So I travel down to the inlaws (quincy IL) this weekend with 2 goals, Spend Easter with them, and purchase a small (5x10) Utility Trailer. (something basic like shown here http://www.hitchemup.com/ )

We arrive at the Trailer store early on Saturday morn. We look at the trailers, then go in to talk price. I like the price and have CASH in hand, but the guy I'm talking to (who we later determine is one of the owners) tells us that

"no trailers are leaving the lot today"

We inquire why, he tells us that his secretary isn't in today to do the "paperwork"......

We stood there DUMBFOUNDED... This guy was going to pass up a CASH sale because the "paperwork" wasn't going to get done on saturday.....

(in the past, My family and I have purchased at least 15 trailers and never never needed someone else to do the paperwork)


We went back to the inlaws house and phoned the guy, explaining that I'm 6 hrs away and will not be in town on monday. The guy says that it doesn't matter because the trailers are all inventoried in the computer.... (they had so little inventory there that it could have been kept on a single sheet of paper)

We then called 4 other trailer dealers (all within 30 mins) The very first question we asked was if thier secretary was in today, then explained the story. Problem was, no one had a 5x10 instock. But everyone liked the story....... I'm hoping word spreads around in the small town that this place doesn't like to sell trailers.

We went back to the dealer today to get the MFG's name, I figure I'd call em and find a closer dealer. the MFG sticker on the trailer included a vin number, GVWR, and MFG name and city, HOWEVER, the MFG name and CITY was cut off of the sticker on most of the trailers....Seems kinda shady...

If this is the way the guy runs his business, I doubt it will be there too much longer....

 

That sounds really fishy to me. What a terrible business. He definately did not want your business and he definately doesn't want his business to be there much longer. What a poor excuse for not selling a trailer. Simply put, he could have sold you the trailer, took down the info of the trailer to put into the "so called computer" to deduct that on the inventory. Or just look out his window and say, ' instead of 10 trailers, I now have 9" because I sold one on Saturday. I would definately stay away from him. He might have just really cheap trailers and he won't stand behind his product.

 

that trailer store wasn't on 24th street was it Jake? if so,I know which one you were talking about,and he hasn't been there that long,and there have been a few different businesses in that place in the last couple years,none of them have stayed very long. And if you were on 24th street,you were only a few blocks away from my house

 

It never ceases to amaze me the attitude of people who think they are business minded

 

wow...that guy sucks.

comes in great contrast to the owner of a trailer place i went to many years ago (when i was in construction) i got four new tires for an equipment trailer, drove with the tires in the back of my truck to the trailer place where the trailer was sitting on dropped them off.

well, one of the tires wasn't the correct load rating, well, the owner who was there told the guy to yank one off another trailer and he charged me actually cheaper for that tire than the other place AND refunded money on the other tire which i didn't even buy from him!

needless to say, they became the sole business for dealing with trailers for the company i was working for when i told the boss about it, also for tool boxes and other things.

 

I just got done jumping through some hoops buying a new car trailer, and it was quite the adventure. Local dealer wouldn't deal (they sent me home with my cash too), so I drove 2 hour away and saved $800 on the same brand trailer. With the little ones, some of them are very cheaply made in my opinion, watch what you buy. I saw your post in the towing forum, and your looking at A frames which is good. The single square tongue version makes for a very flimsy trailer. Another piece of advise, If you haven't bought yet, I would highly look into a 6x10 or 6x12. There will be one time where you'll need that extra width. We were looking for a 5x10 when we bought our 6x12, and I was glad for the 6x12. Now i've upgraded to a 82"x18. Just consider what I said, the money won't be that much more, and I think you'd be happier, you have more than enough truck for the job.

 

sounds fishy to me...maybe fishy enough to have DMV check them out for fraud.

 

nope, its on state, but my mom in law lives right off 24th

 

That's the first time that I've heard of a dealer (of any kind) passing up cash.

 

I have a similar story that involves the Ford dealer in a nearby town.
Right after my wife died, I took the 98 Windstar she owned back to the dealer where we bought it from with the notion of trading for a newer truck than what I had. The salesman we bought the van from, a close friend of my brother-in-law, was not there at that time. I had an extended cab F-150 picked out and when they "appraised" the van, the salesman told me that he could NOT give me the trade in value because the guy that did that(the guy that sold us the van) was off work that day and for me to come back the next day.
I was dumbfounded and mad at the same time!

I went on to ask how they planned to make any deals if there was no one there capable of giving trade in values. The salesman had no answer for this.

So to make a long story short, I went to a dealer here in town and got the truck I have now. The "other" dealer called me the next day and wanted to deal........I laughed at him and said..."you must be kidding".

 

honestly, i really wonder about people/places and all of their policies... you come to my place of business with cash, i'll bend over backwards to try and help you out. what's happened to people nowadays?!?

 

They know there's someone out there who will just pay thier asking price and drive away happy. The sales manager even flat out told me he would rather let it sit than "only" make 400 bucks on it. Another dealer told me that trailers aren't that great of a business, because there's only about 10-12% markup on them. The markup on the place I was trying to deal with was probably in the 25-30% range!(steel deck 7k 18" car trailer, 3395!) I was dumbfounded that cash got me nowhere. It's absolutely ridiculous that nobody will deal anymore, even if cash is involved.

 

hmmm... sit on trailer for another month or two, or make $400 profit, cash in hand, no worries of bounced check, isf, etc. hmmm.... hard one....


like someone stated, how hard is it to write everything down and finalize the sale the next day or two? lol... people are funny.

 

apparently very hard

 

He could be unjustifiably paranoid with cash. Go figure. But seriously, as an owner or manager of a business he would have to know how to fill out sales paper work or he has to be extremely lazy.