Will Sportsmobile bargin on the price of a new conversion.

[icetea]

I am going to jump in and buy a new Sportsmobile and I want to know if thier prices are all fixed or will they give you any discounts? Any information or experience would help

[llamadave]

I asked in Indiana and got a "no discounts" answer. I think in general for custom conversions you should expect to pay the listed prices. With every van different, no mass production, these small business are not making much profit.

David

[stanw909]

They will leave things out but design it to add later resulting in a lower price. You could also find the chassis yourself and save that way. I just came from the Pomona rv show and their prices are a lot lower than the other brands.

[yvrr]

If you are looking at a new van, I don't think you can match their van prices since they are paying fleet prices (back in the 1980s-1990s, we bought a new car every 18 months and negotiated a lot of deals and still couldn't match SMB's price for the van itself). As David mentions, the prices listed for individual conversion items are fixed...no "wheeling and dealing". We bought our 2001 SMB right after the dot.com meltdown and thought that SMB would be willing to bargain with us due to the poor economy but nope...we still paid full prices and waited 9 months for the conversion to be finished.

If you do decide to start with a minimum build, talk to them about what you want to put off. For example, the electric penthouse costs twice as much to install later rather than as part of the initial build. They will be straight with you and work with you to avoid costly additions later.

[BroncoHauler]

Having SMB pre-wire for solar, is another place where you can invest some money now, without paying the full price at the current time. They can put the wiring in place if you plan on going with solar panels and a solar controller at some later time. Adding the wiring at a later date will increase the cost.


Herb

[daveb]

Once you deal with SMB you will find what everybody posted is true. If you really want to save money maybe a used vehicle might be better for you. I wanted a new van and found it was easy to say "I don't really need that" or "I'll put that on later" but in the end a slightly higher loan might have been a better choice. As posted, it might cost a lot more to have things added after the final build. It did in my case… that’s for sure. Do plenty of homework and figure what your commitment is going to be. Another issue is insurance. Adding things after the delivery date might pose a problem if something were to happen to the van when dealing with compensation from insurance companies.
There is a point to going overboard, but most owners upgrade things on their vehicles as compared to removing items. If you haven’t read these posts they’re worth a look:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2380
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2374

Good luck on your build.

Dave

[straymonkey]

During fall timing (now), Ford tends to give a lot of rebate. I bought my van last year this time, and they had a $4,000 rebate. If you buy it off the lot (this year's model), they will even give you more discount. I drove it to Fresno and they modified it.

I was just recently in Fresno and I was told that they had some recent layoffs. So I'm not sure if this will entice them to negotiate. They might give you extra stuff rather than lower their price. But by policy, they don't negotiate.

RE: Solar, best thing I've ever bought. In the last 8 months (camping almost every weekend), only once have we actually ran out of power. Best investment I did.

Hope this helps and good luck.