RV Purchase
Part 3 – Dealer Lot Purchase or Manufacturer Build
Welcome to Part 3 of this four-part series of posts featuring our attempts to find a new rig. In our first post, New RV Search we ran down the reasons we wanted to make the move. We also found out that the journey was going to be a rocky road. RV For Sale we took you through the efforts we made to sell outright or go the trade-in route. The surge of RV sales brought on by COVID-19 diminished inventories at the dealerships. The manufactures were having difficulty keeping up with demand. Undaunted, we forged ahead with our plans.
Start Your Research Engines
To put it mildly, our first RV purchase outcome was pure luck, more on that in a bit. I was the driving force behind the purchase and Ginny was along for the ride. We at the time were debt-free and shouting that at the top of our Dave Ramsey lungs. I convinced Ginny that we could take a short-term mortgage on the rig and pay it off in 5 years or less. She reluctantly went along with the idea, it was breaking with Dave. Ginny gave us the green light and off I went to do my research.
There are hundreds of buyer guides to help you make a decision. Many of them are sponsored by the manufactures or dealerships so their information may be tilted toward the
bigger sponsors or their dealership. This of course is not unlike most buyers guides so I needed to find what I thought might be an unbiased guide. I settled on RV Consumer Group and purchased their Motor Home and Towable guides. This was a bit pricey at the time but offered consumer-driven reviews and ratings on RVs.
Spreadsheets
We had discussed the type of rig we wanted and settled on a fifth wheel. I felt pretty confident after reviewing the information that Highland Ridge, Jayco, and Grand Design would be our best choices in towable RV’s. This was based on consumer reliability ratings over the years. I set out to build a spreadsheet of all the available inventory in the area with GVWR, pricing, current area dealer discounts, depreciation projections, and my target pricing.
What Are You Going To Pull With?
The hardest part of the overall purchasing decision was the truck. I was armed with the GVWR ratings of most of the RVs we were interested in. The trouble was the sometimes confusing and just outright lack of towing knowledge most of the dealer’s sales reps had. Very few could give me accurate towing capacity numbers.
After looking at many makes and models of trucks we targeted DRW or Dual Rear Wheel trucks. We have owned larger trucks during our horse trailer days and knew we wanted the stability of a dually for towing. You would think that you could find these a dime a dozen around Nashville, not so.
It took us a couple of months and several disappointing dealer interactions to finally land on a RAM 3500. Pricing, tow capacity, and ride were the biggest factors in this decision. We now owned a truck that could tow 18,600 lbs. It was now time to target an RV that fit those towing parameters and met our desired needs.
You Did What Newbie?
Do not go into an RV dealership with stary eyes and a dream of owning an RV. Put your purchase impulses in a box, get your research, pricing, ratings, and get ready for a 
negotiation battle. All of this went out the door when I saw the 2017 Highland Ridge Open Range Roamer 347RES. It had all the features I thought were needed to put this at the top of the list of choices.
Long story short I folded like a cheap suit and settled on a 23% discount that I thought at the time was fantastic. Thinking I also needed a handful of additional options like washer/dryer, generator, slide toppers, and such the price just kept going up. Rather than negotiating for reduced pricing on these items inside the general deal, I went along with the optional full pricing. The best was yet to come, they informed us that the rig would be ready in roughly 3 weeks.
Time To Pick Up
Three weeks went by in a flash and we were off to the dealership to pick up our new RV. I had never towed anything that big so the night before I could not sleep. We arrived at the dealership to have one of their folks go over the operation of the RV. Talk about information overload, by the end of our 2-hour orientation tour of the rig our brains were mush.
Pre-Delivery Inspection was the last thing on our minds. The dealership did that, didn’t they? We can do that once we get this rig home, can’t we? Well, we did make it home, almost tipped the rig on its side trying to unhook and level it. We finally did the full pre-inspection that we had printed out and found very few if anythings wrong or needing fixing. We got very lucky during our newbie buying experience. We have learned a lot over the last three years, now let’s put it to use.
The 2020 Surge In RV Sales
The surge in RV sales due to the COVID 19 outbreak turns out to be a blessing in disguise during 2020. How can that be your ask? Low inventories should be a sign of buyer beware however the dealers still need to sell RVs. In the past ordering from the factory seemed to put you at a pricing disadvantage. They wanted to move the inventory they had on the lot so pricing would be better for existing rigs. They might not be exactly what you want but the pricing and immediate availability were kings.
Along comes, this surge in sales, and all they have left on the lot are a few specialized rigs or orphans with problems. The new pitch is, “if you want to be sure to have one you want in the shortest amount of time you will need to order from the factory”. That opens up a rather large inventory of RVs if you are willing to wait 8-10 weeks for delivery. The dealers still want your business, and they hate the dreaded “I’ll go to so and so and order from them”.
Good Pricing Is Out There
We found that if you are willing to work with a dealership that is in your comfort zone for service visits, you can find good if not great pricing. There are 30 – 32% discounts off MSRP out there. The big difference in many cases is the destination fees and dealer prep. Destination fees are skyrocketing due to the lack of carriers available to bring them from Elkhart, Indiana to the dealership. Manufacturers are being forced to pay higher fees to have them delivered. That of course is a non-negotiable cost being passed on to you. The closer you are to Elkhart the lesser that fee will be.
Two dealerships told us that the destination fees will be going up. They plan to pay the carriers more to get the rigs to their destinations. Grand Design will also be raising their base prices for rigs, so heads up.
Your Dealer Will Be Your Lifeline
Choosing a dealer to work with requires as much research as you might be doing to find a rig. Reviews, recommendations, online testimonies will start to give you a general feeling as to their credibility. My focus is on the service department and the manufacture’s responsiveness to problems.
Google, Facebook, and Manufacturer Forums are great resources for a look at their various reputations and responsiveness. Questioning your sales rep about the service department, their procedures regarding your repair, and timelines for their repairs. Who and what type of repair has priority? You are going to have issues with your RV and your first line of defense will be your Service Manager.
Manufacturer Support
We have put over 40,000 miles in three years on our current RV. That may not be the case with the new rig but what we do know is you will have problems while you are on the road.
What is the manufacturing support system like when you are on the road? Where can you get this fixed? Is the manufacturer easy for the dealerships to work with? Do they have mobile support and are they easy to get on the phone.
Grand Design seemed to be the answer to all of the above based on my research. That was confirmed by our choice of Dealership, Cookeville RV, and Mariane. Now if we could only see the model we wanted on the lot. A few weeks later we got a call from our Sales Rep, they had just got a Solitude 310GK-R for a customer and we could come over to look at it.
Walk Through
Our first impression as we entered the rig was how spacious it felt given its size. The living room and kitchen were brightly lit by the large double windows on the dining side and a single larger window in the rear of the rig.
I like to cook on the road and not be compromised by the RV kitchen setup. I was happy to see the new INSIGNIA Residental stove and cooktop along with the large island for food prep and clean up. The counter space was large and the addition of a full-sized pantry was exactly what we had been looking for. We had grown used to a residential refrigerator and this unit had that option.
Ginny was immediately liking the lack of carpeting throughout the rig. The only place they had placed the obligatory cheap carpeting was in the main closet area of the bedroom. The overhead cupboard storage was reachable without the use of a ladder.
After an hour or so inspecting the rig for inside and outside fit and finish with a climb up on the roof, we liked what we were seeing. Now back to Homebase for some final conversations and a buy decision.
Manufacturer Build
We decided to have one built to our specifications by Grand Design. They are running about 8-10 weeks out on builds once your order is placed. The process is pretty cut and dry, you can
see the building portal by clicking here Build and Price. We decided to order the Solitude 310GK-R. We optioned it out with Linen Interior, Disc Brakes, Slide Toppers, and Generator Preparation.
Pricing
After putting together our build I submitted the document to the two dealerships inside of our comfortable dealership distance circle to get a price quote. They both came back in the 30-31% discount range with slightly higher destination and dealer charges from one of them. Feeling Cookeville RV and Marine was our best choice in dealerships and new RV pricing it was now time to bring up our trade and negotiate a fair trade value.
Trade Value
Having danced with LazyDays and Dunlap regarding the trade value of our Open Range Roamer 347RES I had a good idea of its base value. The difference this time would be having the discounted price in hand on the new rig without the trade mixed into the equation. What would they offer me for my RV upon inspection? Let give it a go I decided and headed over for the evaluation.
I was pleasantly surprised by their offer which matched a previously negotiated new rig and trade combination from another dealer. My need to move my generator from the existing RV to the new one was competitive. The pricing on both ends was very competitive, I liked the dealership and the deal, I’m sold. We placed the order for our new Grand Design Solitude 310GK-R. This will make Dave Ramsey and Ginny smile, cash + trade = New RV Purchase 🙂
