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Old 03-09-2015, 10:37 AM   #1
ColoradoSooner
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RV Wholesalers - Final Price?

Hey there! This is my first time posting. (Waves)

We currently own a Chalet Arrowhead A-frame Pop-up. We love it but are seriously considering a move up.

The Passport Elite 23RB looks perfect for us. Our local dealer had a "show price" at a recent RV show of $24k. Then I heard about RV Wholesalers. Contacted them and they gave me a price of $21,156. If I use their financing, it will go down to $19,656. (No idea what the terms are.)

My guess is the local dealer will come down close to the $21k. (There are a BUNCH of dealers on RV Trader listing at around that price.)

So my question is, for those of you who have purchased from RV Wholesalers, is the $19,656 with their financing the final price? Or should we attempt to negotiate?

We've never bought a new trailer before and we paid cash for the Chalet so I'm a little lost on how this works. Any help any of you can give would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you!
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Old 03-09-2015, 02:18 PM   #2
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I'm sorry I can't help with your question regarding RV Wholesaler but a word of caution for what it may be worth. First, you don't have all the information needed to make an informed evaluation on that offer. Without knowing interest rate and any other fee's, it may or may not be the best deal. My take would be that if they are going to deduct $1500 for using thier finiancing, your going to pay for that either way. Get all the information first, run the numbers and then decide.

Good luck......
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Old 03-09-2015, 02:37 PM   #3
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Something else to consider is support after the sale. Some dealers may not want to provide warranty support if it didn't come from them. Not saying it's going to happen, but you have to think about more than saving a little money.
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Old 03-09-2015, 02:48 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ColoradoSooner View Post

The Passport Elite 23RB looks perfect for us. Our local dealer had a "show price" at a recent RV show of $24k. Then I heard about RV Wholesalers. Contacted them and they gave me a price of $21,156. If I use their financing, it will go down to $19,656. (No idea what the terms are.)

My guess is the local dealer will come down close to the $21k. (There are a BUNCH of dealers on RV Trader listing at around that price.)

!
If you know that your local dealer is competent and will provide you with good after-sales service and they will match or come close to RV Wholesalers or other non-local prices, I'd go with local.

As was pointed out, quite a few dealers will not do warranty work for you if the RV wasn't purchased from them. Some may, but your work order will probably go to the very bottom of the pile.

Finding a reliable, customer-oriented dealer goes a long way - a very long way - towards making your RVing experience an enjoyable one. The closer they are the better. Price is only one component of the buying process.
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Old 03-09-2015, 08:26 PM   #5
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If you know that your local dealer is competent and will provide you with good after-sales service and they will match or come close to RV Wholesalers or other non-local prices, I'd go with local.

As was pointed out, quite a few dealers will not do warranty work for you if the RV wasn't purchased from them. Some may, but your work order will probably go to the very bottom of the pile.

Finding a reliable, customer-oriented dealer goes a long way - a very long way - towards making your RVing experience an enjoyable one. The closer they are the better. Price is only one component of the buying process.
x2! Ignore "Show" prices. I've not found them to be any bargains at all. A local dealer that has good feedback goes a long way. Check out all the stuff on this forum about hassles with warranty work. 90% of it seems to rest on having a good dealer going to bat for you.
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Old 03-09-2015, 11:13 PM   #6
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Cool

don't play the financing game. get the best price and the best trade in.

if you want to finance the trailer do it through a credit union
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Old 03-10-2015, 05:55 AM   #7
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don't play the financing game. get the best price and the best trade in.

if you want to finance the trailer do it through a credit union
That's interesting that you say that. I went to my CU and the rate was 2 points higher than the bank we went through. When I asked my rep why, she said it was because I wasn't financing enough for a better rate.
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Old 03-10-2015, 09:32 AM   #8
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Second the Motion - Go local

We bought several TT from dealers 200 to 250 miles away, chasing a good/great deal. Never had any major issues, but lots of little things which needed to be fixed, like exterior trim coming loose, dinette seat back loose/broken, several other's I forget at the moment. I'm sure the dealers would have fixed them under warranty, and probably only taken them 1 or 2 hours. The issue became towing them TT there. When you get 9 mpg towing, and have a 500 mile round trip, at best it's going to cost you $150 in fuel, and 8 hours of your time, plus you'll have to probably stay overnight. It ended up cheaper to pay $100 to a local RV dealer, 20 miles away just to do the repair work. I was hesitant to think about having some major issue, and especially something to do with the axles or wheels.

Afterwards, talking to the local dealer, they had comparable if not better prices, based on there being expectation of repeat or word of mouth advertising. That huge dealer 300 miles away definitely isn't expecting you to come back, since you scouted around for the best price on this current RV. The only issue is getting a model/floorplan you like, so you might have to travel some, but more than 100 miles, probably not, more than 200 miles, no way unless they are some really unique brand.
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Old 03-10-2015, 12:14 PM   #9
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x3 on the local dealer. They play so many games with the numbers in financing/pricing it wouldn't be worth it to take a chance . You do need to do a little research and make sure they are good folks (local dealer).

Take the offer from RV Wholesalers to your local dealership and sit down with the sales manager.See if he can't match the pricing or get close to it. Service after the sales is extremely important in RV sales; you don't want to ruin the experience with your new trailer by having service issues and no one to do the work for you.

By the way, to the forum.
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Old 03-10-2015, 03:54 PM   #10
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x3 on the local dealer. They play so many games with the numbers in financing/pricing it wouldn't be worth it to take a chance . You do need to do a little research and make sure they are good folks (local dealer).

Take the offer from RV Wholesalers to your local dealership and sit down with the sales manager.See if he can't match the pricing or get close to it. Service after the sales is extremely important in RV sales; you don't want to ruin the experience with your new trailer by having service issues and no one to do the work for you.
By the way, to the forum.
Ditto on that suggestion. We did that with ours and local dealer came within $2,000 of an offer from Ohio. Since it was going to cost us almost that much to go pick it up, we stayed local and don't regret it.
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Old 03-11-2015, 04:29 AM   #11
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We looked at the wholesalers in OH and MI, they were much lower on initial price, but gave us a low trade in price as well. The local dealer was only about $1500 more, it costs that much for shipping. The difference in shipping is about $1.50 per mile. The local dealer is easier to work with on warranty claims, but I've found that Camping World doesn't even bother asking where you purchased your unit, they just fix it. I've never dealt with the CW in Colorado Springs, but I'd assume they are about the same.

My experience, I decided to stay local (even though I was moving), I just didn't get a warm fuzzy on the customer service from the wholesaler. They deal with volume, period. Most of the feedback I found said there is very little, if any, customer service after the sale. You're just a number to them and the more I talked to them, the more I felt that.
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Old 03-11-2015, 05:30 AM   #12
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Thank you all so much. We've just about decided to stay local. Without RVW's "finance discount," they're only $899 under what our local dealer quoted us. With it, they're $2899 under, which is substantial but then we'll be tied to their financing for a year, like it or not. Plus, we're only allowed to put down 10%. We'd rather sell our Chalet and finance a lower amount.

And I do like the idea of having someone local in case anything goes wrong.

This was really helpful. Thank you again!
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Old 03-11-2015, 07:56 AM   #13
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We are buying from RV Wholesalers. I just found out our unit is built and awaiting shipment to them.

Their "normal" financing discount is $2000 off. But at least once per year, they have special discounts for just a 24 hour period. For that one day only, they discount up to $6000 to finance through them. I have crunched the numbers to death and it is just the best deal for us. I plan on refinancing 12 months after getting it to drop the rate, but even if we don't, the payment will be about the same as if I had bought it local. The biggest difference is I will have more equity in it than I would have from the local.

By the way, I tried to deal with the only local in my area that carries the same brand and they would not drop one dollar off the price. They do have them priced pretty well to start, but I couldn't stand that they wouldn't come back with some kind of counter offer.

Only time will tell if we made the right choice. But for now, we are ready to go get our rig and start using it!!
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Old 03-11-2015, 09:44 AM   #14
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Just make sure you are all dealing apples to apples. I noticed some of the wholesale units I looked at cut corners on options. They were pretty good about sending me the build sheets so I could make sure everything I wanted was included. The biggest area where I saw them cutting corners was on the hitch. The 5ers I was looking at were all pretty big 38-41' units. The local dealers all had mor-ryde or trailair, the wholesaler's had the standard pin box. That alone made up for a lot of the price difference in my case. Also, since they are so close to Indiana, they don't have much in shipping costs, that was another big portion.

Not saying you shouldn't buy if that's the best deal for you, just make sure you are pricing comparable units and including all costs.
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Old 03-11-2015, 10:34 AM   #15
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To add to what's been said, be sure that when you consider the "wholesale dealers finance offer" that you compare apples to apples. There may be a one year limit before you can refinance the mortgage, but be sure that when you are doing the comparisons, that you know the rates being quoted by your local finance agency is for a "used" RV. A year from now, when you're ready to refinance is not the time to suddenly find out that the "2 point discount" only applies to new RV's. The refinance rate for "used RV's" is 3 points above what was quoted...... We found out about that the hard way some years ago with a Ford rebate for using their financing. We accepted Ford's 5.9% financing with the $1500 rebate, then 6 months later when I applied for the 2.5% credit union loan, found it only applied to new vehicles, the interest rate for used vehicles was 7.8%.

I've always been told, 'The LARGE print "giveth" and the small print "taketh away."

Buyer beware of the small print !!!!!
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Old 03-11-2015, 10:56 AM   #16
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When purchasing anything with a trade in remember, retail and wholesale prices. Normal dealers will want to sell retail and give wholesale for a trade in. Wholesale dealers will give wholesale prices for trade in. Either way I want to deal on equal terms. Retail v retail or wholesale v wholesale.
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Old 03-11-2015, 11:10 AM   #17
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Costco has 4.17% for 180 months. I was quoted 5.75% from RVWholesalers if I take the 4 year extended warranty with I have chose to do. I was quoted 6.74% without (they get kickbacks for financing and warranties). The payment is almost exactly the same whether going through them or Costco. The difference is, I would be having to finance $6K more through Costco. At the end of the day, I have more equity with RVWholesalers.

I have not been comparing apples to apples though. My local dealer has a 2015 model and I am getting a 2016 model through RVWholesalers with a lot of good updates. I expect the price to go up when my local dealer gets the new models in. But we have been pricing all the same options. We chose every option (including the generator) except dual pane windows.

I wanted to use my local dealer, they seem nice, but just could not justify throwing money away to do it. Time will tell if we made the right choice.
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Old 03-11-2015, 12:33 PM   #18
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All Trade-ins are not created equal

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken / Claudia View Post
When purchasing anything with a trade in remember, retail and wholesale prices. Normal dealers will want to sell retail and give wholesale for a trade in. Wholesale dealers will give wholesale prices for trade in. Either way I want to deal on equal terms. Retail v retail or wholesale v wholesale.
I can provide a good example of this. When we bought our Cougar from a local dealer, we checked around from other dealers. Found one that was about $4000 less on the RV, but the trade in was about $3500 less than the local dealer - so we could have saved $500, which didn't included driving about 400 miles different to get it. Then my concern with local service/

Interesting comment by that wholesale dealer - we were trading in a Sunset Trails Reserve RV, which is built by Crossroads RV, which is owned by THOR industries. It was a nice model, lots of features and options. His comment was very critical of Crossroads, and THOR for making 'poor quality' RVs. As you can tell, we bought a Cougar, which is built by Keystone, and yeah, owned by THOR. I didn't see a difference, and 90% of the components are the same.
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Old 03-11-2015, 12:53 PM   #19
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Another good point made by notyetmhcowner. Kick backs, dealer 's get them from the builder, financing and warranties. Unless they say so, which they might not we do not what kind of special deal the dealer is getting to sell this or that thru so and so financing. That normally helps them negotiate down from the beginning price.
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Old 03-11-2015, 02:25 PM   #20
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But at least once per year, they have special discounts for just a 24 hour period. For that one day only, they discount up to $6000 to finance through them.
Wow...for that kind of discount, I'd definitely drive. Probably no way to know when they're going to do this, though, right?
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