Any Ex-RV Salesmen On Here?

[AGarbers]

Once again we are shopping for an RV. We found a new one that we slightly liked at a dealer that supposedly listed for $130,000 but was on sale for $110,000. The dealer said he could get it below $100,000 if we wanted it. Yet, my wife found an identical new unit in Georgia for sale for $90,000. As I discussed this with a friend, he said that dealers only pay half the list price on RVs, so a $130,000 RV only costs them $65,000, meaning they could come down to $70,000 and still make money.

Do any of you have experience in this? NADA and Edmunds don't seem true to life for book value. It seems more like whatever the market will bear.

 

[Super Bee]

I am not an Ex RV salesmen. I actually own a Forest River RV dealership in Fort Wayne.

What your friend said is not true at all. I know many dealers and none of them have that kind of mark-up. I have some units I sell for $500.00 over cost, it all depends on the dealership. Most of the time the larger the dealer, the higher the mark-up. You have to pay for that fancy dealership somehow.

What year, make and model are you looking at?

 

[Michigan Slim]

I'm a Forest River owner. And a happy one! Check them out.

 

[AGarbers]

I have owned five RVs over the past 17 years. We liked the 2006 Bounder 32W best, but we didn't need the extra room. We also liked our 2005 Winn 29' Sightseer. Now my wife really likes the Fleetwood Flair 31A. I know the RV manufacturers took a big hit in the 2008-2009 era and many got bought out, including Fleetwood (Bounder), so I wonder if the quality stayed the same. We went to the Indianapolis Boat Sport and Travel Show last weekend and while the RVs had a lot of flash, the quality on some seems to have dropped.

 

[Tactically Fat]

We went to the Indianapolis Boat Sport and Travel Show last weekend and while the RVs had a lot of flash, the quality on some seems to have dropped.

We went yesterday. And there seemed to be a break point at about the $30k mark where there was a marked increase in quality of materials.

That said, the name of the game these days is super lightweight stuff to help with efficiency. Of course, these lightweight materials probably aren't going to last as long. Especially if there are kids involved. My son could break a rock.

That said - there's a ton of really nice stuff there at the show. My kids had a blast.

 

[maxwelhse]

I'm not a salesman, but I do work in the RV industry, and I can tell you that production demand is down right now and has been falling for several months. The boom times of the last 2-3 years have slowed so I think time is probably on your side as far as finding a good price on what you'd like to purchase.

As far as quality, I suggest you attempt to make a visit up to Elkhart since you're in the area and ask about some plant tours. Watch a couple being built and then decide if you like how they did it. I'm not sure how receptive the manufacturers would be to that, but for $100k, I'd make a couple of calls to find out.

 

[4651feeder]

Seeing New Old Stock 2018 Fleetwood Flair 31A on RVTrader with asking prices less than $80,000, so you can probably figure the offer of under $100,000 still has some move to it. Funny I just watched Josh at Haylett RV explain in this video why you DON'T really wanna deal at an RV show. A lot of what he says makes sense. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRS9u1f7074u0Rrgu05K9Wg

Good Luck and Happy Camping

PS the thought just crossed my mind that perhaps it was Camping World offering you one for $100,000..... I have yet to read a sales review for them that was positive; then again maybe the happy one's are quiet?

 

[spec4]

I question using Fleetwood and quality in the same sentence. Just my experience.