Frustrated buyer

Suem62 · 09-26-2016, 02:04 PM

Hi All,

I am in the process of looking at purchasing an ACE 29.4 or other model. I have even taken my current TT into a Thor dealership for trade evaluation, 3 hrs from my home to avoid camping world. This was a week ago Friday. While when I was in the dealership I did say it was no significant rush (they don't have any units in stock, but only on order with expected delivery in about 7-9 weeks)....I am still anxious to see their preliminary numbers and I told them so.

After about 5 days of not hearing, I sent an email to the saleman with no response. In the meantime, doing comparison shopping, I contacted another dealer in the same geographical area. I received an email response rather quickly, pretty normal. When I replied to his questions within a day or two, I expected the ball to begin rolling on pricing from them as well. Again, no response and I'm a little more than frustrated.

Is this a common experience since the market on these units is hot? I really don't understand being ignored.

Thanks for listening to my rant....
Sue

Travelin' Texans · 09-26-2016, 02:24 PM

That's normal!! Most of these rv salesman couldn't cut it selling cars/bicycles so they sell rvs & don't have not a clue about what they're selling. I wouldn't haul it to another one , they go by the blue book value unless it's a total POS, I've traded 3 times in 10 years & they never saw my trade til I took delivery of the new one.

Joe-FL · 09-26-2016, 02:38 PM

if I understand you correctly, you are wanting a dealership to tell you what they will allow you on trade-in for your current RV while not knowing if you are trading against a new $200,000 unit or a used $20,000 unit?

While I agree they could just give you a general "ball park" value, they would probably prefer to be able to put together a package deal once they know what you are trading for. You may end up wanting to trade for a year or two old unit that they don't have very much money in and they can show on paper you getting about 30% more for your trade than it is worth, or you may be looking at a 2017 unit that is popular and they won't want to allow you as much.

Leave you trade at home and find what you want, then just tell them what trade you have. 9 out of 10 times they won't even have to see it to evaluate it.

Suem62 · 09-26-2016, 04:48 PM

Hi Joe-FL,

The dealer is well aware of what unit I am interested in purchasing and trading for. They gave me a ballpark price w/o a trade, I just want to see how much it jumps with the trade. It's less hassle for me, but not if the price is ridiculously different. But, it's a starting point in the negotiations.

It's interesting to me both of you indicated they don't care about seeing the trade and will only offer the blue book, sight unseen. That would not be worth it to me.

Thanks again for your input.
Sue

vkb · 09-26-2016, 04:50 PM

We agree with Joe...we traded in our toyhauler in January for our Axis...
sight unseen, since the toyhauler was about 1 1/2 yrs old...they gave us an aweome trade !
By the way it was CW ... but, we have an awesome store in KC area !

Don't try to pin a salesperson down on a price until you are ready to make the purchase !

You are in such a good area .. I do not know the name of the dealer, but, do know from what others have said, there is a dealer near Elkhart who comes highly recommended.

nosticks · 09-26-2016, 08:47 PM

You have to remember, these salespersons work only in the here and now. If you are not ready to buy today like right now, they have no interest in spending any revenue generating time with you.

We told each dealer that we were serious buyers, but have other places to go before we make a decision. Blown off by the first asking for our names and addresses so that he could show his boss he had a legitimate contact. He also ask that we don't let the sales manager know we were walking. The second dealer we made what we thought was a reasonable offer. No, can't do that, not even a counter. The third just go out and look around, if you see something you like let me know.

The third just go out and look around called back two days later apologized for being so busy the other day. Ask if we found anything we liked, I told him, yes, and I was driving it home at the moment.

oldgold · 09-27-2016, 12:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nosticks

.

The third just go out and look around called back two days later apologized for being so busy the other day. Ask if we found anything we liked, I told him, yes, and I was driving it home at the moment.

[emoji106] that sounds like us!!!

Suem62 · 09-27-2016, 03:39 PM

Love this post!

I think I'm going to sit back and be more patient. We are serious buyers, but I'd like to know the price with and without trade. It seems many buyers shop from all around the states and have gotten deals done online and by phone. Why isn't it working for me....that's the frustration.

Calico · 09-27-2016, 07:41 PM

We WERE going to trade in our pop-up when we were shopping, but with minor damage to the roof (which I repaired), and considering the age (1998), even though it was in fabulous condition, clean and huge, with 2 king beds, our salesman urged us to sell it outright, as they would 'probably offer us an embarrassingly low amount on our trade'. I'm glad we took his advice. First, I turned the roof-crack over to our comprehensive insurance, as it was caused by a winter tree-branch assault. Due to the age, they 'totaled' it and gave us book-value which was almost $3000, less our deductible of $500. I proceeded to purchase it back from them at 'salvage' cost ($495) and then put a sign on it and placed it at the street. Within 2 weeks, a buyer was thrilled to pay $3500 for it, since we are blocks away from a used camper/RV dealer who was asking double that for same-age trailers. The new buyers used it all summer long and are still thrilled with their purchase. The cash went towards our down-payment on our RV. Sometimes selling outright, although more work, will net worthwhile gains.

vkb · 09-27-2016, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suem62

Love this post!

I think I'm going to sit back and be more patient. We are serious buyers, but I'd like to know the price with and without trade. It seems many buyers shop from all around the states and have gotten deals done online and by phone. Why isn't it working for me....that's the frustration.

Sue...a number of years ago, we shopped online for a 'new to us' motorhome, having decided we wanted to move on to a little larger one with a slide.
After a few months of research, we bought, online from CW in Katy, Texas an
'08 Dorado...the salesperson was great...we, utimately, had to place a dp on it via credit card to hold it until we could get there to finalize the deal.
We flew down,...they picked us up at the airport....it took longer than we expected to get the deal done, as during the PDI/walk-thru we found the steps were not retracting as they should...they fixed them...
We were outta there before the rush hour traffic in the afternoon.
Happy Campers.
note...we developed a good repore with our salesperson prior to the sale. I probably drove her nuts !!

You may also like: