Visit our Popular Forums

CommoTyee · 03-03-2014, 07:04 PM

I am considering purchasing a new Flying Cloud 23D, and of course the price of ASs are pretty high. I do understand the quality involved. What is a practical expectation of the percent below MSRP I can get, assuming I am willing to do some aggressive negotiating?

coastal · 03-03-2014, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CommoTyee

I am considering purchasing a new Flying Cloud 23D, and of course the price of ASs are pretty high. I do understand the quality involved. What is a practical expectation of the percent below MSRP I can get, assuming I am willing to do some aggressive negotiating?

Rule of thumb when calculating your budget is take 18 to 20% off. Some will be more or less depending on the situation. I have not bought yet but this is what I found. Also a couple dealers mark up their msrp so watch that. The good ones don't but one I found online has msrp prices way way more than the others. Also some add ons and packages can effect the msrp adds a loaded unit won't get the same percentage off as a base. At least in my findings

mstephens · 03-03-2014, 07:43 PM

Our 2012 FC25 was 15% off after getting three dealers to compete for selling the same trailer.

Triumphdude · 03-03-2014, 07:48 PM

You'd be lucky to get 15% 8-10% is more realistic, unless the unit has been sitting at the dealer for a long time.

HeadWest · 03-03-2014, 07:55 PM

Around 15% give or take a bit for an ordered unit. I'm sure the specific model and options will play into it a bit.

I'd figure out what dealer you want for service based on location and quality of service first, focus on discount second. We have spent a lot of time dealing with issues with our trailer in the first year of service and am glad we purchased through a good dealer.

coastal · 03-03-2014, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadWest

Around 15% give or take a bit for an ordered unit. I'm sure the specific model and options will play into it a bit.

I'd figure out what dealer you want for service based on location and quality of service first, focus on discount second. We have spent a lot of time dealing with issues with our trailer in the first year of service and am glad we purchased through a good dealer.

That is my biggest drawback to moving forward. I have 0 airstream dealerships within 5 hours

I am very concerned about service and having to either make a very long trip or go to camping world type places.

If I had one within a hour I already would have bought by now

m.hony · 03-03-2014, 08:14 PM

I bought my trailer at a dealership 4 hours away knowing I would never take it back to the dealer for service.
There really isn't that much service, but I have a service appointment scheduled at the Airstream factory service center in Jackson Venter, OH to get some warranty issues dealt with before the warranty runs out.

kscherzi · 03-03-2014, 08:38 PM

I did my special order over the phone after dealing with several dealerships east coast to west coast. Closest dealer at time 5.5 hours away. About 17% off and deeper on options.

dkottum · 03-03-2014, 11:00 PM

This may be a good time to order one exactly as you want it for the summer camping season. A reasonable discount would be 15 to 17%.

On our first Airstream we got 25% on a two year old new dealer stock but I would not do that again. Everything was aged two years (the inverter and batteries soon failed), had lots of tire kicker and RV show experience, and filiform corrosion from sitting outside in a somewhat corrosive environment.

Foiled Again · 03-04-2014, 12:19 AM

May I suggest that you start a thread asking for Airstream owners in your area to recommend service people. Many systems are common to SOB's and you can get service on those systems locally. Airstream or a good dealer will often take care of the cost of the parts even if the labor is done locally. That happened to me when the water pump went out on my EB. (I'd tossed the pump though, because I thought it wouldn't be covered - but if I'd been able to send it to Colonial, they would have filed with Airstream and reimbursed me.)

Plus, consider joining WBCCI. It isn't for everyone, but one thing that most units have is a spring and/or fall maintenance rally. Many experienced people have helped me learn how to do some of the basic stuff myself.

Don't worry TOO much about not having a local dealer. IF you really want an RV, then traveling IS something you are willing to do. 500 miles is a two day tow - one day if you have two or more drivers.

And Murphy's Law - states as soon as you buy one from Colonial or some other far away dealer - a new Airstream dealer will open within 25 miles of your door.

Paula

Luigi123 · 03-04-2014, 04:28 AM

The key to broadening your knowledge base is read these forums, attend weekend or club rally's, attend at least one national sponsored rally a year for their seminars, and your knowledge basis and networking will come in handy as needs arrive. I am in contact with several forum members, we have yet to meet that have helped us in not only the acquisition of our AS, but price, after market and where to buy, plus service issues and where to go for service. Wishing you the best on this journey, it is a process.

beetlebob · 03-04-2014, 02:04 PM

Hi Coastal. I am in Charleston and know what you mean BUT look at it this way You can get bids from colonial to the on in Knoxville to the one in Florida. This way you can get the best price. Also there is a BIG get together north of Columbia at the end of the month(sold out) and another in Beauford at Hunting Island Park. Good places to get ideas and recommendations. We will be tent camping at Columbia sharing a site with someone and in Hunting island we will have our truck. Should try to get to one or both for ideas.

SteveSueMac · 03-04-2014, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coastal

That is my biggest drawback to moving forward. I have 0 airstream dealerships within 5 hours

I am very concerned about service and having to either make a very long trip or go to camping world type places.

If I had one within a hour I already would have bought by now

Coastal - my closest dealer is about 3 hours from me and as it turns out, most of the internals are similar to the equipment in SOBs and for Airstream specific stuff, I'm driving to Jackson Center, OH for the factory. It's going to be a fun trip and at the end of the day, what I thought was a "long" trip really won't be all that bad. Plus, I'll get to spend some more time with my DW, DD and DT (that's dear wife, dog and trailer :-) ).

Good luck!

eliset123 · 03-04-2014, 05:51 PM

Has anyone been to Airstream of New England in Stoughton , Ma. I did buy from Colonial but live in Newport, RI. I have a March appointment for a couple minor things.

Gene · 03-04-2014, 06:22 PM

You can expect from 15-20% off MSRP according to what has been posted on the Forum over the years. 20% will be very hard, but a very few have claimed they got that much off. It depends on the time of year, your negotiating skills (never be afraid to walk away—easy to say, hard to do for many people) and whether the dealer needs to get rid of that trailer that day or week. They borrow money to have them on the lot and when note comes due, they don't want to renew it—they want to sell! It used to be years ago notes came due on the last day of the month, but things change.

Our nearest dealer is 5 hours away and we would never go near the place again. We had warranty work done at Jackson Center (very well done) and have otherwise fixed it ourselves or had a house call from an RV tech (that's not all that easy to pull off).

Consider buying a gently used one. You'll save a lot on depreciation and the many things that can go wrong in the first year or so will have been fixed.

Gene

SteveSueMac · 03-04-2014, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eliset123

Has anyone been to Airstream of New England in Stoughton , Ma. I did buy from Colonial but live in Newport, RI. I have a March appointment for a couple minor things.

Yes. I bought there and have had service there. PM me if I can be of any help.

**jcanavera** · 03-05-2014, 11:03 AM

I had a friend who was in the RV business and he once told me that a good discount is about 20%. He said that he made selling with discounts as much as this. Now his overhead was pretty low, so discounts probably have a lot to do with dealer overhead.

Jack

dkottum · 03-05-2014, 01:45 PM

RV sales are up this year and Airstream is selling them faster than they can make them (the factory is back ordered). Discounts we received in past years may be harder to get today, although with regional differences.

LucaBluPlus2 · 03-14-2014, 08:20 PM

My two cents...

This past Monday I came to a deal for an ordered unit with a 16% discount off MSRP through a dealer in the Midwest. I shopped for about a week and narrowed it down to three good contenders, all untitled and brand new. One was a 2012 in PA, one was a 2013 in WI and one was a 2014 in MN. All were Flying Clouds and all had similar packages on the 25fb in Mica.

The 2013 and 2014 came within about $1000 of one another. We went with the 2014 that was ordered to our specifications. I felt the deal was more than fair and I was happy with the service I received.

With the hard part over (the decisions) our journey begins the end of April when it is delivered. Yippeeeeeeeeeeeee!

dkottum · 03-14-2014, 08:34 PM

LucaBluPlus, good for you and smart decision. Similarly, we could have saved $1,000 (sight unseen) 1400 miles away from home, but it would cost more than that much plus time to go get it. Doesn't hurt to mention it in the bargaining process though.