Hershey show: Who purchased a GD at the show last year?

[orbsah]

Hi - Hershey show is coming up again in mid-September. We went last year "looking". This year we're more serious about buying. For those who bought at the show last year, can you please share your experiences? Did you get a deal that you couldn't get otherwise from your local dealer? How did you actually take delivery? What made you think buying at the show was the best way to do it? Any thoughts/experiences to share would be helpful. Thanks!

[MtnGuy]

We didn’t buy last year, but did in 2016. After checking the internet, we thought the show price was competitive. We arranged with the dealer (not sure I can name the dealer and salesman on the forum) to order when we sold a house, which ran into the following spring. We ordered in February 2017 when we signed a contract on our house and picked it up in April just 2 days after we got the monies for our house sale.

The salesman was great to work with, with no snafus. Great PDI, the salesman helped me hookup for the 1st time, and also rode with me for a short ride since I had never driven a 5th wheel camper before.

The dealership is 200 miles from home, and I would do it all over again.

[FT4NOW]

We went there one year to look around, pretty impressive show. Maybe you should contact some dealer and get some prices before the show and you will know if you're getting a better deal at the show or not. If I was buying at the show I would make sure I wasn't getting one of the floor models from the show, think about how many people have walked through it and pulling on all the drawers, etc. , unless you got an amazing price on that one.

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[huntr70]

We didn’t buy last year, but did in 2016. After checking the internet, we thought the show price was competitive. We arranged with the dealer (not sure I can name the dealer and salesman on the forum) to order when we sold a house, which ran into the following spring. We ordered in February 2017 when we signed a contract on our house and picked it up in April just 2 days after we got the monies for our house sale.

The salesman was great to work with, with no snafus. Great PDI, the salesman helped me hookup for the 1st time, and also rode with me for a short ride since I had never driven a 5th wheel camper before.

The dealership is 200 miles from home, and I would do it all over again.

That would have been us in 2016.

GD pulled the plug on us last year even though we are the local dealer to Hershey.

Said they "outgrew" us, even though we built them up at the Show for the previous 5 years.

[MtnGuy]

That would have been us in 2016.

GD pulled the plug on us last year even though we are the local dealer to Hershey.

Said they "outgrew" us, even though we built them up at the Show for the previous 5 years.

Well, big time bummer !! Steve was great to work with along with other sales people when deciding on our 337RLS purchase. Sorry to see Tom Schaeffer RV to be pulled from that venue.

[FordmanNJ]

That would have been us in 2016.

GD pulled the plug on us last year even though we are the local dealer to Hershey.

Said they "outgrew" us, even though we built them up at the Show for the previous 5 years.

I remember you spoke about this last year but didn't state why you guy's were not going. It's interesting that they would say that. Sounds like a bean counter thing. You got them into the market now they need a larger dealership to support the show due to additional resources to get trailers on site and or additional sales people, expanded product line, etc... This is to cover costs of the show. I know in my line of work, equipment companies will provide a small extra discount on units for the show and anything that might sold within a time frame of the show. Usually the boss will have all the equipment pre-sold prior to the show. Customers love hearing the words demo model in my industry for some reason. As for the discount, it depends on the product and company policy.
We have one line up that will only provide 2 discounted models a year and that is it. Others will provide 1 product per show. One will discount everything that is in the booth. My other hunch would be they have some kind of "exclusively contract with the other dealership for the show."

Good luck.

[TNFSolitude]

3 o 4 years ago friends of ours from Delaware went to the show. They found a Reflection they liked and a "show price" and called their dealer at home. The dealer at home beat that price and because he sold them their previous trailer and knew its condition gave them a good trade in price. The Hershey salesman then beat that price and said he would honor the trade in value, so the home dealer beat that price and threw in some extras. This went another round with GD getting involved to be sure the show dealer could close the deal. Ultimately they bought from their dealer because of loyalty and possible warranty work and the distance back to Hershey. Doesn't hurt to get GD bidding against itself to get you a good price.

[huntr70]

Well, big time bummer !! Steve was great to work with along with other sales people when deciding on our 337RLS purchase. Sorry to see Tom Schaeffer RV to be pulled from that venue.

Yeah, well, the plan is....we will be there in other areas. We may not be showing the GD products, but we can still sell them there.

We will have Heartland Milestone 5th wheels, Road Warrior toy haulers, one of their stick and tin lines, and Sundance trailers. We will also be there with Regency RV conversions with Mercedes B+ vans and the traveler B vans.

[Flintstones]

We went the year for the Solitude 375 RES reveal, wound up ordering one the following July. No regrets, still love the unit like the day we picked it up.

[orbsah]

Thanks for the info everyone!