Pay for RV Show?

Hi... Yes, all the show that I have been to charge. Sometimes Good Sam has a coupon that can be used to save a couple dollars . ...jim2007

Cleveland RV show at the IX center this Jan.-$14 each & $10 to park. Decided I didn't really want to look at rv's that badly-although it was indoors.

I don't mind paying a reasonable entry fee. For the most part we are just making a fun day out of it. Admission is cheap compared to the cost and the heartburn of getting a show hotdog and coke.

If you are actually shopping, I'm sure most dealers would throw in the cost of your tickets. I've had them offer me tickets to return on another day to complete an order. I didn't take them up on it, because I preferred to finalize a deal at their store office. But they do have comp tickets to use as they please.

I bought the trailer we have now at a show, sort of. We chose what we liked on the show floor near the end of October, agreed on price and details, and then I told them I didn't want last years show model that a thousand people had tracked through, I wanted the new models that were being delivered. They didn't balk at it. There was some risk involved on our part, since we didn't really know what model changes there might have been, but it worked out okay. We hadn't exchanged any money yet anyway.

bpounds wrote:
I've always paid admission and parking.

But that is for a real, multi-vendor, show. Around here they have many of what they call "show", but really is just a certain dealer setting up a lot for only their brands. Sometimes on their own property, sometimes renting a venue like Angel Stadium. Those are free, although you may still pay for parking in some instances. I don't bother going to any of these, and I consider it scam marketing.

We have the same here in Eugene, Oregon. There is one hugh dealer that has a "show" at the local fairgrounds. There was no entry fee. RV's sales are way down, so they need as many as possible to come. I had fun, so I can't complain. I enjoy looking a what's new in the A's and C's. It's an education.

We've always had to pay to get in to local shows, but usually had free parking and a 50% Good Sam ticket discount. This year the discount was only 20% so we just stayed home.

I work for an RV dealer and we have shows at the fair grounds every month. The sale of a few rv's covers the cost of the fairgrounds so we don't have to charge admission.

Some of the ones we have gone to in the past charged canned goods to be donated to the local food bank or something else like that. If we want to look at rv's , we would use the internet and then visit dealers lots that had something we were interested in. The crowded shows aren't our thing.

Basically, the customer "pays" to be a customer.

dryfly wrote:
Basically, the customer "pays" to be a customer.

Most of those customers have no intention of buying anything so in effect they are just loiterers.
However they can contribute to their own entertainment and RV curiosity by paying an admission fee for the privilege checking out the RV's.
If they want free parking and no admission fee you can simply drive around to the various dealerships and create your own personal day of RV entertainment.

Simple, if you don't want to pay, don't go. You will not be missed.