First TT purchase.....do you "get what you pay for"?
After 20 some years of tent and pop-up camping, we are shopping for our first TT for a few reasons which we might discuss later....on to my thoughts and the real questions at hand:
I'll admit to a lot of web-research over recent times as that was what I was able to do. The discount prices of listings with basic specs (trailer length, weight, pics and a floor plan) with little real info look pretty good showing a brand new unit with most of the features we are pretty sure we want on sale for under 20K, so I was figuring we'd end up with one of those units, but I knew we'd have to see it in person to be sure.
We made our first serious look around a dealer today and I'll admit I had a bit of sticker shock when the sales guy told me the list price of the first one we actually liked upon close inspection. There where other cheaper units, but all with some feature we disliked. Too heavy, too small, or lacking features we really liked a lot in that expensive unit. Then he said that price was MSRP -- not the selling price and added "We will work up a quote to find the real price". I mentioned comparing the lower priced stuff advertised all over the web to him and he said "Sure, go check em out, but don't be surprised if your numbers are different when you go to do paperwork". He explained that they don't tack on anything except tax / tags. No processing fees or hidden charges. Considering all that, their offer ended up being what I would consider fair / overall decent deal at about 25% off that MSRP with brake controller / WDH install and another minor item or 2 thrown in. Not bad, but I'm not committing based on one look around / quote. So I take the quote and go home to search more info.
I realized when I search for that exact model TT, it's about the same "going rate" I see advertised for that model. I'd bet most any dealer will throw in the same extras, so the only thing making this dealers offer desirable at this moment is being close by, and hopefully providing good support. I also realized none of the discount / wholesaler places have this model within a reasonable distance to make it worth pursuing. The overall lowest priced dealer I have found close by doesn't even have this brand and even the units they do carry end up close to the same price when equipped with the same features. So this is what got me to wondering about those lower priced units I see advertised all over the web and the fact that there are a ton of other brands that seem to sell cheaper -- maybe there is a reason? Is there, within the RV / TT world a certain level of "you get what you pay for"....Spend more money (still get a decent deal off of list price) and get a better unit....It's confusing to a point for a newbie like me, because they ALL tell you how great / well made they are, but I don't have the experience to know which ones are "full of it" or if they are all about the same? In which case, I should keep shopping and save 5 / 10 thousand.
I'll admit to a lot of web-research over recent times as that was what I was able to do. The discount prices of listings with basic specs (trailer length, weight, pics and a floor plan) with little real info look pretty good showing a brand new unit with most of the features we are pretty sure we want on sale for under 20K, so I was figuring we'd end up with one of those units, but I knew we'd have to see it in person to be sure.
We made our first serious look around a dealer today and I'll admit I had a bit of sticker shock when the sales guy told me the list price of the first one we actually liked upon close inspection. There where other cheaper units, but all with some feature we disliked. Too heavy, too small, or lacking features we really liked a lot in that expensive unit. Then he said that price was MSRP -- not the selling price and added "We will work up a quote to find the real price". I mentioned comparing the lower priced stuff advertised all over the web to him and he said "Sure, go check em out, but don't be surprised if your numbers are different when you go to do paperwork". He explained that they don't tack on anything except tax / tags. No processing fees or hidden charges. Considering all that, their offer ended up being what I would consider fair / overall decent deal at about 25% off that MSRP with brake controller / WDH install and another minor item or 2 thrown in. Not bad, but I'm not committing based on one look around / quote. So I take the quote and go home to search more info.
I realized when I search for that exact model TT, it's about the same "going rate" I see advertised for that model. I'd bet most any dealer will throw in the same extras, so the only thing making this dealers offer desirable at this moment is being close by, and hopefully providing good support. I also realized none of the discount / wholesaler places have this model within a reasonable distance to make it worth pursuing. The overall lowest priced dealer I have found close by doesn't even have this brand and even the units they do carry end up close to the same price when equipped with the same features. So this is what got me to wondering about those lower priced units I see advertised all over the web and the fact that there are a ton of other brands that seem to sell cheaper -- maybe there is a reason? Is there, within the RV / TT world a certain level of "you get what you pay for"....Spend more money (still get a decent deal off of list price) and get a better unit....It's confusing to a point for a newbie like me, because they ALL tell you how great / well made they are, but I don't have the experience to know which ones are "full of it" or if they are all about the same? In which case, I should keep shopping and save 5 / 10 thousand.
