RE: Jayco pricing; is this a good deal?

[jawilson]

 
Okay, I ve been to the Coleman, Palomino and now Jayco dealers. A few more to look at (Viking/Clipper and perhaps Flagstaff) and at least I ll have an idea of what I want/need. So far, only the Coleman dealer has actually had one of the models I was looking for (Utah CP), all the rest made me look at something " close" . At least this was enough to get an idea about construction, materials, quality, etc.
 
 Today at the Jayco dealer I pressed the sales wonk for some idea of pricing, so we sat down and did a rough draft. To me the price sounds too high -- certainly more then I had planned on spending -- but I want to check with you people to see if what I expect is unrealistic or this really was a fair shake.
 
 Here s the config;
 03 Eagle 12FSO           $8493
 Freight                  $400
 Convenience Group        $264
 Spare tire cover         $16
 CP/shower                $1214
 Canopy                   $243
 Deluxe Screen Room       $279
 2 cu ft refer            $436
 16000 BTU Furnace        $321
 Silverware Draw          $14
 SoftStor overhead        $57
 Portable gray water tank $150
 Coleman(!) 13,500 A/C    $695
 Heat strip for A/C       $30
 TOTAL                    $12612
 
 The salesman said he would " give"  it to me for $10,824, which is about 13% off. I think that he should do better, but he was a bit aloof and didn t seem interested in dealing. Is that a good price, or could I do better? The camper seemed nice, but I think the price could be more attractive.
 
 Also, have you found the salesman to be uninformed about the products they sell? I ve only been doing research on popups for 2-3 weeks now and even I know stuff that they don t. AAMOF, I ve told each of the salespeople (1 women and 2 guys) stuff about there own product that they didn t know! While each of the 3 has made mention of some option/feature that I wasn t aware of on there particular camper I have stumped all of them -- darn near 50% of the time -- with what I consider simple questions. Are they all this oblivious?

[Gatsmommy]

 jawilson
Not sure if this will help, but we got a quote on the Qwest 12A for $11,000 with Air and Awning.
 
 Sorry I can t be of more help, So far we ve only checked out 1 dealership that had Coleman s and Jayco s the other s are all at least an hour away
 

[jawilson]

 Gatsmommy

ORIGINAL:  Gatsmommy
 
 Not sure if this will help, but we got a quote on the Qwest 12A for $11,000 with Air and Awning.

Did it come with anything else?? $11K for a Qwest seems like a worse price then what I got, which was almost the same for a loaded Eagle...[]

[wssfetch]

 jawilson
Have you guys thought about buying a used camper?  Getting something a couple of years old can be a really good deal. Don t rely just on dealers.  Check out the classified board on PUT and your local paper.  Even if you don t end up buying a used camper, you can look, talk to the owners, find out what they liked and didn t like about their campers, get a better feel for what to look for. And who knows, maybe you ll find exactly what you are looking for!

[MtnCamper]

 jawilson
IMHO, a good price is what you can afford, and your comfortable with.
 After you add on the weight distribution hitch, brake controller, wiring.....
 

[RamblingWreck]

 jawilson
Jim,
 
 I just purchased a popup on Saturday so I have an idea where you are coming from.  Best advise I can offer is to go to nada.com.  Enter the closest model year to the trailer you are looking at with all the same options.  That will give you a rough ball park figure.  You are looking at a new unit so it will be a little more expensive.
 
 In my shopping, I found the best discounts were on dealer carry overs.  These were brand new demo units from prior years (after all you can do a NADA price check on them).
 
 About 20% is the highest discount I have heard of anyone getting on a current model year unit.  And that takes some effort on the buyers part.  E.G take the quote you just got to another dealer so they know you are serious and play them against one another.  
 
 Don t be shy about making counter offers.  This can be either in price or accessories.  Example: I ll take it a that price if you throw in: BAL Leveler, Bunk end fan lights, Fulton Boot Trailer Keeper, awning mats, start up kit, trailer hitch, wheel chocks, etc.
 
 If price is your major purchasing criterea don t fall in love with a specific make or model.  Take " Consumer Reports"  advise on purchasing a car, select three different makes with models you like and shop.  If the sales people figure out you are in love with brand x model y they have you behind the 8 ball.
 
 In my experience, service and convenience both have value.  Are you willing to pay a little extra for either?  If you drive 90 or 100 miles to shop for a car or a trailer, the sales people typically realize they have one shot at you and they offer their best price up front.  
 
 The dealers I delt with didn t have every model on their lots either.  Remember what I said about hold overs above?  It is typical to show the customer something pretty close to what they are intrested in and order the exact model after getting a deposit.  
 
 If you want to speak to someone knowledgable at the dealership:
 
 1) Find a family member of the owner.  They are the ones who make the pilgrimages to the factory and industry trade shows.  They are supposed to be training their employees.  But lets face it, not everyone is a born teacher nor is everyone a born student.
 
 2) Find a dealership that specializes in trailers.  If the lot is chock full of $100K, $200K, $300K motor homes guess what product the commisioned sales people are studing?  
 
 FYI, we narrowed our " A"  list to Jayco and their sister company Starcraft.  They build quality trailers.  If you or your family members are tall, they will especially appreciate the current model year Jayco s (Qwest, Eagle, the elusive Designer series) and the Starcraft Centennial series trailers as all have tall ceilings.
 
 We had to scrape our children off the dealership s ceiling with a spatula when they found out we purchased the popup.  They can t wait for the weather to warm up enough so we can go camping.  Hope you have many years of pleasureable camping with your family!
 
 

[sandykayak]

 jawilson
03 Eagle 12FSO $8493
 Freight $400
 Convenience Group $264
 Spare tire cover $16
 CP/shower $1214
 Canopy $243
 Deluxe Screen Room $279
 2 cu ft refer $436
 16000 BTU Furnace $321
 Silverware Draw $14
 SoftStor overhead $57
 Portable gray water tank $150
 Coleman(!) 13,500 A/C $695
 Heat strip for A/C $30
 TOTAL $12612
 
 FWIW, I remember offhand some of the charges for the extras when I bought my new  02 Jayco Qwest 8U and I think you re getting a pretty good deal.  
 
 My unit was $5,100 (before tag/title) and that included the Carrier a/c (billed at $800), and the Norcold. They charged me $100 for the heat strip.  I didn t get a furnace, nor a gray water tank, did get the propane tank and spare tire covers.
 
 What really has me fuming is that they quoted me $400 for the deluxe screenroom (and that s for the smallest trailer) and I had to say no.  Grab it for $279, especially since these are specially made for the Jayco awning.
 

[4Galvs]

 jawilson

 

ORIGINAL:  jawilson
 
 Okay, I ve been to the Coleman, Palomino and now Jayco dealers. A few more to look at (Viking/Clipper and perhaps Flagstaff) and at least I ll have an idea of what I want/need. So far, only the Coleman dealer has actually had one of the models I was looking for (Utah CP), all the rest made me look at something " close" . At least this was enough to get an idea about construction, materials, quality, etc.
 
 Today at the Jayco dealer I pressed the sales wonk for some idea of pricing, so we sat down and did a rough draft. To me the price sounds too high -- certainly more then I had planned on spending -- but I want to check with you people to see if what I expect is unrealistic or this really was a fair shake.
 
 Here s the config;
 03 Eagle 12FSO           $8493
 Freight                  $400
 Convenience Group        $264
 Spare tire cover         $16
 CP/shower                $1214
 Canopy                   $243
 Deluxe Screen Room       $279
 2 cu ft refer            $436
 16000 BTU Furnace        $321
 Silverware Draw          $14
 SoftStor overhead        $57
 Portable gray water tank $150
 Coleman(!) 13,500 A/C    $695
 Heat strip for A/C       $30
 TOTAL                    $12612
 
 The salesman said he would " give"  it to me for $10,824, which is about 13% off. I think that he should do better, but he was a bit aloof and didn t seem interested in dealing. Is that a good price, or could I do better? The camper seemed nice, but I think the price could be more attractive.
 
 Also, have you found the salesman to be uninformed about the products they sell? I ve only been doing research on popups for 2-3 weeks now and even I know stuff that they don t. AAMOF, I ve told each of the salespeople (1 women and 2 guys) stuff about there own product that they didn t know! While each of the 3 has made mention of some option/feature that I wasn t aware of on there particular camper I have stumped all of them -- darn near 50% of the time -- with what I consider simple questions. Are they all this oblivious?
 

 You can try here: [link=http://www.worldwiderv.com./newbuild/new_getbaseinfo.cfm?ID=48]WorldWideRV[/link]
 

[Gatsmommy]

 jawilson

Did it come with anything else?? $11K for a Qwest seems like a worse price then what I got, which was almost the same for a loaded Eagle.

 That was thier list price. I m not sure what else it included, and I m sure if we were serious about it I could get it down at least some. But by this time we d pretty much decided we liked the coleman over the Jayco, and we re looking just as a comparison type of thing. We won t actually be buying for another year or two minimum, and still have other manufaturers to check out.
 
 

[Mahaffey-Family]

 jawilson

Rambling Wreck  56
  99 GMC Sierra Extended Cab XLT
  04 Starcraft Centennial 3600

 Congratulations

[Preacher]

 jawilson
Beth,
 
 If you are interested in Coleman, make sure you check out Sunbelt RV in Belton, TX.  I probably looked at the same dealer that you are looking at in Buda.  Sunbelt beat their deal by a long way!  Ask for Pat.  There was no high pressure selling.  Also when we had our Buick regal, he refused to sell us anything more than the Taos.  Other dealers were trying to sell us bigger trailers.  He told me that if I wanted to buy a bigger trailer that I would have to go else where because he had to sleep at nights.  When we bought our Westlake (yes we have a bigger TV) he talked us out of some things that I might have bought if he had said it was worth it.  He talked us into getting the Carrier AC with heat pump (not heat strip) instead of the furnace.  Not only did it save us money, but it gave us more cabinet room.  The heatpump also works great and we ve never regretted getting it.

[Mahaffey-Family]

 jawilson
..

[Gatsmommy]

 jawilson
Preacher,
 Thanks for the tip. I put a note with the place and Pat s name in my " wish list file" . You re right we went to Crestview in Buda. We acutally just went to drop off a registration form we picked up at the RV show to win a camper.....but of course we didn t. It was worth a try though LOL.
 
 I was impressed with them though because when we bought our camper we had trouble getting it titled and needed to have 2 dealers give us apprasials on it (stupid since it s so old) and Crestview was the only one that would do it for us in the Austin area without giving me a hard time.  But I have no problems going with whoever seems to be the most honest and can give us a good price, so if/when we get to that point we will definatly check them both out.
 Thanks
 Beth

[jawilson]

 RamblingWreck
RamblingWreck; that was an excellent post. Thanks for all the good info!
 
 BTW; I m 6  1" , if you consider that tall...[]

[jawilson]

 sandykayak

ORIGINAL:  sandykayak
 What really has me fuming is that they quoted me $400 for the deluxe screenroom (and that s for the smallest trailer) and I had to say no.  Grab it for $279, especially since these are specially made for the Jayco awning.

But did you also have to pay for the awning? Those 2 prices combined are more then $400, and you can t get one without the other.