Paying Cash vs. Financing at General RV Center: Surprises and Lessons Learned

[strickll]

We just purchased our 2021 Winnie Adventurer, 36Z this past Saturday. All in all, a pleasant buying experience, from the biggest RV dealer in the country. Through the process of the purchase we told them we were prepared to give them a sizeable down payment, $70k plus, financing a small amount for the remainder of the $120k ish price. I had already researched what the payments would be and had a plan in place to pay off the loan much sooner than the full term. The payment they came up with for the same term and price was more than $300 higher than what I could come up with on any financing website. We decided without telling them, we would just go ahead and pay cash for the balance, after giving them a deposit. The certified check we went in with was for the full amount of the balance due on the purchase order, after the deposit, we had already given them. The finance guy was noticeably surprised when I gave him a cashiers check for the full balance, after we had already been approved for the amount we, and they, thought we'd be financing. Come to find out they had made an error in calculating the balance that would be financed, a sizeable error. Though do-able, It was a bit of a sting purchasing outright, BUT.......It's ours outright. No debt. No lien, title is on the way. I'm calling it a win. They called tonight. Offering to cut us a large check to replenish our account, if we'd move forward with the adjusted, for their error financing option they had come up with. We declined. I'm loving it, because I also made them replace one of the TV's, the outside stereo, all 5 batteries and fix a number of things I found on my inspection. 6 hours of their shop foreman and lead technician working away to correct my deficiencies. We feel very blessed that we were in a position to pay cash. I cannot help thinking I got the upper hand in a situation where the dealer usually wins in a larger way. I've seen our trade already listed on their website and it's listed at a lot more than they gave us for the trade, so they ultimately win, but I still feel like we got the upper hand on the whole deal. Not bragging or trying to be boastful, just sharing good fortune with what seems to be a great group of people. Ya'll have a great day!

 

[Waterbug]

When you finance an RV, the seller gets a loan originalization fee. When you suddenly pay cash instead of financing, the dealer looses that loan origination fee. That upsets their profit margin. It happened to me, when I came up with 2.5% financing, with home equity, instead of dealers 7,5% deal.

 

[WinnieT]

We just bought a 2026 Trevato from Gen RV in PA during the Hershey show and had a similar experience. We decided a few days before the closing to pay cash and the financing guy in VA we dealt with never told the dealership in PA we decided not to finance. Long story short, they owed us a significant refund from some of our negotiations that I could not resolve with the Business manager and other folks in PA. However, the salesman we dealt with (big shout out to Dominick S. from Tampa General RV in FLA!!!!!) was very understanding and patient (probably even took a hit on his commission) and worked it out with management and eventually (a month+ later) we received the refund for our negotiated price. I heard General RV was one of the best and was very disappointed by this specific dealership by the whole delivery process which sucked all the fun and excitement out of taking delivery of the new RV. I surely hope the more local dealership will perform better. Bottom line, do your homework, know what you want and what you are getting specifically, keep records and double check everything before you go to take delivery (we were 3 hrs from home, the delivery process took 5 hrs and we ended up driving 3 hrs in the dark on some unfamiliar roads with a completely new vehicle). Final word, if you are looking to buy a "new" RV-- look up and call Big Dom S., at the Tampa General RV store!