old guy wrote: all dealers buy the units for the same price. only thing different is the freight to get it to them. I was looking at a cougar and every one in the north weest wanted over 50k for it. my local dealer offered it to me for 35K after freight. so this tells me that some dealers want a kings ransom for their TT's. I still haven't made that purchase yet. some problems with that model I don't like
This is simply false. I have been a boat and RV dealer for 24 years. I know the facts on this and we don't all pay the same price. Freight is one huge difference but so is the actual amount paid for the RV. Larger, higher volume dealers buy better than smaller mom and pop stores.
old guy wrote: all dealers buy the units for the same price. only thing different is the freight to get it to them. I was looking at a cougar and every one in the north weest wanted over 50k for it. my local dealer offered it to me for 35K after freight. so this tells me that some dealers want a kings ransom for their TT's. I still haven't made that purchase yet. some problems with that model I don't like
Not true my friend. Dealer agreements offer significant rebates and incentives to volume dealers. Just like the car business. Invoice means nothing in grand scheme of things, it has nothing to do with the final cost of the unit. Buying at end of quarter or year and dealers will move inventory at a discount to take advantage of those incentive programs!
old guy wrote: all dealers buy the units for the same price. only thing different is the freight to get it to them. I was looking at a cougar and every one in the north weest wanted over 50k for it. my local dealer offered it to me for 35K after freight. so this tells me that some dealers want a kings ransom for their TT's. I still haven't made that purchase yet. some problems with that model I don't like
Not true my friend. Dealer agreements offer significant rebates and incentives to volume dealers. Just like the car business. Invoice means nothing in grand scheme of things, it has nothing to do with the final cost of the unit. Buying at end of quarter or year and dealers will move inventory at a discount to take advantage of those incentive programs!
Correct.
That is why we bought our Jayco at one of their largest dealers in the Country...So. Cal.
Our local dealer, as much as we would of liked to buy locally, would not even get close and we saved over $6k.
By the way our local dealer welcomes any warranty service we may need with normal scheduling.
old guy wrote: all dealers buy the units for the same price. only thing different is the freight to get it to them. I was looking at a cougar and every one in the north weest wanted over 50k for it. my local dealer offered it to me for 35K after freight. so this tells me that some dealers want a kings ransom for their TT's. I still haven't made that purchase yet. some problems with that model I don't like
Not true my friend. Dealer agreements offer significant rebates and incentives to volume dealers. Just like the car business. Invoice means nothing in grand scheme of things, it has nothing to do with the final cost of the unit. Buying at end of quarter or year and dealers will move inventory at a discount to take advantage of those incentive programs!
Correct.
That is why we bought our Jayco at one of their largest dealers in the Country...So. Cal.
Our local dealer, as much as we would of liked to buy locally, could not even get close and we saved over $6k.
By the way our local dealer welcomes any warranty service we may need with normal scheduling.
skipnchar wrote: MY choice would be to travel a few thousand miles and get 8,000 off on the RV There really are few if any down side issues with buying out of town (I've never had any myself). Yes you may find a few dealers who don't want to work on the RV but those dealers usually don't have a very good service department (or they WOULD want the work). Manufacturers only pay ONCE for a repair so the second or third try is on the dealer so with a poor service dept. they don't want to work on any they don't HAVE to work on. It's a pretty good means of weeding out those dealers when choosing a repair location.
You CAN expect to receive service where they may service their own sales first but I've never even ran into that. As for the COSTS of going to pick up the RV....That's what I purchased it for, to travel so can't really say that travel is a BAD thing
You really don't understand how dealers work. Dealers LOSE money on all warranty work because of the low rates of reimbursement from the manufacturers compared with their open rate, on top of having to pay for crating and shipping the parts back to the manufacturer, and most dealers of any size have employ a person just to administer warranty. How do you think those services are paid for?
SERVICE will not be an issue at all. FREE WARRANTY service will be the issue for you, as increasingly, for units not purchased thru them, dealers are checking where the unit was sold from. Many will not service your rig at all or if they do, you go to the bottom of the priority list.
It's just good business, they need to first service their own customers, and then they work on the customer-pay work.(These are not cars, they are not required to) The newest trend now is that they will perform the work for you, but will charge you full shop rate for it, and they leave it up to you to fight with the mfg for reimbursement, as well as crating and shipping the parts back (as is required for warranty)All that takes a lot of time, that the dealer could be using to service the customers who supported HIM.
What most people don't understand is that the wholesaler sells you the unit at such a low price because he knows you will not want to drag it back 1000 miles to have the warranty work done, and in the past, your local dealer, mistakenly thinking he was doing good customer service, took care of it anyway. But good customer service requires two things-- good service AND good customers. Someone who drives 1000 miles to save $2000 on a $40,000 RV is NOT a good customer.
Increasingly local dealers are realizing that the guy who did that once, is going to do it again, especially if they think they can get their warranty work at the local dealer.
I spoke to three dealers all said warranty work pays them 114.00 an hour for warranty work. Cant see howmyou lose money making 114.00 an hour. Maybe they are lying I don't know.
I can't see how if something had to be shipped back to the mfg for warranty work the mfg would not reimburse these charges.
I supposed the dealer that quotes you the "bottom line number" and then quotes you a new lower "bottom line number" asi am getting up to leave is doing good customer service? Thats trying to earn a customer.
I'm a loyal customer when I feel a business has tried to earn my business. Having bought 7 cars from the same dealer over a 6 year period. I go back for service to the selling dealer. Not only for warranty work.
My friend I am a good customer when a business treats me as such.
We bought "local" after an extensive search. I shopped RV Wholsalers, RV Direct, RV Connection, etc., all about 1,500 miles or more from our house. We found the model FW we bought about four hours away and it was priced at $2,800 more than the "wholesalers" a bit further away. Also looked at the same model, with a few more options, at the "local" dealer about 2 1/2 hours away, that's as local as it gets here in Wyoming. Well, the "local" dealer came in about $2,000 more than the wholesalers a long ways away and, after factoring in the travel time, etc. figured the "local" purchase was the way to go. Have only had one problem with it so far and, after three trips to the dealer, it seems to be corrected. If you have a dealer for the FW you purchase close by, they will work on your FW for you so going a long ways away should not be a really big concern. If you are within $1,500, I would say by local since the cost of getting to the distant dealer and back might be close to or exceed $1,500.
skipnchar wrote: MY choice would be to travel a few thousand miles and get 8,000 off on the RV There really are few if any down side issues with buying out of town (I've never had any myself). Yes you may find a few dealers who don't want to work on the RV but those dealers usually don't have a very good service department (or they WOULD want the work). Manufacturers only pay ONCE for a repair so the second or third try is on the dealer so with a poor service dept. they don't want to work on any they don't HAVE to work on. It's a pretty good means of weeding out those dealers when choosing a repair location.
You CAN expect to receive service where they may service their own sales first but I've never even ran into that. As for the COSTS of going to pick up the RV....That's what I purchased it for, to travel so can't really say that travel is a BAD thing
You really don't understand how dealers work. Dealers LOSE money on all warranty work because of the low rates of reimbursement from the manufacturers compared with their open rate, on top of having to pay for crating and shipping the parts back to the manufacturer, and most dealers of any size have employ a person just to administer warranty. How do you think those services are paid for?
SERVICE will not be an issue at all. FREE WARRANTY service will be the issue for you, as increasingly, for units not purchased thru them, dealers are checking where the unit was sold from. Many will not service your rig at all or if they do, you go to the bottom of the priority list.
It's just good business, they need to first service their own customers, and then they work on the customer-pay work.(These are not cars, they are not required to) The newest trend now is that they will perform the work for you, but will charge you full shop rate for it, and they leave it up to you to fight with the mfg for reimbursement, as well as crating and shipping the parts back (as is required for warranty)All that takes a lot of time, that the dealer could be using to service the customers who supported HIM.
What most people don't understand is that the wholesaler sells you the unit at such a low price because he knows you will not want to drag it back 1000 miles to have the warranty work done, and in the past, your local dealer, mistakenly thinking he was doing good customer service, took care of it anyway. But good customer service requires two things-- good service AND good customers. Someone who drives 1000 miles to save $2000 on a $40,000 RV is NOT a good customer.
Increasingly local dealers are realizing that the guy who did that once, is going to do it again, especially if they think they can get their warranty work at the local dealer.
I spoke to three dealers all said warranty work pays them 114.00 an hour for warranty work. Cant see howmyou lose money making 114.00 an hour. Maybe they are lying I don't know.
I can't see how if something had to be shipped back to the mfg for warranty work the mfg would not reimburse these charges.
I supposed the dealer that quotes you the "bottom line number" and then quotes you a new lower "bottom line number" asi am getting up to leave is doing good customer service? Thats trying to earn a customer.
I'm a loyal customer when I feel a business has tried to earn my business. Having bought 7 cars from the same dealer over a 6 year period. I go back for service to the selling dealer. Not only for warranty work.
My friend I am a good customer when a business treats me as such.
It is a fact that most manufacturers will pay a shops normal labor rate. The problem that most dealers have with warranty work is:
1.) You don't normally get paid for the amount of TIME the job takes.
2.) On most warranty jobs you get little to 0 mark up on parts that are used to do the job.
3.) You have to package and ship parts back. Yes, the actual freight is paid, but no the time or materials to package and ship it.
4.) After completing the job, you get to fill out the warranty paperwork and submit it to the manufacturer. After 2-5 weeks you will get a check and find out what you really got paid. You also don't get paid to fill out the manufactures paperwork or to submit for prior authorization before you do a job.
5.) Many jobs don't get paid at all. For example most manufacturers only warranty on door or drawer adjustments for the first 90 days then it is on the customer or dealer to pay after that.
If you are running a good shop that has a backlog of work, you can either deal with the above or you can do jobs for customers that pay for the job when they pick up their RV and you can make a little money on parts. You don't pay someone to file claims and return parts. You don't pay someone in accounting to make sure you get paid. Frankly it's much easier and more profitable to work for an owner rather than a manufacturer.
just be sure your local dealer will handle the warranty work. but like others said I would show the quote to your local dealer. he might come down a bit more making that gap smaller and ask for a few perks.
skipnchar wrote: MY choice would be to travel a few thousand miles and get 8,000 off on the RV There really are few if any down side issues with buying out of town (I've never had any myself). Yes you may find a few dealers who don't want to work on the RV but those dealers usually don't have a very good service department (or they WOULD want the work). Manufacturers only pay ONCE for a repair so the second or third try is on the dealer so with a poor service dept. they don't want to work on any they don't HAVE to work on. It's a pretty good means of weeding out those dealers when choosing a repair location.
You CAN expect to receive service where they may service their own sales first but I've never even ran into that. As for the COSTS of going to pick up the RV....That's what I purchased it for, to travel so can't really say that travel is a BAD thing
You really don't understand how dealers work. Dealers LOSE money on all warranty work because of the low rates of reimbursement from the manufacturers compared with their open rate, on top of having to pay for crating and shipping the parts back to the manufacturer, and most dealers of any size have employ a person just to administer warranty. How do you think those services are paid for?
SERVICE will not be an issue at all. FREE WARRANTY service will be the issue for you, as increasingly, for units not purchased thru them, dealers are checking where the unit was sold from. Many will not service your rig at all or if they do, you go to the bottom of the priority list.
It's just good business, they need to first service their own customers, and then they work on the customer-pay work.(These are not cars, they are not required to) The newest trend now is that they will perform the work for you, but will charge you full shop rate for it, and they leave it up to you to fight with the mfg for reimbursement, as well as crating and shipping the parts back (as is required for warranty)All that takes a lot of time, that the dealer could be using to service the customers who supported HIM.
What most people don't understand is that the wholesaler sells you the unit at such a low price because he knows you will not want to drag it back 1000 miles to have the warranty work done, and in the past, your local dealer, mistakenly thinking he was doing good customer service, took care of it anyway. But good customer service requires two things-- good service AND good customers. Someone who drives 1000 miles to save $2000 on a $40,000 RV is NOT a good customer.
Increasingly local dealers are realizing that the guy who did that once, is going to do it again, especially if they think they can get their warranty work at the local dealer.
I spoke to three dealers all said warranty work pays them 114.00 an hour for warranty work. Cant see howmyou lose money making 114.00 an hour. Maybe they are lying I don't know.
I can't see how if something had to be shipped back to the mfg for warranty work the mfg would not reimburse these charges.
I supposed the dealer that quotes you the "bottom line number" and then quotes you a new lower "bottom line number" asi am getting up to leave is doing good customer service? Thats trying to earn a customer.
I'm a loyal customer when I feel a business has tried to earn my business. Having bought 7 cars from the same dealer over a 6 year period. I go back for service to the selling dealer. Not only for warranty work.
My friend I am a good customer when a business treats me as such.
It is a fact that most manufacturers will pay a shops normal labor rate. The problem that most dealers have with warranty work is:
1.) You don't normally get paid for the amount of TIME the job takes.
2.) On most warranty jobs you get little to 0 mark up on parts that are used to do the job.
3.) You have to package and ship parts back. Yes, the actual freight is paid, but no the time or materials to package and ship it.
4.) After completing the job, you get to fill out the warranty paperwork and submit it to the manufacturer. After 2-5 weeks you will get a check and find out what you really got paid. You also don't get paid to fill out the manufactures paperwork or to submit for prior authorization before you do a job.
5.) Many jobs don't get paid at all. For example most manufacturers only warranty on door or drawer adjustments for the first 90 days then it is on the customer or dealer to pay after that.
If you are running a good shop that has a backlog of work, you can either deal with the above or you can do jobs for customers that pay for the job when they pick up their RV and you can make a little money on parts. You don't pay someone to file claims and return parts. You don't pay someone in accounting to make sure you get paid. Frankly it's much easier and more profitable to work for an owner rather than a manufacturer.
A dealer will be willing to play the warranty reimburesment game for units they sold. But for local customers that chose to travel vs. buying local dealers are reluctant to deal with the cumbersome warranty process.
The warranty refusal issue is real. I would not let it stop be from traveling to save some money. However I also would not assume the local guy will deal with my warranty issues.
If you are fairly capable most small problems you can fix yourself.
A very thorough PDI completed at the selling dealer is your best defense against potential warranty issues.
07'Duramax dually,12'Open Range 399BHS
Hawkshead TPMS,Hensley BD3,Killerbee exhaust brake
Blue Ox Bedsaver,air bags w/compressor
Arvika pin box bike rack,Bak Flip tonneau cover
5500 Onan LP,EMS-HW-50
14'Porta Bote w/8.0 Nissan
Vu Cube 2000,Splendide 2000S
I all but had the paper work signed, to buy out of my area. I then inquired at my local dealer. I told him what the other dealer wanted & they came within $1000.00.
I'm very happy I did. After the purchase they did all the work to get a few thing resolved with the Mfgr. They got the parts & I did the work. I even had an issue with a under warranty part on my out of warranty trailer. They got the new part & I installed it. I even called one day & told them I was leaving on a trip & was having a brake issue. They told me stop in. Next morning I drove over & it was repaired within an hour......No Charge
I'm Glad I went Local
2011 Cougar 293SAB
2010 Chevy 3500HD D/A DRW
B&W Turnover Ball / 5th Wheel Companion
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There really are few if any down side issues with buying out of town (I've never had any myself). Yes you may find a few dealers who don't want to work on the RV but those dealers usually don't have a very good service department (or they WOULD want the work). Manufacturers only pay ONCE for a repair so the second or third try is on the dealer so with a poor service dept. they don't want to work on any they don't HAVE to work on. It's a pretty good means of weeding out those dealers when choosing a repair location.
