Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Allen
Here’s how one sales guy explained it to me:
At the RV shows dealers have to pay people to transport the units from their dealership to and from the shows. They also have to have more than usual staff to accommodate so much foot traffic so they fly in and house sales staff from all over.
Therefore the prices cannot be any less than what you would get straight from the dealer at their showroom if not less there.
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The cost of a dealer going to a show is just overhead - no different than the electric bill at the showroom. They've spent the money to go to the show whether they sell one unit or 1,000. The cost of doing the show won't dictate what they sell units for.
They will price show units at whatever the market requires for them to sell units. You have a huge pool of buyers available in a short time, but they have a lot of competition as well.
We've bought 2 trailers at the local show. If you do your homework and know what the best potential price is and negotiate a good deal, you should be able to get the a good deal whether you buy off the lot or at a show. The dealer is going to have a bottom line number and where you buy isn't going to have much influence on that. We did find the show special included some throw-ins as far as hitch and other accessories they only do for that week.
But, I also found that with a couple units we didn't buy, those dealers called back after the show willing to go $1,000 less than their best price from the show. If you really want to get the best deal, my strategy would be shop the show and start to negotiate then tell them you will think about it. They will follow up after the show on all their potential sales. Regardless of whether you are on the lot or at a show, politely walking away to think about it is absolutely the best way to get a better deal.