In some of my original posts on this site, I told the story of browsing at the mid-year Brisbane C'Van/camping show, but wanting to buy post-show so that we'd be able to take delivery just before xmas when we needed it.
We cruised the whole show, and the Lifestyle Extenda CT's blew us away for their bang-for-buck and because of the wide walkway and 10ft tent. We had one child at that time, and plans for another one which is now in the oven & due in Sept, so we knew we'd be camping with 2 kids under 3 soon enough. The 10ft tent is perfect for us, and with a full annex and walls I reckon it'd easily do 3 or 4 kids. I opened and closed a 12 footer once, and that was once enough. I found I couldn't do it myself which is no good for when it's just me and the little one camping (she's under 2, so not much help beyond laying out and collecting the pegs!), and we felt that the dimensions of the extenda 10 footers was more suitable than a narrow/long 12ft tent.
As I recall the Trackabout extended model at the time had a narrower walkway, so Lifestyle was our preferred pick because of this. I certain Trackabout now offer the same width walkway so it'd be a much harder decision if we were doing the same this year..
We approached the Lifestyle guys at the show and told them that we didn't need to put money down and order until a few months after the show, giving them 4 months for delivery. But last year this didn't matter as they were going to offer the show package continuing on into the year. As I recall, the show package included upgrades on the standard features to include gas struts on the bows, upgrades to LED tail lights, new 16" Mud Terrains all round, kitchen sink pump & tap, and other stuff I can't recall - I think it was the case that these features were to become standard down the track, so it was a bit of a test on the market as to who wanted what features at each price point and on what models.
It was a 'special' as such when you compared the deal we got with other standard offers, but for us they were items we wanted anyway so it was really just an easy way to get the package we wanted with limited haggle.. I remember too that the base price on our model went up by $400-ish later in the year and after we ordered, but that was probably just their annual review of costs and increases etc.
Could we have driven a harder bargain waiving some cash around at the show? Maybe.. but we didn't have the cash, and didn't need the trailer yet, so it wasn't in our buying scenario.
My show tips:
- Check if the deal is really a deal. Get quotes pre-show as it makes sense that the market would be quieter post-xmas and coming into winter so might be able to move on $$$ and inclusions.. I think you've set yourself up to do this already which is good. We were probably a little under-prepared in knowing prices.
- Be wary of drive-away deals. We saw and were offered one that was very suspect, as it was the tent they had the public traipsing through, and it wasn't registered in Qld, so it was actually illegal to do so. I think we all know which Sydney-based dealer this might have been.. .. . .. ...
- Is the deal going to be available post-show? Ours was, but most we saw were hard and fast not available after Sunday afternoon. I'm not a fan of these pressure deals when laying down $10-15K++.
- Know your products, and features. We found even with leaf spring suspension the range and standard of products under the trailers varied massively once you looked closer!!!
- Try and do a lap of the tents in the middle of the day - with many of them outside on display in Brisbane compared to inside at their respective home showrooms/factories, it was an opportune time to stand in them, in the sun, and see how hot they all really are or will be when out camping. This is where the Tropical roof won out for us on the Lifestyle and others that had them fitted/standard.
Good luck, it's a jungle out there!!!
