Can Negotiate the Price like a Car?

[Murph60]

Going to a dealer 90 minutes away to look at my first one, but I know the model I want and they have one on order. It is a Rockwood A213HWOR. This dealer emailed me a price 2k less than others I have checked. Can you still negotiate?

A newbie to this arena. I have checked this site out and found some really good information on prepping to buy, but welcome suggestions and approach.

Thanks

[Murph60]

Originally Posted by Murph60

Going to a dealer 90 minutes away to look at my first one, but I know the model I want and they have one on order. It is a Rockwood A213HWOR. This dealer emailed me a price 2k less than others I have checked. Can you still negotiate?

A newbie to this arena. I have checked this site out and found some really good information on prepping to buy, but welcome suggestions and approach.

Thanks

Say I want to order before it arrives at the dealer since it est. delivery is May/June, how much of a down payment or hold money should I give the dealer?

Thanks

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Murph60

Going to a dealer 90 minutes away to look at my first one, but I know the model I want and they have one on order. It is a Rockwood A213HWOR. This dealer emailed me a price 2k less than others I have checked. Can you still negotiate?

A newbie to this arena. I have checked this site out and found some really good information on prepping to buy, but welcome suggestions and approach.

Thanks

Sure you can BUT with limited inventory and continuing record RV sales, dealers don't have to negotiate. They can find other owners willing to pay the asking price.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Murph60

Say I want to order before it arrives at the dealer since it est. delivery is May/June, how much of a down payment or hold money should I give the dealer?

Thanks

That varies by dealer.

[NavyLCDR]

Absolutely. But 2K less than other dealers is a pretty good deal. DO NOT show ANY excitement over the product though or the price. Try to find something wrong with the RV to exploit. But, if you don't have a better price from someone else to show the dealer, you are at a disadvantage. Look for something that the manufacturer has substituted due to lack of supply of parts. For example, my trailer was supposed to come with an upgraded Serta mattress as part of it's options package. The manufacturer had to substitute a lower quality mattress because the Serta was not available. I didn't catch it until I had already bought the trailer, but I might have been able to use that as a negotiation.

[chriscowles]

Many of us find it worthwhile to buy our RVs from national dealers that have a web presence. RV Wholesalers is an example. There are others. That said, I suspect the difference between a national dealer and a local dealer won't be huge in the price range of popups. It would be worth inquiring, at least.

[Murph60]

Thanks All

[awellis3]

One more thing. There have been posts complaining of dealers not honoring down payments. If they get a better offer, they will give you your money back and sell to the higher bidder. It's a sellers' market.

[bobneal69]

The way I got my best price was to google the make and model I wanted. I found the best price nationwide, in my case on RVtraderdotcom. I called the dealer to confirm it was an out the door price. I then started calling dealers near me offering them that amount out the door for the model I wanted. Some of the dealers wanted $4k more. I got responses from your crazy to counteroffers of $1,000 higher than I was offering. I was on my seventh dealer and 90 miles away when the dealer offered to sell $500 higher. We finally agreed on $300 higher than my first offer.

[Murph60]

Originally Posted by awellis3

One more thing. There have been posts complaining of dealers not honoring down payments. If they get a better offer, they will give you your money back and sell to the higher bidder. It's a sellers' market.

What is a typical down payment if i am paying cash?

[nayther]

Originally Posted by Murph60

What is a typical down payment if i am paying cash?

I gave them 5k when i ordered mine.


it was typical to get 30% or more off MSRP, but that was a couple of years ago. It's a sellers market right now.

[kluza2786]

If you don't have a price from another dealer that's lower, then your negotiating power is significantly reduced (along with the current state of the market). Something you might be able to get them to do is "throw in some goodies" that you're going to need - e.g. water and waste hoses, water regulator, maybe a surge suppressor, etc. In some cases that won't affect their commission the same way a price reduction would. It also makes it an easier thing to sell to management since they're dealing from cost and valuing it at retail to you.

[NavyLCDR]

When I bought my trailer, I did have a price from a nearby dealer that was about $4,000 less. But that dealer did not have it in stock. It was "on order". The dealer that had it in stock came down about $2,000. Then he also said, "And I'll throw in a starter kit." I told him I already have everything in a starter kit, but I need a surge protector and wheel covers. So I got a surge protector and wheel covers in the deal.

[rmac04401]

I put $1,000.00 deposit on a $27,000.00 RV.

[kluza2786]

Since the OP appears to be a first-time buyer, there's going to be a pretty long list of items to acquire - hoses, surge suppressor, propane grill, patio ground cover, tire covers, etc. etc. etc. Since that can easily approach $ 1k or more, getting some of it "thrown in" to sweeten the deal makes a lot of sense if they're not willing to budge on the price.

[Dirthawg_]

Expect around 25% off MSRP right now. If you can manage 30% off you are doing well. Dealers are low on inventory and are not dealing as much as a couple years ago.