RV dealers rant and question

rockhillmanor wrote:

bigdogger wrote:

rockhillmanor wrote:
You are not the lone ranger. The first time I went to look to buy an RV I found then aloof, unaware and uneducated on RV's. Many not even wanting to go out on the lot to open one up to look at at. :R

I have the same advice as above, sadly you DO have to keep looking for a dealership that really cares and want to assist you in buying an RV.

...One kind of screwed us over by shot gunning our credit app out costing us many hits so now were debating on just waiting so that'll clear....

As far as this goes, as you have now learned, is NEVER fill out a credit app until you are positive you want the RV and know you can afford it. Many want you to fill out one 'just' to see if you are financially capable of buying one. THOSE are the lazy sales people fearful of wasting one moment of their time showing you RV's. And/OR won't show you ones of better quality and lower price! :W

I don't know what line of work you are in, but there are very few businesses that can survive serving people who cannot or will not be buying from them. You can call the salesperson lazy, but he is not paid to waste his time. He makes his money selling rigs, not showing them to people who cannot pay for them or who are going to be buying elsewhere. As for the person who claimed the dealership screwed them over by shotgunning their credit app all over the place, that could have only happened if they had agreed on a purchase and the dealer was trying to get them financing. A dealer will only pull one credit report themselves. They won't be sending applications anywhere until they have a sale to try and finance. The only thing that could have possibly happened was the people contracted for a purchase and then the dealer couldn't get them financing for whatever reason. Then they went to another dealer and that dealer took the easy way out and said they credit took a hit because they had so many inquiries instead of telling the customer the whole truth, which is their credit won't support a purchase of an RV.

I was paying cash for a Class A. And to my surprise I ran into many RV dealerships that insisted on running a credit check first, prior to any type of contract was drawn up. Was it a high end product yes. But a credit check was not required to confirm eligibility to warrant the salesman precious time and quick qualify them for a certain priced unit.

Which is a moot point because the sales person does not know or have anyway of finding out just how much cash money the customer can and/or will put down on a unit they find that they like. WHICH in the case of the OP the dumb salesman has pigeon holed himself into only showing the customer certain lower priced units based on their credit check.

When in essence he could have showed them a higher priced unit and made a bigger commission. Once a customer falls in love with a vehicle it is amazing how they can come up with a bigger down payment.

I sold cars for several years so yes I do know about that end of the process. And credit checks are done ONLY after a contract is signed that requires a loan. There are no exceptions. And when a poor unsuspecting customer has their credit hit 4 times in a day looking at different RV's by irresponsible dealerships his goose is cooked for getting a loan. The customer must say no to credit checks prior to contract. Technically is not allowed which is why they must present you with a statement that you must sign allowing them to do so. They run it without your sig you have recourse.

Credit checks are and can be run at any time during the sales process. To say they are "ONLY" run after a contract was signed would apply to maybe one sales outlet but not to most. In order to run a credit check, practicality forces one to have certain personal information such as and including the person's social security number. The prospective buyer would certainly have to be a "poor unsuspecting customer" if they gave out that information without thinking there would be a credit check run.

"Shot-gunning" a credit app is often common practice and not necessarily detrimental to the consumer. Very few lenders will act on these applications if a proposed deal is not attached. This action allows the dealer to offer choices as to availibility of financing and terms offered such as interest rate. It is the equivelant of shopping from dealer to dealer for the best price.

Multiple credit inquiries associated with financing the same type of purchase within a short period of time do not do abnormal damage to a person's credit rating. The FICO system is calibrated to recognize multiple inquiries associated with a car purchase, as an example, and treats them as one event if done over usually a thirty day period of time. If a person makes application for a car loan, house loan, and credit cards over a short period of time...there will be a negative effect.

Any time a credit check is made by a merchant, the Federal Law requires a consent form to be signed by the consumer. Any thing less, whether a contract exists or not, carries a serious monetary fine to the merchant. It never ceases to amaze me how often consumers sign this consent form and give the merchant personal information only to then claim ignorance that the merchant was going to run a credit check. Usually this claim comes when the consumer is rejected for credit reasons. Then, Federal Law requires the consumer to be notified their credit was declined and a reason stated for this action.