Wednesday, June 9, 2021

RV Buying Process

Paul has a process that he uses for almost all purchases. It’s described in detail in his book The Joy of Efficiency.

First Paul & Elena visited a local dealer (1 hr away) in late January 2021 and checked out the Travato G & K floor plans. They liked the K layout on paper, and confirmed that in person. They also wanted a KL model so they could have the battery bank to run our A/C if I had to stay in the van. There was a 2021 KL in the lot, but not with the color/options we wanted. We’re in no rush, so they decided to order a 2022 KL.

They picked our options and asked for their best price – Paul even mentioned that he had seen 25%-30% MSRP discounts from multiple people on a Facebook Travato forum. They came back at 24.5% off. So he contacted two other dealers – one about 4.5 hours away and another near the factory. Everyone prices differently (some have doc fees or prep fees), so he just added up everything that was not TT&L and used that as the comparison price to MSRP. One other quoted 25% off, but another opened at 27.2% off (even including an $895 prep fee). Paul emailed the local dealer to see if they could match, and they didn’t respond. A phone call to the 27.2% dealer and he got them to 27.8% off. Less than an hour later the local dealer called and asked what price would make us a buyer. Paul told them the OTD price of the 27.8% off (in retrospect he probably should have told them a better number, but he is honest). The dealer said they would beat that by a little, and we ended up with 27.9% off MSRP.

We know others have found better discounts in the past, but inventory seems a bit tight, and they seem a little less anxious about sales. We could have played them back and forth for a little more off, but at some point it’s good enough. We got a year 2022 model at the very start of the production year loaded with exactly what we wanted. Set for a late May / early June delivery and the pick-up will be just under an hour away. Update: Our RV started production in early May and completed on June 3rd. It arrived at the dealer in North Texas on June 10th and we'll pick it up on June 16th.

Paul

The Joy of Efficiency

 

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