Another sunny day, with promises of temperatures in the high 60’s. Leisurely start to the day, then we decided to head down the road and check out some of the nearby RV lots. What an adventure. At the first lot, the guy only had one rig to show us that might meet our criteria. It was very nice, with leather furniture, etc. and had just been taken in on trade because the wife wanted a rig with a washer and dryer. So they had supposedly traded up to the tune of $50K so she could have her appliances. Does this guy have a brother, and is he married, because I have a few things I would really like to have in a motorhome, but I know my darling husband isn’t going to pay for them. Anyway, when we asked the salesman to put out the slides so we could see the full layout, everything went well with the two (yes two) back slides, but the front one only went part way and wouldn’t go any further. OK, we’ll be back later. Bye now.
Down the road a bit further to the next dealership. Salesman #1 comes out and greets us, and we tell him what we’re looking for and he takes us off across the lot. Starts showing us motorhomes that have a sticker price $20-30K more than we said we were considering, but a nice enough guy who actually got us thinking maybe we should pay the extra and consider new. He then goes to find the “inventory manager” to inquire about one unit that had just come in, and both of them come back.
Salesman #2 starts chatting with us, then #1 has to go and take a phone call. #2 didn’t impress either of us from the get-go; a bit of a slob and just came across as a bit sketchy. He shows us a couple more rigs and keeps saying how everything on the lot is already slashed to its lowest price, and any trade-in will be a set value and won’t deviate regardless of what we might buy. So Robin says, well give us an idea of what you would give us for our truck and trailer. The guy insists we have to decide on which unit we are interested in before he will start looking at any numbers. His tone of voice is almost confrontational and kind of implies if we’re not dead serious about buying, he can’t be bothered with us. Robin tries to push for the valuation, and finally says OK, we’re interested in such-and-such unit. The salesman walks back into the building to get the appraiser, who happens to be on site, to take a look at our truck. Robin says to me he wants to just tell the guy to – well, you know! I say, just go in and tell him that I’m starving and getting a headache and we’re going to go get some lunch and will come back. So Robin goes off into the showroom to find the guy, and a couple of minutes later he comes back out with Salesman #1 trailing behind. When Robin gets in the truck, #1 is at my window and says to Robin, “Don’t let him scare you off. He irritates me too sometimes”. Robin just says, “we have to go get some lunch” and drives away. He then tells me that when he went inside, he found #2 in the manager’s office, and, with several other salesmen standing around, told #2 that we were leaving to get some lunch, we weren’t interested in dealing with him, and we didn’t like his attitude – basically, YOU’RE A JERK. I felt bad for Salesman #1, because he was actually quite nice and was obviously doing a good job, since he had us considering new, but Salesman #2, being a #2 (if you know what I mean) cost him, and the business, a potential sale.
Off to lot #3. And, I thought that perhaps we had found THE ONE. The minute I stepped into it, it just “felt right”. It had all the features that are important to me, was within the size range Robin is looking for, and the price seemed to be negotiable. We sat down with the sales manager, and he got the info on our truck and trailer and went off to write up a deal. He came back with a net difference that was about $15K more than we were prepared to spend. We just said no thanks, too much difference – we could probably do better back home. He took it well, and we joked about a couple of things and went on our way. But we kept thinking about it and had a couple of discussions about whether we might consider going a bit higher.
In the meantime, I got a message from Donna saying that they were getting together with all the same folks from Tuesday night for happy hour if we wanted to join them. Also told me that they were going to have to leave the next day (a couple of weeks earlier than planned), as some business issues had come up at home that they felt were best to deal with in person. Also one of the other couples was making their scheduled departure the next day, so after happy hour they were all going out for dinner, and invited us to join them. We had a great evening, and it made us feel that we would definitely consider returning here next winter and staying for a month or more in this park.
By the time we got back, it was straight to bed.
Until tomorrow, dear followers.
Down the road a bit further to the next dealership. Salesman #1 comes out and greets us, and we tell him what we’re looking for and he takes us off across the lot. Starts showing us motorhomes that have a sticker price $20-30K more than we said we were considering, but a nice enough guy who actually got us thinking maybe we should pay the extra and consider new. He then goes to find the “inventory manager” to inquire about one unit that had just come in, and both of them come back.
Salesman #2 starts chatting with us, then #1 has to go and take a phone call. #2 didn’t impress either of us from the get-go; a bit of a slob and just came across as a bit sketchy. He shows us a couple more rigs and keeps saying how everything on the lot is already slashed to its lowest price, and any trade-in will be a set value and won’t deviate regardless of what we might buy. So Robin says, well give us an idea of what you would give us for our truck and trailer. The guy insists we have to decide on which unit we are interested in before he will start looking at any numbers. His tone of voice is almost confrontational and kind of implies if we’re not dead serious about buying, he can’t be bothered with us. Robin tries to push for the valuation, and finally says OK, we’re interested in such-and-such unit. The salesman walks back into the building to get the appraiser, who happens to be on site, to take a look at our truck. Robin says to me he wants to just tell the guy to – well, you know! I say, just go in and tell him that I’m starving and getting a headache and we’re going to go get some lunch and will come back. So Robin goes off into the showroom to find the guy, and a couple of minutes later he comes back out with Salesman #1 trailing behind. When Robin gets in the truck, #1 is at my window and says to Robin, “Don’t let him scare you off. He irritates me too sometimes”. Robin just says, “we have to go get some lunch” and drives away. He then tells me that when he went inside, he found #2 in the manager’s office, and, with several other salesmen standing around, told #2 that we were leaving to get some lunch, we weren’t interested in dealing with him, and we didn’t like his attitude – basically, YOU’RE A JERK. I felt bad for Salesman #1, because he was actually quite nice and was obviously doing a good job, since he had us considering new, but Salesman #2, being a #2 (if you know what I mean) cost him, and the business, a potential sale.
Off to lot #3. And, I thought that perhaps we had found THE ONE. The minute I stepped into it, it just “felt right”. It had all the features that are important to me, was within the size range Robin is looking for, and the price seemed to be negotiable. We sat down with the sales manager, and he got the info on our truck and trailer and went off to write up a deal. He came back with a net difference that was about $15K more than we were prepared to spend. We just said no thanks, too much difference – we could probably do better back home. He took it well, and we joked about a couple of things and went on our way. But we kept thinking about it and had a couple of discussions about whether we might consider going a bit higher.
In the meantime, I got a message from Donna saying that they were getting together with all the same folks from Tuesday night for happy hour if we wanted to join them. Also told me that they were going to have to leave the next day (a couple of weeks earlier than planned), as some business issues had come up at home that they felt were best to deal with in person. Also one of the other couples was making their scheduled departure the next day, so after happy hour they were all going out for dinner, and invited us to join them. We had a great evening, and it made us feel that we would definitely consider returning here next winter and staying for a month or more in this park.
By the time we got back, it was straight to bed.
Until tomorrow, dear followers.
Today's Observation on Aging
What used to be freckles are now liver spots.
What used to be freckles are now liver spots.