Prep Fee Charge

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Originally Posted by JRTJH

If the dealer doesn't or won't give me the bottom line, out the door price, I find a dealer that will. There's no reason to be shafted by a dealer with "secret add-ons" any more than there's a reason to buy the "elixir" from a "snake oil salesman"

I agree with this 100%.

I'll also add that I prefer to deal with salespeople for cars/rvs/etc via email, at least at first, until I can meet the person in person, or for some reason I need to talk on the phone.

So much stuff is on the 'net as they say, nowadays, that it only makes sense to able to do this. I did it with my keystone, and my most recent truck purchase. Those that "had" to talk to me on the phone did not see any business from me, nor did they get their wish.

As for the reason, its two fold. First, I try to do a lot of the stuff while sitting at my desk working (ie multitasking). Where I sit, if you have a phone conversation, everyone around you can hear every word and prefer not to air my business to everyone. Second, its much easier and quicker for me to articulate my thoughts and questions while typing them out, and much harder for a salesperson to "dance" around when reading them. What takes me 2 minutes to type and hit send would take me 10 minutes on the phone, and I would have to be away from my desk not multitasking anymore.

It's hard to get the sales people to come around to this way of thinking. I used to be in sales so I know how much easier it is to "sell" someone while on the phone or in person. Thing is I don't need to be sold. If I am emailing you, I'm already sold on it, I just have a few questions to clarify maybe, before we really get down to business.

[Hoojs12840]

So......in a past life I was a car salesman. I made a great living working phone deals (before email was widely used) Everyone else would blow these people off, including my own dealerships people. I guarantee I closed the majority of those because I was the only one willing to do it. Sure some where nothing more than a $100.00 and a addition to my monthly count, but they took very little time and didn't have to babysit a family of 4 all afternoon. Want to see what your patients level is? Take your spouse and 2 elementary age kids car shopping and try and negotiate.




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[kellydog98]

The only barganing chip you have is the ability to walk. I've always made sure that each deal I'm working on, the dealer understands that while I have the money I'm the boss. I don't think $600 will hurt this dealer but they are always looking for the people who will just 'give' money up. Good Luck.

[Marcusjolaine]

Our process for buying an RV is to shop for the floor plan first. Once we have settled on what we like, I have the dealers email me quotes on the model and accessories that I request. Once they do that I put it in a spreadsheet, resend it out and see who gives me the best deal.
On our last purchase the local dealer made the deal but when I sat down to do the paper work not all the items I asked for were the models I requested. I then went to the next lowest dealer.
This method takes the emotion out of the deal which helps with buy remorse.

Here is the spreadsheet I uesed last time.

[dankent]

I could have saved a few grand up front buying my trailer at a couple other dealers that were not local .. even saved a couple more grand if i went to the states. However knowing that the service would need to be done and warranty items honored in a timely fashion would be an issue (it always is) if i didn't buy from my local keystone dealer. So i went it armed with the prices of others and I may not have got the best price possible ... but the few times i have needed service or warranty work its been a breeze getting my local dealer to accomplish it in a quick order (days). The dealer is 10 minutes from my house and there have been no interruptions to my camping season.

Now with this said the warranty is up .. but I save 20 percent on service and parts with this local dealer because i bought from them. I will do my own maintenance and service going forward if possible but its nice to know i have someone close by to help if i need it. Even over the phone the few times i have called for direction/ideas the Service Dept Manager has personally taken my calls and given quick and accurate direction to either fix or temporarily work around problems that came up while on the road. Mostly this can be attributed to the good relationship i have with my dealer, but i wouldn't give it up just to save a few grand and potential headaches dealing with someone else an hour+ away.