Purchasing Recommendation

The_Bob

Member
Greetings from a Newbie to this great forum. My wife and I are seriously considering purchase of a new Big Country 3070RE. We live in the Pacific Northwest, in the Portland/Seattle area. We have purchased several RV's in the past, so are not inexperienced in the area of negotiating a reasonable deal. We seem to have found a dealer we can work with and are currently working with them. My question is what % discount of of retail should we expect for a cash deal, with a good trade-in? My benchmark in the past was somewhere in the area of 25-30% as a starting point, but it's been a while since our last purchase. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Bob.
 

Garypowell

Well-known member
Bob. I am not sure if "cash" will help that much since the dealer gets cash one way or the other. Plus he might even make some money on financing.

Late last year we traded in a 2008 Bighorn for new 2013. The dealer paid off our old coach (12 months prior we had taken out new 100% loan and i think we owed about $30k) and we ended up getting the new one for 40% off list.

I don't consider myself a good negotiator but I do believe you catch them at the end of a slow month and sometimes magic happens. Obviously I feel very good about the deal I got.
 

Theresau

Well-known member
Ours was similar except for the trade - trade proposed was not good from any dealer we contacted - we sold privately.

Bob. I am not sure if "cash" will help that much since the dealer gets cash one way or the other. Plus he might even make some money on financing.

Late last year we traded in a 2008 Bighorn for new 2013. The dealer paid off our old coach (12 months prior we had taken out new 100% loan and i think we owed about $30k) and we ended up getting the new one for 40% off list.

I don't consider myself a good negotiator but I do believe you catch them at the end of a slow month and sometimes magic happens. Obviously I feel very good about the deal I got.
 

Invizatu

Senior Road Warriors
Bob... I would think you could easily get 35% to 40% off of Heartlands msrp, but just remember that the more you get off, the less they will give you on your trade in. Get a firm trade in value and lock that in before you start negotiating price on the new one to eliminate the sliding scale of buying with a trade in. You can contact Heartlands brand manager and request they e-mail you a factory msrp sheet (dealers often inflate those numbers) You might also request the special build msrp sheet for additional options. Keep in mind that you will have to pay delivery fee (app. $1.50 mile from Elkhart to your dealer) and of course tax / title / registration. Some dealers will also try to slip in documentation fees or sell you interior or exterior protective coatings or extended warranties or even charge for a PDI, don't fall for those gimmicks. Get your best price and enjoy!
 

Miltp920

Well-known member
We just bought a 2014 Heartland Cyclone and we ended up 33% under msrp. We had a trade and that may have limited our %. After talking to a few dealers, we were offered a fair trade value. We were unsuccessful with our attempted private sale asking just $2000 over trade offer. We love our new Cyclone. Good luck on your negotiations.
 

Theresau

Well-known member
That was my experience as well that the more you get off MSRP the less you will get in trade. I did get the trade amount right off. We got quotes from mutiple dealers. Going the internet method was very effective. I felt it was good to move forward with the lower trade even though it was way below NADA value as quoted by another dealer to us as the price on the new BC was very good. I put the trailer on Craigslist at a very reasonable price and it sold right away - started $3,000 more then dropped price when I heard BC was going on the line - BH sold the day I dropped the price. Got $5,700 more than had been offered in trade. I felt going this route gave the opportunity to make the extra $ - if we went with a dealer with a good trade offer I was sure the price for the 2014 would have been much higher - if I could not sell the trailer privately then it would have still been a "wash."

Theresa

Bob... I would think you could easily get 35% to 40% off of Heartlands msrp, but just remember that the more you get off, the less they will give you on your trade in. Get a firm trade in value and lock that in before you start negotiating price on the new one to eliminate the sliding scale of buying with a trade in. You can contact Heartlands brand manager and request they e-mail you a factory msrp sheet (dealers often inflate those numbers) You might also request the special build msrp sheet for additional options. Keep in mind that you will have to pay delivery fee (app. $1.50 mile from Elkhart to your dealer) and of course tax / title / registration. Some dealers will also try to slip in documentation fees or sell you interior or exterior protective coatings or extended warranties or even charge for a PDI, don't fall for those gimmicks. Get your best price and enjoy!
 

TXTiger

Well-known member
You can shop for the new RV on the internet. Find the best price from the wholesalers (usually 25-30% below MSRP) and then get the local dealer to match it first. Also get the NADA value of the RV you want to trade in so you know what it is worth. Then after you have locked in the price of the new RV including extras you can negotiate the trade in or go private party sale. As far as cash goes. Dealers get a commission or spiff on the financing. Paying cash they make less on the sale. I have purchased many vehicles, mostly Harleys, and have informed the salesman that I can pay cash but will finance if they give me a good price, i.e.: a cut of the spiff, and after I make 3 monthly payments I just pay off the loan in full. Just make sure the loan does not have a repayment penalty.
 

Theresau

Well-known member
I don't indicate I'm paying cash until the price is settled - they usually assume financing. I had one dealer very upset at closing but they'd never asked. Done this when purchasing cars as well.

You can shop for the new RV on the internet. Find the best price from the wholesalers (usually 25-30% below MSRP) and then get the local dealer to match it first. Also get the NADA value of the RV you want to trade in so you know what it is worth. Then after you have locked in the price of the new RV including extras you can negotiate the trade in or go private party sale. As far as cash goes. Dealers get a commission or spiff on the financing. Paying cash they make less on the sale. I have purchased many vehicles, mostly Harleys, and have informed the salesman that I can pay cash but will finance if they give me a good price, i.e.: a cut of the spiff, and after I make 3 monthly payments I just pay off the loan in full. Just make sure the loan does not have a repayment penalty.
 

The_Bob

Member
Thanks to everyone for their feedback on the purchase of a new Heartland Big Country. After about 3 days of back-and-forth negotiations, I think I did an OK deal. I still have a 'back-door' to get out of it - purchase subject to inspection of coach. I got a pretty reasonable trade in (about $6K over low NADA wholesale. On the unit itself, I negotiated about 18.5% below MSRP, and this included slide toppers, MorRyde kingpin, installation of 4 6-volt batteries (removed from my trade in), a convection microwave and 2 folding chairs. Also included in the price was delivery charge (e.g., it was not an add-on after negotiating the final price. So it seems I did OK. Any feedback on this will be appreciated. I still have a few more days to bail out as I have the 'subject to inspection' clause in our agreement.

Bob.
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
The only opinion that counts is yours.
If you are happy, it's all that matters.
The 3070 is a nice floor plan. Have fun with it.

Peace
Dave
 

Theresau

Well-known member
Great idea on the subject to inspection clause. You did well on trade so that offsets the 18.5% discount. It's the deal overall that counts. Be sure to check contract regarding trade so that they don't adjust this at trade in time. I heard that can happen....

Thanks to everyone for their feedback on the purchase of a new Heartland Big Country. After about 3 days of back-and-forth negotiations, I think I did an OK deal. I still have a 'back-door' to get out of it - purchase subject to inspection of coach. I got a pretty reasonable trade in (about $6K over low NADA wholesale. On the unit itself, I negotiated about 18.5% below MSRP, and this included slide toppers, MorRyde kingpin, installation of 4 6-volt batteries (removed from my trade in), a convection microwave and 2 folding chairs. Also included in the price was delivery charge (e.g., it was not an add-on after negotiating the final price. So it seems I did OK. Any feedback on this will be appreciated. I still have a few more days to bail out as I have the 'subject to inspection' clause in our agreement.

Bob.
 

pegmikef

Well-known member
A good friend of mine, a retired marine, who has been involved as a salesman, then later as sales manager, in the retail sales of new and used cars defines a good deal as a deal in which both the seller and the buyer walk away happy and smiling.
 
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