Timing the Purchase for a last-year's model

Question

The DW and I are planning our fulltime escape, and purchase of our first coach, a new class A DP after selling our house, when we have the equity in-hand to help pay for it. I just got back from the Hershey RV show, and the "show prices" there were much higher than what I thought I would pay for the rig we have in mind (Thor Tuscany XTE 36MQ), in the $220K range . I understand why, since the coaches at the show were all 2015 models, which have just hit the dealers and they're looking forward to getting their profit margin.

I see that the changes between 2014 and 2015 - at least for this model - are slight and there are lots of "new" 2014 examples of this coach on RVtrader for $170-180K still on the dealers' lots. I am assuming that this price is much closer to the "real" price we'll pay for the coach, and am wondering if timing my purchase to the July-August timeframe will net me about $40K in savings when I buy the previous model year's coach.

My question is: Does anybody have any experience of timing their purchase like this, and are there some facts that I'm lacking in purchasing a year-old coach, even though it's new. I suspect that the real price of these rigs is lower than what I see advertised on RVtrader, but I'm not sure by how much - in a way this is harder than buying a car, since there are pundit websites out there like Edmunds.com that help you estimate what you should pay without getting a bad deal.

dahkota · Answer

We just bought a 2014 Bounder when the 2015s were hitting the lots. We got a great deal on it, more than 35% off ($45K+), as Fleetwood was offering close outs.

Something you might want to be aware of if you are looking for financing: banks are not too fond of lending money to 'houseless' people, especially large sums of money. We had our new Florida address, and had sold our home but not gone to closing. They (the dealer) insisted we use our 'home' address to secure both the loan and the better interest rate, even though it was sold and we were closing in less than 10 days. If one looks around at RV financing, one can often find different (higher) rates for full timers. We were quoted 6.25% as fulltimers for the same loan we got for 4.25% as 'home owners.'

To get the best price that we were happy with, we send out pricing inquiries to about a dozen dealers asking for their final price. We were willing to drive over 1000 miles to get the vehicle, which helps. There was over a $20,000 difference between the lowest price and the highest price for an rv with the exact same equipment. We chose the dealer with the best reputation which was the second lowest price. The lowest price dealer is notorious for not pre-inspecting the vehicle and having a lousy service department.

Best of luck to you! Having just gone through the same, I know how frustrating it can be. But, in the end, it will be worth it!

executive45 · Answer

Congrats on going full time. That said, you might also consider where you will establish your RESIDENT State NOW. The tax savings could be significant. We were in California, (9.5%) and established our resident state as South Dakota (3%) BEFORE we purchased. Saved us over $35k. Do the math from your current state and decide if the savings are worth it. Every little bit helps.....Dennis

rgatijnet1 · Answer

Some dealers are a little more willing to discount further between Christmas and New Years when their sales lots are almost vacant and they are looking to make their end of year sales goals. Paying cash is also a proven tool to help get the best price.
As suggested above, I would guess that the dealer will want some type of address for the registration/tag. This is something you want to establish before you try to close the sale on an RV.

klebs · Answer

We're fairly sure we won't need financing, and we've already planned to use SD as our new "anchor state" via one of the mail forwarding services. We can't change states until we don't own property in Maryland anymore so we plan on driving out there just after selling our house to get our licences and then however far we need to go to buy the coach, moteling it the whole way. We'll be paying the 3% SD sales tax on the coach but since we'll already have paid 6% MD sales tax on our toad we'll be exempt from SD's "excise tax." At least thats how I understand it.

re_todd · Answer

We saw a brand new 36MQ on the Lazy Days lot in Quartzsite last month for a 204,000 window sticker.  I'm interested in the model also, not necessarily this year

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Timing the Purchase for a last-year's model

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