Negotiations for new RV

sholt-1

Member
Hello everyone! Was wondering how much I should expect to be able to negotiate for a new FW with a MSRP around $80K. I will be purchasing within the next month and have to be in San Francisco in September. Don't have much time for games and won't have any time for shake down runs. Any advice would be great. Thanks in advance!
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi sholt-1,

You might want to shop RVsForLess in Tennessee and RV Capital Wholesalers in Elkhart, IN. They'll let you build up the exact configuration and options that you want at their websites and will give you a quote by email within 24 hours. The long distance dealers will deliver the unit to you, or you can pick it up. They have pretty aggressive pricing so you'll be informed as you negotiate locally. Some local dealers will meet or beat the long distance guys; some won't.

There's value in having a local dealer. You get to decide how much value and how much of a premium you're willing to pay to get that local relationship.

If you buy long distance, some local dealers will decline to service your trailer. So before going that route, you might want to check out independent service locations and non-Heartland dealers that you might be able to use for service. Heartland has been pretty flexible about authorizing warranty service at non-Heartland dealers and at independents, but they would prefer you buy local. What you don't want to do is buy long distance and then find out you have nowhere close by to get the trailer serviced.
 

kowAlski631

Well-known member
Too many variables. Year, model? If you're buying from a dealer not near to where you will want to have any warranty or routine maintenance done, you could have some issues unless you have an independent place that Heartland will allow to do the work.
 

GOTTOYS

Well-known member
The "Wholesalers" in the Midwest area near the factory will typically take 30-35% off. Purchasing on the west coast you will have transportation costs added in. You will have to decide what it might be worth to buy locally. There is a lot of talk about buying locally to enable good service. If you plan to travel a lot is that an issue? I purchased locally and found the service was very poor, what did I gain?..Don
 

kakampers

Past Heartland Ambassador
Check out Explore USA...they did very well in negotiating with us and their PDI was great. We fulltime and going back to the dealer was NOT an option...have had very few issues that were simple fixes by us...
 

scottyb

Well-known member
Like Dan said, get your best price from the wholsalers and allow shipping cost. Take that with you to your local dealer. My local dealer met that price.
 

donr827

Well-known member
I always want the bottom line price that I have to write a check for. No last minute add ons allowed.
Don
 

jayc

Texas-South Chapter Leaders
I had good luck and a great price at Ron Hoover RV in Houston. They have several locations around the state.
 

Garypowell

Well-known member
I am in sales (not rv's) and have always talked to a lot of places in a path. Talk to company A and lay out exactly what you want and get their total price. Then talk to company B tell them exactly what you want and get there price. If it is higher than A then ask if you choose them if they can match A's price. Then go to company C, D, and E if you can stand it.

At each one act like you understand how very important their dealership will be to you (even though that is not the case) but that price is very important to you.

After you have circled around a few times you'll finally get down to what the limit is. You then go back to company X with the best price and you think you can be treated right and tell them you'll buy from them if they will throw in a 20 K hitch.

I won't claim that I have always gotten the best deal but I know I have done as well as I can. Our last unit (nov 2012) we got 40% off list. Unfortunately we already had the hitch.

Remember what my dad always told me "the best treatment you will ever get is when your dating". Once you buy it could continue to be great.....or it could go down hill. In my 5 RV's I don't think I have ever had the unit serviced by who sold it to me unless it was during the PDI.
 

Rodbuster

Well-known member
Hello sholt-1

We will be picking up our 2014 Landmark in a few weeks. I dealt with 6 dealerships to find my "best deal", including RV For Less and RV Capital. I was very surprised to get my best deal from Camping World. I don't think the forum rules allow actual prices, so I'll just say that they beat the second lowest price by several thousand dollars.

Another excellent benefit is when you buy from Camping World, you become an "Elite Member". This means that if you should have an issue with your RV anywhere in the country, you take it to one of their many service centers and "they say" they will do everything possible to get you on your way as soon as possible.

My experience with them "so far" has been very good. I'll be doing my PDI in a few weeks....hope the good experience continues.

One last note. My "best deal" came out of Kissimmee, Florida. I don't know if all the Camping World stores operate on the same profit margin.

Good luck with your search.
Dick
 

Westwind

Well-known member
We have had two so called major problems, 1st was the electric side of the HW heater failed, 1400 miles from home, 1600 from dealer. The second was the kitchen slide wouldn't go out, thankfully the problem wasn't "Wouldn't go In". Happened 10 hours from home, I fixed that myself, a nut that held the hydraulic piston on fell off.
My point is it seems your never near home or your dealership when problems occur.
The second issue is not all dealership will deal with you professionally and not all service departments are the same. With the hot water heater I had a bad experience with Camping World in Seffner, Fl. I will never go back or recommend them. I have heard good things about Kissimmee, Fl.

Enjoy your new FW and only worry about things when they happen!
 

KRCyclone

Member
Always remember to compare apples to apples. We looked and compared brands and options from several dealers in the Houston area and purchased from Camping World the unit we liked. Regardless of what you buy and where you buy it, someone will tell you they got a better deal.
 

kowAlski631

Well-known member
We full time also, so returning to where we purchased our rig is not important to us either. However, some people factor that into their equation of their deal.

Others may have had different experiences, but we do our strongest & best negotiations over a period of days/weeks/months. We absolutely get a deal that we are happy with in the end. In other words, take your time.
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
One thing to always remember. Dealers put "THEIR" msrp's in a coach.....they do not sell them for what HL says they should sell for. Go to the portal page and do a seach for MSRP. Then build your coach on paper, add up what "HL" says it should sell for and grind the dealer down on that price and the dealer will still make money.. Example...a dealer in my hometown wants 80K for a coach...if were to offer them 20% less...that 16K. Normally I will offer at least 25% less than the dealers price and go from there. You can always come up....but after that you can't go back down.
 

EandJ

Well-known member
I have kind of a related question.

Do y'all find find you get roughly the same % off whether you buy a unit off the lot or order one through a dealer? I'm not talking about the 2-year old unsold model in the back corner that they are dying to get rid of, but a current year model vs. one that you have pre-selected all the options (published and unpublished) yourself. It seems like you should be able to get a better % off by walking in and placing an order with a dealer - they have no inventory carrying costs etc - you are just straight profit to them.

But I really have no idea - that's why I'm asking. ;)
 

kowAlski631

Well-known member
We didn't look at stock at the dealer. We knew, since we would be full-timing, that we would order to get exactly what we wanted.
 

Westwind

Well-known member
I bought stock off the lot and we figure our percent was 25. The dealer told me up front without carrying on that the number he was giving me was the best he could do. I liked the way he treated me and felt he was giving me a fair deal since he matched two online dealers. Twice I called for over the phone help and got it immediately.
 

Speedy

Well-known member
We shopped and shopped, looked at ordering but when it came to finding the best price nothing beats the last one before a model change. We saved 41% off of MSRP buying from dealer stock when they were changing to the Gold Package Big Country's. They didn't want a lonely grey one amongst the brown and tan ones and we used the money we saved to travel and upgrade as needed.
 

sholt-1

Member
Thanks for all the replies! I think we have decided on either the Bighorn 3670RL or the 3570RS. The only thing I don't like about the 3670 is the location of the couch (hence the 3570 option). I was thinking maybe just replace the couch with two leather recliners from the house that match the other recliners. Any thoughts?
 

kowAlski631

Well-known member
We have the 3670RL. We plan to replace the sofa with 2 recliners soon. We looked at the layout since furniture can be swapped out.
 
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