Hi from WA...Price?

Hi from Bainbridge Island, WA.

I have been reading a lot on this forum. Our family has been camping for 20 years using a tent trailer. We are now down to just two of us and setting up and taking down the tent trailer is a pain. We have decided on a Rpod 177. I am going to primarily tow with a Land Rover Discovery. I have a TDR truck but like the smaller Discovery for vacations. The Discovery should do fine with a tow capacity of 5500 LBS.

My main question is price. I want to pay a fair price for the Rpod. We are going to purchase a new one. The dealer in my area is always having sales. The price varies from list to sale price this weekend. It is always going up in a week. I know it is a sale pitch, I just want to know the lowest fair price. I don't like dealing.

I can go out of state (next state over) and buy from a dealer who offers a life time warranty with yearly inspection. I have not received a quote from him yet. He is waiting for the new 2014 1/2 to come in, which he says will be higher in price. We want one of those because the entertainment center has been moved from above the bed.

I have even talked to one dealer about picking the Rpod up at the factory in The Dalles, OR. He said it was possible, I wouldn't have the instruction on how to use it from them and they would not be able to do their prep work. The systems on the Rpod and my tent trailer are pretty much the same and I am very familiar with boat systems. I know I would do fine without instructions.

As for price. Is it allowed on this site to post prices and get opinions on the range? Good or not so good of a deal. I don't think I will post the names of the dealers. What is Forest River opinion? I know they say to buy locally, but that really limits competition on price. I hate dealership negotiations.

Help me find the right price for our new Rpod. We want a Rpod 177, Hood River Edition, Crown Package and some other things. Any suggestions?

I have seen people pay from the low 13's to the high 19's for 177's. Agreed west coast dealers always seem higher. Some west coasters have made the drive to the midwest. It seems the eastern dealers are more price competitive. Our dealer (and others) put their prices on-line, or will email them to you.. But of course, you have to add in the cost of driving out and back, and the pain of taking a week long camping vacation.. lol.

Blue Dog RV in Post Falls, ID, have impressed me. Look at the Dealer Review section, there are comments about them. Just across the stateline past Spokane. I have a contact for them, send me a message and we can discuss. Seems that they discount several thousand over our Local dealer. 

Welcome.  My usual story that others have read here before - my local dealer listed our 171 for $18k, after negotiations wouldn't go below about $14k.  I then pulled out my quote from Couch's and he came within a few hundred bucks on the spot.  I paid about $12500.

No worries about mentioning dealers and prices, one of our founding principles here is open communication.

When I saw the Couch's RV listing today, I went to their website.  For some reason I thought they were in Portland, OR, nope, Ohio.  The had a really good price on a 178, but listed they wouldn't list the real price.  So I filled out the paperwork, not much and I immediately received a price in my email.  The price was $13,670 picked up in Ohio. In 10 minutes their was followup email from a sales guy.  I let him know I was a bit too far away.  He replied within 2 minutes that he would ship it.  I responded with my zip code and the shipping was $3200.  Their website clearly state they are a wholesale distributer.  Their prices are great if you don't have to drive3/4's the way across the country.