I have written here about our quest to find our “perfect” RV. Yes, I will absolutely agree, there is no perfect RV. It is impossible to find the perfect rig meeting all needs no less the first time out of the gate as was our experience. Even, in the case of a seasoned buyer, no manufacturer makes the machine that can meet the needs and wants of every single consumer. That’s impossible.

In our case they almost did. Our 2021 Class C Jayco Greyhawk Prestige 31FP (the one with the bunks) ended up suiting our needs and some. We absolutely love it.

However, there are some things that I wanted to improve on based on our particular habits and travel experiences. Having nothing to do with Jayco’s excellent customer service which I find thus far almost flawless (which we have had to use minimally BTW).

So this is not due to a lack of engineering nor design. It was based on not really knowing what we’d want for our travels and once getting on the road realizing, hmmmm, maybe a different type of rig. Totally 1st world problems I know.

Apparently it is a habit for RV buyers that we upgrade to another model. It’s kind of what we tend to do. Upwards of 74% of us do it according to some statistics.

I didn’t think it would ever be our case but after having our “Blast” as we affectionately call her, there were just some things I wanted to upgrade so I kept my eye peeled locally in Michigan.

My husband not so much but his one complaint was we have a gas powered engine and he now wishes we had gotten a diesel engine. All of a sudden gassing up with a bigger rig, along with the truckers instead of navigating with the tiny areas cars gas up in became appealing to him.

I will not name the dealership but let me tell you how they absolutely totally lost a cash sale. They assumed our final offer was way lower than what they were demanding as their “out the door price” because of some very…yes I will say it, stupid assumptions, mistakes or I don’t actually know what; don’t care at this point---that they made. All I know is, we walked when they could have had our trade in and well over 100K of our cash money. I guess they just didn’t need the business even though RV sales of towables and motorized are down at least 16% from last year at this time.

We had to bring The Blast in for a repair and at this same place they happened to have a new/used 2022 Jayco Seneca for sale with a bath ½ - a must if I were to upgrade and it of course is a diesel among other dreamy ameneties I have wanted.

The photos online were not optimal at highlighting the interior, but in person I was actually very surprised at now beautifully made it was inside. The attention to details were really well done (good job Jayco).

My husband was taking our Blast to maintenance and had no idea I was even giving this Seneca a look.

When you’re married 44 years, you know how things go. You have to be careful with presenting things I knew he would probably not want to do. I’m the spender in this marriage he’s the saver. It’s why we have a very comfortable living as it stands.

I know when to wheedle him and I know when to back off. Well…most of the time anyway…

I saw the inside, checked the outside and called him over.

I knew he liked it, right off the bat because of two things. He asked the salesperson questions and we didn’t argue on the way home. Quite the opposite. In fact he found all the positives in trading in and upgrading and listed them to me on the drive back home. In addition I am very good at reading body language no less the man I am married to and adore. I saw the set of his jaw, the look on his face. He was thinking about it. A very good sign.

Now the big elephant in the room was to get them to come down on their “out the door price” to some degree. The secret was, they didn’t have to come down horribly much, but I wanted to know what their limit was.

I was walking a tight rope.

Here’s some background and listen up dealerships. Why I lowball and why others may have stories like mine and might also lowball.

 I now offer an outlandish price at age 66 because of a few good reasons.

I’m older and wiser.

And sometimes you get that price! You do not know unless you ask. It has happened to me on more than one occassion.

I found out the hard way if you don’t ask you won’t know.

Example. The only two homes  we ever bought, our first and the one we are in now, I could have offered literally, tens of thousands of dollars less than I offered.

 The first house was right before the housing crash. So when we sold that house after buying this house we had to go to the table with a 10K check. It nearly killed me. I had done my due diligence, as my husband (an Army veteran) was deployed and it was all me. I stayed well within our budget and did not come even close to the budget Mark (my husband) gave me. To this day he still compliments me on how well I did buying our first house within our budget.

Yet the crash destroyed any and all equity and to know I could have offered literally tens of thousands less (the owner told me herself later) still haunts me.

Now with the dream home we are in the same happened. We found out the owners were in dire straights and were flippers and absolutely needed to sell as fast as possible. After the sale. I could have gone way lower. The good news in this case though is, the moment we closed, the equity exploded, and we are now sitting on a home even to this day, that is worth far more than what we paid for it.

Not the point. I still could have offered way less than I did!

So, needless to say, I low ball in many of my negotiations.  I can always go up in price. I can not go back down once the offer is made.

So I made a crazy low offer to the dealer. I made it sound as if my husband was stuck on that. However I never said anything or even implied, “last and final” or anything of the sort. I just said “Our offer is” (all done by text as they asked us to do).

Mind you I had some good reasons to. The rig had been there since at least the summer, I believe spring, it was now the very end of November. It was used and all the new 2024’s are already in.

As well as the fact in Michigan, it is traditionally the slowest time of the year for RV sales.

Would you believe they wouldn’t even answer the offer?  If you can imagine they waited until the next day entirely (not one peep) to say “I’m so sorry but ‘my manager said no’”.

With zero counter.

Let me tell you. The dolts at that point had already lost the deal.

My husband said we do not need an RV upgrade. The glow of seeing the rig in the parking lot had worn off and they were disrespectful to us. He did not say as much but as I said, after 44 years, I kinda know the guy. He was gone.

He recognized this was a tactic. He was VP of sales for a very large manufacturing firm, but he doesn’t have to put up with this.  

I see it this way.

We’re the customer. You owe us a timely answer in this digital age. We waited over 24 hours.

I reached out to your place of business selling RV’s. I asked to see this vehicle. I put this sale right into your lap. Common courtesy is always the best way to go I don’t care what they teach you in your business training seminars. It’s absolute rubbish if it means insulting your customer.

If they had at least countered with something quickly– let me repeat, something, I know it was only a 2K difference (and THAT I had to drag out of the salesperson who felt horribly caught in the middle BTW), I could have convinced my husband to go way back up because his initial offer was going to be tens of thousands more.

I was the one to say, let’s low ball it. We can always go up. He agreed so we did.

Yeah.

I was also counting on a military discount (I believe they initially forgot about it in their original offer) that I understood this dealership to give it which was 10% and would have gotten us BINGO the sale extremely close to their original out-the-door offer. I know if push came to shove I probably could have gotten my husband there. He knew I really, really wanted this upgrade for a number of reasons aside from the fact it was more spacious, and we could bring the cats with us and he likes to spoil me. There’s that…

If they had not been rude.

So next time you want to think about blowing off a cash sale of well over 100K with a trade-in, perhaps think that through. A bit of courtesy is really something that might be worth it in the long run. Ya think maybe? Maybe not. Maybe your dealership doesn’t need to make sales, maybe I’m the stupid one…

Until next time: Duty, Honor and Seeing the Country RV Style!