Narrowing it down....

[SnooMc]

Today we went to look in depth at Airstreams at our local dealer. Things we know for sure:
We want the 27FB Twin.
That's a start, right?

I love the Espresso sofa/light walls/dark floors in the Serenity, and the extra depth in the top cupboards, and the awning covers, but do I love them $13k more than the Flying Cloud? My husband doesn't...

Despite all the advice to the contrary, we think we want new. We've just been in too many situations where "slightly used" means "we put something stupid down the drain and one of our puppies wasn't house-broken."

They'll give us what we think is a fair deal on a new 2018 FC, last one they have on the lot. We weren't looking to buy right now, but...we could take it south where it's WARM, shake it down, bring it back and make them fix whatever is wrong with it...

AGHHHHH, the decisions!
Ranee

[kscherzi]

Special ordered our 27FB six years ago. No regrets over 25,000 miles later. No plans to upgrade either.

[Special-Ed]

We just got our FC 2 months ago. We started looking at a 19 FC then saw in the brochure the next size larger which they didnt even mention since it was not on their lot.) After 2 visits we we decided on a bigger trailer and went in looking at a serenity but they didnt have one with the dark dinette cushions. We have a 2 year old so we wanted the dark espresso cushions to hide stains (first night out in it he dropped his PBJ on it) we liked the 23FB layout. So after a full day back and forth we ended up ditching the serenity and making a deal on a 3 month old 2018 Flying Cloud 23fb. It really was a no brainer because it already had the solar, bike rack, agm batteries, full awnings and a few other goodies. There were a few things i liked better about the FC over the international mainly the seats are fully enclosed bottoms on the 2018FC and open on the Internationals they had. The biggest difference was counter tops which didnt make a difference to us.

[wulfraat]

You should get at least 25% off of a 2018 on the lot. At least 25%. If you buy a 2019 the msrp comes up a bit and you should be able to negotiate 17-20% off. Flying cloud sounds like a deal.

[SnooMc]

Wulfraat, truly? We are hoping to negotiate some - what they're offering is about 17% off their website price - but weren't sure how much lower to go. It would be great if we could get it down that far.

Special Ed and Kscherzi - very happy to hear you like your Flying Clouds!

[wulfraat]

In 2017 I negotiated 21.5% off an in-year model at peak buying season. This is previous year model in the dead of winter and will sell lower.

In 2009 I bought a new 2008 25’ international (this time of year - months into the new model season) and I negotiated at 45% off to move the unit on a cash transaction as the dealer was struggling to move units. It had slight hail on the rear top corner but that only reduced value by $3k.

I wrote a long post on negotiating for the win-win on a new airstream on airforums. It’s around here somewhere if you search a bit for it [emoji4]

You can do it! 1-2 hours on the phone and you could find the same unit for 20% off, for a year newer unit. May have to travel to pick it up so you just need to be flexible.

[OTRA15]

Click on orange arrow in quote to see the full post:

Originally Posted by wulfraat

I negotiate for a living. Buying a car, travel trailer, or similar commodity is pretty straight forward.
. . .

[Acheron2010]

Do yourself a favor, and before you purchase, give Patrick a call at Colonial Airstream just to get their price, and ask what it includes. Might be worth the trip, even from Colorado. BTW, I opted for the 2019FC. Love the ducted air, 3-year warranty and continued long distance support from the great team at Colonial.

[daleyocum]

Originally Posted by wulfraat

You should get at least 25% off of a 2018 on the lot. At least 25%. If you buy a 2019 the msrp comes up a bit and you should be able to negotiate 17-20% off. Flying cloud sounds like a deal.

+1. The best way to do this is to get competing bids from other dealers and use those to get the local dealer’s price down. We got 21% off a factory ordered 2018 Flying Cloud 25 this way. You call around the country to the large RV dealers and get their bid on a direct order 2019 exactly the way you want it and perhaps the 2019 equivalent of what your local dealer has. Use those bids to get the local dealer to either order you what you want or see the light on the one on the lot. Worse comes to worse you can buy from someone far away and have the trailer transported to you for around $5k.

I’d got good prices from RVOne in florida and the Los Banos dealer in California. Colonial might also be good since they are so big.

[Adventure.AS]

Be sure, if getting competitive bids, compare the total cost of acquisition including delivery, PDI, hitch (including setup), full propane tanks etc.

[SnooMc]

Thank you all. Good advice! We basically deciding between price and convenience/timing at this moment.