Frankly there is nothing wrong at all with comparison shopping. In free market economy there is nothing wrong with pitting several dealers against one another. As others have said often it's not as tangible as cost. It might be service, or geography or the perks. But at the end of the day it's all about the best deal for me. That may be different than what the best deal is for someone else. I don’t think anyone here is knowingly going to LD simply to abuse their abundant inventory all the while planning to buy somewhere else. LD has to be competitive as much as the next guy. And they probably love the "abusers" because foot traffic eventually yields a sale. But most buyers will visit several dealerships. And most buyers will spend a lot of dealer's time at each one. And most buyers can't buy from every dealer they visit. They pick the best deal for them. The rest lose the sale. It's all part of the dance. I have little empathy for any dealership that loses a sale. That's the game. You think they shoot from the hip with their rock bottom deal every time? No. They want to take your money as much as you want to keep it. My main question/point was, do supercenters have more margin that smaller dealers. Sounds like not all the time. In which case other factors come in to play. But I don't see any harm in getting their best price and taking that to several dealers for a match. Anything else is irresponsible on my part. Heck, about 99% of dealers tell you up front they will beat or match any other deal. We're just doing what they ask us.
* This post was
edited 08/04/12 05:17pm by an administrator/moderator *
I would bet 99% of us do price comparisons on everything we buy. We go into appliance stores, automobile dealers, computer stores, clothing stores and even food stores and buy what we want for the price we want to pay. Yes, sometimes we take up a salesman's time. That's his job. Why should buying a motorhome be any different? I just don't get some of this reasoning???
Extremely Happy Full-Timers for 16 years
.... now trying to adjust to 3-season traveling - and it isn't easy!
2004 40' Newmar Dutch Star Diesel Pusher
2004 Jeep Liberty
paulcardoza wrote: Get real!!!!! It's a dog-eat-dog world out there. Every nickel I save by using whatever resources are out there to my advantage, is another nickel in my pocket. I do what nets ME the best total value for MY dollar.
Johnworth914 wrote:
If Lazy Days was so helpful to you as you say, don't you think all that help. and knowledge, time and testdrives had any value to you? Shouldn't you support the people who helped you?
X2 on this, I will always to my best to get the best all around deal I can for ME.
Todd
Me too. difference is, I won't screw anyone to do it.
I guess it's just about how you decide to live your life.
I live near Lazydays and frequented it a lot while looking for a used coach. It was a great place to see a lot of different manufacturers and their models. When we did purchase, we purchased from a much small dealer. We got a great deal on a coach we really wanted. The knowledge and test drives we received from Lazydays was priceless to us.
It was PRICELESS to them.. They just wanted SOMEONE ELSE to pay for it...Ahh yes, the American Way!
Yup, I used my local dealer for almost all the RV's I looked at and test drove. They even taught me how to drive a diesel class A (pretty cool) even though I eventually bought a class C. They were a great help in the process so they got my money. While they are certainly not a super center they do sell and maintain several varieties and brands of RV's. These I think are things that are worth paying a little more for. To me the best overall deal includes more than just the RV. It includes the whole package from research,test drives, purchase, service to after purchase customer support.
Todd
Todd, Shirley, and the "Maddawgs" min-pins Precious and Buster Brown
2011 Itasca Cambria 30C
2011 Demco KarKaddy 460SS
TST 507 RV TPMS
"if there is anything left when we are gone, then we miscalculated"
Effy wrote: Frankly there is nothing wrong at all with comparison shopping. In free market economy there is nothing wrong with pitting several dealers against one another. As others have said often it's not as tangible as cost. It might be service, or geography or the perks. But at the end of the day it's all about the best deal for me. That may be different than what the best deal is for someone else. I don’t think anyone here is knowingly going to LD simply to abuse their abundant inventory all the while planning to buy somewhere else. LD has to be competitive as much as the next guy. And they probably love the "abusers" because foot traffic eventually yields a sale. But most buyers will visit several dealerships. And most buyers will spend a lot of dealer's time at each one. And most buyers can't buy from every dealer they visit. They pick the best deal for them. The rest lose the sale. It's all part of the dance. I have little empathy for any dealership that loses a sale. That's the game. You think they shoot from the hip with their rock bottom deal every time? No. They want to take your money as much as you want to keep it. My main question/point was, do supercenters have more margin that smaller dealers. Sounds like not all the time. In which case other factors come in to play. But I don't see any harm in getting their best price and taking that to several dealers for a match. Anything else is irresponsible on my part. Heck, about 99% of dealers tell you up front they will beat or match any other deal. We're just doing what they ask us.
Hi Effy,
Sorry I did not answer this in my first response. I think (and I could be wrong) it works just like care sales. If it is a popular model that they are having no problem selling than they will have less incentive to bargain. If it is a less popular model that tends to sit on the lot then you can probably get a good deal.
Todd
randco wrote: I live near Lazydays and frequented it a lot while looking for a used coach. It was a great place to see a lot of different manufacturers and their models. Going to Lazydays is like going to a large RV show. When we did purchase, we purchased from a much small dealer. We got a great deal on a coach we really wanted.
The knowledge and test drives we received from Lazydays was priceless to us.
So you USED the resources that Lazy Days paid for to do all your comparison shopping, taking up the time of their employees, and the millions of dollars they have tied up in inventory as your own private rv show. Then you brag that you got a "great deal" from a much smaller dealer.
Maybe if the other dealer had to pay for the resources that gave you all those test drives, his price would have been much higher.
It's the same mentality that causes people to brag about the great price they get from a wholesaler 2000 miles away, after doing all the research at their local dealer-- and then expecting the local guy to be your warranty provider.
If Lazy Days was so helpful to you as you say, don't you think all that help. and knowledge, time and testdrives had any value to you? Shouldn't you support the people who helped you?
I agree with John here. And I practice what I preach: if, for example, I buy an item off the internet because it is cheaper I do my research over the internet and take my chances. Brick and mortar stores invest in a lot of overhead.
If you can't make a decision without checking out their stock in person I believe the ethical approach is to pay them for it. I don't see why it would be different with an RV purchase.
Oh, of course there will be people who disagree. The top 20% pay 80% of taxes and half the country say the rich don't pay their fair share. So clearly there are wildly different concepts of fairness floating around this nation.
paulcardoza wrote: Get real!!!!! It's a dog-eat-dog world out there. Every nickel I save by using whatever resources are out there to my advantage, is another nickel in my pocket. I do what nets ME the best total value for MY dollar.
Johnworth914 wrote:
If Lazy Days was so helpful to you as you say, don't you think all that help. and knowledge, time and testdrives had any value to you? Shouldn't you support the people who helped you?
And as I scroll down to the next post my point is confirmed!
So are you saying Lazy Days should charge you admission to walk in a browse through their inventory?
southpark wrote:
If you can't make a decision without checking out their stock in person I believe the ethical approach is to pay them for it. I don't see why it would be different with an RV purchase.
Paul & Sandra
New Bedford, MA
2003 Monaco Executive M43 DS2
Okay, went to LD for a few days since they had many mfg'ers/models on ground to touchy feely. Yeah, saleman came around a couple of times for a few questions, but no hook up. Made choice that we would buy Dynasty and went home to do homework. Then went to Greensboro Monaco show, filled out order form and copied 10 times. Went to all dealers there and said, "Dont need one, but want one. No harm, no foul, what is your best price?" Most tried to sell close to home or perks, like CC, and best service. One older fellow I met in the trenches made a lot of sense and said for over 40 years of RV'ing, odds were that you weren't in the neighborhood of that dealer when you needed, so hit the road on your best price. Dimartini on the phone beat all dealers over three days of negging! Good Luck! OBTW, was height of market in 2006. We bought the 2007 Queen and love it!
randco wrote: I live near Lazydays and frequented it a lot while looking for a used coach. It was a great place to see a lot of different manufacturers and their models. Going to Lazydays is like going to a large RV show. When we did purchase, we purchased from a much small dealer. We got a great deal on a coach we really wanted.
The knowledge and test drives we received from Lazydays was priceless to us.
So you USED the resources that Lazy Days paid for to do all your comparison shopping, taking up the time of their employees, and the millions of dollars they have tied up in inventory as your own private rv show. Then you brag that you got a "great deal" from a much smaller dealer.
Maybe if the other dealer had to pay for the resources that gave you all those test drives, his price would have been much higher.
It's the same mentality that causes people to brag about the great price they get from a wholesaler 2000 miles away, after doing all the research at their local dealer-- and then expecting the local guy to be your warranty provider.
If Lazy Days was so helpful to you as you say, don't you think all that help. and knowledge, time and testdrives had any value to you? Shouldn't you support the people who helped you?
I agree with John here. And I practice what I preach: if, for example, I buy an item off the internet because it is cheaper I do my research over the internet and take my chances. Brick and mortar stores invest in a lot of overhead.
If you can't make a decision without checking out their stock in person I believe the ethical approach is to pay them for it. I don't see why it would be different with an RV purchase.
Oh, of course there will be people who disagree. The top 20% pay 80% of taxes and half the country say the rich don't pay their fair share. So clearly there are wildly different concepts of fairness floating around this nation.
Well define fair in the concept of RV shopping. If I visit several dealers and take up a lot of their time, where does my ethical obligation lie? To the guy who spent the most time with me although his price might be higher? Or is my obligation to myself, my family and my wallet to choose the best deal for me. Because one thing is for sure, if I go to 5 dealers and spend time at each, 4 of them will have wasted their time. No amount of sleep I might lose over it will change that. When you shop on line at several stores, do you think web development, hosting, and product procurement is free? Because you may have very well spent a preponderance of time on one site learning about a product only to buy it elsewhere. By your reckoning if I go to any dealer and check out stock I have an obligation to buy from them. What's the point of shopping around and the dealer's claim to match any deal? Part of the responsibility of the dealer is to earn your business. They should educate you, and be the best deal - be it price or perks. If they don't then they were not competitive enough to win the deal. That's free market enterprise and the very foundation of our economy. It mitigates monopolies and maintains competitive pricing. I applaud your ethics but fiscally it's not a strategy I can support
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