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kingfisher24 · 08-05-2012, 12:07 PM

just for fun and...the resulting information....

what do we think is a dead serious ( on the buyer's side , of course) offer , to a dealer, in the pursuit of the purchase of a 2013 airstream travel trailer...

would it be 10% of MSRP??

would 20% be considered a serious, not insulting price???

they may not budge off list....but i think they do...will...just what is a serious ...buying price??????...in thse days and times.....

danlehosky · 08-05-2012, 12:17 PM

We got 20% off but at a different time of the year (December). It's hard to insult the salesman. These trailers are high ticket items and they are glad to see bodies in the showroom. This might be a bad time of the year to buy.

Dan

jmcarter · 08-05-2012, 12:38 PM

We got 20% off and didn't think twice about negotiating hard to get it....but know your position of strength, how long the unit has been on their lot or other leverage. Remember, if you buy local they'd prefer you as a buyer, then they can start working warranty items on AS's dime and a good dealer has secured another customer for the future.

SilverRanger · 08-05-2012, 01:54 PM

20% seems the norm. We were fortunate to get 25% because it was the end of the production year, and it had been on the lot for about a month.

Howard E · 08-05-2012, 02:00 PM

Carrol and Paula, This might not be a bad time to be looking. Especially if you can find a 2012 model on the dealer's lot that fits your needs. They want the space for the 2013 models so they should be more motivated to move it off the lot. They will not be as motivated to sell a 2013 model at this time of year.

Check the VIN Plate (street side front) for the date of manufacture of the unit. That will let you know how long it has been in the system.

25% or 20% off - especially if you put green folding cash money on the table, can be hard to pass up for a sale. Offer 25% off and settle for 20%.

Get back on the road folks - - New Years Eve at Picacho is coming up fast!

Urbanologist · 08-05-2012, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingfisher24

just for fun and...the resulting information....

what do we think is a dead serious ( on the buyer's side , of course) offer , to a dealer, in the pursuit of the purchase of a 2013 airstream travel trailer...

would it be 10% of MSRP??

would 20% be considered a serious, not insulting price???

they may not budge off list....but i think they do...will...just what is a serious ...buying price??????...in thse days and times.....

LOL! Ever been on an airplane and found out that the passenger next to you got a lower priced ticket!? Twenty off the MSRP -- it's not a "real" number in the real world. You want a real price? It's the used price from the first buyer that wants to sell after buying at MSRP or the dealer at the end-of-the-month/season that has to clear the showroom floor. The margin built into the MSRP is designed to make it look as if the buyer is really getting a savings. The savings on a AS is really a factor of how LONG you keep it, provided you don't keep trading-up too often. These toys are just like boats: Happy when buying and happier when selling!

xo1rider · 08-05-2012, 02:36 PM

20% off should be a starting point, if they balk at that go elsewhere.

Scott J-24 · 08-05-2012, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urbanologist

..... These toys are just like boats: Happy when buying and happier when selling!

I have owned lots of boats over the years. I have always been happiest when purchasing and sad when selling. I think I would feel the same with Airstreams.... But that may just be me!

soldiermedic · 08-05-2012, 04:06 PM

Carol,

How long ago did you sell your Airstream that you were full-timing in? Was there a reason you decided to sell it instead of just keeping it and using it? With a little patience and some looking you will find that trailer you want.

Steve

Gene · 08-05-2012, 05:01 PM

Since the Great Recession started people have reported about 17-25% off list. Before that it was harder to get deals that good (we bought before the Recession and got 17% off).

In negotiating, a salesman will always try to get you to commit to a number you will pay and then he will come down and you will come up and after a while you will be somewhere good or bad. Try to get him to tell you how low he will go, then counter with a lower number. When you are close to a deal, people usually split the difference.

Decide beforehand how high you will go and stick to it and still try for a lower price. Don't let aluminum seduce you (again?).

With cars and trucks I have offered prices substantially below wholesale just to get something going. But with them it is easy to find out wholesale and not so much with RV's. Go low and if the salesman is insulted he's either faking it or he should find another line of work. I refuse to deal with salesmen and demand to see the sales manager because that's who makes the decisions.

Gene

Protagonist · 08-05-2012, 06:19 PM

If you go to the online NADA Recreation Vehicle Guide, they'll give three numbers: MSRP, low retail, and average retail, for any RV that's at least a year old. If you're buying new, there won't be low retail and average retail prices reported yet, so use the one-year-old prices as a starting point.

Low retail is often about 30% off MSRP, and is about 10% more than you would get as a trade-in value. It's close to but still above dealer cost, and represents the lowest price that anybody paid in the past year for that make and model.

Your initial offer should be close to the "low retail" value, or even below it. Once you lay a price on the table, you'll never be able to go lower than that, so leave yourself some wiggle room by initially offering slightly less than the estimated dealer cost.

Ever notice how dealers tend to write a price on a piece of paper and show it to you, rather than just telling you a price? You should do the same. Write down two prices, on separate pieces of paper, before you even walk in the door. The first is what you intend as an initial offer based on the research you've done.

After the dealer writes down a price, if his number is higher than your first number, show him your first number, and start negotiating from there. If his number is lower than yours, throw out that first number you wrote and wing it by offering about 10% less than the price he put on the table.

The second number you write down on a separate piece of paper is the most you're willing to spend. You never show this one to the dealer. It's there as a reminder to you. If you can't get the price below this number, you walk away from the negotiation and try a different dealer.

Don't ever let the dealer talk you into negotiating on a monthly payment price: "We can put you in a new RV for $185 per month!" That's a trap, because they'll base it on financing the purchase for twenty years at some unknown interest rate that is likely more than you would pay for bank or credit union financing. Always negotiate on the final, all-inclusive price, never on a monthly price.

extiger · 08-06-2012, 08:04 AM

We are also in Texas and purchased a new AS last year. After checking prices at most of the Texas dealers, we ended up purchasing from a large AS dealer in Florida. Quoted us a take it or leave it price over the phone which was substantially lower than any other price.

Did not care for the games played at the central Texas dealer.

GettinAway · 08-08-2012, 06:13 AM

We bought new last fall. Saved $7,000 by driving a few 100 miles.
I'd check around, if i were you.
We traded in our older (04) Bambi, so it's impossible to really know what % off list we were at, but just comparing the bottom line we found very large differences around just the Midwest.

**jcanavera** · 08-08-2012, 06:55 AM

The other side of the story in comparing prices is where you will get your trailer serviced. While your warranty is good at any Airstream dealership, that dealership will know if you bought the trailer from them or not. While that should be inconsequential, when you are dealing with problems and you want your dealer to go to bat for you, or you have a last minute problem that needs repair before a trip, that purchase from the dealer doing the service carries a lot more clout in their mind. I did the shopping and could have gotten my first Airstream at a $400 lower price if I had driven to a dealer about 500 miles from here. As it ended I bought locally and have never regretted that decision due to the service level I get from my local dealership.

Jack

Protagonist · 08-08-2012, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GettinAway

We bought new last fall. Saved $7,000 by driving a few 100 miles.
I'd check around, if i were you.

I took a slightly different approach. After getting an initial quote from the local dealer, then checked around with five other dealers farther away. The one that gave me the best price, I took that quote to the local dealer and asked, "Can you beat this?" He could, and did. I ended up with a full 20% off the MSRP, and some optional items added by their service department at no extra charge.

My thought was, since Jackson Center provides the same unit at the same price to multiple dealers, the only real difference in the price the dealer paid was the "destination charge" which is less than a grand for most places east of the Rockies. So, MSRP should only vary by a few hundred at most, no matter where you go.

Since MSRP is mostly the same, and the dealer cost is mostly the same, the difference in quoted prices is mainly due to two things, dealer overhead and dealer profit. Smaller operations have to pay their overhead through fewer sales, and so will need to tack on more overhead per unit to stay in business. Every day they don't make a sale they lose money because those overhead charges keep piling up. So, to ensure that they CAN cover their overhead, they'll often be willing to take less profit, just to make the sale.

This is where having dealers compete against each other comes in. Once you establish yourself as a serious buyer, as in "I will definitely buy one, from the dealer that offers me the best deal," then they've got an incentive to offer you the best deal. There's no prize for second place.

Quote:

We traded in our older (04) Bambi, so it's impossible to really know what % off list we were at, but just comparing the bottom line we found very large differences around just the Midwest.

This brings up another piece of advice. I got it from a video put out by the Better Business Bureau, entitled "How to Buy a Recreational Vehicle."

Negotiate the price of the new unit first, without ever mentioning the trade-in. Then negotiate the trade-in separately. The older your trade-in, the more important this is.

The reason for this is, if you negotiate the trade-in as part of the purchase, they'll take the trade-in off first, probably from MSRP, and end up quoting the same price, or near to it, as you could have gotten with no trade-in at all. A canny dealer can get the trade-in for next to nothing that way. The more the trade-in is worth, the harder it is for them to do this, but it's almost guaranteed that if you treat the trade-in as part of the purchase price, you'll get a worse deal than if you negotiate the trade-in separate from the purchase.

GettinAway · 08-08-2012, 07:32 AM

Our local dealer passed on meeting the price. We like them, and would have preferred to do business with them, but that was too much $$ to pass up.
I agree (in theory) about bringing up the trade later, but the difference figure is the difference figure, no matter how you get there. You will get a much clearer picture about what your used trailer is worth if you wait to bring it up after the new one has been negotiated down. Then again, you may not want to know what they are really putting into your old trailer.. Ha

Jeff

SilverRanger · 08-08-2012, 07:45 AM

We searched for the right trailer for over a year, and knew exactly what we wanted. By the time we finally negotiated, we were on a first name basis with the salesman and the owners. They were only 60 miles from home, and my work took me by them frequently. He would call whenever they got a new delivery. It got to the point that when I showed up, they just tossed me the keys, and told me where the trailer was.

After we saw the Bambi, we set an ideal price that we thought it was worth to us. After considerable negotiation, they deducted the cost of all the options (and it was loaded - solar package w/two AGM batteries, A/V package, SE upgrade, spare tire, electric jack, water filter, black tank flush system, AC upgrade, etc.), and they came to within $5 of our figure.
Done deal.

We asked if they would discount if we paid cash. Nope, they offered financing. I just looked at the invoice, and in 2005, the destination charge was $306. They wouldn't budge on that.

Protagonist · 08-08-2012, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GettinAway

I agree (in theory) about bringing up the trade later, but the difference figure is the difference figure, no matter how you get there.

Depends. If you tell them about the trade before they've even quoted a price, they'll say, "Well, with your trade, we can offer this price…" and you actually have no idea what, if anything, they're offering as trade-in value. Could be nothing at all. If they quote an initial price, with trade-in, that's 10% off MSRP, chances are that if you walked in the door with no trade-in at all, they'd still have opened the negotiation at 10% off MSRP. In such a case, you'd have literally given away your trade-in for free.

Even if you treat the trade-in as part of the purchase rather than a separate negotiation, at the very least let them put a price on the table for the purchase first, before you ask them how much more they'll take off with the trade-in.

GettinAway, you may have done exactly that. I'm not trying to criticize your negotiating skills; they're probably better than mine. I'm just using your post as a springboard to offer advice to others looking to buy new.

dkottum · 08-08-2012, 07:53 AM

I don't like new Airstreams that have been sitting around the dealership getting banged around by tire-kickers like me, and getting weather exposure without corrosion and sealant protection.

You don't buy these things every day so why not order exactly what you want fresh from the factory. The dealer has no "floor plan" costs to worry about and probably can give you the best price.

In the long run you will not worry about how much you saved on the deal, but a compromised trailer choice will always be there.

doug k

SilverRanger · 08-08-2012, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Protagonist

...
This brings up another piece of advice. I got it from a video put out by the Better Business Bureau, entitled "How to Buy a Recreational Vehicle."

Negotiate the price of the new unit first, without ever mentioning the trade-in. Then negotiate the trade-in separately. The older your trade-in, the more important this is.

That's good advice. It's the same as my grandfather taught me when buying cars and trucks. I watched him negotiate a couple of times. He also paid cash for everything. He would bring what he wanted to spend, and would slide it across the table, and told them to take it or leave it. This was before dealer financing became popular.