How much wiggle room on a new trailer?

I too have read 25-30 % off doesn't hurt to ask for more call around and get 2 dealers to compete against each other

Preferred floorplan is such a personal choice but I would offer that when we were looking at models with a front Murphy bed the attraction quickly faded when it became obvious just how little cargo storage space this type of trailer has. OTOH, floorplans with a front queen walkaround bed typically have a large front pass through storage compartment with access to it from both sides of the trailer plus even more storage under the bed itself ... even our rather small Coachmen Freedom Express 192RBS has a HUGE front passthrough compartment which I've never been able to fill completely even though I also carry the spare wheel in there. :B

on sale at 22k offer 20k out the door. thats tax title prep and any thing else they dream up.not a penny more ,start walking ,they should call you soon. if not they loose. its getting to the end of the yr 2017 are showing up.

I think we may just do that Midnight - see what happens. Just looked up the models, and the one I picture us getting is a 2017 StarCraft 24RLS (the other option was a 2016 Jayco 23RBM)

This will be a "warmup" trailer for a few years before we upgrade. Ultimately, we would like a Grand Designs 5'er, but 40k just isn't in our budget for a few more years.

midnightsadie wrote:
on sale at 22k offer 20k out the door. thats tax title prep and any thing else they dream up.not a penny more ,start walking ,they should call you soon. if not they loose. its getting to the end of the yr 2017 are showing up.

I agree you should be looking at an out the door price. NO ADD ONS.
dealers like to add stuff on after you negotiate a price
I agree with midnightsadie in that if they will agree too $20000 out the door no add ons you are doing okay. I would not hesitate to go back to the dealer with your name, phone number and address on a 3x5 card. Hand your card to the salesman and say the following words.
" I want to purchase this trailer I am prepared to pay $20,000 dollars total for the trailer that means the final bottom line price including tax,title, registration, PDI and any other fees you can dream up are included in the $20,000. Go talk to whoever you need to and let me know I will be waiting right here. If you come back with anything other than YES I will be walking out the door. My offer is a no dicker offer and I am not prepared to spend anymore than I have offered."
If he comes back with a yes you are good to go unless you need financing from the dealer. Get your own financing if needed.
Your words to the dealer will be 'I have obtained my own financing from __________ at an APR of _______ for _____ months if you can beat that I will finance through you."
If he comes back with a counter listen politely and state " I told you I would not dicker you have my particulars if you decide you want to sell the rig give me a call..

Then walk out the door. If your offer is reasonable ( and I think you are in the ballpark at $20,0000) they will call you.

darsben1 wrote:

I agree you should be looking at an out the door price. NO ADD ONS.
dealers like to add stuff on after you negotiate a price
I agree with midnightsadie in that if they will agree too $20000 out the door no add ons you are doing okay. I would not hesitate to go back to the dealer with your name, phone number and address on a 3x5 card. Hand your card to the salesman and say the following words.
" I want to purchase this trailer I am prepared to pay $20,000 dollars total for the trailer that means the final bottom line price including tax,title, registration, PDI and any other fees you can dream up are included in the $20,000. Go talk to whoever you need to and let me know I will be waiting right here. If you come back with anything other than YES I will be walking out the door. My offer is a no dicker offer and I am not prepared to spend anymore than I have offered."
If he comes back with a yes you are good to go unless you need financing from the dealer. Get your own financing if needed.
Your words to the dealer will be 'I have obtained my own financing from __________ at an APR of _______ for _____ months if you can beat that I will finance through you."
If he comes back with a counter listen politely and state " I told you I would not dicker you have my particulars if you decide you want to sell the rig give me a call..

Then walk out the door. If your offer is reasonable ( and I think you are in the ballpark at $20,0000) they will call you.

Good advice there. It's mid-year and most folks that were looking for a camper have already purchased.

I'm holding out till Sep or Oct before I go shopping due to the extended camping season in South Texas. Taking the chance the 2016 models will be gone, but if the deal isn't to my liking, I can walk away. Betting there will be a follow up call mid Nov when sales are really slow.

I bought a used car that way once, I even got a bank check made out to the dealer. Needless to say I walked out with the keys, sales managers have sticky finger when it comes to cash.

What we did.
We recently bought a brand new 37 footer.

We were not going to buy for another year, but we just happened to find a trailer that had the exact layout that we wanted.
After getting the dealers "bottom price" we sat down that night and decided what our high end would be and if we couldn't get it for that we would just walk.
The next day we went back and offered 5K below his "bottom price".
He countered with 1K below his "bottom price". We countered with 1K above our first offer which was 1K below his last offer.
He said that was as low as he would go.
We thank him and said that was a tad too high and walked out the door. Before we got to our truck he came running out and said Ok.

The final out door price was $500 lower then the price our goal was, and we are happy owners of our new trailer.

I think the key is to have a reasonable figure as to what you want to pay, and make up your mind that you are not going any higher.
Then stick with it and what ever the outcome, you are a winner.

We bought our last two new vehicles the same way.

Jack L

WNYBob wrote:
I bought a used car that way once, I even got a bank check made out to the dealer. Needless to say I walked out with the keys, sales managers have sticky finger when it comes to cash.

Bought 2 new cars from the HUGE man this way

Thanks for the information and advice everyone! The wife and I 'thought' we had found the one. Went Wednesday night, checked out a few, and put a deposit down. She found another, and we decided to go and look at it. Well, we pulled the trigger and bought it last night. They still have to do the PDI, but I should pick it up next Friday.

Its a 2010 Dutchmen 24RB-SL. Its a little older than we were anticipating, but you know what? We don't really mind. This is our first trailer, so it will allow us time to consider what we like, and what we don't for the next one. Was a heck of a deal (to me at least - and that's what counts!). Under $9k, mint condition, and it came with everything we need. It was actually on consignment at the dealer - and the owners upgraded to a 5'er. So we ended up with all sorts of extras. Wire racks, shelves, drawer organizers, totes, extension cords, hoses, extra parts of some sort, wheel chocks - all of it! Even had a WD hitch included.

Very excited to pick it up and start living the RV life. Getting too old for this tenting stuff! Thanks again for all of the insite, and I will definitely be a regular around here. Lots to learn I imagine, and I'm sure you all have a thing or two that I could learn from.