MSRP

[Fjcjmc]

About six months ago, a friend at work stopped at an rv dealer during a weekend trip. It was the end of the rv season. He bragged how they would knock $30,000 off a motorhome that msrp was $115,000.
That got me interested. I started researching motorhomes. The first impression I got is msrp is way out of my league. So I googled cheapest new motorhomes. Up popped Camping World. They had all kinds of class c's on their web sites for $55,000 to $60,000. I thought this is where I need to go. I did a little research on the models listed and found that they really were not of very good quality. That was from owners of them. I saw reviews saying it's an entry level rv what do you expect for the price they were selling them for. Well I was looking at msrp and thinking for that price they shouldn't be falling apart in the first year.
I did a visit and found that my first reaction was these are nice. Then I noticed a lot of flaws in workmanship. Remembered the what do you expect quotes. I asked about mileage and was told by the salesman 14 to 16 mpg. I thought it was lower than that. So we go home and I research it. Ford v10's really do not get much better than 10 mpg. So I might be able to afford the mh but we couldn't drive it to the national parks we want to see out west.
So I research better mpg motor homes. Mostly diesel. Which msrp is about $20,000 more. Back out of my price range.
Then I found motorhomes on Ford Transit chassis. Gas engines. Smaller which is what we wanted, anyway. There really isn't much out there yet on these small class c's. Went to manufacturer web pages and found Forest River made them and their subsidiary Coachmen made a couple of models. Msrp's $80,000 to $100,000. Way too high for us. The Coachmen were cheaper but from what I could tell the exact same thing. Same chassis and engine. Same floor plans and options.
Did a lot of searches for them and found they had the same discounts from msrp as other rv's. But nothing was close to our area. Found a dealer about 2 hours away but his prices were way higher than what I found much further away.
Then about a month ago I noticed the dealer dropped the prices to where we might have interest if we struggled. So we went to look. The salesman said you won't pay anywhere near the asking price. We did love the one model. I knew this was the one we were looking for but felt the price was too high.
Well the itch kept burning, so we went back the weekend to look at other models they had. Just to make sure this was the one. The last one we looked at was the one we had liked from the previous week. We asked to test drive it. When they moved it from the back of the lot we notice a huge banner covering the coach area. They had knocked off $7000 from the previous weekend.
We loved the test drive. We offered $7000 less than the new sales price, thinking there was no way. The salesman said so himself. They had already dropped the price. We said fine. We can just go home. He knew our plan was at least a year away. Well they accepted our offer.
So my question is why do the manufacturers list msrp so high? They have to know that the dealers don't sell them that high. If I stopped researching after seeing the first msrp's I wouldn't have a motorhome and the dealer wouldn't have had a sale. I think they scare away would be buyers with their inflated msrp's. That is how I felt. They were all out of my reach. When I first got interested I went to the manufacturer web sites not dealers. I think the do a disservice to themselves by inflating the msrp.

[gladu2]

We got 17% ($14,500) off the MSRP on our 2016 Itasca 25B in Anchorage, Alaska. I guess people do better then that but since Alaskans don't pay a sales tax I guess we did OK.

[Mudfrog]

As the OP stated, the high msrp could scare some people off right away.

But i have a feeling that, just like cars, it's a sales technique that pays off. People see the msrp but then immediately see a dealer's lower sale price which peaks their interest. It's natural to feel they got a "good" deal when they get it under suggested retail price. On a hundred thousand dollar rig, taking off 30% sounds good but in reality, we still took a lickin. Monetarily, the rig isn't worth that $70,000 we paid when we drive it off the lot. On new, we rarely get a good deal. A dealer, unless he's somehow made a mistake, is always going to make money.

[momdoc]

You should end up at 30% +/- off the MSRP on any new rig


momdoc

[wingnut60]

fjcjmc,
So what was the original MSRP and what did you actually pay? And what is the brand/model?
If I read this correctly, they dropped the price $7k twice = $14k. That is 30% of $46.6k. Anywhere close?
Joe

[Charles L]

In my research I found that I should expect to get 25-35% off msrp.
So base price was 94k. I paid 76k so I saved about 18k. I got another inflated 17k in options free.

Or to look at it another way msrp with options was 111k. I paid 76k for a savings of 35k. I paid 68% of msrp and received a 32% discount.
Hope my math is correct. I rounded up to nearest thousand.

[JONWisconsin]

25-30% below MSRP should be expected. There are a lot of games on the sales of RVs.

[TonyDi]

If you got a 32% discount you did well.

[Fjcjmc]

Thanks to all that responded. I see there are a lot of different views on this subject. Part of what I was getting at is there is no transparency in the real price of the rv you like. From what I have seen in my research of my motorhome is msrp fluctuated from about $80,000 to up around 92,000. They list an option package for around $7300 but I have yet to find one without that package, so it really isn't an option. Now most of the good prices I saw on RTV and Rv trader were very far from me and I wouldn't be able to buy from them anyway. The dealer I used is the only dealer within 500 miles of me that actually had that model in stock. But they had two. The only difference between the two is mine had a larger ac unit with a heat pump. The other had child safety features listed as options.
I looked at window stickers if the dealers actually posted them on their web sites. They use a generic looking invoice sheet that it looks like it is from Forest River, the parent company. However the base price fluctuates, as does package price and other option prices. Some have a freight charge as part of msrp some do not. The form they show looks like the dealers are actually filling in the cost of options not the Manufacturer.
I guess I should list the make and model. It is a 2017 Coachmen Orion 20cb. We both really love the fact that it is compact and light. But has 2200 lbs ccc. The invoice listed base price of $76,378.75. With the banner package listed at $7250.00, which is on every cb20 I have seen. The larger ac unit listed at $572.75, which I have seen listed as high as $1500.00 in other window stickers. Then a bunch of little tack on options that you wouldn't notice one way or another. For a total of $85,555.50.
When we first looked at it they had a price on it of$68999. When we went back the following weekend it had dropped to 61989. We offered$54900 and they took it.
A quick check of rv trader this morning shows a lot of them right in that price range. So my great deal doesn't look so great anymore. I guess it's time to start clearing the lots for the 2018's.
We still love what we have and are going out Easter weekend for our first trip up in the mountains near Chattanooga.
Thanks again to all who replied.

[ualdriver]

How come no one seems to have access to dealer invoice for RVs like one can obtain for new cars?

[wingnut60]

This might have helped---

Recreational Vehicles | See Dealer Cost

No way to know how realistic it is

[JDT]

Not a part of this forum but just a comment. When we bought our Excel in 2012 I did not mention to anyone that the best I could as a discount off MSRP was 18% because I knew most would think I got flamboozled by a dealer. The reality was the manufacturer was a small company who made high quality fifth wheels and had a rather smallish network of dealers. The MSRP was the set by the company and at least the dealers I talked to did not alter them. The company set their MSRP at a much lower percentage over cost than their competitors so when we shopped for a comparable unit we found that while the MSRP on the competition was much higher the selling prices were very comparable. In other words, we bought ours for just about the same price with 18% off that we could some other brands similarly equipped at 30% off. I never once have felt we paid too much.

A few years later the president of the company asked some of their product owners for an opinion on changing their pricing structure. What they were finding was they were losing customers because buyers would walk when they could get 30% off on a competitor brand but not near that on the Excel. Consequently they did inflate their MSRP to give a bigger discount but the higher pricing limited their market even further. Probably a lot of other factors that I would know nothing about, but they just couldn't compete with lower priced units with a lot of glitz but much less quality so they closed the company.

Not sure what my point is other than the pricing is nothing but a game and it is buyer beware.

[ualdriver]

Originally Posted by wingnut60

This might have helped---

Recreational Vehicles | See Dealer Cost

No way to know how realistic it is

That's an interesting website. For one, the NADA function of the site is easier to use than the NADA website when finding values for used RVs. I checked a couple of used RVs and the calculated NADA price seemed about right.

The new invoice prices seem to be about where a few high volume dealers (like MHSRV) are selling their new RVs, or at least the few Fleetwoods that I have been keeping my eye on.

Ineresting website though.

[TCHB]

From my experience it the MSRP is just a number for financings. You trade something in and they work with the new price and the old RV.

I have found out straight up is that you can get 25 to 30% off RVs.