My Wife's Negotiation Tips For Buying An RV
"The Negotiation Tips You Need To Get a Great Deal
On An RV"

Here you will find some negotiat
Q:
How can I get the best deal on an RV?
A:
You need negotiation tips, because you must negotiate, negotiate, negotiate and negotiate:
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Also known as haggling, this is the secret weapon you use to get the lowest
price on the new or used RV you really want.
It does not matter whether you are
buying from Recreational Vehicle shows, dealerships or private sellers,
you must negotiate the
price.
The RV salesperson's mission is to sell you an RV and get the best commission
they can. Your mission is to buy a new RV at the best price you can.
Never, never, never buy a new or used RV at the original asking price.
This is not
like going to the supermarket and buying oranges at a set price per pound.
RV prices are always negotiable regardless of what the salespeople will tell
you.
If you are like me, you are not comfortable
negotiating or haggling over prices. Sorry, it is just not in my nature to do this.
You need to do what I do, find another member of your family or a friend that is
an expert at negotiating and have them perform this important task for you at
the RV shows or dealerships.
In our household, my dear wife is the family's Chief Negotiator. Why?
because she is good at it. I mean really good. When it comes to
buying a house, car, RV or major appliances, she is the one that does it.
Our whole family is in awe of her haggling abilities.
You have heard the
phrase that "you can't get blood from a Turnip". I guarantee you that my
wife could get at least a half a gallon of blood from any Turnip.
When it is time to make a major purchase in our household,
we unleash my wife on
the unsuspecting salesperson. I also go along on these purchasing
journeys. My main role during these negotiations is to sit next to my
wife, keep my mouth shut while smiling and nodding in agreement with whatever
she says to the salesperson (I might add that I am excellent at performing this
task).
I have literally watched salespeople crumble within a matter of minutes of
her beginning the negotiations. At the end of these sessions,
the
salesperson's eyes are usually glazed over and they have no idea what just hit
them.
The end result for us has always been that we have gotten a great
discounted price on these major items.
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A good example of how good my wife is at negotiating is the purchase of our
most recent RV (a picture of it is at the top of our home page). We took
our three kids to one of the RV shows in our area and by the time my wife got
done negotiating, we came back with only two kids and a great Class A Motorhome
(OK calm down it's only a joke, we didn't trade in one of our kids for a
Motorhome, really we didn't!).
Anyway, who better to give you some
Tips on Negotiating than our family's Chief Negotiator my wife.
My wife's negotiation tips for
buying an RV
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Negotiation Tip 1:
If you are going to have to finance the
purchase of the RV, arrange your financing in advance of the actual negotiating.
This way you will know exactly how much you can spend on your new RV.
Negotiation Tip 2: When you have found the RV make and model
you want, just don't buy it from the first dealer you talk to. If you are
at one of the RV shows that take place around the U.S. check all of the dealers
that are there and see if they also have the same make and model you want.
If they do, you can now play one dealer against the other. Especially if
they are the type of dealer that says that they will beat anybody else's price.
The more dealers that have your make and model the better. Remember the
bigger RV shows will have more dealers.
Negotiation Tip 3: If fuel prices are high when you are ready
to buy a RV, don't let that stop you from buying one.
It is to your
advantage to buy an RV when fuel is high. Why? a lot of people let the
fuel prices scare them off from buying a RV. That's good for you.
With less people in the market to buy an RV, you will find RV dealers more
willing to sell you an RV at a lower price, so they don't have to keep it on the
lot and pay the holding costs.
Remember the basic concept of Supply and Demand (also known as
price and demand) you learned in your Economics class in high school (if you are
like me you probably can't even remember high school). To put it in RV
terms, when fuel is high, the demand for RVs goes down, with less demand, the RV
dealers are going to do everything they can to get rid of those RVs (in other
words they will accept less money for them). Depending on what type of RV
you are going to buy, the money you save on the purchase price could pay for
your fuel for the next couple of years.
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Negotiation Tip 4: Before you start negotiating with any RV
dealer, you need to do a background check on them. That's right, check
them out before you waste your time negotiating with them. Believe it or
not there are some unscrupulous (shysters, crooks, thieves or just plain bad) RV
dealers out there. Luckily, they are very few and far between.
The best place to check them out is with the Better Business
Bureau. Go to the
Better Business Bureau website
and put in the zip code of the dealership and
then on the next screen put in their name. The BBB has different rating
codes in different states. If they are rated good then you are on the
right track. If they have a bad rating, stay far far away.
Negotiation Tip 5:
Be prepared to here the following statements
from the Salespeople at the RV shows or dealerships:.
"This is our last best and final price on this RV".
"The show price we have on this RV is as low as we can go". "We
are barely going to make a profit at the price we are giving you". "My
sales manager says we can't go any lower". "Because your nice people, our
sales manager decided to give you the best deal". "WOW, I can't believe we
actually decided to give you this price". "We have never sold one of these
units at the low price we are giving you". "Come on folks, I got eight
kids to feed" (sorry, I just had to throw that one in). What do all
of these statements mean? They don't mean you are at the lowest price.
It means you need to dig in and start negotiating harder.
You may also here this statement. from your salesperson.
"The price we are giving
you is good for today only". That means, I really want to make
a sale today. If they really want to sell you an RV (and they do), you
will still be able to get the same price on the same unit within a reasonable amount
of time after that day.
Negotiation Tip 6:
Treat the salesperson with respect, don't
talk down to them, don't berate them, remember they are just doing their job.
On the other hand don't get intimidated by them either.
They cannot force
you to sign anything or buy anything. You have to remember that when you
are buying a RV, you are in the drivers seat. They really want to sell you
the RV and you really want to buy it (don't, come out and tell them that you
really can't live without this RV) but, the bottom line is you want your price.
Negotiation Tip 7:
Be prepared to walk away and not make a deal
that day. If you feel that you are not getting the sale price you should,
be prepared to pack it in and leave. Sometimes when the sales person
actually sees you walking out that door they have an epiphany and can actually
get a little better price. If not, continue walking and actually leave.
This next part is optional, you can give them your phone number and ask them not
to call you unless they can come closer to your price.
Negotiation Tip 8: Most of all be realistic in your
expectations. If you are negotiating the purchase of a tent trailer, you
cannot expect to get a massive discount. On the other hand if you are
looking at a Class A Diesel Pusher, you can rest assured that
the dealer has
more wiggle room to reduce the price.
If you can think of other negotiation tips we
should add to this section, please feel free to
Contact Us and we will add them.
Hopefully, the above information will be helpful in steering you
in the right direction. One thing is for sure you will never regret
becoming an RVer.
Thanks for stopping by and
Happy RVing
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