Deposit on a Travel Trailer?

[ecksdude]

What is the customary deposit to put down on a TT when ordering one from the factory through a dealer?

I've been working through CW, and at first I was asked for a $5000 deposit.

Later (negotiations still ongoing through email exchange) she said a $3000 deposit would be fine since that's the max limit they could charge on a credit card and I wasn't physically in the store.

Now that the negotiations are (more or less) completed, I'll be going into the store later this week to finalize the order. I'm anticipating them asking for $3-5000 for a deposit and wondering it this is normal.

$3000 is more than 10% of the final price of the trailer, by the way.

[westernrvparkow]

How much money would YOU want someone you do not know to put down for you to order something for them? For me, I would surely want enough to ensure two things.
1. It is enough that the individual would be highly unlikely to walk away from it. For a purchase of tens of thousands of dollars that is going to have to be a lot more than a few hundred dollars. A dealer is always concerned that a customer with a rig on order may get either buyer's remorse or decide to go a completely different direction. (say you were being frugal when you ordered your travel trailer, but you got a raise at work and then decided what the heck, let's get the diesel pusher we had been dreaming about. You rationally determine that even losing the $1000 deposit at Camping world, it is still a lot less than what you would lose if you bought that trailer and then traded it in on the pusher 6 months later.)
2. It is enough that if you had to dump the item because they did walk away, you could easily sell the item even if you had to significantly discount it and still at least break even. (That custom hot pink toy hauler you ordered for $40,000 might become marginally attractive to the Hell's Angel buyer if they can get it for $10,000 below cost)
If your intention is to buy the trailer, the amount of the deposit is really immaterial as long as you are confident the dealer won't just take the money and run. I would be 100% confident that is not going to happen with Camping World (though I would be sure to get a printed receipt with Camping World logo and be sure it is signed by the manager and have their business card attached. I would also use a credit card for the deposit if possible and write a check if not. There have been instances in auto sales where a salesperson takes a cash deposit, pockets it, and then skips town.) When your rig arrives, your deposit is applied to the purchase (you do have to pay for it, after all) If the rig arrives and it is not what you ordered (or fails to arrive at all) getting your deposit back will not be an issue at any reputable dealer.

[DinTulsa]

The dealerships around my location require 250-500. I would tell them to pound sand for 3-5000.

[ecksdude]

wanderingbob wrote:
I have bought five RVs from Camping World , I like em . We do not have enuff information to understand the situation . Maybe they do not think you are serious , five thousand down might convince them . Maybe they think that you can not get financing with a small down payment ! If ya really want the trailer put the money down !

I suppose this is possible. Although given the amount of time and energy I spent negotiating the price down, I'd think they'd have a clue by now.

In any case, I will find out on Friday. If they require $3K down, that doesn't bother me so long as the trailer that eventually shows up in the way I asked for it.

[rjf7g]

I am pretty sure my deposit was $1,000.

[Oaklevel]

We put down $500 when we ordered ours through a small local dealer beat CW price by thousands 🙂

[wanderingbob]

I have bought five RVs from Camping World , I like em . We do not have enuff information to understand the situation . Maybe they do not think you are serious , five thousand down might convince them . Maybe they think that you can not get financing with a small down payment ! If ya really want the trailer put the money down !

[ecksdude]

thanks for all the responses. I will try to talk them down a little. I don't really mind putting $3,000 down, but $5,000 seems a bit aggressive, and honestly I'd rather put down as little as possible until the trailer arrives and is as ordered.

[HGL]

We put $800 down on our TT two years ago when we had them modifying an order in production. I offered that amount they would have been happy with $300 as they knew the unit was hard to find and would have sold the next day if we hadn't been in to pick it up.

[jasoncw]

Like said above, depends on the dealership. My local dealer wants $2,000; The RV Express wants 10%.

[fla-gypsy]

When I ordered my TT in 2005 I gave them $200 to place the order. Keep in mind that if something comes out wrong on your order or it is totally wacked out somehow you will play heck getting that money back. Let the buyer beware.

[Dog_Folks]

APT: FYI; The last time I worked with RvDirect, about four months ago, they requested $1000.00 to order.

[GMandJM]

We paid a $500 deposit on our ViewFinder TT and it was factory ordered.

$5,000 deposit on the MH, which we purchased at an RV show and could not take delivery on for a month due to our schedules.

From your dealership's point of view, it doesn't hurt to ask for that much, I suppose. But that's alot to ask for!

[TNRIVERSIDE]

dodge guy wrote:
$500-$1000 deposit to hold an in stock trailer would be normal. $3k-$5k for a special order seems normal! you have to think about it their way, if you decide to back out on a special order they will get stuck with something that will not be as easy to sell because you ordered it the way you wanted it.

I agree. We ordered ours through Camping World. Everything went smoothly. No problems.

[Community Alumni]

Never needed more than $1000.