Has Anyone Ever Encountered A Trade Inspection Fee?

[andyshane]

A national dealer whose name I'll refrain from sharing at this point recently proposed something I'd never heard before. Until I pull it from the market later this month, my 2007 Patriot Thunder is for sale.* 

On the way back from a trip to the east coast, we stopped at several dealerships and looked at replacement candidates. Largely, we're looking to downsize due to a persistent inability to agree that a low-slung 45' coach pulling a 20' enclosed car hauler can't be safely dragged into just any parking lot on the spur of the moment; or, that some parks are simply not in the cards for a big rig like ours. Our quest first settled in on the new Horizons, built in the former Country Coach facility; lately, we've segued to the shorter Newmar offerings. We either visited or spoken with nearly two dozen dealers. One of these has been corresponding with us and recently mentioned a $3500 "Trade Inspection" fee.

It doesn't take a cynic to view something like this as profit-margin fluffing like we've seen from car dealers over the years, eg protective coating, transportation and area adjustment additions to invoices.

I'd like to hear if anyone else has run into something like this.

Meanwhile, I'm prepping the Beaver for an exciting 2019 season hopefully void of mechanical woes, other drama. I like the bus, and they certainly don't make them that rugged anymore. 




*At the request of my wife, I lowered the asking price until the Trade-plus-tax-advantage and selling price lines intersected; I don't see any sense continuing below that amount, will instead do updating until she no longer suffers from "new bus fever."

[jleamont]

Andy, that’s a new one for me and I spent a good amount of my career in automotive dealerships between service and sales and that left me scratching my head.

[wayne77590]

New one for me also Andy.

Hmmm! Does your DW suffer from small print read! 🤡

Oops! Now she'll go searching.