Wholesalers are not in the business of trade-ins. I don't know of any wholesalers that take in trade. The reason dealerships do is because they know they are going to come out way ahead and just make you THINK you got one heck of a deal.
I never trade in - cars or RV's. It takes a little longer but I sell privately and use that money as my down payment on something new. And i prefer going to a dealer vs a wholesaler. A wholesaler is not looking to build a business relationship with you. They want to sell the unit, usually as is, and if you need warranty work good luck finding a local dealer who wants to deal with you, as most dealers only will work on units they sold, and there are plenty good reasons for that. Warranty work is not profitable. The places that do it, do it for a customer service measure. In many cases it costs them money to do warranty work when you factor in the specialized equipment most vendors require for them to be reimbursed, and also factoring the hoops they have to jump thru to get a claim approved for payment. Many claims are rejected and the dealer is left with a repair that was never paid for.
I have found that the folks who brag the most about the graet deal they got wholesale are the same ones who will flip their lid if the local dealer they snubbed won't perform their warranty work. There are always going to be pros and cons in every purchase. In the case of wholesale, the pro might be a better price, but when you need warranty work you might find it difficult to find a dealer willing. If it is an OOW unit, it doesn't really matter as much.
So..in a nutshell, to the OP, if wholesale dealers annoy you, buy from a local dealer. It's a win/win for you, the dealer and your community.
* This post was
edited 05/01/12 05:24pm by JayWalker2009 *
I think the wholesalers prices look so attractive because up front people don't consider the delivery charge, lack of service etc.
I know they wanted $1900 to deliver ours, #1200 if we met them half way. Dealers have to pay to get them delivered too.
When we considered driving back I was way off on the fuel cost and drive time on the way home. I would have still saved but not as much as I thought. (not to mention wear and tear on the truck and me)
2011 GulfStream Amerilite 25BH
2007/2003 Ford Expedition
Nights camped in 2011 21
Nights camped in 2012 16
of the two biggest "Wholesale" dealers, RVW and RVDirect, RVDirect used to take in trades. RVW never has.
just a point, "Wholesalers" is just a marketing term. there are no true RV wholesalers. they all rely on sales volume to keep their prices lower than other dealers and use the Internet to advertise aggressively.
Dan- Firefighter, Shawn- Musician/Entrepreneur, Zoe- Faithful Golden Retriever, 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche LS, 2007 Rockwood Roo 23SS w/Equalizer and Prodigy, and 5 Mtn. bikes and 2 Road bikes
jtrent6415 wrote: I LOVE wholesale RV dealers! The drive the price down and then my local store matched it, saves me from having to haggle as much. I actually chose a store about an hour away because they would come down in price. The store right next to us had a "No Haggle" policy, so we walked out as the prices were high.
Ditto! We had the same thing happen with us when we bought the below trailer in 2005. The local dealer (Orangewood RV, Phoenix) matched the RVW price, plus delivery costs, so we were real happy. And I got to build a relationship with the people there, which paid off well on first & second year warranty work - they did their best to step up in various ways.
What I am wondering is (and I haven't read all of this thread, so maybe it's already being discussed) RVwholesalers now is touting the first ever nationwide service network for an online dealer. Does anyone have any experience with how effective their service network is?
Mighty 4Runner Sport V8 4x4 Hensley Hitch
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Mobil 1 Full Synthetic fluids everywhere! Rockwood 2502 (3600 lb. dry)!
somebeach wrote: I've had warranty work done on my 5ver local and it came from RVwholesalers. No problems at all. After negotiating $3500 off their asking price I saved $9000 by driving to Ohio so was very pleased.The 9000 dollar savings was including the expense of the trip.We did have to sell our tt instead of trade it in.
So am i hearing you right that you negotiated with RVW? I thought theirs was a set "no haggle price." If you did get them to negotiate the price, what percentage did they come down?
Just got this reply from a RVW sales person regarding their new service network:
Tery,
We have over 2,500 private service networks all across the US and Canada under contract to service your unit. We were tired of "local" dealers threatening to not service customers if they did not pay their inflated prices. So we took matters into our own hands and started signing up private service centers to take care of all our customers needs. Anywhere you travel in the US and Canada we can get you serviced. Simply put, no other dealer has this network or ability!
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, Shawn- Musician/Entrepreneur
, Zoe- Faithful Golden Retriever
, 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche LS, 2007 Rockwood Roo 23SS w/Equalizer and Prodigy, and 5 Mtn. bikes and 2 Road bikes
