California and side trip to DeMartini RV sales.

[Letsgoagain]

Good afternoon,
Haven't posted in a while. Just returned from a 2 and a half week vacation out West, Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon National Parks with side trips to Napa Valley, San Francisco and Grass Valley where we went to look at new motorhomes.
Have to say I was rather disappointed in Demartini's as there were only three new units there. I guess the recent market conditions and the chapter 11 filing of Monaco affected what they had to order but I would have thought they had more inventory.
I did find out two things, the recent sales and good pricing they were offering on the 42 ft. Camelots were as a result of them buying another dealerships inventory that went out of business and liquidating the units for them. Also I think that they don't really know how the Navistar purchase of Monaco will play out just yet and how its going to affect their dealership. Still I was interested in trading in our unit for a new one so have to say I was disappointed they didn't have more to offer.
Otherwise the vacation was very nice, saw some amazing natural wonders and the motorhome performed very well the whole 4900 miles.
Letsgoagain

[Mbl Cndo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Letsgoagain Good afternoon, Haven't posted in a while. Just returned from a 2 and a half week vacation out West, Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon National Parks with side trips to Napa Valley, San Francisco and Grass Valley where we went to look at new motorhomes. Have to say I was rather disappointed in Demartini's as there were only three new units there. I guess the recent market conditions and the chapter 11 filing of Monaco affected what they had to order but I would have thought they had more inventory. I did find out two things, the recent sales and good pricing they were offering on the 42 ft. Camelots were as a result of them buying another dealerships inventory that went out of business and liquidating the units for them. Also I think that they don't really know how the Navistar purchase of Monaco will play out just yet and how its going to affect their dealership. Still I was interested in trading in our unit for a new one so have to say I was disappointed they didn't have more to offer. Otherwise the vacation was very nice, saw some amazing natural wonders and the motorhome performed very well the whole 4900 miles. Letsgoagain

I would agree with your assessment on lack of inventory is due to the terrible economic climate in the US today (If I say any more on the economic condition of the US the mods will delete my post claiming it's too political). I drove just under 600 miles to DiMartini to buy MblCndo and would do it again in a heart beat. I seriously doubt that I'd buy anything larger that the 40 PAQ I have, even at just under 41 feet, it's been very tough getting in and out of some older parks we like to visit. Today it took almost 20 minutes to get out of East Shore RV in San Dimas because of the width of the roadway and tight turns (1st/last visit)!

[Lukeaa]

In marketing talk, the motorhome manufacturers has stuffed the channel and the dealers could not get financing fast enough to sell them all. Now, the channel has not been stuffed since all of the major manufacturers went into Chapter 11. In fact, as you noticed at DiMartini, the new coach channel is just about empty. There are getting to be very few new coaches available. Once empty, the demand will drive the price of the few new coaches back up to MSRP. Especially if financing eases. So, if you are looking for a new coach, you might look very hard at what is available at the current low prices. Once Monaco starts production, two things will happen: 1. It will take them a year to refill the channel with new coaches, and 2. those coaches will all have full factory warranties and sell at MSRP. I suspect that the days of 40% off of MSRP are about to end.

[JohnCamelot]

I too went to DeMartini specifically to look and possibly buy a 42 ft Camelot. Once there, I saw one and one only, and they did not take trades so I was dependent on a private sale. That fell through. I ended up going to Guaranty RV in Coburg, OR which still has a much larger inventory (especially Dynastys and Sigs). I bought (and traded) from them. I couldn't get the price down to the DeMartini range since the one I bought was purchased from Monaco well before the bankruptcy "sale" and no dealer is going to sell below cost.

Guaranty tells me that since I bought a new 2009 they will file the warranty papers with Monaco as soon as they reopen their doors. I'm not holding my breath, Navistar has no legal obligation to honor any prior warranties but it would be great if that happened. Who knows, they just might in order to help build customer loyalty.

I'm still in the Eugene area and the rumor mill is starting. Supposedly there is some management activity at certain portions of Monaco, probably to assess how to start up again. But all that is rumor and hearsay. There does seem to be a fairly strong indication that something will be announced this week (w/o June 1st).

John

[nutensteve]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mbl Cndo I would agree with your assessment on lack of inventory is due to the terrible economic climate in the US today (If I say any more on the economic condition of the US the mods will delete my post claiming it's too political). I drove just under 600 miles to DiMartini to buy MblCndo and would do it again in a heart beat. I seriously doubt that I'd buy anything larger that the 40 PAQ I have, even at just under 41 feet, it's been very tough getting in and out of some older parks we like to visit. Today it took almost 20 minutes to get out of East Shore RV in San Dimas because of the width of the roadway and tight turns (1st/last visit)!

I have stayed at East Shore RV a couple of times and loved it. We try to stay in The "A" section and love the view and wide sites. I agree the roads are a little narrow but never seemed to be a big problem except when hooking & unhooking the toad. I even pulled the crew cab pickup. Sorry for the off topic response but not often do I see any mention of places I have visited

[mfire1339]

We like East Shore also and it's 7-1/2 miles from home.
Gallon of gas each way.
Mike