DRV vs Excel
Between these two, which would you choose, assuming there's no preference in their floorplans? I realize you can't go wrong with either choice but I'd like to look further into little details... ...
Forum Discussion
CoMoCo wrote:
Acei - we were shopping over the past 2 years and were focused on Carriages and DRVs. Obviously we stopped looking at Carriages but we did look at Lifestyle in their place.
We decided on the Lifestyle 36FW over a Mobile Suites for a number of reasons. IMHO, the DRV dealer in London does not like to negotiate price. I also heard this comment from a number of other people who were looking to buy a DRV from them. In fact, one person I spoke to asked the London dealer if they would consider matching a US dealer's price on a cash deal and the London dealer declined - they wouldn't lower their price at all to be a bit more competitive on price.
A DRV dealer in Michigan was willing to negotiate price but it was a bit of a hassle for us as we had a trade to consider.
In the US, I believe cash deals on DRVs were approximately 25% off MSRP.
We are happy with our choice of the Lifestyle 36FW. We purchased it at Layzee Acres - just outside Orillia. We are happy with the price we paid and the trade-in price of our Jayco Designer.
Good to know that the London dealer doesn't negotiate. Since we don't have a trailer to trade-in, I don't think there will be a problem for us to buy a trailer from US. Michigan sounds close enough for me. But I'm not solidly set on the DRV just yet.
I've also seen that Layzee Acres dealer on Liftstyle website. How much discount were you able to get (in %) off the MSRP, if you don't mind sharing the info?
And as a separate question to everyone - is it feasible for a buyer to directly order from the factory without going through a dealer? Factories aren't that far away from my location, so this is feasible. I've always wondered how you can specify some of the customizations you want through a dealer... As an example, I'd like to install 4 x 6V batteries along with the matching set of solar panels, which I don't think is a standard setup for any trailers.
Also, would any of these manufacturer accommodate requests like replacing their typical 40-ish inch TV with a 55+ inch TV on the rear entertainment floorplans? This could potentially mean no windows on the rear panels which would normally be present.
