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Frank55's avatar
Frank55
Explorer
Sep 25, 2018

How do RV dealers do it?

I have been looking at various wwb sites, searching for a new 5th wheel. Every dealer will show an MSRP of one amount and a discounted price that is 10k to 15k less. Are the dealers inflating the price or do the makers leave that much profit margin? It looks kind of shady to me.

25 Replies

  • Old-Biscuit wrote:
    Dealers do NOT set MSRP (Manufacturers SUGGESTED Retail Price)


    I’m honestly not sure that is the case in the RV industry. I don’t know where the numbers come from, but th identical trailer (with identical options) can be found with a great variance in the posted MSRP. I don’t know how they come up with the number, but I think if it were truly manufacture generated, it would be consistent for identical trailers.

    That said, as others have mentioned, MSRP is a pretty useless number, as most pay well below that (30% is often thrown out), but opportunities and experiences vary.
  • Many products are sold at well below the MSRP. For RV's, I expect dealer incentives like volume discounts, etc., give them a large enough margin to offer those discounted prices and still make a reasonable profit. And that's aside from high profit dealer add-ons like warranty plans, prep charges, etc. I'm sure you've seen the car ads where a dealer says they're selling at cost and will show you the invoice to prove it. What they don't show you is how much the additional sales volume contributes to their factory incentive plans and end of the year rebates, so in reality they're still making money on each sale. There's nothing "shady" about it. They're just not opening their books up to you so you can see the whole behind the scenes picture.
  • Old-Biscuit wrote:
    Dealers do NOT set MSRP (Manufacturers SUGGESTED Retail Price)...


    bid_time wrote:
    Its been like this for decades. No different than cars, no one pays MSRP.


    they do but only on the TV show 'Going RV'. :)
  • Its been like this for decades. No different than cars, no one pays MSRP.
  • Dealers do NOT set MSRP (Manufacturers SUGGESTED Retail Price)

    Signing on the dotted line at end of sale many times the price is 30% less then MSRP

    Remember the Dealers purchase the rigs at a price point much lower then MSRP so they can 'discount' them and make YOU a DEAL (and have a good profit too)

    No different then buying a boat, a motorcycle, an ATV or A CAR/TRUCK etc

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