To Order or Buy off the Lot?

Goldenwingers

goldenwingers
We understand how floor planning works and that dealers want to sell what they have in stock. However, what we see advertised is never exactly what we want. If we order exactly what we want what kind of deal can we expect. After all, the dealer will not even have the floor planning to worry about. Seems to us that it should about be a break-even situation.

What are your experiences with ordering?
 

DennisZ

Well-known member
Don & Sheri
I special ordered my 3055RL from Lakeshore, and the price was the same as their in-stock units they had advertised. Good luck on your purchase.:)
 

Midastouch

Well-known member
Don and Sheri,

I drove to Texas to look at the coaches and they tried to talk me into buying from the lot. I feel fortunate to have been told about RV's for Less in Knoxville. I ordered and got exactly what I wanted and saved money dealing with RV's for less. IMHO I would have never been totally satisfied if I had bought off the lot and not gotten what I really wanted. It was worth the wait and the drive to pick up my coach.
 

fireflipper

EX-Travel Bug
Fireflipper

Hi Goldenwingers
You may want to wait a llittle before you order. I have heard that the 2008 Bighorns will be coming out soon. This usually means a few good changes and improvements.
 

SmokeyBare

Well-known member
Don,

We ordered our 2007 3400RL BigHorn after we visited the factory in Elkhart Indiana. I wanted some options that are not always found on the lot. We took possession around 6 weeks after we ordered it from RVs For Less in Knoxville Tenn.

We found Butch and Karen wonderful people to deal with... and as important... we recieved the best price from them as well. We checked several other dealers before we placed the order... some in Elkhart.

Options We wanted were:

Dual Paine Windows - Wired and Framed for a Second A/C -
Queen Bed in place of the King - Electric rear stabalizers -
High Gloss Gel Coat finish - Counter top extension - Euro Chairs

We did not get the second A/C installed... just in case for the future.
 

roazo

Sundance Owner
Don & Sheri

We just got our new Sundance 3300SK From Lakeshore RV. We ordered one from them because the one they had in stock was not what we wanted. John bent over backwards to get us what we wanted and when we wanted, all in 14 days. They even brought it to us , A 650 mile trip oneway for no charge. We saved over $4000.00 compared to the local dealer.

We just took a 4 day shakedown trip with it and we could not happier with it.

Good Luck with yours.
 

HappyKayakers

Well-known member
If you decide to special order, insist on a copy of the order that the dealer is faxing to the company before it's actually sent. We special ordered hoping to get exactly what we ordered. Our BH came in with the wrong decor, no fireplace, no 1/2 time convection, no Trailair pinbox. They did get the queen bed right. Eventually, everything except the decor was made right. What still gripes me about the whole deal is that nobody (dealer or Heartland) would give us a copy of the faxed order after the fact so I'll never be sure who goofed.
 

ct0218

Well-known member
That is a good idea. My dealer, or most likely the salesman that knew nothing, got 4 things wrong and we didn't know it until it rolled in. Corrections were made, but it cost me time and fuel (and a lot of phone calls and a couple thousand dollars more) to get it done. We took delivery in April, and he called last month and left a message--wanted to know if we were still interested in buying a Landmark. ???? Next time...
 

ct0218

Well-known member
Holiday on Wheels, Panama City, FL. Got a very good deal, and Sam, the owner is nice and knowledgable. Just the luck of the draw with the salesman I guess. Because of this site I was able to teach him a lot about what he was selling. He tried the normal BS that is often used by salesmen when they have no idea what they're doing, but, soon decided to listen and learn. Apparently though, he's still out in left field.
 

trdeal

Past North Carolina Chapter Leader
I will have to say that both of the salesmen we dealt with at Bill Plemmons were very knowledgable about their product and did all they could to help us make an informed decision. we had our choices narrowed down between the heartland and a McKenzie Medallion.We were told that one of Heartlands owners or someone at Heartland went out to a lot and compared Heartland to the Medallion.Weight was a big issue. Our Landmark weighs around 12,800 or so dry. The Mediallon weighted in at around 14,000 dry. The first Landmark we saw was the only one they had on the lot at the time.It was sold,but they called the owner, a Minister from the area, and they allowed us to look inside. We are glad we chose the Landmark. We have some friends who just purchased a Medallion. It is very nice, but there is a difference.I will also have to say the service dept. at BP is also very much on the ball.
 
C

Chulinw

Guest
Don't trust the service manager at Holidays on Wheels. Take my word for it.... I had to write a long letter to Sam in order to get things corrected and still have problems because of the service manger...:mad:
 

Uncle Rog

Well-known member
Howdy, the BH is my fourth rig, and my first 5er. My first TT was 6 mos old, only used one night supposedly and I paid about 75% of the original price, the appliances and furniture still had the tags on them. It really was not what I wanted, but at the time money was tight and being my first I did not know what to look for anyway. The second was perfect for me and a couple of GSP's. It had one slide and room to move around in (27'). The third was 34', had two slides and room for a wife too. I would still have it except for some electrical problems that seemingly could not be fixed and in my opinion could be dangerous. That led me to the BH. I had two TT's for trade (ever try to sell a used one for decent money?) we sallied forth and looked at probably 100 units. So Cal has no shortage of RV dealers. That being said with 20 brochures in hand we looked for the long deal. I am thinking we found it. However if we did not have two trade-ins it would have been alot easier just to ask for quotes from 4-5 lots and see who was the most competitive with the models we were interested in..............UR... PS do some research on the reputation of your dealers service / warranty dept's, whether you order or buy off the lot it makes a difference............
 

Shadowchek

Well-known member
We looked and looked at all the local and semi local dealers. We really liked the 3400RL because of the couch and dining being on the entry side putting your windows on your campsite side for most campgrounds. After considering the length issue we decided to get a 3055. We couldn't get the dealer to come anywhere near the wholesalers price and they would only order at full list price. We decided to order from one of the wholesalers so we picked our colors and options and were ready to order. Knowing that our local dealer would probably not be very enthused about working on our 5ver but there was a huge difference in price. I wanted to inspect it before signing on the dotted line so I was going to make the drive from Ca to In to do it. Rv's are not exactly flying out the door right now with the economy and gas prices so our local dealer ran an add on a 3400RL way below what I could order it for from the wholesalers.I was told by another dealer that it was below dealer invoice and he conveniently had just sold the one on his lot that was in our first choice of color so he didn't have to price match. It was a 2008 and he said it must be on a 2007 frame but it was a drop frame so Yahoo. The only thing I could see was that the Dining chairs and desc chair clashed with the camel suede couch they were kind of a gouldens mustard color causing the whole 5ver to look bad. We got them to switch them with another BH and wow it looked great now. The only options we would have done different were to get the manual rear stableizers, Queen bed instead of king and dual pain windows. We can live with those things for the money we saved. We got the plan We really wanted but have to deal with the extra length oh well they are all big anyways and what a nice plan and roomy inside. We didn't upset our local dealer, saved a lot of money and I didn't have to drive to Indiana. So if you are patient and somewhat flexible you never know.

P.S.
I almost feel silly in such a nice 5ver really only needed a sundance or less for as much or little time we have to use it but we wanted quality and it sure is nice.

Greg
 

Forrest Fetherolf

Senior Member
Congratulations on your new RV................ join us at the Las Vegas Rally Sept 26-28.

Forrest - Nevada Chapter Leader
 

Attachments

  • Heartland Owners Rally.pdf
    78.7 KB · Views: 4
Top