I wish I would have recorded my interaction with the finance guy.

[WhittleBurner]

Warranties and insurance are pushed more by many companies. That's because those are 100% profit. Compared to how many policy's they sell not many actually use them. Means they figure everything they collect off of you is profit. Some years ago there was a lot of talk about how much dealers get paid for warranty work. I don't remember now how much GD was paying but it was a lot more than any other manufacture. They also pay right away which is unheard of. Dealers really don't have a right to complain.

[dryfly]

Warranties and insurance are pushed more by many companies. That's because those are 100% profit. Compared to how many policy's they sell not many actually use them. Means they figure everything they collect off of you is profit. Some years ago there was a lot of talk about how much dealers get paid for warranty work. I don't remember now how much GD was paying but it was a lot more than any other manufacture. They also pay right away which is unheard of. Dealers really don't have a right to complain.

You are exactly right. And how much of the "warranty" work is really issues that should of been taken care of at the dealership before the buyer took delivery of the trailer.

Let's say you are the dealer. You get a trailer in and it needs three things fixed. If you can sell the trailer without having to fix those three things (taking up your service department's time), then you can let the buyer discover the issues, bring the trailer back in, and get factory reimbursed for actually fixing the three issues. Makes sense to me!

The pendulum will eventually swing on the RV business. I don't look for that to happen near term.

[Walaby]

Pendulum hasn't swung in what.. forever???

I agree - won't happen near term. Doubtful in my lifetime.

Mike

[geotex1]

I had a finance guy do very similar to me once for a vehicle purchase... The second time he did, I told him politely if he delays and distracts completing this transaction once more by pitching tack-ons of truly no tangible value to me, I was walking out (it was 10:45pm). Dumb SOB did, and I stood up, tore up the paperwork, walked out the door and was waiting at the traffic light at the dealership when the GM came frantically knocking on my window... He asked me what they could do to save the sale, and my answer was to hire personnel who respect the customer's request and drove away for home. They REALLY do not like losing a say past the threshold hour. Needless to say, I ended up ordering the exact same vehicle they had on the lot at another dealership, and when it came in it worked out to my advantage as the incentives were better!

From that experience on, I always make it clear I do not want to discuss ANY add-ons/protections/accessories up front. Some tips I have:

1) always shop pre-approved from your bank/credit union and give them opportunity to beat the terms;
2) cash is not king in major purchases and can be quite the opposite in negotiating the best purchase price (you can most frequently pay off financing early without penalty if you have cash and don't really want a loan - check the fine print as RV financing can be creative);
3) never let them take the completed paperwork or your deposit check off the desk until you're ready to shake hands and leave with your purchase (this is a tactic); and,
4) check emotion at the door and be prepared to play hardball and walk out on a deal.

If you "feel" better with knowing you have a reserve for things to go wrong, then do just that! Put the money you would have spent onto the extended blah-blah, premium wonder goo into a money market account. There if you need it, and if you don't it's down-payment for the next one.

[NB Canada]

I had a finance guy do very similar to me once for a vehicle purchase... The second time he did, I told him politely if he delays and distracts completing this transaction once more by pitching tack-ons of truly no tangible value to me, I was walking out (it was 10:45pm). Dumb SOB did, and I stood up, tore up the paperwork, walked out the door and was waiting at the traffic light at the dealership when the GM came frantically knocking on my window... He asked me what they could do to save the sale, and my answer was to hire personnel who respect the customer's request and drove away for home. They REALLY do not like losing a say past the threshold hour. Needless to say, I ended up ordering the exact same vehicle they had on the lot at another dealership, and when it came in it worked out to my advantage as the incentives were better!

From that experience on, I always make it clear I do not want to discuss ANY add-ons/protections/accessories up front. Some tips I have:

1) always shop pre-approved from your bank/credit union and give them opportunity to beat the terms;
2) cash is not king in major purchases and can be quite the opposite in negotiating the best purchase price (you can most frequently pay off financing early without penalty if you have cash and don't really want a loan - check the fine print as RV financing can be creative);
3) never let them take the completed paperwork or your deposit check off the desk until you're ready to shake hands and leave with your purchase (this is a tactic); and,
4) check emotion at the door and be prepared to play hardball and walk out on a deal.

If you "feel" better with knowing you have a reserve for things to go wrong, then do just that! Put the money you would have spent onto the extended blah-blah, premium wonder goo into a money market account. There if you need it, and if you don't it's down-payment for the next one.

In my 20 plus years in the auto industry in sales and eventually in F & I management I have never had a person do what you did and I as a medium size dealership was in the top five in our region amongst all dealership large and small for warranty penetration

The longer I kept the person in my office the more money we made

Auto warranties are different imo than rv warranties
Completely different animals


2021 Imagine 2400 BH
2018 GMC Sierra 4x4 crew

[geotex1]

In my 20 plus years in the auto industry in sales and eventually in F & I management I have never had a person do what you did and I as a medium size dealership was in the top five in our region amongst all dealership large and small for warranty penetration

The longer I kept the person in my office the more money we made

Auto warranties are different imo than rv warranties
Completely different animals


2021 Imagine 2400 BH
2018 GMC Sierra 4x4 crew

LOL! I'm definitely not your average buyer. I make no bones about it. A huge chunk of my career was as a consulting engineer where you have to sell your skills and services - hardest thing IMO, and then I moved into product manufacturing and part of my role is teaching the sales staff how to sell what my plants produce. But you hit it on the head- the longer you kept them, the more control is given up and in comes the emotion into the purchase... It's really, really hard for the majority of people to separate that, and trained salespersons know it.

The third-party warranties, in many ways, are not too different between the industries, especially in recent years. Direct-from-manufacturer extended automotive warranties are definitely a totally different animal!! In fact, I have purchased exactly 1 extended warranty in my lifetime - Mopar MaxCare Lifetime Warranty (before it was discontinued). I actually, did not buy it from my selling dealer either, but shopped around dealers for it (you can do this with Mopar Warranties) and bought it for one-half the cost the selling dealer said was the best they could do - cash outright and not wrapped in the finance. Warranty paid for itself with one major repair post-factory warranty, and best of all I had to do nothing - no forms, no pre-approvals, no runaround, no nothing - attached right to the VIN in FCA's systems.

[dfpartridge]

It seemed like it took 30+ minutes for me to finally get him to stop trying to sell me an extended warranty. I must have said no like 50 times.
I was buying a Momentum 25G

I think the price of the warranty was cut in half by the end of it.

He asked me what I would do if I had a flat and didn't have their tire warranty. I told him that I would put on the spare tire and buy a new tire from a tire store. He told me my trailer didn't have a spare. At the time, I didn't know this was BS, but there is a spare tire under the trailer.

He also told me that the trailer would look faded and chalky in one year if I didn't get their UV protection. UV protection sounds like a good idea, but I would be surprised if one year in the Texas sun would make my trailer look old and faded.

A few days after getting my trailer home, I realized that the electrical outlets in the kitchen were not working. I called the dealer to see about bringing it in for repairs and they told me they had a spot 4 months in the future. After informing them that it was a week old, they agreed to let me drop it off in a week. It took them 32 days to do the 1.5 hours of work that it took to fix the wiring issue. I will do my best to not have to return to the dealer in the future, so I'm really glad that I didn't buy a warranty that would require me to wait 4-5 months to get something fixed.

Everything seems fine with the trailer now.

Sorry you got bad service. If it were me, I would publish the dealer's name and location so that other people don't get sucked in as well.

[SailorDan]

I think the finance guy is a tip off of what the dealer is like most times. My last 2 purchases went so smooth I know there are good dealers out there, and it was where I got the best price. The PDI at these dealers was flawless as well.

If I am at a car dealer and I tell them I am not interested, if they bring it up again I tell them I am walking out if they ask again and I walk out if they do. That kind of dealer usually has all sorts of fees on the original paperwork.

It seems a RV buying service like they do with cars would be awesome. Hopefully you will enjoy your camper and not have to think about again!

Safe Travels.

[ssidiver]

In addition, report to the better business bureau.

[MoonShadow_1911]

One hundred percent why I shopped my best price and drove 1300 km
I will never see my dealer again
When I bought my Jayco I drove to Pennsylvania to get the best price
Likely would have driven directly to Indiana this time if the border was open but got a great price


2021 Imagine 2400 BH
2018 GMC Sierra 4x4 crew

We drove 1400 miles from New Mexico to Georgia, Northgate RV Center in Ringold, GA. Best price, no BS. No offer of extended warranty, sent be the parts I needed when I broke the galley dump pipe, 20 minutes after we drive off their lot. Mike Gaboury, our sales guy was a no BS guy. Answered all of our questions.

Three reasons we went there. One, they were the only ones who were willing to give me a RFQ for what we wanted. Two, I didn't want to pay almost $3k in transport fees to NM. Three, I do not trust the Grand Design dealer in Albuquerque, and they have a crappy service department. (My experience, others have said they were good.)

When making s big purchase like this, we research the heck out of it, and who to buy from.

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