Reasonable pricing

[prof_fate]

There is a 'need' buyer and a 'want' buyer and they are different. I've sold cars and motorcycles. Few 'need' a motorcycle, most of us need a car.

Why are you buying? Because you WANT to or NEED to? Big difference. My last car was a 'need' - my van was in need of $3500 of repairs and worth $2k at most. I wasn't planning to buy, didn't want to buy, but needed to. Did this hurt my negotiating position? Yep. It also hurt that I knew what i wanted and in a 5 county area there were only 5 for sale...and yes, the dealers knew it too. I got them down 1000 on a used car priced at 15k.

The new truck was a different story - no rush to buy one. We knew what we wanted, it was new so easily available from many sources. Got them down 10k on a 41k stickered vehicle and it was a dealer trade, where the selling dealer has no holdback or incentives (since it's not part of his inventory) and the dealer holding the truck can ask above invoice to other dealers.

Our TT I think we could have gotten them down another grand but I wasn't playing hardball, didn't come in with financing, had no tow vehicle at the time so they had to hold it for a few months and then deliver it to me in teh spring...

If you are negotiating from a strong or weak position makes a big difference in what kind of deal you can get. Being willing (and able) to walk away helps. I've done that in the past.

[rawlus]

Originally Posted by prof_fate

So you'd take a camper right from a show? Dirty, no final walkthru, no PDI? You'd better get one heck of deal for the risk you're taking.

We bought ours at a show - but still went to the dealership to pick it up, have it set up and checked and ready.

. Didn't say I'd take it right from a show, don't know if you can even do that since I'd have to get plates and insurance here I live to drive it away. I just meant that they are looking to book a lot of deals as a result of that show, so there's probably some motivation on their part to move inventory in whatever way they can. Would I take a previously shown vehicle? Sure, why not if the deal is right. I'd expect some discount based upon that alone. PDI and final walkthrough? I guess so, I don't see PDI as being the ultimate anyway, in most cases I know more about what I'm buying the the salesperson does. And in most cases, I should be teaching them how to do a walkthrough... So I take PDI and walkthrough responsibilities for myself, write up what I want fixed or done to the delivery,give it to the stealership with a fair amount of time to make the repairs/adjustments and go from there.

In the end, I try to be good. I try to be reasonable. It's not my nature to be the ******* in a negotiation, it may lose me some bargaining power but I don't care, that's just my nature. I can afford what i purchase either way and I don't have to "become someone else" just to close a transaction. I'm not judging the tactics of others, everyone has to find the approach that works best for them.

[prof_fate]

[QUOTE=rawlus;376008]. Didn't say I'd take it right from a show, don't know if you can even do that since I'd have to get plates and insurance here I live to drive it away.



You said -
Originally Posted by rawlus
A camping show price can often be pretty good - they lugged it there and they don't want to lug it back.

so if they don't "lug it back" who does? I assumed the buyer...


So I take PDI and walkthrough responsibilities for myself, write up what I want fixed or done to the delivery,give it to the stealership with a fair amount of time to make the repairs/adjustments and go from there.

Says alot about your attitude right there. I've worked in half a dozen dealerships and most are honest, hard working establishments. Some are rather 'seamy'. Like any other business it's what the owner wants it to be - lower volume family atmosphere or high volume move em out the door and don't care who gets run over in the process.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by MishaFoomin

Wow, Herk! Can people hire you to negotiate sales for them? I could have used you in March.

Prof Fate nailed why I would never even try to negotiate a sale for someone else. It is hard enough to go "head to head" with the sales team AND try to satisfy the actual buyer.

Way too much work and angst for so little return (for me).

Then if you have trouble after the sale, somehow it will always be "my fault."

[prof_fate]

I worked at a car dealer that included a lot of 'free' service - oil changes for life, car washes on every visit, free loaners (even for a day, didn't have to be overnight), etc. This does not come 'free' - the sales dept pays the service dept a fee from the car sale.

The truck we bought this year was cheap - and the dealer offers NOTHING 'free'.

You get what you pay for.

Dealers need factory certified mechanics - but they don't come as cheap as an 'hourly' mechanic (newbies just out of school usually). An hourly guy gets paid maybe $10-12/hour no matter the job. A tech gets paid $15-25 per flat rate hour - so a job that 'pays' 2 hours he can often do in half that - it's not unusualy for a good tech to make $50-70k a year, vs the hourly guy's 20-24k.
While you'd suspect the customer's service work pays for all this you'd be half right - the biggest 'customer' of the service dept is the sales dept - PDI, setup, options, inspections, used vehicle work, etc.

Trust me, almost every dealership runs the sales, parts and service as 3 separate businesses yet they all depend on eachother.

[prairiecamper]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

My DW won't even go with me when we are going to buy a 'big ticket' item when it comes to haggling price. She will pick out what she wants and leave.

Boy, that sounds familiar!

[prof_fate]

Originally Posted by prairiecamper

Boy, that sounds familiar!

My wife gets frustrated that she'll ask a question and the salesman will look at me when he answers - do that twice and yes, she walks out and takes me with her.

[rawlus]

[QUOTE=prof_fate;376374]

Originally Posted by rawlus

. Didn't say I'd take it right from a show, don't know if you can even do that since I'd have to get plates and insurance here I live to drive it away.



You said -
Originally Posted by rawlus
A camping show price can often be pretty good - they lugged it there and they don't want to lug it back.

so if they don't "lug it back" who does? I assumed the buyer...


So I take PDI and walkthrough responsibilities for myself, write up what I want fixed or done to the delivery,give it to the stealership with a fair amount of time to make the repairs/adjustments and go from there.

Says alot about your attitude right there. I've worked in half a dozen dealerships and most are honest, hard working establishments. Some are rather 'seamy'. Like any other business it's what the owner wants it to be - lower volume family atmosphere or high volume move em out the door and don't care who gets run over in the process.

Don't take life so seriously. It's not a competition. It's not a game of gotcha. Lol.

[prof_fate]

Just trying to understand what you meant. At many events you can get great last minute deals for the reasons you state - they don't want to pack it up and take it home. I just never even remotely thought that would apply to an RV show.

[rawlus]

I agree with you. And that's probably what initially got me thinking, but then I thought abut reg and insurance and plates and at least in MA, I don't think you can really get away with that. In states that don't require trailer reg or where you might be able to use a temp tag, maybe you can take it away straight from the show.

[ValCamps2]

I am new to this forum and I just wanted to say I appreciated reading everyone's posts. We are researching A Frame campers and I am trying to decide on which one. Since the Rockwoods are sold locally we will probably buy one of these.

[Pooneil]

Welcome to the forum, ValCamps2. I was in your position a few weeks ago and now am waiting for the delivery of my new camper. Now that summer is here, the camper is going to be great.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by ValCamps2

I am new to this forum and I just wanted to say I appreciated reading everyone's posts. We are researching A Frame campers and I am trying to decide on which one. Since the Rockwoods are sold locally we will probably buy one of these.

ValCamps, it's usually a good idea to post your location, so others can assist in helping you find the right camper at the right price.
that's why most of us have our location under our username.

[ValCamps2]

Sorry Bikendan---I thought I had it set up to do that, I am in Central Ohio near Columbus. I actually didn't ask for any help--just commenting that I got some great info from reading.
Thanks anyways,
Val