My 10 RV sales techniques that really make me sick

[RSKDSK]

10 sales techniques:

1) You need to put down a deposit in order for the salesman to present an offer to the manager (General RV)

2) Pressured to sign purchase documents before even seeing the RV (La Mesa & General RV)

3) Negotiate a great price only to find $2K in PDI fees, 1.5k in freight fee, $500 in doc fees, etc ... (General RV)

4) Sorry, we will not give you a buyers order showing all the numbers without you first giving us a deposit (General RV & La Mesa)

5) I promise to have everything repaired from the PDI ASAP, (even though the parts are on a month backorder) ... But you have to sign the purchase documents in order for us to get working on it (La Mesa)

6) You walk in for the dealership to conduct a PDI ... and you are taken directly to the finance department to sign documents before you go to the PDI. (La Mesa)

7) The person conducting the PDI knows less about RV's than my cat. (La Mesa)

8) The finance person has already concluded that you need the tire protection, interior protection, exterior protection, and all the other snake oil. (La Mesa)

9) Your 800 credit score only qualifies you for the 8% interest rate

10) Oh sorry, I forgot you had put down a deposit. I'll need to redo the paperwork

I could literal go on and on .... I am truly sickened to see how these places operate.

[Pete'sMH]

They only do those things if you let them. Just sayin…

[Chateau_Nomad]

RV sales outlets are basically a branch of usually very large finance firms... they just happen to sell RVs. Their FIRST priority is to (fair or not) separate you from as much of your money as possible, as quickly as possible.

If you go in realizing this, nothing should surprise you. If you are a timid person with thin skin... you will most likely come away from the "deal" bleeding from your wallet and various other body orifices...

[RSKDSK]

I see through all of these ploys however I am not a 75 year old retiree that is looking to pass time traveling the USA ... trusting that these people will take care of me because they are a large franchise.

[Chateau_Nomad]

Originally Posted by RSKDSK

I see through all of these ploys however I am not a 75 year old retiree that is looking to pass time traveling the USA ... trusting that these people will take care of me because they are a large franchise.

NO! They won't "take care of you". They are an outlet where you can view items to purchase. If you don't do your OWN research, you WILL be taken advantage of. That being said... there's nothing wrong with being polite, but just don't be naive.

[ducksface]

From another perspective.

Lack of response is a
Yes.
In almost every culture since there have been cultures.



Anyone who is ployed by any of those op things deserves it.
Age is absolutely no excuse, possibly even to the point that
Life experience
should dictate.

A salesperson has to eat.
If he eats you...congratulations to them.
They have a job, you have a job


See Pete's post. He's exactly right.


Sheep are to shear.
Don't go baaahhh in front of a sales man.

[Bob Denman]

It's kind of fun to let them babble like idiots for a while...
Then: tell them that since they've been wasting your time: you're gonna go get lunch.
When they try to keep you at the dealership: drop the hammer on them!

[dkoldman]

I don't think you can broad brush the experiences.
I can speak 1st hand on La Mesa (Port St. Lucie Florida) because that is where I bought, but at the same time there were two La Mesa dealers closer to me in Arizona & New Mexico that rubbed me the wrong way.

Originally Posted by RSKDSK

10 sales techniques:

1) You need to put down a deposit in order for the salesman to present an offer to the manager (General RV)
I never had this anywhere, I got asked to put down deposit to hold the coach though, which actually makes sense if you want to buy it.

2) Pressured to sign purchase documents before even seeing the RV (La Mesa & General RV)
Not La Mesa (Port St. Lucie Florida) We flew into West Palm Beach, they picked us up, took us straight to the coach. We were outside 5 hours which included the PDI before even going back to the building

3) Negotiate a great price only to find $2K in PDI fees, 1.5k in freight fee, $500 in doc fees, etc ... (General RV)

We had some fee, I forgot what it was called?, it was like $1,000, but they told us before we left Dallas. The price was online and no negotiation was required, it was a GREAT price and the Fee was non factor and we knew it. Go by total out the door price anyway. Note this was Pre Covid Nov 2019.

4) Sorry, we will not give you a buyers order showing all the numbers without you first giving us a deposit (General RV & La Mesa)

They sent us all of the paperwork 1st, I would later go to my bank and get cashiers check. I sent them a copy of the cashiers check before leaving and begged them to take a deposit so the coach could not be sold. But they never ran my card.

5) I promise to have everything repaired from the PDI ASAP, (even though the parts are on a month backorder) ... But you have to sign the purchase documents in order for us to get working on it (La Mesa)
At La Mesa (Port St. Lucie Florida) they have a indoor facility, our coach was squeaky clean brand new, after 4 hours of exhaustive PDI, we could find nothing wrong that required repair. They actually offered to installed the Safe T Plus stabilizer for free if we were willing to spend the night and have it done the next day; it was a holiday weekend and we just wanted to get back to Dallas.

6) You walk in for the dealership to conduct a PDI ... and you are taken directly to the finance department to sign documents before you go to the PDI. (La Mesa) See above, this was not our experience at all. In fact we told them up front if we got hassled by Finance in any manner we would NOT buy the Coach. I spoke with the General Manager about that before buying tickets to Florida; so there could be no confusion. It took us 20 minutes to complete all paperwork with Finance

7) The person conducting the PDI knows less about RV's than my cat. (La Mesa) They had 2 people in our coach, they left after about 2 hours and seemed perturbed that we were not finished. They would come back every 30 - 40 min or so to check on us. We only found stuff like dust on the ceiling that they cleaned before my wife could finish complaining about. It was our 1st RV. The Hydraulic Leveling system was the only thing I needed training on how to use. Everything else was to verify it worked. Waste tanks were empty, Propane full, Gas full, and I was really pleased to see where we had FULL Tank of Freshwater

8) The finance person has already concluded that you need the tire protection, interior protection, exterior protection, and all the other snake oil. (La Mesa) I agree here; they would have done this us too; but I will NEVER buy anything if I have to listen to sales pitches. I did see on some paper that I did not sign where the extended warranty was $7,000 for 5 years He was scared to ask me about it though

9) Your 800 credit score only qualifies you for the 8% interest rate
Didn't apply to us, as we paid cash.

10) Oh sorry, I forgot you had put down a deposit. I'll need to redo the paperwork LOLOLOL I would have been pissed too

I could literal go on and on .... I am truly sickened to see how these places operate.

I agree with the premise of your point, it should be better. I think we got lucky with our Sales Person and situation. It had been some very painful experiences as most all of the other Dealers we had visited. Took us 2 years to find our RV; so some folks would have just accepted the crap the dealers throwout.

[Vegasmailman]

Never let them control the conversion. You got the upper hand.

[RSKDSK]

I can certainly tell you that Fort Myers La Mesa was the single most horrible experience I have ever had buying anything ... bar none! The La Mesa in Orlando was better from a sales side, but their delivery team follows the above tried and true techicics.
General RV internet sales however took the cake ... they took all of the horrible experience and roll them up in a complete nightmare. I will never deal with that crooked internet sales lady again!

[Bob Denman]

Originally Posted by Vegasmailman

Never let them control the conversion. You got the upper hand.

Amen!
It's your money, and you're paying for the Band...
You get to pick the songs!

[Scubawise]

Stay positive..once you start camping having a cocktail all is well..we are at st Mary's rv park next to a lake

Montana rocks ..some sites $9

[Bob Denman]

Where are the $9 sites: in the lake?

[RSKDSK]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

Amen!
It's your money, and you're paying for the Band...
You get to pick the songs!

Agree and disagree ... the difference is that in the COVID world RV are selling like crazy and these dealerships have limited stock ... smart money used to mean that you could force them to get things right and to play fair ... today they will tell you to f-off because the next guy behind you is blinded by a new RV that they have just gotta have.

Makes you wonder when this bubble crashes what kinds of deals you will get on new and used RV's ... hell, I got time.

[RSKDSK]

In fact I just walked away from a potential new RV deal with General RV simply because they refused to give me a buyers order outlining the price and fees before charging my credit card. Why am I not allowed to see the cost and fees before you charge my credit card ... but she would rather lose the deal than reveal the true cost ... is that not insane!

You would not believe the games their internet lady tried to play with me and they are all documented within text messages ... I may share them here on this forum just for others to see how corrupt some of these RV sales people can be.

Seriously common sense has no place in purchasing a $100k+ RV?

[Chateau_Nomad]

Originally Posted by RSKDSK

In fact I just walked away from a potential new RV deal with General RV simply because they refused to give me a buyers order outlining the price and fees before charging my credit card. Why am I not allowed to see the cost and fees before you charge my credit card ... but she would rather lose the deal than reveal the true cost ... is that not insane!

You would not believe the games their internet lady tried to play with me and they are all documented within text messages ... I may share them here on this forum just for others to see how corrupt some of these RV sales people can be.

Seriously common sense has no place in purchasing a $100k+ RV?

I laugh when I see someone with a license plate like "MUSTANG-1" drive into a Ford dealership! 😆 The salesperson doesn't even need bait on their hook for that sucker!!

This motorhome buying insanity will continue as long as people are willing to pay inflated prices... the dealers know that. A mass of uneducated consumers ALWAYS drives inflation. When that mass is finally satisfied, prices will drop... which is getting close. Industry loyalists will tell you different, but those who follow historical economic data... Motorhomes are a commodity; a tool just like toilet paper. They are NOT an investment... they are a tool to make a part of life more enjoyable... RECREATION vehicle.

[Bob Denman]

Originally Posted by RSKDSK

Agree and disagree ... the difference is that in the COVID world RV are selling like crazy and these dealerships have limited stock ... smart money used to mean that you could force them to get things right and to play fair ... today they will tell you to f-off because the next guy behind you is blinded by a new RV that they have just gotta have.

Makes you wonder when this bubble crashes what kinds of deals you will get on new and used RV's ... hell, I got time.

Yup! It's still your money, and they don't need to have it in their pockets; unless you can't live without what they sell...
(Which of course: you can!) Let the next guy coming though the door buy the piece of crap; that you were smart enough to avoid!

[Pete'sMH]

Originally Posted by RSKDSK

In fact I just walked away from a potential new RV deal with General RV simply because they refused to give me a buyers order outlining the price and fees before charging my credit card. Why am I not allowed to see the cost and fees before you charge my credit card ... but she would rather lose the deal than reveal the true cost ... is that not insane!

You would not believe the games their internet lady tried to play with me and they are all documented within text messages ... I may share them here on this forum just for others to see how corrupt some of these RV sales people can be.

Seriously common sense has no place in purchasing a $100k+ RV?

Why would she care? She knows there’s 10 more customers for the unit before the weekend and if you’re showing yourself to be a more skillful negotiator than most she’s better off without you. Just keep looking.

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by RSKDSK

In fact I just walked away from a potential new RV deal with General RV simply because they refused to give me a buyers order outlining the price and fees before charging my credit card. Why am I not allowed to see the cost and fees before you charge my credit card ... but she would rather lose the deal than reveal the true cost ... is that not insane!

You would not believe the games their internet lady tried to play with me and they are all documented within text messages ... I may share them here on this forum just for others to see how corrupt some of these RV sales people can be.

Seriously common sense has no place in purchasing a $100k+ RV?

General RV? Isn't that the company being investigated for changing sales/financing contracts after the fact?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXrjtknRtCo

[Campnjoe]

Originally Posted by RSKDSK

7) The person conducting the PDI knows less about RV's than my cat. (La Mesa)

Laughed out loud on this one....