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Old 02-06-2023, 11:15 AM   #1
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New trailer browsing

My wife and I aren’t exactly in the market for a new trailer just yet but we like to keep our options open and see what’s out there every so often just in case. Plus it’s fun to see all the improvements that they’ve come up with since we bought ours. When we did buy our current one back in 2014, we spent a good 6 months researching before we figured out what we wanted.

Heck even on one of our cars we spent over a year looking. Going to multiple dealerships. A few we went back multiple times checking different makes and models. Making sure we were getting exactly what we wanted/needed. Spending that amount of money you want to be sure it’s not just an impulse buy.

So recently we’ve been doing most of our searching online. Looking at pictures and watching videos. But they really only show so much. You can’t really get a good look at a new trailer until you actually step inside it. So we decided to take a trip to a couple of dealerships the last few weeks.

We were very clear and upfront that we were in the earlystages of our search and that we were only looking and absolutely not in a position to buy right now.

Even if we were, the logistics of getting our current trailer off of our seasonal site will take some time to coordinate. We have a large deck that will need to be moved as well as a 10x12 shed. And since our CG doesn’t even open until the middle of April, it will be 2-3 months minimum before we can get all that worked out.

So the first place we visited went about as expected. It’s still pretty cold around here but they were perfectly willing to open in 3 or 4 different trailers for us to walk around and check out. There were a few that were “OK” but we still have yet to find one that we really love. Or even like better than our current one.

We talked numbers for a few minutes and were kind of surprised at what he told us the estimated payments would be even though the selling price of the new trailer wasn’t that much more than what we paid for our current one. Apparently interest rates have gone up quite a bit in the last 10 years.

Of course the salesman has been calling/emailing us almost daily since we were there. Which I expected to happen. That’s his job after all. One of the downsides of visiting a place in person. We finally answered and told him, AGAIN, that we are just looking and not ready to buy yet. That finally got him to stop pestering us.

The second place we went was the dealership we actually bought our current trailer from. We figured we’d have a bit better time there as we had dealt with them in the past. Sadly, we were wrong.

My wife came in with a list of 4 or 5 models that she liked and wanted to see and the first thing they wanted to do was narrow down the list by asking about our budget. How much were we willing to spend and how much did we want our payments to be? Again we had to state that we were simply looking and that we really didn’t have a budget right now. Things might change in 6 months or a year or 5 years when we finally decide we are ready to buy.

Then as we were talking numbers and trade-ins the salesperson casually insulted us by saying that we’d have to take the balance of our current trailer and roll it into the loan for the new trailer. Uh… that’s not how trade-ins work. If we owe say… $20K on our current trailer, and they give us $25K for trade-in, then there is nothing to roll into the new loan.

We went through a couple of their models they had in their indoor showroom, but the one that was at the top of our list was outside. They seemed super reluctant to open it up and take us out to it for some reason. I think because it was also the most expensive one on our list and we still hadn’t really given them anything to work with numbers-wise. I mentioned that maybe looking at the trailer in person would give us an idea of whether or not it’s even worth talking about price but again, price is the least of our concerns at this point.

The whole interaction just felt really awkward. I know the salesperson’s job is literally to sell trailers but building a relationship with the customer should be important as well. I know it costs them time and money to actually spend time with someone that is dead-set against buying “right now” but it’s all part of the process. Now instead of possibly making a sale with us in the future, they’ve actually driven us away and we really don’t want to go back.

There is a fairly large camping show in Chicago in a couple of weeks that we want to check out because then we’ll be free to walk in and out of any and all the trailers that we want without being hassled by sales pitches. What’s interesting is that both of the dealerships that we visited will be there.
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Old 02-06-2023, 11:25 AM   #2
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I see no reason to disclose any financial information, loans, trade-ins, or budget to a dealer or their salespersons. If I did I would just be giving them an advantage over me. I tell them I want to see their inventory and offerings and if, only if, they might have what I'm interested in will we even begin to discuss pricing. If they don't want to comply, I leave.
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Old 02-06-2023, 11:40 AM   #3
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I see no reason to disclose any financial information, loans, trade-ins, or budget to a dealer or their salespersons. If I did I would just be giving them an advantage over me. I tell them I want to see their inventory and offerings and if, only if, they might have what I'm interested in will we even begin to discuss pricing. If they don't want to comply, I leave.
I agree. I know what my numbers are, what I can and can't afford, and what I want my payments to be. If I ask them to show me a particular model it's because I already know if I can afford it or not, that's not up to them to decide. I don't shop based on what the monthly payment will be, yes it's a factor but it's for me to evaluate not them.
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Old 02-06-2023, 11:48 AM   #4
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.................................................. .................................................. ......
We were very clear and upfront that we were in the earlystages of our search and that we were only looking and absolutely not in a position to buy right now.

Even if we were,............................................. .........
An ex employee left my company to be a car salesman at a mega group of auto dealerships. He related that during his sales training classes it was "drilled" into his head that "all people who come to a dealership are liars". Anyone who enters the dealership is in the market to buy. Statements like "just looking", "just in the beginning stages", etc. are only psychological Approach-Avoidance responses to an unpleasant situation of having to make a choice. I think for must cases there is some validity to that sales strategy.

Anyhow, good luck!
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Old 02-06-2023, 11:54 AM   #5
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I wanted to look at options when I was thinking of upgrading my work truck
So we drove around in the wife's car .

left the truck at home .. so they couldn't look at it for trade-in


Day Two... I came home with a nice sports car ...

dealer picked up the truck from my home.


try "shopping / looking" during the week when things are slower.
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Old 02-06-2023, 12:04 PM   #6
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For us, engaging sales and finance people before we are ready to buy is not "part of the process". It wastes everybodies time.
We have bought our last several RVS and cars remotely, from other states, and never saw the unit or met with sales in person until we went to do a walkthrough and sign the final papers. We did all our homework online and if the models we were interested in were in a show near us, we would go look at them.
When we decided on a model, we searched nationwide for the lowest price with the features we wanted. THEN, we contacted the dealer knowing exactly what we would pay and how we would finance. No back and forth games with sales and their manager. No sitting in a dealership all day while they try to upsell everything. No wasting our time or theirs.
If the dealer wouldn't meet our price, we go to the next one. Most interactions were via email, so we control how much of our time they can take.
Has worked well for us. In this day and age with all the options available for communication, no need to interact with dealership sales and finance more than necessary.
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Old 02-06-2023, 12:15 PM   #7
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An ex employee left my company to be a car salesman at a mega group of auto dealerships. He related that during his sales training classes it was "drilled" into his head that "all people who come to a dealership are liars". Anyone who enters the dealership is in the market to buy. Statements like "just looking", "just in the beginning stages", etc. are only psychological Approach-Avoidance responses to an unpleasant situation of having to make a choice. I think for must cases there is some validity to that sales strategy.

Anyhow, good luck!
I think that was definitely part of their strategy. The salesperson even said that she didn't want to show us something that we fell in love with and couldn't afford.

It was just really odd how resistant they were to just let us simply look. Like I said, it actually deterred us from returning again.
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Old 02-06-2023, 12:27 PM   #8
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I think that was definitely part of their strategy. The salesperson even said that she didn't want to show us something that we fell in love with and couldn't afford.

It was just really odd how resistant they were to just let us simply look. Like I said, it actually deterred us from returning again.

I'd say I may have only enough money to make a down payment, or I may have the cash to buy your whole dealership, but that isn't the point. I want to see if you may or may not have an RV for sale that I'm interested in.
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Old 02-06-2023, 02:07 PM   #9
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I feel your pain as to wanting to "just look in earnest". We like to just look an RV over good with no intent of getting as far as the money part ... if the dealership will play nice that way. However, I read and re-read this paragraph from your opening post over and over and remain confused.

"Then as we were talking numbers and trade-ins the salesperson casually insulted us by saying that we’d have to take the balance of our current trailer and roll it into the loan for the new trailer. Uh… that’s not how trade-ins work. If we owe say… $20K on our current trailer, and they give us $25K for trade-in, then there is nothing to roll into the new loan."

In my years of buying new with a balance still on the current trailer ... The dealer and I bark numbers back and forth till a figure appears that both of us can live with. This arrived at figure is what they are willing to sell their unit for minus what I'm comfortable with as far as a trade in value. I'm either going to have to pay off the existing loan on my own before the sale, or the dealer will have to roll that balance into the new loan. Unless your existing loan was made with external collateral (your house or maybe farm land) ... your lending institution will not release their lein on your old RV till it's paid off. Or .... did I totally not get what you wrote?
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Old 02-06-2023, 02:25 PM   #10
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I've been in sales the last 25 years. There's a difference in "Needs", "Wants" & "Impulse Buys".

If you traveled all the way to the dealership, with a list of specific of models you wanted to look at - then which category do you think your event was?

To the salesperson you've already accomplished the "early stages" of your "purchase". Notice how I said purchase? You're looking for the exact one you want and it's their mission to sell it to you that day. Ever hear of "a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush"? Or how about - "Strike while the iron is hot". They don't want to see you ten times and have to convince you to settle for anything. They want to give you what you want, right now.

Just my opinion.
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Old 02-06-2023, 02:54 PM   #11
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I feel your pain as to wanting to "just look in earnest". We like to just look an RV over good with no intent of getting as far as the money part ... if the dealership will play nice that way. However, I read and re-read this paragraph from your opening post over and over and remain confused.

"Then as we were talking numbers and trade-ins the salesperson casually insulted us by saying that we’d have to take the balance of our current trailer and roll it into the loan for the new trailer. Uh… that’s not how trade-ins work. If we owe say… $20K on our current trailer, and they give us $25K for trade-in, then there is nothing to roll into the new loan."

In my years of buying new with a balance still on the current trailer ... The dealer and I bark numbers back and forth till a figure appears that both of us can live with. This arrived at figure is what they are willing to sell their unit for minus what I'm comfortable with as far as a trade in value. I'm either going to have to pay off the existing loan on my own before the sale, or the dealer will have to roll that balance into the new loan. Unless your existing loan was made with external collateral (your house or maybe farm land) ... your lending institution will not release their lein on your old RV till it's paid off. Or .... did I totally not get what you wrote?
I think the salesperson misspoke. What she implied was that we would have to take the entire remaining balance of our current trailer and roll it into the new loan. Implying that either they would give us $0 for trade in value or we'd just end up owning 2 trailers for some reason.

I don't think she realized what she was saying when she said it, and I didn't correct her but it was a bit odd how she presented it to us.

For example: Say the new RV is $60K and we owe $20K on our current RV. She was saying we'd need to get a loan for $80K. That doesn't make sense...
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Old 02-06-2023, 02:57 PM   #12
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I've been in sales the last 25 years. There's a difference in "Needs", "Wants" & "Impulse Buys".

If you traveled all the way to the dealership, with a list of specific of models you wanted to look at - then which category do you think your event was?

To the salesperson you've already accomplished the "early stages" of your "purchase". Notice how I said purchase? You're looking for the exact one you want and it's their mission to sell it to you that day. Ever hear of "a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush"? Or how about - "Strike while the iron is hot". They don't want to see you ten times and have to convince you to settle for anything. They want to give you what you want, right now.

Just my opinion.

We are in the stage of we haven't found one we like enough yet to start serious negotiations and we just wanted to see a few in person because it's hard to judge certain features based on pictures and videos.

If it takes us going back to the dealership 10 times, then that's what it takes. There is nothing wrong with our current RV and we are in no hurry to buy. But just in case the need arises one day, we'd like to be prepared.
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Old 02-06-2023, 04:52 PM   #13
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John, we are taking a year off of RVing because:
1. The roof of our 2016 PrimeTime TT came loose from the front, last August, while traveling in Washington State.
2. We are selling it as is, since we already bought a new a/c and 2-way fridge the year before and don't want to put any more money in it.
3. We've only been in our new house for 8 months, after 8 months of living full-time in a 25ft TT. We're not ready to buy a replacement until prices get more reasonable.

Right now we're considering a new Rockwood/Flagstaff front kitchen 28ft TT but are in no hurry. Have contacted a couple of RV dealerships but they aren't bugging us. They don't seem to be hurting.
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Old 02-06-2023, 04:53 PM   #14
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ever gone to a car dealer READY to buy one of their cars and NOT bought one...
I did it TWICE with the SAME dealership.

First time... told the sales person what I wanted to look at.
Their new 6 cylinder sedans ...
Must be a 6... I drive lots of highway miles and a 4 cylinder is NO.

Guess what car he showed me..
Went across the road and bought a New Jeep.

Same dealer ... when I was looking for that truck upgrade
told the salesguy my budget expectations ...
AND if there is something I "like" budget can be increased.
Feel free to twist my arm a bit...

Well there was nothing in my preferred budget
HEY.... I liked that car over there...They wouldn't even discuss it.

That Dealership rang me 2 weeks later.... "We found a car for you".
Told him too late I bought a MX5 .... "That... does not fit in the budget you told us? "

There must be something on the east side of US-19
heavy ear wax or something
Only cars I can buy were on the west side...
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Old 02-06-2023, 05:20 PM   #15
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I went to a Honda dealer and I was looking at the Honda Ridgelines very closely, specifically at the way the Alabama factory often poorly aligned the doors to the body. A salesman came outside and introduced himself, and asked me if I was I was thinking about buying a truck. I said, “No, I just bought one two weeks ago from this same dealership, and YOU were my salesman”.

Duh. So many sales people are just idiots.
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Old 02-06-2023, 05:27 PM   #16
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We talked numbers for a few minutes and were kind of surprised at what he told us the estimated payments would be even though the selling price of the new trailer wasn’t that much more than what we paid for our current one. Apparently interest rates have gone up quite a bit in the last 10 years.

Then as we were talking numbers and trade-ins the salesperson casually insulted us by saying that we’d have to take the balance of our current trailer and roll it into the loan for the new trailer. Uh… that’s not how trade-ins work. If we owe say… $20K on our current trailer, and they give us $25K for trade-in, then there is nothing to roll into the new loan.

There is a fairly large camping show in Chicago in a couple of weeks that we want to check out because then we’ll be free to walk in and out of any and all the trailers that we want without being hassled by sales pitches. What’s interesting is that both of the dealerships that we visited will be there.
We also take forever to research and make a large purchase. A couple of comments....

The estimated payments are usually the worst case senario for someone with poor credit. If we're serious, we ask them to check into financing and the estimated payments usually come in much lower based on our credit score.

I'd walk away from the dealer who suggests rolling your old loan into the new one. Seems sketchy.

Have fun at the camping show. Usually they have mostly their high end rigs at the shows, but sometimes they have their high pressure sales people there and they seem to know who's really in the market. My favorite part of rv shows is the accessory vendors. You can discover lots of stuff you didn't know you needed.

With our current mh and car, we did all the research online and just walked into the dealership, toured the vehicle and bought it the same day. Those purchases were made pre Covid. Now I could probably just have them delivered.
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Old 02-06-2023, 05:30 PM   #17
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I think that was definitely part of their strategy. The salesperson even said that she didn't want to show us something that we fell in love with and couldn't afford.

It was just really odd how resistant they were to just let us simply look. Like I said, it actually deterred us from returning again.

Actually had that happen to me a few years back. Now I'm not rich but not poor either! Anyhooo, I asked to see the General Manager and Finance Manager after going to the truck and getting some papers I actually had with me. Well the GM was all smiles and cheers and asked how he could help close the deal. I repeated to him word for word what his sales lady said to me, THEN showed him my bank balance and my FICO score. All were silent. As we walked out the door with them sputtering I simply said "learn some manners and courtesy". BTW it was a dealership we all know and typically recommend against using for buying a camper.
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Old 02-07-2023, 09:47 PM   #18
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I've been in sales the last 25 years. There's a difference in "Needs", "Wants" & "Impulse Buys".



If you traveled all the way to the dealership, with a list of specific of models you wanted to look at - then which category do you think your event was?



To the salesperson you've already accomplished the "early stages" of your "purchase". Notice how I said purchase? You're looking for the exact one you want and it's their mission to sell it to you that day. Ever hear of "a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush"? Or how about - "Strike while the iron is hot". They don't want to see you ten times and have to convince you to settle for anything. They want to give you what you want, right now.



Just my opinion.


X2 sold cars in our training we were told 80% of people who shop the lot are ready to buy. I will say that 95% of the people I took on test drives. Bought the car if financing went through
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Old 02-07-2023, 09:57 PM   #19
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I think that was definitely part of their strategy. The salesperson even said that she didn't want to show us something that we fell in love with and couldn't afford.



It was just really odd how resistant they were to just let us simply look. Like I said, it actually deterred us from returning again.


Yet another sales gimmick, never let them sit in a caddy if they can’t afford a Chevy. Look for the majority of people if I put you in a Platinum but you could only afford the xlt it’s a harder sale as now I have to upsale the xlt also a good salesman listens and gets you what and can afford
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Old 02-07-2023, 10:06 PM   #20
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I've been in sales the last 25 years. There's a difference in "Needs", "Wants" & "Impulse Buys".

If you traveled all the way to the dealership, with a list of specific of models you wanted to look at - then which category do you think your event was?

To the salesperson you've already accomplished the "early stages" of your "purchase". Notice how I said purchase? You're looking for the exact one you want and it's their mission to sell it to you that day. Ever hear of "a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush"? Or how about - "Strike while the iron is hot". They don't want to see you ten times and have to convince you to settle for anything. They want to give you what you want, right now.

Just my opinion.

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X2 sold cars in our training we were told 80% of people who shop the lot are ready to buy. I will say that 95% of the people I took on test drives. Bought the car if financing went through

Interesting.

I guess we (wife and I) are the exception. We went to perhaps 15 RV dealers, armed with a list of very specific models we wanted to see. Did a few test drives. We went on factory tours. We went to a couple RV shows. We got specific model quotes. We emailed back and forth with salespeople. The vast majority of those visits and communications, as specific as they were, ended in no purchase. Junk quality and poor or undesirable product features turned us off on almost every model specific quest. After 1.5 years of visits, including a 6 month cooling period to overcome frustration, we finally settled on what could/would work best, and placed an order for an RV with specified options that came in about 3 or 4 months later. We took delivery and the RV has never been been back to the dealer since.

On the final RV pick, before the sale could be completed, we had to "fire" the first salesman and ask management to assign us a new one, as the first was too complacent and not working hard enough to earn the sale.

It was definitely not an impulse buy, and it didn't happen in one day, not even one year. No regrets with what we bought and how we did it.
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