First Time Buyer...Updated 03/06/2006
This post is intended to be helpful to the first time buyer of a motor home. For those of you who don't fall into that category or believe this post is incomplete or off the mark, do us all a favor, a...
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Outstanding job! If you are considering the purchase of an RV, READ AND FOLLOW THIS POST. We are now in our second RV. We had some general dreams about what we wanted in our first, but more than anything else, we totally lucked into what turned out to be a good purchase. After a year and a half, I retired and we moved into it full time. We learned a lot more then. Althought we were still satisfied and comfortable in that coach, we decided to full-time for a long while, so we wanted to look at options for a new coach. We went through essentially the same process that Johnny describes, incuding going through more coaches than I care to remember. Every time, we took several pictures inside of each to help jog our memories. Once we had made up our minds on the "what" we sat down to bargaining.
Now, I have another recommendation, especially for those considering a NEW coach. We sat with dealer after dealer going through their sales pitches and their scripted negotiating play before I found a booklet on the web by Bob Randall, "The RV Buyers Survival Guide". I paid $17.95 for it on the web and figured that since I was about to buy a $200K machine that the investment was worth the risk. Was it ever!!! As I read the guide, I could see the antics of at least 4 or 5 negotiating sessions we had been through. And based on what I learned from the guide, the best "deal" we had been offered up to that point was still not very good. We had almost jumped on one of them! In the end, I walked into a dealer and gave them the list of what I wanted ordered on our new coach. I also told them that I wanted 26% off of retail or I was not buying. They called me the next day and said OK. We wound up with EXACTLY the coach we wanted, our way, and the end cost was less than I had expected to pay for a coach. We've been living in it for the past 17 months now and like it even more than the day we picked it up.
Bottom line: It's YOUR investment--DO YOUR HOMEWORK FIRST.
Now, I have another recommendation, especially for those considering a NEW coach. We sat with dealer after dealer going through their sales pitches and their scripted negotiating play before I found a booklet on the web by Bob Randall, "The RV Buyers Survival Guide". I paid $17.95 for it on the web and figured that since I was about to buy a $200K machine that the investment was worth the risk. Was it ever!!! As I read the guide, I could see the antics of at least 4 or 5 negotiating sessions we had been through. And based on what I learned from the guide, the best "deal" we had been offered up to that point was still not very good. We had almost jumped on one of them! In the end, I walked into a dealer and gave them the list of what I wanted ordered on our new coach. I also told them that I wanted 26% off of retail or I was not buying. They called me the next day and said OK. We wound up with EXACTLY the coach we wanted, our way, and the end cost was less than I had expected to pay for a coach. We've been living in it for the past 17 months now and like it even more than the day we picked it up.
Bottom line: It's YOUR investment--DO YOUR HOMEWORK FIRST.
