Purchasing Below Invoice

[WEMR]

Chrysler and Jeep invoices have EP price listed. This is the employee price. This is the what the dealer pays.

[arcaguy]

I can't discuss anything about RV "invoice" pricing because I have never dealt with it on a first hand basis. I have however dealt with automobile dealer pricing on a first hand basis, I used to audit what at the time was the largest Lincoln Mercury dealer either in Michigan or in the country. I any event it was a very large dealer. Invoice price is not what the dealer ultimately paid for the car. There was "holdback" which if I can remember correctly from 40 years ago was 3% of invoice price. There was also what was called a "floor plan allowance" which was supposed to help defray the cost of the interest the dealer paid on their "floor plan" which is the money they borrowed to keep inventory on their lot. I don't remember how much that was but I do know that the dealer netted about $50,000 a year after they paid some expenses. BTW at this time a decked out Lincoln sold for less than $20,000. This particular dealer never really floor planned his vehicles. He floor planned them from 9:00 in the morning until 1:00 in the afternoon when he paid off the loan. The bank charged him $200 for processing the paperwork. The point of all of this is that "invoice price" is not what the dealer ultimately pays for the vehicle, the actual net cost is something less. How much less today I don't know. I'm sure RV manufacturers pretty much work the same way, they are after all, only a couple of hundred miles west of Detroit.

[sibe]

Originally Posted by AJMike

If a dealer, either car or RV, told me that they were selling their units at 8% under invoice and all I had to do was ask for it I would be very suspicious. I don't see any reason any dealer would be willing to lose money when selling a vehicle unless they could not unload it any other way, or if it was last year's model and they wanted to move it. I have heard of dealers keeping 2 invoices, one real and one for buyers to see, and perhaps that is what is going on here.

In the current RV market I would be astonished to find any dealer even selling at invoice. Most of the prices I have seen are 5-8% above what they were 6-8 months ago, and they were above invoice then. I can't even get RV sales people to return messages since I tell them I am not interested in buying right now but am thinking about a couple of months in the future. When I called one salesman told me he was too busy to take the time.

I am not going into the details as I may get kicked out.. TAKE INVOICE PRICING WITH A GRAIN OF SALT..

We had a motorcycle dealership,, .. invoice was a moving target based upon many factors... volume, deals, floorplan, financing contracts. kick backs, etc etc. and now a days HOW big you are and how much cash you have ......

MSRP was sometimes double of cost after xyz, but then to that cost you added all operating expenses, cost of doing buiness per units sold.. etc etc.. to get invoice or break even then you made profit on backside thru financing kick backs or unit volume or deals.. BLAH BLAH..

Now some small Rv dealers like the local smal used car lot just sells for profit and eals..

[TUCSONRAIL]

I feel cheated, I only got 23.5% off MSRP on my Dutchstar. I'm sure they saw me coming.

[George Weiss]

Time out! Cars and RVs are VERY different. Car dealers sell for very little or zero profit over “Invoice”. They make money on service and parts sales that are part of having the franchise...and sales givebacks and allowances.

RV sticker price or MSRP generally has 30% or more margin in it. Salesman probably makes $300 to $500. You might get lucky and get to see an “invoice” but seldom does that happen! What you are left with in RVs is comparison shopping for a new RV, or check one or two or three year old prices. RVT or RVTrader (two different web sites) or Kelly Blue Book, shows original MSRP for used unit. Then add your guess at depreciation. Used RV prices ignore options in general. Every Allegro Bus 36’ is valued for close to same price regardless of options.

OH, I have never met anyone who didn’t say “I got a great deal”

[mazda2924x]

Originally Posted by Denalidan

Before I bought my Jeep Wrangler, I scoured the forums gathering information for a long time. One of the most helpful bits I came across was the fact that there are some well-known dealerships across the country that will sell you a special order Jeep at 8% below invoice and all you have to do is ask. No haggling, just send them an email and ask for it. Super easy. Are there any such well-known and reliable deals in the RV world? I don't even see a forum on this site dedicated to the purchasing process so I'm not too hopeful.

Getting a Car, Truck, SUV under invoice is no big deal because of the incentives the dealership have that you don't know about. They have stair step promotions that the factory will increase a payment made to a dealer based on how many they sell. If you figure in rebates you always will be under invoice.

[rockriver]

i've bought 4 mh's and have never seen an invoice...
3 of them were tiffins... and from 2 of the big 3....
someone mentioned bankston above... and left out ingram...

i hear bankston is a good dealership, but for me, they had a tiffin that was exactly what i wanted... when i tried to get it at a big 3 price they pitched a fit. and told me that i would not be buying a rv from them for that price... another part of that story is that the female salesperson acted as if she did not know what a window sticker, msrp, was on a tiffin... i used every phase and description that i could think of, and she (i think intentionally) dodged and eventually refused to send a copy... that was the first clue something was wrong.... when i asked for the manager, he let me know she was very experienced and knew all about tiffins...that's great! but they still wouldn't email the document...

so after wasting several phone calls etc... i gave up and went to ingram and got an even better deal than usual...

anyhow, my main point is ...
if it is an on the lot coach, get a copy of the msrp window sticker... this is not what i call the invoice... check it carefully, one of the biggest dealers in the country, made up one and put options on there that do not exist!!! inflating the list price. another added in a shipping fee. there is no added shipping fee on tiffins... !! then using that window sticker you can use the % given in this thread to see what you can buy the coach for.... or better yet...order one with exactly what you want...

good luck... and enjoy .... and be an informed shopper.... there are some crooked dealers out there!

[Denalidan]

Sounds like it is safe to say that there is no transparency whatsoever in RV pricing. Not even MSRP on the window sticker can be used as a common baseline. Which makes me wonder why the windows sticker, and various information on it, is not regulated, or even standardized, like cars and trucks. I suspect it may have something to do with the various components (engine, chassis, coachbuilder) that make up a MH. However, that seems like even more of a reason to have this information available to the consumer.

[mazda2924x]

Usually you can on the RV parent company website price one out with options and get a real MSRP. It won't include freight, but it will give you a good idea. If a dealer has the same model and his MSRP is way above what you priced out, then you know he is padding it.

[TUCSONRAIL]

Most RV dealers have the build sheet (MSRP) posted in the RV. If not, all you have to do is ask them to print one out for you. Some even have them posted on their websites.