are very happy with it.
Good luck.

GL243 · 07-15-2019, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeThompson

Go to rvone.com and get a custom quote for the exact model you want. Take that with you to the dealer. They probably won't match it, but it may help to get a lower price, and like said above, be prepared to walk out.

This. It's what I did and got a couple thousand off the rock bottom price on a SLX 267BHSW at our local dealer.

RetiredOne · 07-15-2019, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecksdude

I called about 10 dealers over a 4 state area, told each of them the exact trailer with the exact options I wanted to have ordered. Let each know I would be making a decision within 48 hours and asked them to email me their quotes.

I took the lowest quote to my local Camping World dealer who had quoted me several thousand dollars higher and I told them:

"It would cost me about $400 round trip to go pick up the trailer from this other dealer with this offer. If you can come in within $400 of their offer, I'll buy from you."

They did exactly that. I think I got a decent deal, about 33% off of MSRP.

I'd also note: I was perfectly willing to buy from the other dealer far away in another state if they had not met my price.

I did something similar. Got quotes from different dealers across the country and printed out some low prices from RVTrader.com, and walked into the dealer with all these printed quotes, and said "match them". I planned on hammering them, as I didn't expect to bring my coach back to them for repairs, I would do them myself, so I wanted to build a "buffer" to cover any future costs.

I saved over $3K MORE than the best deal I thought I could get.

I was also prepared to fly to another state and pick up the unit, if it meant saving thousands.

I found that the RV dealers are a lot easier to manipulate than car dealers.

Another tip, if they balk a little at lowering the price, get them to throw in some freebies instead (sewer kit, surge protectors, chemicals, water filters, water hoses, etc). You'll save on having to purchase these items, and they buy the accessories at a lower discount, so both sides can win.

SB_James · 07-15-2019, 07:30 PM

RetiredOne, great tips! I have several email quotes that I can produce if needed.

Asking for the freebies is definitely on my idea list. Something I am also willing to offer is having some upgrades installed through the dealership (the bathroom fan Maxaire fan w/ remote upgrade for my petite DW comes to mind) if they can get me the best sales price possible.

Murff · 07-15-2019, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SB_James

Haha! Yes, good point. We've also reserved our Saturday for further negotiations in case we need to walk out on Wednesday and let them marinate for a few days...

Excellent!

Nothing will get a deal closed to your liking like getting up and walking to the door!

Murff

Walters mom · 08-03-2019, 12:01 PM

Try to change your appointment to the last weekend of the month. Dealers need to meet their quotas and are more likely to deal.

Josie · 08-03-2019, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeThompson

Go to rvone.com and get a custom quote for the exact model you want. Take that with you to the dealer. They probably won't match it, but it may help to get a lower price, and like said above, be prepared to walk out.

That is what we did. Local dealer threw a fit over the RVone price. They wanted almost $4,500 more than RVone quoted on exact same model and options. We offered to split the difference in quotes but the General Manager of dealership just lost it on us, telling us that we will never be able to get service if we buy from RVone. We walked and order ours through RVone. Four thousand, five hundred dollars is a lot of money. Who wants to throw their hard earned money away? So far, it has been a great experience working with them. Final sale price is about 38.5% off MSRP.

We are in the process of contacting Jayco regarding the threats from the local dealership. RVone is a couple hours away but it is a pretty ride, so if we need to, we will take it back to them for warranty service.

RVone is a huge national company. They have to be doing something right by their customers.

Spurticus · 08-03-2019, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SB_James

My wife and I have been planning and researching for almost 2 years, and it has all built up to this week! We have an appointment with our salesman this Wednesday afternoon to haggle the deal on a custom-order Eagle 321RSTS. We are excited, but we don't want him to see it while we negotiate!

Any tips on negotiating that you found useful when you bought your rig? I'm always open to suggestions for getting the most fair price possible.

Thanks, and wish us luck!

Scroll to the 32:30 mark in this video of the RV Radio show. A national known lemon lawyer stresses the nine words every rv purchase contract should include and why. I’ve never heard this before, but thought it was very interesting.

https://youtu.be/Il-DeNgpldM

SB_James · 08-03-2019, 04:29 PM

Very interesting commentary from that lawyer! We've already placed our order with our dealer, so our purchase agreement has already been signed. Since we didn't know about adding "those 9 words" to the agreement, we felt our best way to protect our investment was to work with a dealership that has a good reputation (both online reviews and customer references.) No dealer is perfect (same goes for the manufacturer), but we did our homework and we feel like our dealer will support us when / if we need warranty work.

In regard to parts availability from manufacturers to support warranty work, I saw on Haylett RV's YouTube channel that Jayco this year has authorized dealers to use "off the shelf" components when possible to perform warranty work on Jayco products. That should help alleviate some of the looooong wait times folks have endured. Of course, the other side of the wait time issue is just the sheer volume of work needed on these RVs.

If I had the power to do it, I would create a negative incentive from the dealer to the manufacturer that would make it financially beneficial to build quality into the units at the factory. I design products for the consumer market and I guarantee you that the "big box" Orange and Blue home improvement corporations have negative incentives built into our purchasing agreements. Fines and fees for late delivery, low inventory, bad quality, etc. are a strong incentive to keep our supply chain in order and our product quality high. I guarantee you that if the cost of poor quality became large enough in real dollars out of the manufacturer's bottom line, they would take action to remedy that situation!

//soap_box_off//

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