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The opinions expressed in these blogs are the opinions of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of RV Industry News or its advertisers.
Dec
13
Written by:
Greg Gerber
12/13/2007 8:29 AM
I ran across a blog written by Barry Wilder, who appears to be a former RV dealer who is now involved in the financing RVs.
Although it is formatted into one or two HUGE paragraphs, he takes consumers to task for being unreasonable in their desire to buy RVs at or below dealer cost. He also takes dealers to task for being pushy and taking advantage of customer ignorance rather than helping them get a fair deal.
According to Wilder, dealers deserve to make a profit, but he wrote the blog in response to calls he said he gets every day from people who were burned by "slick Willie" sales tactics. His blog provides consumers with some ammunition they need to negotiate better deals.
However, here are a few excerpts:
- The dealer, as the individual or business that has shelled out literally millions of dollars to provide a good inventory of recreational vehicles, has the right to regulate the flow of potential customers through his doors.
- When people walk through the doors of the dealership, many salesman, like a cop in a bad movie, will subconsciously read them their RV Miranda Rights. “You have the right to remain ignorant. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the sales office. You have the right to speak to your spouse, and to have your spouse present during any negotiating. If you cannot afford an RV, one will be financed for you at 3% over buy rate.”
- Should you put forth the effort to sell your own RV before you purchase another one? Effort, is the key word. If you put in the effort, you deserve to keep the profits of your labors. If you trade in your RV, the dealer will be the one who puts forth the effort to sell your unit. He will be the one to make interest payments on it while it sits on his lot. He will incur the advertising expense, sales commissions, etc. He will also have to fix any defects or problems as well as providing a warranty on the unit for a minimum of 30 days. In other words, don’t expect to get full retail for your trade-in. It doesn’t happen… Ever.
- Be kind to your local RV dealer. He is the one most likely to be servicing and repairing your RV. A few dollars more - spent locally… are wisely spent.
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3 comment(s) so far...
Re: Buying an RV -- The Dealer Is Not The Enemy
Like the looks of the new site, Greg. Anyone who runs a business is constantly bombarded by those who claim your costs are too high, service isn't quite good enough, etc. The average consumer is left in the dark on all things economic. While it's really not the place of the dealership/business to educate the consumer on why things cost as they do, it's frustrating. What we all should do is offer the absolute best service we can. In a market like this, service is all that will separate us from the guy down the street selling the same thing.
By Hensley Ron on
12/15/2007 11:01 PM
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Re: Buying an RV -- The Dealer Is Not The Enemy
Service is a concept that has been worn out by the overuse of the word. Customers realize that and search for the lowest price they can find and worry about "service" later. In fact, why should a customer pre-pay for "service" in the form of higher initial prices? It's a lack of management skills that hold the prices high and, in turn, the high priced guy preaches "service" for the additional expense he incurs by not managing his business.
The customers have separated the product and the service in their minds and look for the lowest initial price. How long is it going to take for the dealerships to realize that and stop preaching AT the customer rather than listening and responding? Customers want an RV? Differentiate for the customer the RVs available and sell them the RV. They want service, sell them the service. Don't confuse the issue by attempting to cover your service overhead with the initial product cost.
By Sean Woodruff on
12/17/2007 5:04 PM
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Re: Buying an RV -- The Dealer Is Not The Enemy
You have to earn the right to service a customer after they have purchased a product - any product - and you can only do that after you have earned the right to sell them the product in the first place - any product, not just an RV. If you do both of these things right then you earn the reputation that brings your more sales and more service customers. If you don't, you will suffer the consequences and will be fighting for every sale on price because you lost the option of establishing the kind of reputation that would earn you more business rather than chasing more business.
By Bob Zagami on
1/6/2008 9:41 PM
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