Recent % discounts off "real" Grand Design MSRP? my 31% discount story on new 2024

[wilderness way]

Recent % discounts off "real" Grand Design MSRP? my 31% discount story on new 2024

As we know, there are dealer-reported MSRPs, and there are actual Grand Design official website MSRPs. Amazingly, there can be great variation in such. One would think that MSRP for a given year/model would be fixed, but it turns out it's not. Go to the GD website to see the "real" MSRPs. Any other MSRPs reported by dealers may be "fake news".

We this week purchased a new 2024 25DBE which is a new GD model for this year. We got a 31% discount off "real" Grand Design MSRP. We paid tax and title on top of that price. Other than the tax and title, the 31% discount was "all in" and there were no doc fees or prep fees or any other arbitrary made-up charges on top of that. To get that price, I had to finance through the dealership's lender on 15 year loan at 8.3% with no prepay penalty after 6 months. I'll pay it off in 6 months and eat the approximate $1,200 in amortized interest charges over that 6 month period. Bank gave RV dealer a kickback on the loan, as standard in the industry. (I've been told some dealers can make as much or more in finance kickbacks on a given sale as they can make on the unit markup, depending on how high of a rate loan you agree to).
,
By not paying cash, I'll make about 2.5% in CD interest on the money over the 6 month period, which offsets the above $1,200 interest cost by about $700, making my net out of pocket to do the financing deal for 6 months at about $500. For that $500 net cost, I got the 31% discount on the purchase.

The GD dealer we dealt with is part of a large national chain and is one of the highest volume RV dealers in our state. Incredibly, they said they sold a total of 2 RVs in December. Two. Ouch. Lots of overhead there on a few acres with a bunch of employees and millions of floor planned units setting there, with big interest carrying costs.

Now is the time to cut deals it appears. As spring comes around, they'll be less and less aggressive on price. But right now, many dealers seem to really want to deal, and seem determined to make sure 2024 doesn't turn out to be another down year on volume for them. There are some dealers which won't survive a replay of another 2023 in the industry, coming off the 2022 they had. Dealers setting on any 2022 units are under water big on them (MSRPs dropped in that timeframe after Covid was "solved", and interest carry costs have racked up on them). Even 2023 leftover units are likely very worrisome to many dealers with incoming 2024 units coming their way now.

Anyone else care to share recent purchase discount % on GD "real" MSRP, after all doc fees/prep fees/other charges? It may help those negotiating now for their own purchases. An RV dealer will be very happy to sell you their product at as high a price as you're willing to pay. Your job (it can be a hard one) is to try to keep them from doing so to you, yet still allowing them a fair profit to stay in business and keep their workers employed to support their families.

 

[Captcolour]

To my knowledge, there is only one MSRP for a given RV at the time it was built. If list prices changed after the unit was built (up or down), the MSRP on that given RV doesn't change. When we bought ours in April 2021, it was built in July 2020 so the MSRP on the sheet was lower than the GD website said at the time. Perhaps [MENTION=331]huntr70[/MENTION] can confirm.

 

[huntr70]

To my knowledge, there is only one MSRP for a given RV at the time it was built. If list prices changed after the unit was built (up or down), the MSRP on that given RV doesn't change. When we bought ours in April 2021, it was built in July 2020 so the MSRP on the sheet was lower than the GD website said at the time. Perhaps [MENTION=331]huntr70[/MENTION] can confirm.

Yeah, there is only one true MSRP. Every GD product comes with an MSRP sheet in the owners packet.

Our dealership does increase the MSRP on our website by the true freight cost.

There may be some dealers that add other things into their "MSRP" but all GD come with the GD MSRP.

Each MSRP is set at the time it is built. If costs go up, so does MSRP. If costs go down, so do MSRP.

One thing to consider is that not all manufacturer's run on the same mark up. So, trying to use an industry standard of "I'm getting XX% off MSRP" is simply a waste of time. Keystone is different than Forest River, Forest River is different than Brinkley. Brinkley is different than Alliance....etc.

 

[trailrydr]

On autos.... seems that I heard at one time by a friend of mine who sold new cars that the "New Car Sticker" price was influenced by the Dealer... and not just the add-ons, shipping, advertising, prep, etc.. Would assume the same for all listed pricing on (transportation related) vehicles on lots.

But yes... there is only one manufacturer current "MSRP". Edmunds used to be a trusted site.... that showed auto true MSRP, Invoice and current discounts without year-end hold-backs. Not sure other than a dealers factory build pricing sheet, where one could find the actual Invoice price.

 

[goducks14]

What dealer?

 

[trailrydr]

What dealer?

Ford................

 

[goducks14]

Ford................

Question was for the OP since the thread is about 31% off MSRP of a Grand Design trailer.

 

[wilderness way]

Blue Compass in Lexington KY this week gave me 31% discount off real confirmed GD website GD msrp on a 2024 new model which just launched. Includes prep and dealer fee. I paid tax and title. I wasn't asking for actual recent discounts received on new units from any brand other than GD. I know each brand is very different on how they structure msrp relative to dealer net cost in unit. I'm concerned only with GD in this post. Goal is to help GD buyers get uniform fair deals. The same dealer would have been totally happy to charge me $7,500 more for the very same unit, plus $8,500 in various 5 year extended warranties. Because that's just the way this all works.

 

[Captcolour]

Blue Compass in Lexington KY this week gave me 31% discount off real confirmed GD website GD msrp on a 2024 new model which just launched. Includes prep and dealer fee. I paid tax and title. I wasn't asking for actual recent discounts received on new units from any brand other than GD. I know each brand is very different on how they structure msrp relative to dealer net cost in unit. I'm concerned only with GD in this post. Goal is to help GD buyers get uniform fair deals. The same dealer would have been totally happy to charge me $7,500 more for the very same unit, plus $8,500 in various 5 year extended warranties. Because that's just the way this all works.

Did you look at Campers Inn in Louisville (actually across the river in Indiana)? We bought our Solitude there. Were great to work with and the service department has been good as well. We bought our first 5th wheel (Keystone Alpine) from Northside when they were part of Colerain RV. Sorry but was not impressed with them including the service. Hopefully they have gotten better.

 

[kb0zke]

One thing I learned from our experience is that the dealer's reputation is worth quite a bit. There are three Grand Design dealers within about 200 miles of us. Since we were going past Las Cruces, we stopped there and eventually bought there. Big mistake. I don't know about the other two dealers' reputations, but all three are part of big chains. I've about decided that I'd rather buy from a a dealer that isn't part of a chain IF that dealer has a good reputation. A dealer who is part of a chain AND has a good reputation might also be acceptable.

Price isn't always a good indicator of a good deal unless you are willing to toss the warranty and take care of things yourself.

Steve, there wasn't any paper that I recall with all of the stuff on our trailer that looked like an MSRP sheet. Would GD customer service be able to send that to me if I gave them the VIN? It won't change anything, but it would be interesting to see what, if anything, we actually got "off" the price.

 

[goducks14]

One thing I learned from our experience is that the dealer's reputation is worth quite a bit. There are three Grand Design dealers within about 200 miles of us. Since we were going past Las Cruces, we stopped there and eventually bought there. Big mistake. I don't know about the other two dealers' reputations, but all three are part of big chains. I've about decided that I'd rather buy from a a dealer that isn't part of a chain IF that dealer has a good reputation. A dealer who is part of a chain AND has a good reputation might also be acceptable.

Price isn't always a good indicator of a good deal unless you are willing to toss the warranty and take care of things yourself.

Steve, there wasn't any paper that I recall with all of the stuff on our trailer that looked like an MSRP sheet. Would GD customer service be able to send that to me if I gave them the VIN? It won't change anything, but it would be interesting to see what, if anything, we actually got "off" the price.

MSRP is on the GD site. Only thing added is freight which all dealers charge. The rest of the stuff is bonus money for the dealer. Not knowing where you started negotiations from you may not want to know how much off MSRP you got. They could've had the price jacked so high that you didn't get anything below MSRP.

 

[Captcolour]

MSRP is on the GD site. Only thing added is freight which all dealers charge. The rest of the stuff is bonus money for the dealer. Not knowing where you started negotiations from you may not want to know how much off MSRP you got. They could've had the price jacked so high that you didn't get anything below MSRP.

As mentioned earlier, the website MSRP is only valid if you have a current build. Earlier build MSRP may be lower if prices went up after the RV was built. As Steve said, there is a paper from GD with the actual MSRP for the specific RV in with the paperwork. My dealer had those sheets out on display in the rigs.

 

[huntr70]

Steve, there wasn't any paper that I recall with all of the stuff on our trailer that looked like an MSRP sheet. Would GD customer service be able to send that to me if I gave them the VIN? It won't change anything, but it would be interesting to see what, if anything, we actually got "off" the price.

They should be able to.....I can call and get one emailed to me easily.

 

[kb0zke]

Thanks. Too late to call today, but I'll try tomorrow morning.

 

[BlewgrsTrvls]

I seem to recall when we bought our rig in early 2020 the average discounted price was 30-35%. Although it’s been several years we were able to get 35% off, plus some additional perks like a Mor-Ryde pin-box and B&W Companion included.

I will add, we will never buy from that dealer again. They’d been recently acquired by a national chain at the time and the service was HORRIBLE. Our rig had a temp tag for over a year and half because the main office couldn’t/wouldn’t get the rig processed for registration. Among many other issues.

I say all that to say, getting a great deal is good, but it may come at a cost. Having a good dealer may be worth a couple of percentage points off the deal.

 

[fsgarrett]

No Penalty for Paying Extra

As we know, there are dealer-reported MSRPs, and there are actual Grand Design official website MSRPs. Amazingly, there can be great variation in such. One would think that MSRP for a given year/model would be fixed, but it turns out it's not. Go to the GD website to see the "real" MSRPs. Any other MSRPs reported by dealers may be "fake news".

We this week purchased a new 2024 25DBE which is a new GD model for this year. We got a 31% discount off "real" Grand Design MSRP. We paid tax and title on top of that price. Other than the tax and title, the 31% discount was "all in" and there were no doc fees or prep fees or any other arbitrary made-up charges on top of that. To get that price, I had to finance through the dealership's lender on 15 year loan at 8.3% with no prepay penalty after 6 months. I'll pay it off in 6 months and eat the approximate $1,200 in amortized interest charges over that 6 month period. Bank gave RV dealer a kickback on the loan, as standard in the industry. (I've been told some dealers can make as much or more in finance kickbacks on a given sale as they can make on the unit markup, depending on how high of a rate loan you agree to).
,
By not paying cash, I'll make about 2.5% in CD interest on the money over the 6 month period, which offsets the above $1,200 interest cost by about $700, making my net out of pocket to do the financing deal for 6 months at about $500. For that $500 net cost, I got the 31% discount on the purchase.

The GD dealer we dealt with is part of a large national chain and is one of the highest volume RV dealers in our state. Incredibly, they said they sold a total of 2 RVs in December. Two. Ouch. Lots of overhead there on a few acres with a bunch of employees and millions of floor planned units setting there, with big interest carrying costs.

Now is the time to cut deals it appears. As spring comes around, they'll be less and less aggressive on price. But right now, many dealers seem to really want to deal, and seem determined to make sure 2024 doesn't turn out to be another down year on volume for them. There are some dealers which won't survive a replay of another 2023 in the industry, coming off the 2022 they had. Dealers setting on any 2022 units are under water big on them (MSRPs dropped in that timeframe after Covid was "solved", and interest carry costs have racked up on them). Even 2023 leftover units are likely very worrisome to many dealers with incoming 2024 units coming their way now.

Anyone else care to share recent purchase discount % on GD "real" MSRP, after all doc fees/prep fees/other charges? It may help those negotiating now for their own purchases. An RV dealer will be very happy to sell you their product at as high a price as you're willing to pay. Your job (it can be a hard one) is to try to keep them from doing so to you, yet still allowing them a fair profit to stay in business and keep their workers employed to support their families.

Congrats on your new rig! One thing to note on the bank loan that the dealer, and of course the bank, will not tell you. In order to get that pricing they dictate how long you have to keep the loan...and that is okay. They do not dictate how much you can pay on that loan each month! If you were planning on paying off the loan at the end of the six-month period, you don't have to lose as much in interest as you think. You can pay almost the entire balance in the first month then pay the minimum payment for the other five months and end up with nearly a zero balance at the end of 6 months. Example: Your loan is 25,000 and your monthly payment is 250. The first month, pay your 250 plus pay an additional 23,500 toward principle. You now pay 250 for 5 more months and the loan is nearly paid (you will accrue some interest, but it will be on $1250, not the $24,750ish you would have. You will save most all that interest you were going to give the bank. This fulfils your contract but saves you money. I did this on my last GM car purchase since they were giving an additional rebate if I financed with GMAC. Just something to consider...

 

[lorend]

Congrats on your new rig! One thing to note on the bank loan that the dealer, and of course the bank, will not tell you. In order to get that pricing they dictate how long you have to keep the loan...and that is okay. They do not dictate how much you can pay on that loan each month! If you were planning on paying off the loan at the end of the six-month period, you don't have to lose as much in interest as you think. You can pay almost the entire balance in the first month then pay the minimum payment for the other five months and end up with nearly a zero balance at the end of 6 months. Example: Your loan is 25,000 and your monthly payment is 250. The first month, pay your 250 plus pay an additional 23,500 toward principle. You now pay 250 for 5 more months and the loan is nearly paid (you will accrue some interest, but it will be on $1250, not the $24,750ish you would have. You will save most all that interest you were going to give the bank. This fulfils your contract but saves you money. I did this on my last GM car purchase since they were giving an additional rebate if I financed with GMAC. Just something to consider...

We had to repo a house that we had sold on contract. We wanted to pay off the mortgage but they had a prepayment penalty of 6 months interest. We paid the loan down to $500 and waited until the next month to pay it off. 6 months interest on $500 was not much but it sure upset the mortgage company. We just played by their rules and they lost on that one. Maybe check to see what the prepayment penalty is??

 

[Foxtrot]

When we bought our 260RD in 2021 there was actual spec sheet from Grand Design with pricing. You can checkout out under the for sale forum for the 2021 260RD for sale.