I knew this was going to happen sooner than later. I just knew it.
If you remember back when I purchased this latest vehicle, I told you that I had a nice, heavy duty trailer hitch installed. I even took a picture of it for display on this blog. Well, that trailer hitch has been looking at me all winter. The only problem is, I never got a trailer to go along with the hitch. Because it was winter, I really didn’t need a trailer. I mean, I could have saved a few bucks by picking up the snowblower, instead of having it delivered, but that was it.
Last week, I got a little ticked off at the high price of delivery for the mulch I purchased. $8 per yard just for delivery is ridiculous. I started thinking about all the things I have delivered and thought that I should bite the bullet and go get myself a little utility trailer.
We have a trailer dealer here that’s located fairly closeby. I figured I would try to throw them some business. You know, shop local and all that. Their name is Connecticut Trailers and they are located in Bolton, CT.
Last night, I browsed their website to see what kind of inventory they had. Their dealership looked like a really nice place that was full of trailers and I even picked out the one I wanted. The only thing that kind of threw me, was the price. The trailer I was interested in was a 4’x8′ Big Tex 15LT and it was priced at $1,218. Since the price on their website said “MSRP” next to it, I knew there was some wiggle room. After I looked at a bunch of other dealership websites that offered the same exact trailer, I discovered that the going rate was $850. I decided to visit the dealer this morning armed with this little price discrepancy knowledge.
I walked in the dealership around 11AM and was greeted by a nice sales guy. He took me for a ride on a golf cart to go look at the trailer I was interested in. I asked what the price was and he told me $1,218. I informed him that I was aware of the “real” $850 price that was being offered everywhere else on earth. He said he would check with his sales manager to see if he could get the price adjusted.
When we went back inside, we were visited by the sales guy’s sales manager, who was a very nice lady. We chatted for a while and she let me know that they couldn’t lower the price off of $1,218 because their price includes assembly, delivery and registration. I was kind of thrown for a loop because I would assume that if I visited another trailer dealer and they had a big “$850” sticker sitting on the trailer, the trailer would be, 1) assembled, and 2) delivered (meaning sitting there in front of me).
Needless to say, I was really confused. I was the only customer sitting in this large dealership full of very nice sales people. I wondered why they weren’t willing to give me a little break, just to show that they are willing to work with a customer, especially since there aren’t trailers really flying off the shelves these days. She was even kind enough to suggest that Home Depot or Lowes might be able to help me if this dealership’s prices were too high for my budget. I though that was nice. You know, I did kind of feel myself shrink down in the chair a little bit after she said that. I wonder if she knew I liked to write on a blog to broadcast everything that happens to me.
I walked out kind of bewildered. Honestly, I still am.
Just for your own personal knowledge, I am the kind of person who runs off the “volume” philosophy, instead of the “get as much as you can for this sale” philosophy. If you think about it, if they gave me $200 off of the trailer, I would have been a happy customer and would be writing this blog post right now showing you pictures of the trailer I got from them, instead of telling you the story this way. My way is…give a nice discount, get the product out the door, let the customer tell their friends and acquire a new customer for service, parts, etc…Make sense?
After that, I did a little research and found a trailer place called The Trailer Depot in Northford, CT. I called them up and they told me they had a 4’x8′ Carry-On utility trailer for $825. I told the guy I was hopping in the car to come get it.
From what I can gather, the Carry-On trailers that I was looking at are a little more light weight than the Big Tex trailers. That’s why there is a price difference. I didn’t care too much about the weight issue because I wasn’t planning on towing anything really heavy. I just need a trailer for mulch, furniture, pellets, etc…
On the way to the dealership, I got to thinking and decided that I would purchase the 5’x8′ model instead. It was a little bigger and only $50 more than the other one.
When I arrived at the dealership, I looked around for a while with the lady who runs the joint and I told her all about the strange stuff that happened that morning. She was a little perplexed as well. I asked her to look up the price for that exact same Big Tex trailer, just to see if I was being told stories or if everything was cool. We went back inside where she did some looking on the computer. She glanced over at me and held up a piece of paper that read, “$975.” She said, that’s how much I can sell you the Big Tex trailer for.
Hold on. $1,218 minus $975 equals $243. How can that be? This place had the trailer in stock and it was assembled. Strange. I asked her about what was concerning me. I said, “How much time does it take to assemble these trailers?” She replied, “What do you mean, put the wheels on? That’s all the assembly that’s required.” At that point, I knew what had happened this morning. I forgot to take the big “IDIOT” sign off my forehead after I woke up. Silly me.
Okay, on a more positive note, I did get that 5’x8′ Carry-On utility trailer this afternoon. The dealer even traded ball hitches with me. I had a 2″ ball and they gave me the required 1 7/8″ ball at no charge. We just traded. They didn’t make me buy it. Amazing.
We registered the trailer with DMV right there and hooked everything up. Everything worked perfectly. As I was leaving, I said, “So I can take this thing on the highway?” The fella replied, “Oh yeah, these are highway rated tires.” I asked, “How fast can I go?” He said, “65, 70.” Good enough for me.
The trailer rides very smoothly. I can basically drive as fast as I want and don’t even know it’s there. Now, I can go get my own mulch, furniture and pellets, without having to pay people to drive the stuff to me. That makes me happy.
Here are a few photos for you.
Oh, by the way, I am going to put short plywood walls on this trailer, so the mulch doesn’t fall out.
Excellent shopping skills. Did you ever email or call Big Tex and let them know that their some of their customers are not idiots? Maybe just email them a link to your blog? Or send them a picture of you with your new trailer! Thanks for this post. I am now armed with new knowledge for when I visit the dealership. I would rather throw the local guy some money rather than Home Depot. But, if they pull the same shanigans as Big Tex, at least I know “assembly” charge is a bunch of garbage.
The Big Text people weren’t the problem, it was the dealer. They sell a bunch of different brands of trailers.
I recently bought one of these ATV trailers and it works so well. They pull smoothly and the cost is very affordable. This is a great product. Thanks!
I purchased a Carry On brand trailer at a Lowe’s in Delaware (no sales tax) for $448 in May 2010. I can’t help but think you still paid too much. I saved $100 because I bought a John Deere mower and they had a promotional offer at the time.
…oh, and it was a 5′ x 8′ trailer!
I purchased a B&W turnoverball + gooseneck hitch system at the Trailer Depot in Northford as they pretty much gave me the best price on the system in New England. I was very pleased with the service I received at this dealership as well, and the install job was top notch! I give them a 2 thumbs up.
Now…here’s where I can offer some insight on all of this head scratching over pricing….I happen to be a trailer dealer in Canada. The pricing annomaly’s you experienced are all explainable. First off… Carry On is an inferior product to Big Tex. They build trailers as cheaply as possible in order to offer the lowest wholesale price. This means…in the long run they won’t last as long. You may also have been comparing product with 2000 lb axles vs. product with 3500 lb axles which will show a $100 price difference. Now…$975 at dealer 2…vs $1218 at dealer 1. There are a lot of possible explanations for this. 1…As mentioned the axles/product might not have been the same. 2. Dealer 1 might have had 1 left while dealer 2 had 5.. and dealer 1 knew they would get full price for it from someone before they had chance to get another in. 3. Dealer 2 might do there own freight while dealer 1 may have to pay an outside company to freight them. I expect this is the main difference. Freight makes up a HUGE portion of the trailer cost. The Big Tex trailers come from TX or GA…twice as far to CT as the Carry on trailers coming out of a plant in northern VA. The guy that posted he got the same 5 x 8 Carry on that you got for $550 vs. $875 is also due to this (that and the fact his trailer was $100 artificially low due to a promo where profit was coming out of the other product). He was in Delaware….therefore he couldn’t be any more than 50 miles from the Carry On Plant in Montross VA. Northford, CT is more like 400 miles. Diesel/Tractor trailers are not cheap!!!
I run a Big Tex dealership and would have to say that it was the dealership that you where having a issue with not the manufacturer and you should let the manufacturer know what happened. Sometimes I cannot get to the price that a customer wants with a Big Tex, they are more expensive than pretty much every trailer out there. In comparision it is like buying a Kia or a Lexus there is gonna be a price difference. When I have an issue like this I typically point the customer to a Big Tex owned Dealership and not a franchise because they really dont care how much they sell them for as long as they can keep the factory moving with product everything is great. I wouldn’t feel bad about the purchase you made because of the money, I know people are saying that you could get one for 400+ but that is a pretty bad trailer and although they look good now in 2 years they will be rusted out and they will have to buy another trailer for 400 again, and then again, and again…. Its a nasty cycle. If you got the money get you a good trailer and don’t worry about it for 15 years. Also assemebly for a 15LT is more than just tires they typically come on the truck with the lights, tounge jack, axles, and tires off of them. Putting the axles on is normally the long part of it but still it only takes about an hour.
Hope this helps you feel better about your purchase. Looks like you got a decent looking trailer.
I bought a horse trailer at the Bolton place mentioned above- it was an older unused model so it needed a couple of things fixed so I gave them 2 weeks to fix it. 1 day before pickup I get a call-someone pushed another horse trailer into mine -and mine got sandwiched-they said there wasnt much damage. I went up to look- LOL -I too must have had the Stupid Sign on. There was so much damage that I questioned the “accident ” story. They were sticking to it. The tire & rim had been damaged to the point that the tire was flat. I said get Exsiss to come out and recert it- at this point you have to repair it and replace parts-so its used-they would not give me a discount nor have it checked out or replace the axel that was hit. I tried to explain this is my horse’s car seat- they didnt care. I told them they had 24 hrs hours to give me back my $$ which was $15K+. Do you know when I went back to get the check the owner some how stepped out and the secretary had to give me the check- how pathetic! not even an apology.
I will happily tell everyone this story- if you buy from them you are stupid!