Well
@bama_ed I gave the cliff notes version. It went pretty quick but over the course of a couple of weeks. We went on the Saturday before the 4th of July and spent several hours with a sales rep looking at about 10 different trailers that appeared to fit our requirements. Grand Design was on our list. We were not planning to buy either. We figured we would see what was available. Since it was a pretty hot out, we returned to the a common area and reviewed our notes about what we had seen. The sales rep took some additional information from us. We went back out and review a few models we had a strong liking too. The rep said he would leave us alone with those units as he had another customer to attend to. He said give him a call at any time if we had any questions while on site or off. As we were looking at the trailers, the last one seem to resonate for the both of us. We liked the layout. The outside storage space. The interior storage space. The bunk room. The bedroom and of course the bathroom. Good storage but better yet nice sized shower. We also kept looking at the 5th wheel version of the layout too. Except I was not sold on the 5er sine I was not a fan of the bed room ceiling height. We also felt it had the larger fridge it would not be as useful for the type of trips we go on. (After we both discussed it more.) We went back in and told the sales rep we would be in touch once we had a plan in mind. We requested a price on the trailer so we had an idea of what we were going to be spending and determine whether or not we would buy this year. We left the dealership.
The wife and I spend the remaining time in the area grabbing a bite to eat. We discussed the options and the pricing and financing options. She was somewhat on board with a couple of options. However she wanted to check on several options come Monday. We arrived back to the campground and spoke to our DD and my DGPs about what we had seen. I looked around the campground for owners of Grand Design's models. We found the owners were positive about the brand and the choice of dealer. They used the same dealer we had just visited. We showed the pictures of the trailer to the DD and asked if she was interested. At first she didn't want to give up the current trailer. Then a change in mind came about. Monday came. and the DW looked into what she wanted to look into. I said I would like to look at the model we seem to be most agreeable too with some lights on. So I made arrangements with the sales rep for another look Monday evening after work. During that time, the ales rep asked if we were considering a trade and I said if the numbers came back we could think about it. Since our current trailer had a soft floor in the bathroom, we knew were not going to get too much for it. However, during the day our rep kept us informed. The original quote price kept dropping. When it came time to discuss numbers my wife and I knew where we wanted to be and had an idea how to pay for it. We wound up getting a pretty good price with out the trade of our trailer and even better with. We said OK to the numbers and got working on the financing. Since the 4th was in the middle of the week and we had some stuff on our end to handle, it took awhile for the loan to be processed. We explain it would take awhile. We approved by the 6th and we had a scheduled delivery date choice of either the 11th or 2 weeks after since their deliveries were booked up. We took the 11th.
The weekend before we spent packing up the trailer. Since my parents had a campsite for the month next to us, we asked if we could set up a tent to hold our trailer stuff. They said sure and we went to walmart and found a tent large enough to hold all the items. We had the trailer emptied and a bittersweet moment with it as we knew it was last weekend and nights in it. However we also knew what the future held. Before long, delivery date came. We picked up our trailer from storage. Acquired all the documents and payments needed for purchase. Went to the dealership and got a really through PDI Demo. Paperwork was painless. Afterwards, we got the trailer back to the campground where we like to stay. Loaded up the trailer. I performed basic functions of understanding the trailer. The next morning I was on my way to boondocking for several days for an event I go to every year.
So yeah Ed it was not all in one day but over about a week and a half. My wife and I went in expecting to see some trailers and get a better idea what was out there on the market. It turned out we found what both of liked. The price was really good in the middle of the season. We hit pretty close to what we wanted to spend. In the end, we are very happy with our purchase and look forward to the next trips in the trailer.
****The DW wanted to make it clear we had been looking at trailers for quite some time. We have visiting the shows for a couple of years now. We could not find a layout that worked for us. So it was not as much of a "shotgun" approach as it sounded. It was just the latest chapter in our RV experience.
****
