Community Forums

da808popo · 04-16-2017, 02:03 PM

From what I've read in this forum some of the dealerships are willing to sell brand new models at 30% off MSRP. But when I'm looking at the used models that are two years old I noticed that some private sellers and dealers are selling the two year old units more then or just a little less then a new one less the 30% off. My question is seeing that new and used prices are close is it better to buy the new one or are the prices on rv trader inflated on the used models? If the used purchase price is inflated does anyone have an idea what percentage we should be taking off the dealership's posted price of their used rv.

Mr_D · 04-16-2017, 02:08 PM

Used price is up to the seller and buyer to agree on, there is no "set rule" for determining what that is.

garykk · 04-16-2017, 02:31 PM

Don't know about other Brands but if you can find a Tiffin for 30% of MSRP, buy it. That amount is pretty rare. Usually discounts run 25-28%. You will find that a few dealerships near Red Bay will consistently give discounts in that range depending on trade etc.
I too have noticed that MHs listed on RV trader are high, but as previous poster said, final price is up to seller and buyer..

vsheetz · 04-16-2017, 02:44 PM

Asking price and selling price - two differing things. Dealers often have a high price posted, and many private sellers overprice. IMHO.

CptCook · 04-16-2017, 03:01 PM

It appears that not everyone (some dealers and consumers) do their research here. I shopped for a number of months trying to find a late model used coach. All of the people I talked to, both private party and dealers were consistently higher for 2-3 year old coaches than I could buy brand new for. I had a firm written quote in hand from Sherman for a 2018 37PA, and had a La Mesa salesperson actually call me a lair. She said "You are lying, no one can sell that coach for that price." I had 2 different private parties with 2-3 year old coaches tell me that at a price $10k above my Sherman quote, that they wold be upside down on their loan pay off and would not go any lower. One of them wrote to me "why don't you quit being a cheap-ass and come up with some more money instead of trying to steal peoples RVs from them?" So, it seems like there are 2 different price point buyer / seller combos out there. The minority that resides here and gets the good deals, and everyone else that pays retail pricing. Yes, I finally gave up and ordered the 2018!

DWRichard · 04-17-2017, 06:49 AM

Some people buy smart, and some people impulse buy.

If they could wait and order their coach from one of the four usual dealers who specialize in discounting Tiffin's, then they likely got that 28% or so discount. If they bought off the lot, their price would have likely have been higher due to the cost of money the dealer had to carry in order to have one on the lot for them to buy.

Either way, the value of a MH is no different than a car; once it leaves the lot it drops dramatically in value from the price paid. To the OP, your problem is that you don't (nor will you likely ever) know what circumstances were in play when the original owner bought their rig, which puts you in the position of deciding whether you want to pay their price or not, and whether they want to sell it to you for your asking price.

Their perceived value vs. your willingness to buy at that price. No different than any other sale.

luvlabs · 04-17-2017, 08:37 AM

I've noticed that a lot of the used sales on RVT price their units based on the MSRP for that unit when it was new, not the actual price they paid for it. I would suggest that you knock 25% off their asking price and then 10% for the first year ownership, 7% for the second year, and then 5% for each year thereafter. If they say no, go on to the next one. However, your offer will be in the range of a fair price for the unit and above dealer wholesale.

w2drfg · 04-18-2017, 03:18 AM

Luvlabs, that's a good analogy but the general public sees the public NADA pricing. it sure would be nice to see the dealer NADA wholesale price book.

garykk · 04-18-2017, 12:19 PM

Dealers work off the wholesale price on used trade in and MSRP on new. Lots of spread between the two

**TonyDi** · 04-18-2017, 01:02 PM

Most private sellers are trying to get top dollar. That's why you seeing higher then expected prices.

whciv · 04-18-2017, 02:44 PM

We too noticed that most used Tiffin models have asking prices higher than a discounted new MH. It seems the folks that were able to get discounts on their MH are not selling them with those same discounts. I know the objective is to get the "best price" you can. But we have all but stopped looking at used MH's as we would rather work with a dealer on a better discount.

Someone mentioned the best dealers that offer discounts. Can anyone list those dealers here? We already know what we want and have done most of the legwork and only need a dealer to help us order a unit. We are willing to go anywhere in the USA to buy our MH.

BC

SargeW · 04-18-2017, 07:31 PM

Not everyone lists their RV at inflated prices. I just sold our 2013 Phaeton 36GH on RVT. I listed it in the morning, and 4 hours later I had a deposit. I also had 3 other people calling wanting to buy. One was the sales manager at La Mesa RV in San Diego.

I got the best trade in value from Sherman (where I am buying my new AB) and then searched RVT and other sites (KBB and Nada). There were two other models of the same year and model on sale on RVT for 30 to 40K higher than I listed for. I listed for the price I wanted, and said so in the ad. The deal at Sherman would have been the same with or without trade. So I sold on RVT for 30K more than my trade in value was going to be.

I'm happy, and so was my buyer. They are out there, you just have to be diligent.

CptCook · 04-18-2017, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whciv

Someone mentioned the best dealers that offer discounts. Can anyone list those dealers here? We already know what we want and have done most of the legwork and only need a dealer to help us order a unit. We are willing to go anywhere in the USA to buy our MH.

Sherman RV In Sherman Mississipi (Tupelo) 1-866-842-7620 (We completely recommend Andy Pearson!) This is who we ordered from.

Ingram RV in Motgomery Al. 1.800.500.1032 Joey Morang was very pleasant to work with.

Davis Motorhome in Memphis (901) 332-3422 Micheal Mathias was very prompt and professional.

There is a 4th dealer in Wisconsin, but we didn't talk to him.

Rzani · 04-18-2017, 09:13 PM

This is exactly why we ended up buying a new coach instead of used. We were dead set on getting a used coach to try and avoid some of the depreciation, but when we decided on Tiffin we soon ran into what you are seeing. We wanted something in the 3 to 4 year old range. First problem, there just aren't that many for sale and when we did find one it was either a color we hated or priced just slightly less than what a new coach was going for.

We ended up getting 25% off MSRP. If we would have purchased a 3 year old coach I'm pretty sure we would have only saved around $15 to $20,000 and ended up with a coach that wasn't exactly what we wanted. I'm sorry, but at these prices $15k isn't enough of an incentive to buy something used like that. It was actually quite frustrating to sit there week after week seeing the same coaches listed for sale and not selling because most people aren't going to buy used at new prices. It makes you scratch your head and wonder if people really want to sell their coaches or are just entertaining the idea if they can find a sucker. We couldn't be happier with ordering what we wanted and buying new.