$500 off MSRP in Western NY

[RobWNY]

Yep, that's not a typo. These are crazy times in the RV marketplace. I went to a single dealer driven RV show this past weekend where there were about 150 RV's on display in a casino parking lot. It had about 70% used RV's and 30% new. This dealer has two large stores and one service location. Grand Design, Keystone, Coachman, Forest River and Vanleigh were the offerings in the new inventory. The most amount of money off anything I saw was $12K off a used $400K motor home. In the towable offerings I saw $5K off a $150K MSRP Vanleigh Beacon. In the under $100K offerings, the best I saw was $2,500 off MSRP and in the $30-$50K travel trailer and 5th Wheels, $1000 off MSRP was the norm. All of the travel trailers under $30K were marked with a sale show price of $500 off MSRP. The crazy part was there were a dozen or more units locked up with sold signs on them. In years past at any RV show I've been to, 25%-30% off MSRP was always the displayed sales show pricing and there was still some negotiating room. With the prices I saw this past weekend, it looks like getting 10% off would be a major accomplishment. There were no venders selling other RV related stuff either. Unless people have money trees growing in their back yards, now is not the time to buy a new or used RV. At least not in my neck of the woods! I'm glad I bought my 2021 311BHS in May of 2020 before things went bonkers.

 

[geotex1]

Hmmm... I was going to say Meyer's, but they have ~5 locations in NY. They use that tactic but are willing to deal. I'll go with What is Colton RV? for $500.

 

[jmbopp]

I'll guess Colton?

 

[RobWNY]

geotex1 and jmbopp, yep, it was Colton that put on the RV show but I wasn't sure I could name names so left it out of my post. Maybe they are negotiating like always but it sure was shocking to see so little being taken off on the display prices.

 

[avidcamper]

I was planning on going to the show just to see the new units. We like to take note of what has been upgraded on our unit. Unfortunately we were not able to go. Sounds like is would not of been what we usually expect with the show at the fair grounds in Hamburg. I had heard that with small inventory the price of new is close to sticker. Glad I am not in the TT market. I did buy a new TV and they were tight on that pricing too. Had to order and wait 8 weeks for delivery.

 

[RobWNY]

avidcamper, you didn't miss much. I was pretty disappointed. My feeling is if you're going to the trouble to transport all the RV's and have a "show" then make it a show! This was more like taking a third of their inventory and moving it to a parking lot. They had a limit on how many people could enter the gated area where the RV's were so many stood in line for 30-45 minutes before they were allowed to enter. We were fortunate that we didn't have to wait. I guess we got there at a good time. Masks were mandatory, we had to have our temperatures taken and we had to provide our names, addresses and phone numbers for contact tracing in case of a covid breakout. There were more workers at the two entry areas gathering information than sales personnel which I thought was odd too. It's the new normal at least for a while yet.

 

[SGT ROC]

Boy am I glad I'm not in the market for one. Personally I wouldn't but from Colton anyway.

 

[RobWNY]

Boy am I glad I'm not in the market for one. Personally I wouldn't but from Colton anyway.

I don't know much about Colton RV. I've never tried to buy from them. I bought two RV's (not GD) in the past from Ballards camping center in Hamburg, NY. good prices but terrible customer service after the purchase. 8 months to get a warranty issue taken care of was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I won't buy from them ever again. Our current GD we bought from Meyers RV from their Syracuse/Cicero store. So far so good with them. Good price at time of purchase, good customer service with after the sale questions and concerns and quick repair on a warranty issue we had with a Schwintek motor that died.

 

[SGT ROC]

I don't know much about Colton RV. I've never tried to buy from them. I bought two RV's (not GD) in the past from Ballards camping center in Hamburg, NY. good prices but terrible customer service after the purchase. 8 months to get a warranty issue taken care of was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I won't buy from them ever again. Our current GD we bought from Meyers RV from their Syracuse/Cicero store. So far so good with them. Good price at time of purchase, good customer service with after the sale questions and concerns and quick repair on a warranty issue we had with a Schwintek motor that died.

My nephew bought a 28BH from the min 2018. He was just generally not happy with the way they dealt with a couple of issues. He took it to Wilkins in Bath after the end of the season last year for the wiring recall under the coloplast. I bought from Wilkins and was/am very happy with them.

 

[RobWNY]

My nephew bought a 28BH from the min 2018. He was just generally not happy with the way they dealt with a couple of issues. He took it to Wilkins in Bath after the end of the season last year for the wiring recall under the coloplast. I bought from Wilkins and was/am very happy with them.

I've heard good things about Wilkins RV.

 

[huntr70]

I've heard good things about Wilkins RV.

The Wilkins' are very good folks...

 

[nyfingerlakes]

We bought our first tow-behind trailer from Meyers and had terrible service after the purchase. I swore I would never go back to them. We bought a new 2008 Sprinter Copper Canyon from Wilkins/ Bath and our 2018 Reflection 303RLS, new also. Terrific customer service!

 

[DECelt]

I just bought a Solitude from Delmarva RV in Milford, DE. I shopped it at Schaeffer's and Campers Inn. Delmarva RV was willing to work to do the deal..the other two were not willing to meet their price. In fact, they were so far off it wasn't even worth talking! My gain. I would highly recommend them for pricing and ease of negotiation. I have not yet used their service department, so I don't know about that.

Delmarva worked the entire deal, including the trade over the phone. Super easy.

Good luck!

 

[rmaly76]

Yep, that's not a typo. These are crazy times in the RV marketplace. I went to a single dealer driven RV show this past weekend where there were about 150 RV's on display in a casino parking lot. It had about 70% used RV's and 30% new. This dealer has two large stores and one service location. Grand Design, Keystone, Coachman, Forest River and Vanleigh were the offerings in the new inventory. The most amount of money off anything I saw was $12K off a used $400K motor home. In the towable offerings I saw $5K off a $150K MSRP Vanleigh Beacon. In the under $100K offerings, the best I saw was $2,500 off MSRP and in the $30-$50K travel trailer and 5th Wheels, $1000 off MSRP was the norm. All of the travel trailers under $30K were marked with a sale show price of $500 off MSRP. The crazy part was there were a dozen or more units locked up with sold signs on them. In years past at any RV show I've been to, 25%-30% off MSRP was always the displayed sales show pricing and there was still some negotiating room. With the prices I saw this past weekend, it looks like getting 10% off would be a major accomplishment. There were no venders selling other RV related stuff either. Unless people have money trees growing in their back yards, now is not the time to buy a new or used RV. At least not in my neck of the woods! I'm glad I bought my 2021 311BHS in May of 2020 before things went bonkers.

Ok, so $500 is their starting point. Just because they have campers with sold signs and $500 off MSRP does not mean the sold campers were sold for that. There are plenty of people still getting north of 20% off msrp, myself included in a deal Nov 2020. sure, there will be regonality but if you give into this notion that you can't negotiate lower, you'll lose out.

 

[RobWNY]

Ok, so $500 is their starting point. Just because they have campers with sold signs and $500 off MSRP does not mean the sold campers were sold for that. There are plenty of people still getting north of 20% off msrp, myself included in a deal Nov 2020. sure, there will be regonality but if you give into this notion that you can't negotiate lower, you'll lose out.

My point was that in previous years Show prices here were displayed with thousands off the MSRP, 25%-30% off. Now it's $500. To think a dealer haphazardly deciding to change their marketing tactic by showing next to nothing off the MSRP means you're going to get a similar deal in the past doesn't make sense to me. Some dealers may very well still be giving good discounts but this particular dealer isn't indicating that they will accept a deep discount.

 

[Simplex gold]

Hi,I just bought a 2021 Reflection 260 from Delmarva Rv in Milford Delaware. Had to order it to get a 2nd factory AC in bedroom.Arrives in June sometime. Just ordered a Reese M5 20K hitch from etrailer. I was also dealing with Beckly’s in Fredrick MD. Delmarva Rv was closest to home (St Michaels MD) and, they were easy to deal with over phone and accepted offer I made without having to go back and forth on price. I’m new to the area, came here just as COVID-19 broke out, haven’t been able to explore much as far as campgrounds go.We do like the Delaware coast, any suggestions for campgrounds? Delmarva RV service facility seems a bit small, Have you had any dealings with there service department? Thanks

 

[jmbopp]

Hmmmm.... We bought a Heartland from Ballards on Southwestern Blvd but never had to take it back for service. My brother lives in Clarence but got his Solitude from Wilkins in Bath. Yeah, I'm glad we're not looking to trade up now.

 

[RobWNY]

Hmmmm.... We bought a Heartland from Ballards on Southwestern Blvd but never had to take it back for service. My brother lives in Clarence but got his Solitude from Wilkins in Bath. Yeah, I'm glad we're not looking to trade up now.

Our first Travel Trailer was a Heartland and our first 5th Wheel was a Forest River. Both were bought at Ballards. They were fantastic on the sale. I can't say enough good things about them with my purchases. I steered many to them when they were looking to buy a camper because they took a lot off the MSRP without having to negotiate very much. It wasn't until I needed warranty work done that I couldn't repair myself (Cracked Gel Coat all over the nose cap). They had me drop it off and they had our RV for 3 months and finally I went and got it so we could go camping. Then 5 months later, I got a call asking me to bring it in so they could fix it. They hired some local cheap fiberglass guy to tape off the graphics instead of removing/replacing them and sprayed it so I had ridges and drips. I wasn't happy to say the least. I swore then that I would never give them my business again.

 

[jmbopp]

Our first Travel Trailer was a Heartland and our first 5th Wheel was a Forest River. Both were bought at Ballards. They were fantastic on the sale. I can't say enough good things about them with my purchases. I steered many to them when they were looking to buy a camper because they took a lot off the MSRP without having to negotiate very much. It wasn't until I needed warranty work done that I couldn't repair myself (Cracked Gel Coat all over the nose cap). They had me drop it off and they had our RV for 3 months and finally I went and got it so we could go camping. Then 5 months later, I got a call asking me to bring it in so they could fix it. They hired some local cheap fiberglass guy to tape off the graphics instead of removing/replacing them and sprayed it so I had ridges and drips. I wasn't happy to say the least. I swore then that I would never give them my business again.

Bummer. Ballards was very accommodating when we asked for a few changes in the kitchen seating and a larger battery. And they stole a door off another trailer since ours was warped so we could be on our way with it.

 

[RobWNY]

Bummer. Ballards was very accommodating when we asked for a few changes in the kitchen seating and a larger battery. And they stole a door off another trailer since ours was warped so we could be on our way with it.

I'm glad you had a good experience. Hopefully you won't need them for repairs in the future!