Buying a car/truck/SUV? Most of us know how to wheel and deal on the price, and approximately how much we can knock the price down. But what about travel-trailers?

Please post up your tips, advice, and expectations on how much off the sticker price you guys shoot for when dealing on a new TT.

Stewart

 

You should get plenty of advice on this one and it really depends on if you are willing to travel to buy. Best you are going to do is in the area of 35% off the MSRP, but that varies widely.

If you go to the 6.7 forum in FTE and read this post: Which Travel Trailer should I buy? Forest River Vibe or Shadow Cruiser, I think you may find the information there helpful.

Good hunting,

Steve

 

Check an "online" price before doing anything else..... check with a buyers club like Sam's or BJ's for a TV . If you can get a better deal than those, consider it!

If I were to buy an RV (knowing what I know now) for the first time I would go USED! Why, because I know that will it won't be big enough! If you decide you like the camping RV experience you will soon be looking for a "better" one.

 

We are in the process of buying a new TT. I would also shoot for about a third off of what the MSRP is on the trailer you are looking at. My wife and I laid out what we wanted in a trailer ( we went from tent camping, to a pop-up, now to a travel trailer) and made a list of what our goals were. Decided on a floor plan, then a make and model. Once there, we started shopping. Looking online you can easily find what the big 'wholesale' RV dealers are selling for. Then, we tried to get a dealer closer to home to come down as close to the wholesaler's price as possible. No dealer within a couple hours of us was willing to deal. We were actually prepared to travel to Ohio or Indiana to get a price several thousand dollars lees than we could get near home. Then, we got a quote from a dealer about three hours away. They were so close to the 'Indiana / Ohio price, we couldn't justify a road trip. We ended up paying approximately $19,700 on a $29,000 retail TT.

 

Love hearing stuff like this.

Keep 'em coming, I wanna have this thread established so people can share their knowledge and experience to help others for years to come.

Stewart

 

I've been camping since I was a kid. My family and I enjoy our used TT as often as we can. I've never bought a new TT, but I firmly believe in what I call, the "50% Rule" and here is how I work it when dealing with any salesperson. I'll gear this towards TT purchase.

1) Realize that MSRP is more than the dealership paid for the TT.
2) Realize that unless you, the customer, get a deal close to your comfort zone, you walk away. That means no sale for the dealership.
3) Whatever the MSRP or sticker price is, cut it in half. There's the 50% Rule I mentioned.
4) Realize that most dealerships will immediately turn down your 50% offer with a counteroffer after the salesperson "talks with the manager" about your offer. The negotiation has begun.
5) The idea now is to haggle until you and the dealership can agree on a price that is somewhere near the 25% - 35% off MSRP. If that can't be done, walk away. The dealership just lost 100% of a sale and you have the option of taking your money elsewhere, or returning at a later date.
6) You get a screaming deal that appears to be higher than what you wanted to pay, and the dealership makes a sale that covers their costs. Win-Win!

The hardest part of this process is walking away if the dealership is not willing to haggle over the selling price. Word of advice, if your significant other is not comfortable with this negotiation process, do not bring them into the office during the negotiations. That's how I wound up paying nearly full-sticker price for my wife's 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid. I learned a lesson that day.

 

The problem with buying a new unit, even at the 35% discount level, is that it is still worth less than that after you take possession. Check out what one year old used, or leftover dealer inventory, is going for. I've never seen any major consumer product depreciate as quickly as RVs, except for boats. With the possible exception of Airstream. They seem to hold value decently once used, but the upfront cost is significant.

 

Buying new versus used opens up a whole other can of worms with depreciation being one factor among many.

Steve

 

Is there a specific valuation source to check what a one-year old unit is worth? Or does the industry use Kelley Blue Book and/or NADA?

 

The single biggest determinate is supply and demand, rather than book value. For example, a Raptor toy hauler in a short length is such an easy sell, it is possible to pay over NADA book value retail at auction and still sell at a profit.

You can look at NADA to get comparative values, but all the makes a difference in the end is how much you can sell it or buy it for. Dealers understand this much better than private parties do and I have always found it much harder to deal with private sellers as they generally want more than we could sell it for off the lot.

 

Play dealers against each other. Just like with Lowe's and Home Depot. When you get the dealers close to each other. See what extras they will throw in to make the sale. Check out the larger Rv shows. The rv show price may or may not be the best price. We are in research mode ourselves. We are coming out of a 40 ft diesel pusher down to a travel trailer. We are planning on going to Tampa in Jan.

 

A 1 owner 2-3 yr old private seller used TT. Let someone else take the depreciation hit.

 

I agree to shop the big OH/IN dealers and see if local will match or come within a grand or two. If/when they don't, buy from a distant dealer. We had an awesome experience doing just this at Jeff Couch's RV in OH. 36% off the nonsense/inflated MSRP. Great service after the sale. (If you don't mind installing your own warranty parts.) Great guys to deal with overall.

 

I want to interject here a thought about doing your own warranty work. Some folks are really good at this, but, and this is a huge but, some folks are not. I get asked to put stuff back together all the time that has been taken apart and I also get asked to look at stuff all the time that is completely misdiagnosed.

I am not disagreeing with a thing Rodney is saying, but if you are a regular FTE reader, you know there is a wide disparity is skill levels for everything in life, including working on RVs, so if you go this route, be honest with yourself about your skill level and check before hand to make sure the manufacturer you have in mind will work with you.
Some will not talk to me and they also will not talk to you. Everything goes through their dealers and that is the end of it.

Steve

 

All valid and true points. Not every brand or remote dealer works this way which is in part why I chose both my brand and dealer. I also know myself and what I'm comfortable with. So, yes, good points all to consider Steve!