What is typical dealer cost on a Winnebago?

[technomadns]

I know that motor homes are heavily marked up. MHSRV starts off with a %25 discount and easily goes to %40 off. I also have some understanding of the costs of manufacturing / volume and retail costs of the appliances in a motorhome.

I would speculate that there’s a %100 markup on Winnebago products. This is probably larger in class-C and above and smaller on class-B.

I am interested in the ERA and TRAVATO.

When buying a car I always get the dealer gist report from a service so I know exactly the markup, the factory holdback profits and the advertising profits, so I can negotiate with a bunch of dealers around the country and know when I’ve gotten a price that represents minimal profit.

I have no interest in having a relationship with the dealer post sale— I will go to Winnebago factory for warranty work and/or find a service provider that focuses on service rather than sales.

I’d love to buy a dealer cost report for these models. Does anyone know of any available?

Have already seen TRAVATO and ERA models at %75 of MSRP. I’m wondering how far I should push— %60? %65?

At any rate my plan is to follow the same strategy I do when buying cars. Wait until November when the weather is cold, buyers are nowhere to be found and dealers are desperate and then do a reverse auction by email.

This has worked well for cars. And any dealer over 100 miles away knows it’s better to make $500 on the deal than to miss out. (Local dealers tend to not think I will go that far and do they miss out. This time I won’t reveal my location in my emails.)

Anyway-/

Has anyone tried this? Anyone want to share great deals you got in class-Bs? Anyone know a service where I can buy a dealer cost report?

Thanks in advance!

[Cover Dog]

[danhannah]

You are a much better negotiator and much more well informed than me, and unfortunately I can't help you with any of your requests. I got 26 percent off list of $115000, mostly by buying in Texas and also by buying a unit at the end of the model year that the dealer had sitting for about 7 months. I don't think you will do much better than 30 percent, though I could be wrong.

I really just reply to comment that finding a dealer who wants to service a Win product after the sale has proven near impossible for me, in the absence of the "dealer relationship" you mentioned not needing. I bought in Texas solely for the better price, and live in Washington State. So I am a bit of an orphan. I don't think the dealers are well compensated for warranty work, as they don't seem to want to do it much.

But, after experiencing the Win dealer "service" network, I am not missing much - It's not so great. I prefer to do the work myself rather than have the rig sit on the dealer lot for 3 months of it's 1 year warranty!

I like your idea of direct to the factory for the punch list - which will be likely be around 20-30 items long.

Best of luck and be sure to post your success story!

[Hikerdogs]

I think your expectations of buying a motorhome at 60% t0 65% of manufacturers retail may be a bit optimistic. Each dealer has a wide variety of fixed costs in addition to the cost of the motorhome. They range from employee wages, to advertising, to building mortgage and everything in between. I doubt any dealer would be willing to make this information public.

In the past product cost information has been closely guarded by the dealers. The last time I saw a price sheet on the internet it was from a dealer that was going out of business and wanted to prove to potential customers they were selling at or below cost.

Having said that there is a website called seedealercost.com.

Recreational Vehicles | See Dealer Cost

It professes to have dealer cost price sheets. However to see the information you need to join the website. To me that's a bit of a red flag. I would venture to guess that you'll be seeing a never ending stream of advertising if/when you do join.

In addition you have no idea how old or accurate the information is. The manufacturer's generally start the model year at prices that reflect a profit they expect to make on a given number of units sold. The price is determined in part by the brands and prices of components included at the beginning of the model year. If the components or prices of the components change the dealer prices are raised to reflect that cost.

Add to that if pricing is anything like the auto industry it will change several times throughout the model year. It's not uncommon for the prices to change at least a dozen times through a model year. I recall in the past that one automobile manufacturer had 28 price increases through one model year. The wholesale price rose over $1,000.00 between the start and the end of a model year.

[TonyMac]

Invoice to the dealer, is like MSRP to the buyer. It's the max price asked and likely, more than what was actually paid.

[technomadns]

Originally Posted by Hikerdogs

In the past product cost information has been closely guarded by the dealers.

Having said that there is a website called seedealercost.com.



Recreational Vehicles | See Dealer Cost



It professes to have dealer cost price sheets. However to see the information you need to join the website.

Thanks for that site. I was able to see pricing in some models without giving any info. I’m a bit wary of their numbers though because they seem to be a fixed percentage. Eg: some options have a lot more profit margin than others.

A paint job is labor intensive while solar panels tend to sell at a 10X markup....so it doesn’t make sense that dealers would get the same discount on the two..

It’s not really closely guarded info, by the way, every dealer probably knows the score for every other dealer. They just don’t want suckers, I mean, consumers to know. They have costs? Sure everyone has costs, life’s tough. You won’t find me being sympathetic to dealers financial situation when this industry has all the hallmarks if being an unpopular buy where most buyers are ripped off, dealers make things worse with warranty work and generally screw people over. This industry seems a lot worse than the car industry used to be.

And at the end of the day the dealer is selling a commodity.... no dealer selling Winnebagos adds real value over another dealer. They are the same Winnebago.

[technomadns]

Originally Posted by TonyMac

Invoice to the dealer, is like MSRP to the buyer. It's the max price asked and likely, more than what was actually paid.

“dealer invoice” is an old car truck so the dealers can pretend like they are losing money, which is why I’m wondering about dealer cost.

I think the site that was shared in this thread might be dealer invoice numbers.

But it’s true, volume dealers can probably negotiate lower costs for themselves.

[Hikerdogs]

Originally Posted by technomadns

Thanks for that site. I was able to see pricing in some models without giving any info. I’m a bit wary of their numbers though because they seem to be a fixed percentage. Eg: some options have a lot more profit margin than others.

A paint job is labor intensive while solar panels tend to sell at a 10X markup....so it doesn’t make sense that dealers would get the same discount on the two..

It’s not really closely guarded info, by the way, every dealer probably knows the score for every other dealer. They just don’t want suckers, I mean, consumers to know. They have costs? Sure everyone has costs, life’s tough. You won’t find me being sympathetic to dealers financial situation when this industry has all the hallmarks if being an unpopular buy where most buyers are ripped off, dealers make things worse with warranty work and generally screw people over. This industry seems a lot worse than the car industry used to be.

And at the end of the day the dealer is selling a commodity.... no dealer selling Winnebagos adds real value over another dealer. They are the same Winnebago.

It sounds as though you're approaching a possible purchase as an adversarial relationship. Personally I looked at it as a chance to test my ability to handle potentially difficult sales people and my bargaining skills.

We did a ton of research before buying our last motorhome, including sending out requests for quotes, visiting potential dealerships, speaking with knowledgeable technical people, and talking to well respected sales people.

We did find some people hard to deal with, including those attempting to use high pressure sales, and others who were literally incompetent.

We found the most success with the dealerships that saw us as potential customers, not suckers or adversaries. We kept all relations at a professional level. While it might make you feel better to lash out at some of the more extreme sales tactics or incompetent sales people, it could come back to haunt you in the long run.

There may be those times when a critical part or necessary emergency service may only be available from a dealership you despise. By remaining professional they will have no idea as to your assessment of them and will likely provide the part or service necessary.

On the other hand if you show contempt toward them they are likely to do everything in their power to make your life miserable,

[PetesMH]

I hope your purchase plan works. I too think you are over optimistic. Best I could do was 22% off MSRP and that was on a 2017 unit that had been sitting on the lot for 9 months. It had water damage and the 2018s were on the lot. I walked away and left the dealership and someone followed me out to the parking lot. I was given substantial store credit as an incentive and an almost free service agreement (which I don’t need) but they wouldn’t budge any more on the price. That said, I’m sure different dealerships have differing levels of overhead and inventory costs so you might never get to a common price flooor. RVs are not cars and both the product and the dealership structures are not directly comparable.

[TonyMac]

What the dealer actually pays for the rig in question is a tightly held secret. If they tell you, they do so only to influence you, and they're probably lying. But the dealer has to make money too, hopefully he'll make a killing off the next guy.

[kayak70]

Interesting thread and good luck to the OP! We are on RV number 5. My best discount was on a Tiffin Breeze 32 BR at just a tad over 30%. My best discount on a WGO was 27% with clean bottom line, no extras. Normal for WGO has been 25% usually but sometimes an incentive hits at certain times of the year.

Yes, dealers make cash and that is why they sustain a business. Normally they provide terrible service and we try to find alternative RV shops in the repair business.

The best deal to me is when the buyer is happy with the rig and goes out and has a blast enjoying it while trying to run the wheels off before life catches up with his/her age. That's a hard deal to beat

[technomadns]

Originally Posted by Hikerdogs

It sounds as though you're approaching a possible purchase as an adversarial relationship. Personally I looked at it as a chance to test my ability to handle potentially difficult sales people and my bargaining skills.

On the other hand if you show contempt toward them they are likely to do everything in their power to make your life miserable,

It is by definition adversarial. Dealers want max price, you want minimum. Some people are happy to pay tens of thousands more just to feel good... but that’s not me, I’d rather put that money into experiences with my RV.

I have no idea what you’re talking about regarding contempt. I’m giving them an opportunity to bid for my business. There’s no relationship there, and the sad news is, there isn’t one for you either.

Go back to the guy who sold you your RV. He will pretend to remember you, but I bet he can’t repeat back to you one thing you told him about yourself during the purchase.

There’s a great book about buying cars titled “don’t get taken every time”.... by Remar Sutton. You may think you are friends with the sales guy, and he is gonna pretend so as well, but in his mind you will always be a sucker. Doesn’t matter if you bought a Hymer Sunlight at Camping World or a Prevost above MSRP.

[technomadns]

Originally Posted by PetesMH

I walked away and left the dealership and someone followed me out to the parking lot.

have differing levels of overhead and inventory costs so you might never get to a common price flooor.

RVs are not cars and both the product and the dealership structures are not directly comparable.

Everyone wants to believe they got a good deal and are a good negotiator. I’m not a good negotiator and I don’t want to get a bad deal. The reverse auction allows me to discover the real price of the product. I don’t know if it’s %30 off MSRP or %50.

Actually dealers have a rather consistent level of overhead and inventory costs per unit basis. They aren’t buying the RVs to sell to you they are borrowing, which is why they have a monthly finance cost to the dealer. Since this is the largest unit code besides sales guts salaries the staffing levels and per unit costs should be consistent across dealers unless you have massive scale.

This is why mhsrv starts out at %25 off.

RVs are not cars you are right, they are much lower volume much lower quality and should consistently have steeper discounts.

[technomadns]

Originally Posted by TonyMac

What the dealer actually pays for the rig in question is a tightly held secret.

No it isn’t. Everybody in the industry knows. Every one if their competitors knows. Every manufacturers knows true dealer cost of all their competition.

Only reason you and I don’t know is we aren’t in the industry.