My first post. Hershey RV show question.

[Camper76]

This is my first post here. I have 19 foot travel trailer. My wife and I are looking for bigger one. About 27'-31' one. Since we have a 9 and 6 year old. Was wondering is there are really good deals at the Hershey show? Thank you happy camping.

[Lynnmor]

Cdaddy wrote:
Do they sell many accessories at the Hershey show or just rvs

There are some accessories and quite a number of vendors displaying their wares. You might find an unusual item or service that fits your needs, but I doubt it. Camping World brings a large quantity of the usual stuff, but hardly worth the effort buying it there and lugging it around. I usually come home with very little.

[Cdaddy]

Do they sell many accessories at the Hershey show or just rvs

[bucky]

Spend 2 days if you can. The units stretch forever, just when you think you've about covered it you find another 200 to look at.
Is it the best show in the east? Tampa in Jan may argue that point but they are both worth doing. And you're in FL in Jan.
Take your time, take lots of notes. Take pics of the model placards at the door, you will never remember them all. There is only so much the builders can do with a box, you will see the same floor plans over and over. Pay attention to the small things once you get down to the best 20 units for you. That will be the difference.

[TNRIVERSIDE]

jfskeet wrote:
We always attend the Hershey show just to look around and maybe pick up accessories. When we were looking in 2014 for a class A, we saw one we liked but was from a dealer a distance away from us. Our local dealer was at show and ask him, why he didn't have any of the class A,s we were interested in. He said he was't allowed to have them there, another dealer had the rights. We told him what we liked and were thinking we were going to purchase from other dealer because of all the "special deals they were offering" He said don't worry, I will beat the show price, he sat down and figured it out and he did just hat. So show price isn't always that special.!!!

I agree. But if you had not been at the show it might not have been that easy to negotiate a good price. While at Hershey we were able to negotiate a price that was lower that the show price. The show price gave us a better starting price. Just my opinion.

[jfskeet]

We always attend the Hershey show just to look around and maybe pick up accessories. When we were looking in 2014 for a class A, we saw one we liked but was from a dealer a distance away from us. Our local dealer was at show and ask him, why he didn't have any of the class A,s we were interested in. He said he was't allowed to have them there, another dealer had the rights. We told him what we liked and were thinking we were going to purchase from other dealer because of all the "special deals they were offering" He said don't worry, I will beat the show price, he sat down and figured it out and he did just hat. So show price isn't always that special.!!!

[Ralph_Cramden]

The Hershey show is a fine example of how you can cram 42 acres worth of shoddily assembled garbage and junk, into 21 acres of space.

[cross21114]

TNRIVERSIDE wrote:
My experience was different. We went to Hershey knowing we wanted one of three travel trailers. We were able to see all three. When we were sure what we wanted we ordered a new unit with the options we wanted. We got to show price which was much lower then we were able to get before the show. And they delivered it to a local dealer. Just my experience.

This strategy makes a lot of sense.

[spoon059]

gbopp wrote:
I wouldn't go to the Hershey Show with the intent of finding a good deal.
I would go to see what is available and which makes interest you.

Last time we went to Hershey we showed a little interest in a few models but, were not serious about buying. The sales people wanted us to take a test drive and give them a deposit after looking at the unit for a few minutes.

I felt they very pushy. So I just said, no thanks and walked.
It is a great show and it's worth seeing. Just don't go for a deal.

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. The prices that I have seen at shows aren't very good. The Hershey show is fantastic to see many different models and options and compare one against another, however the prices that I have seen are about the exact same that I have seen advertised at those dealers throughout the year. They count on people wanting instant gratification and overpaying without doing research. Not a bad sales tactic, but I'd prefer to over research and take my time when spending that much money.

[TNRIVERSIDE]

My experience was different. We went to Hershey knowing we wanted one of three travel trailers. We were able to see all three. When we were sure what we wanted we ordered a new unit with the options we wanted. We got to show price which was much lower then we were able to get before the show. And they delivered it to a local dealer. Just my experience.

[ChuckV1]

We bought a show model, why as someone stated would you want a few hundred people walking thought your trailer or 5th wheel ... This why we bought what we did, we saw no doors ajar, hanging trim, bent or missing door handles or draw knobs. We saw no scrapes on floors, chairs with rips in them or windows treatments hanging, we looked in cabinets for glue an bad hinges, saw none, no saw dust anywhere an no high pressure from sales people, but who answered all our questions ... This is why we bought the 5th wheel we did, we were convinced the product was built to last, did we have some very minor stuff yes, any unit you buy will have something even the high end units, nothing an I mean nothing is perfect in this world ...

We looked at our 5th wheel the second day of the RV show and the last day of the RV Show, it looked the same as what we had seen it the second day and the last day an as well when we did our PDI before signing anything ... We ask for a few things to be looked at and the trailer winterized, all was done before signing an handing over our title to our old 5th wheel ...

We did over 4 hours for our PDI, turning, opening, closing pushing on anything and everything, we had them run water out of every tape, ran shower, looked under the trailer while all were running. We unfolded the davenport, sat in every chair an recliner, turned on every light, open close awnings, storage doors, played the radios an stereo inside and out, turned on TV's, hooked up cable an tested, even program in the APP for opering all the slides an awnings along with the 6 point leveling system, rolled up an down the shades multiple times, ran the micro wave and dish washer an believe it or not I still missed a couple of things I had marked down ... Are we happy, you bet ya, do we have a good warranty, you bet we do, proven when our furnace went outonly a month after we had the trailer... Was it the fault of the trailer MFG, no, it was a board in the furnace that fried, could our MFG know such, not at all, was it fixed quickly yes, our Frig went out 2000 miles from home, again no fault of the trailer MFG, it was fixed the same day it went out by the Frig MFG by a mobil tech in the camp ground we were in ...

So when someone states don't buy at a RV show, you as the customer just need to know what you are looking at or for, we looked, we saw an we bought right off the RV show floor because we knew what we were looking at, most people do not 😞

Oh ya, we got 30% under market value as well 🙂

Safe Travels

[ford_truck_guy]

I have always heard that the Hershey show was a mfg show, and NOT a dealer show.. They told me that the mfg was responsible to bring in the units to display, and the dealer would be responsible to STOCK any RV's that do not sell, this gave both the mfg and dealer incentive to make great deals

With all that said . . . I never saw it that way... like the 2 above, I would use the show as a stepping stone . . You can cover A LOT of ground, kick A LOT of tires and see A LOT of floor plans in 1 spot...

Get all that knowledge, and start your homework . .

IF you want to haggle there, GET THE MFG involved, do not only deal with the dealer .

Good Luck

[3oaks]

Excellent advice, gbopp! I was about to post similar.

The Hershey Show is the best RV show in the East. For seeing a good selection of what is out there.............not necessarily for good deals and certainly not spare of the moment signing a sales agreement during all the excitement.

Take a camera and lots of pictures and take home all the literature concerning the models of interest to you. Then decide and visit a few dealerships with the models you are interested in.

[gbopp]

I wouldn't go to the Hershey Show with the intent of finding a good deal.
I would go to see what is available and which makes interest you.

Last time we went to Hershey we showed a little interest in a few models but, were not serious about buying. The sales people wanted us to take a test drive and give them a deposit after looking at the unit for a few minutes.

I felt they very pushy. So I just said, no thanks and walked.
It is a great show and it's worth seeing. Just don't go for a deal.

[Lynnmor]

Narrow your search online, there won't be much at the show that is different, that way you won't be wandering aimlessly. With your list of candidates in hand, give each a thorough inspection looking for workmanship and structural issues. Be sure to get down and look at all the stuff you aren't supposed to care about. I have looked into storage areas and saw enough to rule out a trailer in seconds. Look at the net carrying capacity (NCC), the higher the better for a given size.

It's a shame that Northwoods Mfg and Outdoors RV products aren't displayed there so you could compare them to lesser brands.

You might find a good deal there but you might find the same price at a local dealer.