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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: Buying a new diesel pusher for first time (pointers?)
It is interesting that people want to turn your question into a new versus used one. I would assume you are an adult and make your own decisions. Some people want new and can afford new and should buy new. Buy what you want!
I would assume the brake controller will be something you add and there are a number of them to choose from. The dealer can guide you on this and you can make it a part of the purchase.
The advice to have everything in writing is very valid and just good business. Making sure everything is to your satisfaction and working properly before delivery and signing final papers is something to always do.
You should receive several different owner manuals at delivery covering various systems. Although it can be tedious reading them, you certainly need to. They will give you exact required maintenance procedures and requirements. Setting up a computer file to track these and following them to the letter would be the best advice anyone can give you.
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JALLEN4
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05/16/12 09:24am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: We are looking at a couple of Tahoe Hybrids next week...
Before I retired, I was a Cadillac dealer and kept one or two Escalades at home for the family to drive. When the Hybrids came out, I had two or three of them at various times. In the real world, the regular averaged about 13.5-14 mpg and the Hybrid averaged around 18 mpg.
I would assume the average would be similar in the Tahoe, roughly the same vehicle, and getting better fuel economy by driving habits would work on either the regular or Hybrid vehicle.
You would need to drive a very large number of miles to offset the increased purchase cost or maintenance costs of a Hybrid to pay the difference.
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JALLEN4
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05/14/12 12:29pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Medicare Help
I couldn't find the answer to my question on the Medicare site, so I hope someone here knows the answer.
How soon does the Medicare coverage start after you sign up and turn 65? we don't want to be with out coverage when my wife retires this fall, she will be 65 then.
Thanks in advance, Jay
I applied on-line and actually received a card in about two weeks. It begins on the first day of the month you are born in.
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JALLEN4
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05/14/12 12:12pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Motorcycle Lights Questions
I have had modulating headlight and flashing brake lights installed on several bikes. They were installed before LED lights were popular and were regular bulbs. I had them installed at a rally usually and never were they a problem.
I certainly think they add to the safety of the rider. The modulating headlight will cause some strange situations. I have actually had folks pull off the road when I was behind them. I don't know if the reason was because the light bothered them or because they thought I was some sort of emergency vehicle trying to pass them. It did give me much more confidence when approaching an intersection that I would be seen.
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JALLEN4
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04/24/12 09:47am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Purchase out-of-town truck thru local dealer - more money?
"All dealers pay the same amount for the vehicles from the manufacturer."
Well yes and no. There are factory to dealer incentives as well as hold backs.
A dealer that sells more cars is in a much better position to give you a better price. This is why you go to a dealer to buy a certain truck. Dealer "A" says this is your price. You go to dealer "B" and the price can be several hundred less. Dealer "B" sells more cars and will give you a lesser price.
Most dealers run their overhead very lean these days, so don't bring that up.
Although large dealers often put in a great deal of time and effort trying to convince the public otherwise, there is no inherent reason they can sell for less. Incentives generally are in one of two forms. They are either across the board to all or competitive. When competitive, they are usually based on either a quota basis or a competitive basis against other dealers.
When on a quota, the quota is based on the dealer's potential sales market or previous sales history. When competitive against other dealers, they are tiered to be competing against like sized dealerships.
While larger dealerships have certain advantages, they are generally in the areas of available inventory, financing, volume purchasing of advertising, and personnel.
As a former "large" dealer, I was often "beat" by a small town dealer with limited inventory and overhead who was willing to sell the vehicle for less profit.
"Although large dealers often put in a great deal of time and effort trying to convince the public otherwise, there is no inherent reason they can sell for less."
I don't know what market(s) you are familiar with, but I have purchased over 40 cars and trucks in my lifetime and the mega dealers consistently beat the small dealers. The "mega dealers" in So. Cal are names I am sure you have heard of, Longo Toyota, Galpin Ford, Mark Christopher Chevrolet,etc.
I have been in distribution all my life (not cars) and I can tell you numbers talk and we could get things done no other dealers could not due to big numbers with manufacturers.
I appreciate your experience in purchasing 40 cars and your years spent in distribution of a non-automobile product. But, I operated and owned multiple dealerships in multiple states (including California) for more than 40 years and sold tens of thousands of cars and trucks.
As previously stated, larger dealers do have certain advantages and the ability to "get things done" that smaller dealers do not. Factually, they do not have an inherent advantage to sell vehicles at a lower price than small dealers do.
Unlike many other retail products, price advantage does not drive auto sales and very often mega-retailers, like those you mention, often have a higher gross profit per unit margin than much smaller dealers. The Boeckman family at Galpin and the Penske family at Longo built their empires based an a volume sales dynamic of heavy advertising and large inventories as well as good locations for their product. Not because they "give" them away.
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JALLEN4
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04/22/12 07:10am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Purchase out-of-town truck thru local dealer - more money?
"All dealers pay the same amount for the vehicles from the manufacturer."
Well yes and no. There are factory to dealer incentives as well as hold backs.
A dealer that sells more cars is in a much better position to give you a better price. This is why you go to a dealer to buy a certain truck. Dealer "A" says this is your price. You go to dealer "B" and the price can be several hundred less. Dealer "B" sells more cars and will give you a lesser price.
Most dealers run their overhead very lean these days, so don't bring that up.
Although large dealers often put in a great deal of time and effort trying to convince the public otherwise, there is no inherent reason they can sell for less. Incentives generally are in one of two forms. They are either across the board to all or competitive. When competitive, they are usually based on either a quota basis or a competitive basis against other dealers.
When on a quota, the quota is based on the dealer's potential sales market or previous sales history. When competitive against other dealers, they are tiered to be competing against like sized dealerships.
While larger dealerships have certain advantages, they are generally in the areas of available inventory, financing, volume purchasing of advertising, and personnel.
As a former "large" dealer, I was often "beat" by a small town dealer with limited inventory and overhead who was willing to sell the vehicle for less profit.
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JALLEN4
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04/21/12 04:16pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Buy off lot or special order? Any effect on bargaining?
The answer is a well qualified "Maybe". An in-stock sale is instant money to the dealer while an order is a theoretical someday sale in the future. It is certainly easier to say no to a low profit sale that in reality may not happen versus a willing buyer with money now.
On the other hand, the business now is program driven and the incentives from the manufacturer can well be better for the buyer next month than they are this month. Programs may or may not have provisions for ordered vehicles and may or may not be replaced with better or worse programs going forward. I have seen vehicle prices impacted by as much as $1,000-$2,000 dollars by only a couple of days.
At the end of the day, a person buying a $40,000 vehicle that they will keep on average nine years should be ultimately more concerned about getting what they want than a few hundred dollars in purchase price. If ordering simply for color combination, you might consider what that is worth. If ordering for content, it is much more important.
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JALLEN4
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04/20/12 05:46am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Question about previous owner and a part
Fact is they paid for it when they bought the motor home new and as they did not sell you the motor home, they owe you nothing. Goodness knows what they think they want with it, but it is their choice if they want a $100 or $1,000 for it. Same as your choice if you want to pay or not pay their ridiculous price.
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JALLEN4
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04/19/12 08:59am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Dealer discount on new Chev 2500?
The most I have ever paid for a truck is the dealer invoice amount or what they in theory paid the factory. In reality they get discounts paid back to them based on volume so they do not pay the "invoice" amount. It is also why they have an incentive at the end of the month and end of the quarter and end of the year to cut a deal as making the next bracket can increase the discount they get on all the cars they sold during the prior period and increase their quota on getting new vehicles as well.
One trick besides going in on the last two days of the month is to be sure to ask for the sales manager or the fleet manager and never start with a salesperson. The managers are on salary and do not get a commission so that adds $1500-$2000 that they do not have to pay a salesperson so they can reduce the price for the truck by that amount and not feel the loss as greatly.
If a truck has been sitting on their lot for several months they are going to be much more inclined to deal than if it arrived last week. Some configurations or colors turn out to be less popular than the dealer anticipated and they are happy to get their money back out of the truck and use it to get a different one.
I also try to find a vehicle without a lot of extra options that I do not need like leather seats and a navigation system or factory rear camera. Other items like camper mirrors, bed liner, side steps, and mats I will get the dealer to add on for free or worst case at their cost so I save 50% on these items. With the truck I bought this past November I got a GM tool box, bed liner, and chrome oval side bars, and camper mirrors added at no charge to me. I paid $8,000 under the sticker price for the truck which included $2500 in factory incentives.
Just to clarify some very erroneous statements.
Dealers pay the same price per vehicle whether they sell one or a thousand. While there are periodic incentives paid based on a number of factors, most of them can be easily found on-line. There are no systematic bonuses paid based purely on volume, monthly or yearly, for the vast majority of manufacturers. But, this myth does make a compelling story to the novice as to why they should buy today.
Sales Managers and Fleet Managers are not paid a flat salary. In 99.9% of the cases they are paid based on an incentive plan involving volume, gross profit, or net profit. Like everyone else, they are there to produce a profit, not to sell cars to the general public at a loss.
Salesmen do not make $1,500-$2,000 per sale or anywhere near that number. The average new car sale in America produces about $1,200 gross profit to the dealer and a commission of $75-$150 for the salesman.
"Free" is an oxymoron in the automobile business. If you received after market accessories, you paid for them. You just are not knowledgeable enough to know where. But, the novice loves the word "free".
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JALLEN4
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04/19/12 06:06am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Camping World's shotty AC install.
We ordered the replacement trailer about 2 weeks ago. It's a Denali 287re. We added a fireplace and upgraded the recliners offered in the "base model" at our expense. I wish they were offered to us at cost ut they were not. We were told that the trailer should be delivered to Camping World and ready for pick up the first week of May.
We have already missed 2 scheduled camping trips with family since we are without a trailer during this time. They weather here in Texas has been beautiful but we have to just wait for delivery. We have not had any contact from anyone from Camping World since ordering the unit. We are still apprehensive about this deal. I just hope the delivery, walk thru and paperwork all go without a problem. Like I said when I first wrote about this problem, we pulled in with a brand new TT. Not our fault they ruined it and treated us like $&@. Just replace it, treat us with dignity and learn from the experience.
The CEO set up this replacement offer and expresses that we will be satisfied in the end. We are impressed that he stepped up with this offer to make it right. When it's all said and done ill let you all know on here. I just know that I can't WAIT till this is all over and we can join our family and friends again on camping trips. Sucks having to keep declining offers to join them on outings...
By very fortunate circumstances, you have been absolutely blessed with a solution to your problem far and above any normal situation. Had not the CEO decided to make a very public act of contrition in front of a huge camping Forum of members, you very possibly could have spent a very long time and a large amount of money seeking some sort of satisfaction.
In my experience, the ultimate "slap in the face" was to throw caution and money to the wind and then have the consumer act and vocally proclaim they are still being treated badly. At that point, on more than one occasion. I reneged on any agreement and told them they needed to take their best shot.
Still complaining about lost trips and not being offered additional accessories at a lesser price is bad form, in my opinion. Daily, repair facilities make serious mistakes when repairing vehicles. Seldom, very seldom, does the facility agree to replace the vehicle with a new one. You have been made "whole" by a unique and very expensive solution. I would think it might be time to graciously recognize their efforts and make the entire incident of historical significance only.
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JALLEN4
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04/13/12 10:57am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Sales lady was "too busy" to do her job!
I spent more than four decades as "the guy in charge" seeing to it that people were waited on in an orderly manner. Not to brag, but I was actually very good at it.
I did though receive semi-regular phone calls from people complaining. They were generally split 50/50 between those complaining they could not get waited on and those who complained they were harassed and followed around. I took a general pride in those who thought they were "over served" as it made me confident both I and my people were doing their jobs. I was usually very skeptical of those who stated they could not find a salesperson, especially those who said they spent an hour wandering around.
How would you know what the Lady on the phone was doing? Perhaps she was busy with any one of a dozen different scenarios. Because she was on a cell phone, in today's world, certainly does not mean it was not business related. All of my calls were transferred from the switchboard to my cell because you never knew where in the dealership I might be.
If you were truly interested in talking to a salesperson, during this hour around the inventory, did you not see another one? Since there was a receptionist, did you ask to speak to a salesperson or at least a manager to lodge a complaint? Dealerships can be very busy places. At times you can't have enough personnel and at other times one person is too many.
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JALLEN4
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04/11/12 10:50am |
Camping World RV Sales
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RE: What would you do
All of this talk about replacing either the entire box or the box floor is just simply silly. In any court, and I have been in many of them, the standard of the dealer's guarantee on workmanship is held to be no more than the same as the manufacturers original warranty. The original warranty is repair or replace in every manufacturers written warranty.
We have a needed repair of a major component. The standard is to make a commercially acceptable repair, not to replace. It is no different than making a repair to a transmission or engine rather than a complete replacement. It would be no different than making body repairs in the case of damage where the insurance company is responsible to pay. They have the right to repair or replace.
The OP's option would be to file a claim with his insurance company who would subrogate against the dealer's insurance. At the end of the day, they would repair in this case, not replace.
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JALLEN4
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04/09/12 06:11am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Temporary tags for an out of state move?
The last thing you want to do is leave the previous owners tag on the vehicle. The insurance problems are numerous and the liability for the seller is huge.
There really is no reason you cannot purchase a temporary tag in West Virginia. You are though going to need an address out of state to accomplish this.
That's not true at all. If you use my idea of renting the vehicle and then purchasing it once in Oregon then the only liability is if the sller trusts the buyer. The buyer would get a binder on his own insurance and his own insurance would cover any incident. And if he simply left the cash behind with the seller (assuming it's a cash deal) then even the seller is protected.
Really! The seller would have to be out of his mind to give a complete stranger his motorhome and tags on some cobbled together rental/purchase scheme so he could drive it completely across the country. Until that title is transferred, in the case of an accident, the plaintiff will be after the registered owner and his insurance much quicker than some admittedly broke guy who theoretically is renting the unit.
Motor vehicles are sold daily in West Virginia and most every other state to people who reside in another state and will register it there. That is one of the primary reasons temporary tags were invented. All the OP has to do is look up the address of the RV park where he is going to park in Oregon and use that as his address.
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JALLEN4
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04/09/12 05:38am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Temporary tags for an out of state move?
The last thing you want to do is leave the previous owners tag on the vehicle. The insurance problems are numerous and the liability for the seller is huge.
There really is no reason you cannot purchase a temporary tag in West Virginia. You are though going to need an address out of state to accomplish this.
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JALLEN4
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04/08/12 05:59pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: New Allegro Breeze deal does not seem that great....
I did get a quote from Lazy Days on a used 2011 28' Breeze that they have in stock. NADA (book) has it at $125,030 for used retail and $95,730 for trade in/wholesale.
Here is the deal:
The coach is priced at $ 131,000
Trade allowance $ 40,000
Balance left $ 91,000
Additional discounts -$ 11,000
Trade difference $ 80,000
Payoff $37,000 + $80,000difference = $117,000 +tax to finance.
I looked up my rig in the NADA book and it is listed as $47,210 for used retail and $35,760 for trade in/wholesale.
Any thoughts on this deal??
Thanks
Assuming your unit to be worth the same $30,000, you are actually paying about $110,000 for the used Breeze. Wholesale, that Breeze is worth $85,000-90,000 to the dealer. As a rule of thumb, divide the MSRP by 1.4 and you will be close to dealer cost on a new one which would make the dealer cost on the 2012 you were looking at around $114,000. Therefore, an $85,000-90,000 wholesale value on a year old one is somewhat within reason.
You must keep in mind, when you drive off the lot with the new coach, you are going to owe $120,000 plus on something that is worth maybe $90,000. Instead of being $10,000 or so upside down, you are now going to be $30,000 plus upside down.
As long as you can afford the payments for the next several years and know that you will not need to or want to sell it, all is good. One problem along the way will be a real problem if you don't have the cash to extract yourself from the loan.
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JALLEN4
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04/06/12 03:37pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: New Allegro Breeze deal does not seem that great....
The way this should be analyzed is as follows. Your 2006 Lazy Daze is actually worth between $25,000-$30,000 wholesale to the dealer. When he gives you a $50,000 allowance, he is in reality discounting the new coach $20,000-$25,000. That would be 12.5-15.6% discount from MSRP if he is using the real MSRP. I could be off as much as $5,000 but that changes the big picture very little.
Since you owe $40,000 on the trade, if he gave you a discount on the new coach and showed real value for the trade, you would have negative equity and no lender is going to finance it without a substantial cash down payment or additional security. Even showing the numbers as he is, it would be likely the lender will ask for more equity in the deal to make the loan.
There are basically two ways to improve your position. You could shop other dealers and possibly find one that has a relatively small percentage of a better price on a coach you want. The other would be to attempt to sell your present unit for what you owe on it.
There is one thing you should contemplate. If you make this deal as is or even if you improve it by $10,000, you are going to be in a serious minus equity position for a very long time. A ten year loan will yield some very healthy payments and most will be tempted to finance for 15-20 years to make the payment manageable. On a 15 year loan, you will still owe close to $80,000 or more seven and a half years from now. You really should look at an amortization chart for the financing contemplated and study it closely.
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JALLEN4
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04/05/12 05:29pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Ridiculous bank fees
I am certainly not crying for Walmart! I am "crying" for you and me. Mastercard Inc. made $562 million net last quarter as just one credit card company. Net after all expenses! That is not based on interest charged but simply fees charged for the use of a Mastercard.
The credit card industry as a whole collects well over a 100 billion dollars yearly for card usage. That money is paid by every consumer in the form of higher prices whether we use a credit card regularly or never use a card.
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JALLEN4
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04/05/12 05:05am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Camper Title
Since it is a popup and there isn't a lot of money invested here, why don't you let the buyer take it with your plate and current registration on it. We did that with our previous trailer. I had paid the registration for the year and said, use it til the end of the season and then register it in your name next year. They turned in the plate at the end of the year. All was well. This would be the same as if I let someone borrow my unit. Their policy would cover any accident as it was hooked to their vehicle and they had paid in full prior to picking it up.
Although what you are suggesting sounds reasonable, in every state it would be considered fradulent registration. The penalty for fraudulent registration is far more severe than having no tag at all. In addition, liability would remain with the owner of the tag if they knowingly allow this to happen.
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JALLEN4
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04/05/12 04:46am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Ridiculous bank fees
It is estimated that for a company like Walmart, the total cost of handling credit/debit cards can be as much as 5-10% added expense on gross sales when you factor in fees, fraud, and labor. Everyone who shops at Walmart ultimately pays for this expense in the form of necessary additional mark-up on goods purchased.
I'm virtually certain it doesn't cost Walmart anything close to 10% to process a credit card or debit card. Even a small business can process credit cards for less than 3%. Walmart probably pays less than 2% based on the volume of credit cards they process. Walmart is estimated to be able to run their stores on a gross margin of under 10%. How can credit cards cost them anywhere close to 10% of sales if they can run the whole operation on under 10%?
If I walk into Walmart and buy $50 worth of goods and use my debit card to pay it costs Walmart little or nothing additional to give me back $20 cash. Walmart already paid the debit fee on my $50 worth of goods I bought.
First, please read again what I wrote. My statement was based on the overall cost of credit card transactions to a company and the range I gave was 5-10%, not a flat ten percent that everyone is jumping to.
Credit card fees to the merchant are very complex and are not solely based on the simplistic discount fee that credit card companies spend millions a year trying to make you believe. The simplistic discount fee could well be anywhere from 1.8% to as much as 5.5% to the merchant, depending on their individual business profile and credit card use history. Walmart's may even be less.
Different credit cards have different interchange fees. When you use basic cards that have no premiums attached, there is a lower fee. Use a card that has higher premiums attached such as cash back and double mileage, the merchant pays a higher fee. All those fringe benefit costs need to come from somewhere. As well, different sized transactions will often have a different fee structure.
As well as the actual cost to the merchant for the use of the card, there are additional costs incurred. Supervising and accounting for these fees for a company like Walmart is a daunting task in its self and requires salaries to personnel. Fraud is a source of cost that often comes back to the merchant in the form of a charge back. Transactions disputed by the user also carry very healthy fees to the merchant regardless of final outcome.
It is a complicated process that few care to thoroughly review and most people simply accept the 2% fee theory and move on. There are books written about the topic and finding the true cost as well as hundreds of thousands of Internet pages available discussing the process. When all costs of using credit cards are tallied, the result is very surprising.
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JALLEN4
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04/04/12 03:02pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Camper Title
For this very reason,every state I am aware of will issue a temporary tag, usually for thirty days and will cost around ten dollars.
Trusting buyer who will give you a cash equivalent and trust you to use it to pay off the loan.
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JALLEN4
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04/04/12 01:50pm |
General RVing Issues
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