Used RV Sales @ Camping World - Pricing

discovery4us wrote:
When you are looking at a used unit the price is going to be based on how good a negotiator the previous owner was. He may of just offloaded it cheap to get another unit or he may have stuck to his guns and got the most he could.

Also check to see if it is a consignment or CW's. If it is a consignment CW is just collecting a fee and you are negotiating with a private individual. We purchased our MH as a consignment at CW and while my offer offended the CW salesman the seller accepted it with no hesitation.

Stand your ground and if your offer is not excepted leave your contact info and keep looking.

Good points, we also bought a consignment from CW, we got it for about 30% off the original list price. Don't let your desire drive you, you can always walk away from any deal!

That is one of the most powerful tools you have.
We had the sales man state "are you going to let $$$$ keep you buying this unit?" Our response is "are you going to let $$$$ keep you selling this unit?" Works well.

Thanks again for all the comments. Regarding those negative comments related to CW RV sales, I don't see how they're any different than any other RV dealer. Though, rarely do we buy stuff from the store unless its small/simple, on sale, or we're in a pinch. And I'm not going to bash CW on the forum that they themselves have provided us ;-)

I too prefer to purchase from a private party, and we've been looking in that direction too. Locally, the private party folks tend to be on the high side and aren't real interested in negotiating (much). We don't have a preference on where we buy, but we want what we want and at a fair price.

The salesperson has already called us to nag about coming in for another visit, and I told him again (like I did yesterday), we'll come by within the next week or 2. Sheesh! One interesting thing that I did pick up on in the "purchase agreement" they prepared is that proposed finance term was 9 years. So, since the unit is 10 years old already, it would be 19 years old by the time it was paid off at that rate. We're unsure as to whether or not we would finance, but if so, it would only be for a year or 2 at most!

I had not considered the fact that it could be a consignment unit. The salesperson told me it was a trade-in, but I have no incentive to believe that.

When you are looking at a used unit the price is going to be based on how good a negotiator the previous owner was. He may of just offloaded it cheap to get another unit or he may have stuck to his guns and got the most he could.

Also check to see if it is a consignment or CW's. If it is a consignment CW is just collecting a fee and you are negotiating with a private individual. We purchased our MH as a consignment at CW and while my offer offended the CW salesman the seller accepted it with no hesitation.

Stand your ground and if your offer is not excepted leave your contact info and keep looking.

If you have a business card, write on the back their invoice number and the price you're willing to pay. Sometimes, even the sales force needs it written out to make sense. If CW doesn't refuse your offer, initially, you are paying too much. You WANT to walk out the door without a sale completed.

When estimating the price you're willing to pay, total the repair items and subtract them from the total. Hence, you're buying the rig "As is". Contingencies on repair items is only going to cloud the price issue and I wouldn't trust a seller to complete repairs to any level of satisfaction.

Also, if you're seriously shopping, I'd look at more private party sales than dealer inventory. My purpose is not to put profit in the dealers hand. You probably know this from your background but it's worth mentioning.

Question: do you have to pay CW before you buy an RV to get a descent price like you do the rest of their over priced stuff?

djgarcia wrote:
IMHO, I am not a fan of Camping World when it comes to buying RVs. I have read to many RV experiences, service, prices, repairs that are critical and negative.:(

How does that answer the OP's question?

I bought our current TT from CW Kingston. Made my offer and that was it. of course tried to sell us extra stuff and I caught them on the missing tire from the picture and they tried to charge us for a battery that we didn't need. Took a little back n forth but the salesman was great and was persistent, even had the manager come out when the spare tire was missing. I saw it in the photos but it was missing when we got there. The cleaning crew left something to be desired and my wife insisted they clean it again. That girl should have been showed the door, she didn't care at the critical point of purchase. If they didn't meet our needs and price we would have left it as there is always another one! All things considered our salesman and the tech appointed to go over the TT and hook it all up were terrific. which made the difference and resulted in us getting a good used TT and CW making a sale.

majorgator wrote:
The question is going to be vague, but I can't do anything about it...sorry in advance.

We're looking at a certain 5th wheel at our closest Camping World store. It's a Forest River, about 10 years old and in decent shape. Of course, there are a few items that need attention, all of which are pretty obvious. We are seriously considering purchasing it. The price point is average IMO. They salesperson played the typical numbers game, dazzling us with all the different numbers, confusing MSRP's, and the up/down trade in values.

My question is really related to how flexible they can be on the price. Yes, I know, too vague. But really, I don't want to pursue this any further if we get the feeling that their pricing won't move enough to suit our budget. The store is about 45 minutes away from us, and in a direction we rarely travel anyway.

For those who have bought used from Campig World, about how much flexibility did they offer on pricing?

Look up the NADA pricing on that used RV, and be certain to not pay more than LOW Retail listed in the NADA Pricing guide.

Don't accept any double-talk about why you should pay more than NADA Low Retail for a unit from anyone.

Be certain everything works on the used unit, and the condition of the it is acceptable to you as well. If it is worn in any places, deduct from NADA Low Retail.

Decide on what the unit is worth to YOU...bottom line. Purchase price less your trade in.

Be honest with YOURSELF as to both unit's values. Don't overprice yours or underprice theirs. Do your research. Look for similar rigs on PPLs site for value, yours and theirs. Once you've decided on those values, subtract your trade in from their rig value and you'll have a 'difference' price. If you can live with that make them that offer. If they say no, thank them, leave your phone number and walk away....it took my dealer 5 weeks to finally come to my price on my rig, but he did and I got a year old coach for almost 55% off MSRP.....Dennis

Check on the internet to see what comparable units are listed for by private parties. Check NADA to see what the low value is on that particular unit. I would recommend not paying more than the base low price on the NADA guide. Good luck!