Great deals on RV purchase in Arizona: True or Not

Wait until March/April they will really deal since that is when the SnoBirders head home.

mike mck wrote:

skipro3 wrote:
I contacted every Lance Camper dealer in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Arizona for a quoted out-the-door price for a 2012 Lance 855S camper. The dealer in Tucson was the cheapest by over $5,000 compared to the closest competitive bid. No one could come close to their price. It was worth the 900 mile drive to Tucson to save that kind of dough, even though it was July and 109 degrees.

****EDIT****
Oh, I forgot; add Idaho to that list of states I checked Lance dealers for prices.

But it's a dry heat!:R

Ha ha. Not after July!

We winter in Meas and there are a lot of RV' s with more arriving everyday. I would think that some snowbirders traveling to AZ, TX, or FL will be selling or trading in their current rigs. So there is probably a larger concentration of units at those places, but I would be hesitant to travel without some firm leads on a unit you are interested in. In addition to trade ins many dealers have an abundance of units brought in from auctions and their conditions vary greatly. Most people and dealers selling their RV will advertise, either locally in Craig's List or nationally in RV Trader. I would narrow down my search to what a you want first, then start the internet search. You could even advertise for yourself under Rv Wanted.

Florida, Kerrville, Phx and Yuma are the bigger winter spots that I know of. You usually have to be in the right spot/right time. A friend had a neighbor who suddenly decided to quit and my friend got his lightly use 2008 30xxx 2 slide 5er for $6500. I've tried calling on several of those great ads but was never lucky enough. You need to have the sellers number on speed-dial, have a jet to get there fast enough and have green cash money! Craig

My friend from Florida claims that his state is where RVs go to die:)

I've seen a lot of deals originating from that state. I'm stuck here in PA, so I'd have to rely on someone local to give it a quick look-over.

Luckily, there are a few local members on this board who are generously willing to do give it a look-over for a serious buyer.

supply and demand is inevitable. If you take a clean trailer from from Idaho and bring it over to southern california you will likely get more for the unit and find a buyer quicker than you would have than in Idaho. IMHO.

The DW and I did our homework before deciding on the "perfect" RV. We settled on a MH purchase. I spent 18 months researching and shopping on line and at a few dealerships for the rig we were to spend our retirement full-timing.

I discovered the perfect MH in Quartzite while living in Idaho. Just before the dealer began moving units back to Lancaster, Ca. I ask the dealer to shoot me the best deal he could afford on this unit in a cash deal. He knocked 17K off his price. We were there in three days and closed on the deal.

Yes, Arizona has outstanding deals on RVs. But it pays to do your homework and know when to strike.

skipro3 wrote:
I respectfully would argue Lou's premise that dealers in AZ are not much different than dealers elsewhere.

During my 40 year business career, I lived and RV’d in nine major cities in five different states including California, Oregon, and Arizona and the RV Dealer business model has been the same. Sell RV’s and hopefully service the products you sell as well as others, and during that time the size of the dealer or their amenities has not always provided the best quality service.

I respectfully would argue Lou's premise that dealers in AZ are not much different than dealers elsewhere; I don't think dealers in AZ are in business primarily to sell their RV's. It was my observation that they are in it for the repair and maintenance. The dealer I bought mine from had a 85 bay repair shop that was so well lighted and outfitted, I could easily have imagined it was a NASA facility with docking bays for star ships!! The place was clean as a hospital operating room. Well, almost!;-) Scaffolding surrounded huge RV's so technicians didn't have to work off ladders or step foot on an RV's roof. The dealer told me that this repair facility was open 24/7 with RV's stacked up 3 deep at all 85 bays in season. They had a 200+ space RV campground on the premises. That way, you can test an RV before buying it, after you buy it to get familiar with it, and to check out the repairs done if you are there to get repairs done. The stay in the RV campground is free and included with any purchase or repair job. They have a very nice restaurant, pools, laundry, showers, even fruit trees in the park to pick fresh fruit from. Lemons were in season when we went. Spent 2 nights checking out our RV beginning on a Saturday night. Sunday morning one of the slideouts didn't work. No problem. By 8am Sunday morning, it was in a bay getting serviced. They also discovered one of the batteries wasn't holding a charge and replaced it as well. They spent a couple hours rewiring my truck's RV plug to match Lance's version of the plug. (Seems a Lance isn't wired in the normal manner that the truck was wired from the factory.)

Anyways, the point is, RV dealers many times consider their Service Centers to be the primary source of revenue, not sales.

We purchased our current Motorhome while in Arizona for the winter. There are lots of RV's to choose from based on the reasons you indicated, and we found the floorplan the DW was looking for. However, unless you are willing to do a lot of internet/newspaper shopping, traveling around the area looking for the ideal RV, you will probably find yourself at one on the many dealers in Phoenix or Tucson. If that is the case, the AZ dealers are in business for the same reason as dealers in Oregon and the deals aren't much different than shopping at home.