I'm in the process of researching and buying a new Mercedes Sprinter Chassis RV and have moved from online research to hitting the dealers. (this will be my second RV, I previously had a small travel trailer, but was not really involved in the purchase process) One dealer I went to mentioned PDI, I wasn't sure what it was so looked it up online when I got home. Well you can imagine my shock when I discovered what it was he wanted to charge me an additional $3,995 for! I consider myself a savvy buyer, I know what the range of the markup on a new RV usually is, and have my bottom line out the door figure already calculated. So I'm not necessarily concerned about what ever they "call PDI", but has anyone actually had a dealer try to add PDI for that much??? In my opinion it should be part of the dealership's overhead etc and I'm sure I'll pay something for it in the final figure I pay, but I've never heard of someone trying to charge that much. I can't imagine what they would actually do for $3995.

I just ran into this too. They called it a "make ready" charge for $599 at a reputable dealer in the Houston area. This was for a $60k used Class C unit. I was able to have them reduce the selling price by that amount, but they still wanted to show the charge on the invoice to pay the service department. When I questioned the charge, I got the "every dealer does this" type answer. I wonder if they charge also based on a percentage of purchase price?

I would ask the dealer for a list of what they do during a PDI for $3995.

Usually the charge for a PDI is built into the selling price. Some manufacturers actually will pay the dealer for doing a PDI at a fixed rate. Being a RV tech, a PDI should not take any more than 3 hours, it may or may not include the sewer hose, plug adapter, in some cases a bottle of sewer chemical and maybe a few other small items but the charge you quoted is excessive

Well he did come back and offer to cut the PDI charge down to $2,000 to get closer to my bottom line price. I told him thanks, but no thanks. :)

DebbieA wrote:Well he did come back and offer to cut the PDI charge down to $2,000 to get closer to my bottom line price. I told him thanks, but no thanks. :)Yeah, that's ridiculous.

PDI Charge on a New RV Question | Good Sam Community

27 Replies

Hemi_RT
Explorer
Jan 05, 2016
Sltx wrote:
I just ran into this too. They called it a "make ready" charge for $599 at a reputable dealer in the Houston area. This was for a $60k used Class C unit. I was able to have them reduce the selling price by that amount, but they still wanted to show the charge on the invoice to pay the service department. When I questioned the charge, I got the "every dealer does this" type answer. I wonder if they charge also based on a percentage of purchase price?
. This sounds more like a lot pack, some dealerships have a charge for financing, keeping it clean on the lot, and in some cases a charge for even writing up the deal. Any time I run into this I tell them i'm not paying them to sell the vehicle to me. It is just another way to increase their selling price.
wildtoad
Explorer II
Jan 05, 2016
FWIW - I just ordered a new Newmar from the factory going through Camping World. The final offer from them included the delivery charge, full fuel which could be 80 gallons, full propane, full PDI which I will compare to Newmar's, staying in their campground for checking out the unit. Also includes 3 years in CW's elite club whatever that means. I could have opted to pick it up myself at the factory for around $3,500 but chose not to. Newmar assigns a tech to you for up to five days to address any and all issues that you may find.

I'd check elsewhere before agreeing to that much money for something they are supposed to do anyway.
kohai
Explorer
Jan 05, 2016
DebbieA wrote:
Well he did come back and offer to cut the PDI charge down to $2,000 to get closer to my bottom line price. I told him thanks, but no thanks. :)

Yeah, that's ridiculous.
DebbieA
Explorer
Jan 05, 2016
Well he did come back and offer to cut the PDI charge down to $2,000 to get closer to my bottom line price. I told him thanks, but no thanks. :)
Hemi_RT
Explorer
Jan 05, 2016
Usually the charge for a PDI is built into the selling price. Some manufacturers actually will pay the dealer for doing a PDI at a fixed rate. Being a RV tech, a PDI should not take any more than 3 hours, it may or may not include the sewer hose, plug adapter, in some cases a bottle of sewer chemical and maybe a few other small items but the charge you quoted is excessive
gbopp
Explorer
Jan 05, 2016
I would ask the dealer for a list of what they do during a PDI for $3995.
Sltx
Explorer
Jan 05, 2016
I just ran into this too. They called it a "make ready" charge for $599 at a reputable dealer in the Houston area. This was for a $60k used Class C unit. I was able to have them reduce the selling price by that amount, but they still wanted to show the charge on the invoice to pay the service department. When I questioned the charge, I got the "every dealer does this" type answer. I wonder if they charge also based on a percentage of purchase price?

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PDI Charge on a New RV Question

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