01-2022 Newmar Pricing increase

[VentanaOdyssey]

Funny, there is another thread from a buyer that has been hit with increased pricing on a yet to be delivered RV. Many posts say the dealer is cheating the buyer and get the deposit back and go elsewhere or buy used or claim it's a scam because demand is way off and dealers' lots or overflowing. Wish those folks would see this topic.

[UMXHAULER]

Bottom line is people don't like and most likely won't accept the deal to be changed once an order has been placed. The manufacture needs to manage their business better in order to avoid this unpleasant experience-no excuses. I have no idea how dealers will react to this but they could end up with many custom unsold rigs. Also, many people are already buying at the top of their comfort level. Maybe Newmar needs to accept that they may make less per unit during times like these but to shift all that risk to the buyer is ludicrous.

[CZNEDY]

Originally Posted by ChadBounder

Funny, there is another thread from a buyer that has been hit with increased pricing on a yet to be delivered RV. Many posts say the dealer is cheating the buyer and get the deposit back and go elsewhere or buy used or claim it's a scam because demand is way off and dealers' lots or overflowing. Wish those folks would see this topic.

I was thinking the same thing

[Lab00Rat]

In the past, Newmar had price protection in place and was a cost already factored into the build. This cost was understood and usually predictable to allow for reasonable increase as the build year went forward. Early builds in the new year were better cost adjusted than those later in the year, which had already caught up to inflation when the later build cycles start.

Here's the rub- Newmar has an inflation padding built into the price as they, and every business does, to schedule the coming years production cycle.
Because the rate of inflation has become more difficult to calculate, Newmar made the decision to remove price protection from new builds, but they did not remove the inflation padding already calculated into the yearly production schedule. Therefore, new customers will absorb the inflation padding AND the cost increase. Newmar just added another 8% inflation increase, which should be there to help Newmar absorb the rate of inflation; however, that becomes pure profit because Newmar will be passing the total cost without any price protection. Now the customer is paying for the inflation padding and the cost increase due to inflation. I get why Newmar is doing this, but not how they are doing it.

SMH. I just hope my dealer doesn't smell money and tell me I have to pay for the "cost" increase to force me to walk. Should have been delivered already, but parts are holding it at Newmar.

[FloridaSon]

Does a sales contract and deposit meet the definition of “sold” to avoid the price increase?

Thanks all

[09 harley]

You get what you pay for. Has anyone noticed that inflation has been increasing? Do you expect any manufacturer to not pass on increased costs? If you think they shouldn’t then don’t be surprised when they go out of business. Has anyone noticed that a lot of businesses have closed? If you can’t make a profit for any reason you will go out of business. Do we want Newmar to go out of business? Of course not. If they don’t pass along the increased costs then they will. Has anyone noticed that you trips to the grocery store or gas station are more expensive. If they all close then what would we do. We would stay home and staycation in our RV’s. Get used to inflation. Our leaders have brought this on and we suffer because of it.

[Clemson]

I get a real kick out of reading this thread. If you take the time to examine what it takes to build a Newmar coach; the only things that Newmar can control are their labor and components made in house. That’s it, everything else is provided by outside vendors who have passed on a share of their increased costs to Newmar, who has absorbed them to a large degree to date. I doubt it that buyers will walk away from models starting with the Ventana 43’ and higher models due to these modest price increases. When you approach a half million dollar coach….a $11K increase is really nothing IMO……

[Clemson]

Originally Posted by redbaron73

Sadly you are wrong. Many owners received calls yesterday who had orders placed and names attached, and where informed that the would be charged the $11k.

This was for dutchstar specifically.

Your statement has contradictory information. Units in production cycle means chassis prep and beyond. I specifically called out that as most likely not being affected

Names attached to a slot or run but not yet in production are the ones being charged.

I believe what I said is exactly what you quoted….if your unit is in production and being built and your name is attached as a sold unit you are protected. I just went thru this process 2 weeks ago……

[OldracerJim]

I agree with your point but keep in mind, Newmar does not reduce the price of your coach if raw material of sub-contractor prices DROP during production. If they don't do that, they should not raise prices once in production.

[ArkRVHog]

Whew...glad I sobered up (kidding) before calling NIRVC to put my deposit down on a 2022 NA in October of last year. I've never purchased a used car or RV before but hoping in a few years the market has settled back down and the normal depreciation will be back into play for reasonable deals. I can blow any amount of money I want but really like thinking the savings for waiting (and buying low-mileage used) will pay for a few first class flights and trips to afar!

[redbaron73]

Originally Posted by Clemson

I believe what I said is exactly what you quoted….if your unit is in production and being built and your name is attached as a sold unit you are protected. I just went thru this process 2 weeks ago……

First of all -- please do not read this as confrontational. I am not trying to be argumentative, just to clarify a point. You may understand this, and may be saying exactly what I am saying, but for others, there is a distinction that I am trying to emphasize.

Your original post said:

What you posted isn’t exactly correct. If you have an order with Newmar and your name is attached to your unit in production you are not affected. This affect units not yet in the production cycle. Which are basically new contracts to purchase. As far as Spartan chassis is concerned I would be watching other business insight news which has painted a bleak picture of their future.

The point I am trying to make is that for the first time, Sold orders with names attached and build slots assigned are being affected by this price increase.

The distinction is the "in production", which at the time of both your post and my post, we did not know where the line in the sand was drawn. That has now been clarified as those in run #31 and beyond will have a price increase applied. These are customers that have paid their deposit, been assigned a run slot, or in some cases, agreed to take a later run slot to fit their plans.

I purchased my coach in July. I was expecting to be in run 17, with expected ship date of 3rd week of November.

In Late September, part shortages with Diesel generators caused a delay. I was pushed back to a slot 37 in the schedule. Newmar had delayed all luxury lines for a period of runs, and created a new run cycle forecast, and all affected where moved to the back of the line.

My dealer knew I was under a time crunch schedule wise and worked the problem out internally before they informed me of the change. I received a phone call from the dealer scheduler to tell me the date had in fact slipped to 2022, and I was being forecast for an April delivery, but they had worked internally to swap orders around so that I could have a February deliver. This moved me from slot 37 to slot 25.

At the time I was very thankful for what efforts my dealer did to accommodate my schedule.

Now I am even more blessed and ever more grateful to my dealer, as the move also excluded me from the price increase.

But consider this: Most of the units moved back where luxury units. These are all 500K + MSRP. New Aire was not affected, only units with the 12.5KW generator.

Newmar had orders for these chassis to complete production in 2021 but had to reschedule due to the generator orders. The slots were filled with NADP, DSDP and below, pulling from runs as far out as necessary in order to keep production running.

I know that as of September, all London Aire slots had been sold by my dealer, as a friend attempted to purchase a 2022 LA from NIRVC and was not able to get an open slot. All the allocation had been filled. My friend did go to several other dealers and find one, but due to the pricing increases etc., decided to wait.

With the vast majority of runs 26-37 being luxury units, and the vast majority of those being retail sold, what Newmar has done is disgraceful. They are not acting in the best interest of their customer.

Does anyone believe that on a London Aire K3 chassis the actual cost of steel and other subcomponents was $8,500 while the K2 was $11k?

Does the K2 chassis have that much more steel and that much more complicated of an inventory list that it costs $2,500 more than a K3 in the production lines?

If that wasn't enough...by some amazing coincidence, Freightliner & Spartan both raised the price of the DSDP chassis by $11k. This sounds like they collaborated, but that is not what happened.

Newmar decided to add a markup percentage and used rounding etc to make up a number just to add to profit.

This was a pure profit grab...plain and simple. They are taking advantage of the retail customers, and the dealers are left to cleanup the mess. Make no mistake about it, as upset as we are about our single orders, the dealers are being hit with a very hard blow.

Angie has already posted that NIRVC never changed their pricing policy during the pandemic. The result was that many of us became NIRVC customers this past year.

When pricing my 2022 LADP I sent quotes to Midway, Steinbring, and Coachlight. Each of these dealers where within 1% of NIRVC price, had slots available, and were very responsive. They where not taking advantage of the pandemic but did emphasize that they needed to add extra margin to their sales this year.

For those of us in Runs 1-30, our deals where structured in a way that was good for both buyer and seller.

For those in runs 31+, the dealers I listed above are now in a position that their cost component has increased, potentially to the point of a loss on the transaction. These dealers have a reputation to protect and have had their “good faith” in Newmar broken for these financial transactions. When we signed paperwork with the dealer, we did so in good faith that the amount being paid was not going to increase. The dealers had confidence in making these assertions because Newmar has always acted in a manner consistent with this practice. Yes, some of the contracts had wording in them that attorneys prepared, but the conversations we had either on the phone, at the desk, or around the water cooler was all about the faith in Newmar, and how they have always conducted business.

Then January 2022 Newmar shattered that good faith.

Imagine if this was your business, and your supplier did this to you. The real cost of $11k increase on a DSDP could very well absorb all gross profit from the deal and then some.

As an honest business owner, what do you do? If you pass the increase to your customer, you have broken your good faith. If you do not pass the increase, then your employees commissions go unpaid. If you pay those commissions, then your losses further increase. You want to keep your employees, you want to keep your customers, and you need to stay in business. What options are left? Even charging a $1.00 increase will violate the good faith transaction you made with your customer.

I am not aware of any of the dealers I have listed above making an official statement. I have had discussions with several dealers that are not named above, and they have made it very clear that they are passing along 100% (or more) of the increase. These same dealers where selling coaches very close to MSRP, and their buyers are most likely not participating on this forum.

This is something that I am very passionate about. I am hoping that conversations like this will be seen by Newmar, and they will reconsider their handling of Retail Sold orders. If they decide to clearly state that all orders from 1/3/20222 and beyond will not have price protection, then that is a business decision that we can understand. All dealers and buyers will be aware of the deal and make decisions accordingly.

Newmar needs to reverse their position on Retail Sold orders prior to 1/3/2022, and needs to stand behind the good faith their customer and dealers had when placing the orders.

[UMXHAULER]

Well said Redbaron73. Basically what I was getting at through several disconnected posts. If you know this is the deal going in, then you know the deal, but to change midstream risk customer loyalty and satisfaction. Newmar has made many mid model price increases that are well disclosed on line and when you order your coach. My coach went up $8K over the weekend when I was deciding what I wanted and I paid it but I knew it going in. Sounds like from a manufacturing basis, their production has not nearly kept up with delivering units within a time frame where they can make the margins they hoped for when someone ordered their coach and the pricing given at that time. I assume that Newmar does have the right to do what they are doing, but this could put many dealers in a bind with units that potentially don't get purchased-I assume that the customer is not obligated to go through with the deal either, and no matter the circumstances, if a customer goes through with the purchase they will leave with a sour taste.

[HallT]

Waiting to see what happens with all this - we put a deposit on a New Aire on Sept 28, 2021 with NIRVC. We received a call and email last week about our CPU at Newmar, and set a date of May 16 (their first option for us). I am trying to find out what run we are in, but I am pretty certain we will be past run 30, so decisions will have to be made.

I agree with RedBaron; so much of this process has been laid back and casual - like the lifestyle it is. It will be our first RV purchase and we fell right into the casual, handshake type attitude, kind of happy that there was such a place in the world still like it. I sail and fly, and it felt very much like that life (although I have never bought a boat or plane). We have been very casual with our salesman, have worked on promises and such for a few little things, and now feel like we might be getting screwed over - not by the dealer but by Newmar.

We bought a new Condo right before the pandemic hit, and the builder kept his price promise through all the spikes in building supplies and labor. I am sure he took a big hit, but he didn't try and pass it on to us like this. If we changed anything, we paid the new prices, as we expected and had no problem with.

I am very upset with Newmar about this, and feel like I am in a very tough spot. If we do get the extra charge, do we walk away? Then we will have to pay the new price anyway when we buy another unit. Do we just buckle under and pay it? It will cost us elsewhere (we didn't budget for an increase, especially like this). We are just retiring and have been looking forward to this next chapter of seeing the whole country at our leisure, but this would surely leave very bad feelings for us just starting out.

It also makes us feel like fools for not having rock-solid contracts on every stage of this purchase. We have made a few options changes since the deposit, but now I feel we should have been much more aggressive with the whole sales/purchase process. If we get screwed over because we fell for the casual, 'Newmar takes care of their customers' attitude and did not do our due diligence, I will feel even more a fool.

[redbaron73]

There is very little an individual can do at this point to get the message to Newmar.


Your choices are pretty simple:


1) Cancel the coach purchase. The cost to do this depends on your contract, but could be significant.


2) Pay the price, and make sure that you get the very best possible coach.


For those going with #2 -- please read this thread:
https://www.irv2.com/forums/f103/202...on-562298.html