New OLD Guy & Girl - Getting a Snoozy

[jgilliam1955]

Here's my story & I'm sticking to it
We are from Virginia. We have been wanting to get a trailer for 40 years. We bought a Trailmanor Trailer, which I loved but only took it out twice. But life got in the way. We sold it in one day.

Now we are on our way to South Carolina to Order a Lil Snoozy on Aug 28. We had no tow vehicle, but figured, we had 6 to 8 months to find one.
BUT this week we saw a used red 2015 Chevrolet Colorado V6 pick up, tow's 7000 pounds. It was on the dealers lot for $28K. It had 27K miles on it. (We wanted to spend 10K to 15K for a tow vehicle, but looking around a lot of bad ones out there.)

The Boss said there was no way we could afford a 28K truck. But told me to go & see what was the best they would do. Those folks are nice but I was having a tough time. Told them my best offer was 15K, but they kept smiling (might of been taking pity on an old fool ), After 2 hours I said I can't do this any more, I have got to pick up the Boss.

They made a fatal decision at that moment, they said take the truck & pick her up & see how she likes it. I said she likes it already. It's about buying a Camper & a truck at the same time. I gave them ONE warning. Her Daddy had his first Penny when died at age 96. My wife is LIKE HER DADDY. She has EVERY PENNY she's ever earned. They just smiled & said she'd be welcomed.

Well let me tell you folks. They never saw it coming. She was smiling that smile, you old married men know it. It's like a lioness playing with a mouse. We walked in to that glass cubical & introduced my wife to the sales person, the owner, & the finance guy, THEN I LEFT & sat down a safe distance.

My wife's smile never went away. She never raised her voice. I saw her nodded NO a lot, pointing her finger on lots of paper work & nodding NO some more. The sales person would exit wiping his brow, refusing to make eye contact with me. When the owner walked out to gather his wits, his eyes were blood shot & his hands were shaking. You know something you would see at a AA meeting. The finance guy had a pile of paper work around him, & he was slumped over grabbing his chest. My wife was sitting up just as calm, sort of like she was at church.

Well I was called back into the room. We had a truck for 18K even, & the interest rate was a whole 1% lower. I just sit there smiling & said "Now you know who will be negotiating for our new camper!"

[Civilguy]

Jack,

That's a great story. Did you ever hear Zig Ziglar talking about his wife Jean, the "decided redhead"? (That because she "decided" to become a redhead, but probably also because she could apparently be pretty definite in her thinking.)

‘Zig Ziglar’s Secrets of Closing the Sale’ part three | dawn montgomery presents…

[Borrego Dave]

Great story Jack, you've got the post of the day in my book .

[TomK]

I second Dave's nomination.

Tom

[DeanCHS1980]

Hi Jack,

Nice story!!! Got that nice '15 Colorado. That Lil Snoozy will look great behind it.

Happy camping,

Dean

[Raspy]

That is a great story.

Best to NEVER buy a car when you need one and never let the sales force know you really want the one you're discussing.

Next, NEVER just walk into a dealership and take the first yoyo that runs out to shake your hand. Big mistake. As soon as you say as little as "good morning" to him, he gets a commission. Talk to the owner or the fleet manager and call ahead to see who they are so you can get directly to them when you arrive. Start negotiations from the dealer invoice or the dealer cost and know what these are as you begin. Negotiating in the dark, with numbers you've never seen, is just a game that requires a lot of work and gamesmanship with people you don't like. Methods as I've described save hours of demeaning negotiations with professionals, who are very experienced at separating you from your money.
Again, they are professionals at extracting money from you based on your emotions. Don't go there.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by DeanCHS1980

Hi Jack,

Nice story!!! Got that nice '15 Colorado. That Lil Snoozy will look great behind it.

Happy camping,

Dean

I agree completely. Now that the hard negotiations are done, enjoy your new truck, and eventually, your new Snoozy. Hope to see you out there!

[jgilliam1955]

Thanks everyone one. Look for my other story first time camping.

[Gene Masse]

Good luck negotiating on the camper. These little eggs are in high demand. If the owner know it and likely will he knows he'd be foolish to go down much if at all.

[stude]

Jack your boss is just like my boss, I also got fed up with a dealership. They were trying to push me the same way they were doing to you, so I went home and talked it over with the Boss. Cple of days later it was still sitting in the lot so I sent my wife in to the sales people, they wanted $15,000 for a 2012 model Truck and I had offered them $11,000 and they said no full value only. I sent the boss in to deal with them, she came back to where I was sitting, she got it for $9800.00 Cash Sale. My Boss is one smart cookie when comes to dealing with Car Dealers.
Stude

[jgilliam1955]

Now that's pretty sweet. Funny.

[Mitzi Agnew-Giles]

I LOVE your story, Jgilliam1955. Welcome to the wonderful world of Snoozy. We picked ours up at the factory at 4 pm Friday afternoon and Richard, knowing we had NEVER been RV camping before in any way shape or form (ex backpacker, canoe camper, car camper) gave us the whole RVING 101 course, he didn't leave till 8 pm, right behind us, bless his heart.
I was born in Washington DC but raised in Northern Va, thinking about a trip to Pohick Regional Park if my high school graduating class of 1968 even gets its stuff together. It wouldn't be too strenuous a commute from there to Springfield, I hope.


I discovered something this weekend I hadn't really thought much about before, but the Snoozy power connection is on the front of the trailer and it's short. I've been discovering, first up in Newfoundland and now here in FL, that lots of state /provincial campsites have their electric connection at the back of the site, where we can't access it. A former co-worker told me that WalMart and Camper World carry 30 amp outside Rv extension cords. When I googled I found that the Walmart 25 foot cord even has handles at both the male and female ends. So that will probably be the one I order. Just heads- upping you so you can think about how you might want to deal with the short cord problem.


Hope you have as much fun with your Snoozy as I'm having with mine!!!
(We pulled into O'Leno State Park yesterday, in the rain, and I felt a sudden rush of joy as I realized I didn't have to put the tent up! in the rain!!)

[jgilliam1955]

Thank for your kind words. The information is great. We will be stocking up while we wait. Did you get a generator?
We live in Williamsburg VA. My wife retired from Colonial Williamsburg after 32 years. I still have 2 years to go.
Keep us up to date on your adventures. We haven't met Richard yet.

[Mitzi Agnew-Giles]

Yes, we bought the optional generator. Also: extra window for natural light, extra driver side storage access, extra light in storage, marine toilet that unloads from outside, 7 pin electric, and 12volt refrigerator.


The generator has really been wonderful for us to have. A Boondockers Welcome site we were staying at had electric available, but we couldn't reach it and our host had no problem with us running the generator all night. It is really very quiet.


Have heat related asthma, need a/c, in July, in the South...

[jgilliam1955]

Originally Posted by Mitzi Agnew-Giles

Yes, we bought the optional generator. Also: extra window for natural light, extra driver side storage access, extra light in storage, marine toilet that unloads from outside, 7 pin electric, and 12volt refrigerator.


The generator has really been wonderful for us to have. A Boondockers Welcome site we were staying at had electric available, but we couldn't reach it and our host had no problem with us running the generator all night. It is really very quiet.


Have heat related asthma, need a/c, in July, in the South...

We got the Generator Cover. ( Will purchase generator separate to save a few dollars.) & Window, upgraded toilet & The Camper Cover & a couple other things I can't remember right now. We were able to stay with in our budget. We had 2 list a "MUST HAVE" & a "WISH LIST". The must have won out, BUT really pleased. Glad to hear the generator was quiet.
Read my post under stories I wrote 15 years ago about the only 2 times we went camping.