2023 Pricing

[WillyB]

Just received an email from Escape.

Wow! $42,195 for a base 21C.

[Mike G]

Base price on a 17B rose more than $3,000. That cinches it, I will never be able to own a new Escape in my lifetime, barring a generous endowment from some Santa Claus type person.

[WillyB]

I just priced out what I've ordered and will be picking up next month.

We will be paying $42,664. It's now $51,145.

[Clearwater Chris]

Hey Mike G, I feel your pain. The price of my dream 5.0 has increased 20% since I joined this forum a year ago. I hoped to coordinate retirement and taking possession of the 5.0 in about three years. At this rate it will cost over $70,000 for that new 5.0. The dream feels like it's slipping away...

[Wig]

Hi All,
That’s certainly a punch to the gut. We placed a deposit on a 21C in early August 2021. There have been two price increases between 8/21 and 7/22 when we signed our build sheet. I told my wife we would not deal with a third increase and luckily we won’t have to. We had discussed going in a different direction but decided to stick with Escape as it has been a dream of ours for awhile. We sold our 2014 Casita Spirit Deluxe in June for more than we paid for it (a testament to how FG trailers hold their value) and wouldn’t have been able to swing the Escape without that happening. I understand what’s going on with the economy but it’s unfortunate when people like Mike G. get priced out of the market.

[BritCanuck]

Wish I has made a note of the base 5.0 price when we put down our deposit a year ago. But according to the wayback machine, it was just over $41k.

So that’s a 35% increase in 12 months. We’re not due to sign the build sheet for another year. Are we expecting 3 more increases next year?

[Deva]

I backed out in June after I put a deposit down on a 5.0 in March with completion date 8/24. Two price increases from March to June with who knows how many more before build sheet was completed? I understand supply chain issues, yada yada, but I also think there’s a lot of greed going around. Sad i won’t have an Escape to enjoy, but I’ll find something else that will suit me (and my pocketbook) better. I feel for all the people who have decided it’s not worth the cost and/or the cost is no longer feasible.

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by Deva

I backed out in June after I put a deposit down on a 5.0 in March with completion date 8/24. Two price increases from March to June with who knows how many more before build sheet was completed? I understand supply chain issues, yada yada, but I also think there’s a lot of greed going around. Sad i won’t have an Escape to enjoy, but I’ll find something else that will suit me (and my pocketbook) better. I feel for all the people who have decided it’s not worth the cost and/or the cost is no longer feasible.

Sorry to hear of your disappointment. We have purchased two Escapes ( both from the same owner) and have been totally satisfied with both of them. There used to be an add on a local radio station I listened to. Their slogan was: “Why buy new when used will do?”. Even if you don’t buy new, there’s excellent condition and well optioned Escapes for sale in a regular basis. I’m sure you know this, just encouraging you to consider that path.
Iowa Dave

[lonewolfjb]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

Sorry to hear of your disappointment. We have purchased two Escapes ( both from the same owner) and have been totally satisfied with both of them. There used to be an add on a local radio station I listened to. Their slogan was: “Why buy new when used will do?”. Even if you don’t buy new, there’s excellent condition and well optioned Escapes for sale in a regular basis. I’m sure you know this, just encouraging you to consider that path.
Iowa Dave

So true, Iowa Dave. We were also lucky to have found and awesome like new 2017 Escape 19 a few years ago. These trailers are built to last a long time with a little care and maintenance.

[mlowther]

While we were disappointed with this latest price increase, as we wait for our turn for our 21C (due May 2023), we realized that a lot of options we were adding on either really don't need to be done or we can keep an eye on those "option items" (ie lithium batteries, A/C, 3 hook, front cargo box) for sales and add after the fact. Dropping off a lot of the options put our trailer below budget again.

We are going to keep a list of things we buy that correspond to an option item, and see how much we end up saving by not using Escape for everything.

Thank goodness for people talking about this - we still do not have the email from Karl....or else we would've had sticker shock when our build sheet comes later this year...LOL

[Centex]

The 48% increase since I bought my 5.0 would put me out of the market - the value relative to the competitive market might still be there but my financial resources haven't kept up with that rate of increase so it simply wouldn't be a prudent purchase in spite of the enjoyment it would return. I've no doubt that others find themselves 'priced-out' of an Escape purchase they ordered in prudent good-faith with no reasonable expectation that the increase would be nearly as much as it turns out to be come the confirmation milestone. IMO that's an unfortunate dashing of reasonable expectations and those folks have my sympathy for sure.

I don't begrudge ETI adjusting prices in response to market demand - as with any business IMO it's only prudent on their part to charge the most they can for their product at any given time; I don't doubt there's plenty of folks willing and able to meet their price at this time.

I do think it's unfortunate, given the very long-lead between order and the point when the price is 'fixed' (confirmation date), that ETI doesn't have a more equitable system for allowing folks to 'opt out' with no 'payment processing fee penalty' whatsoever when the confirmed price is more than, say, 10-15% above the order price ETI put forth. The current practice in that regard strikes me as adding insult to injury in a situation where ETI holds all of the cards and clearly suffers no real loss given they are able to find an immediate replacement purchaser both willing and able to bear the increased price.

After all, when ETI advertises a price for a trailer to be delivered years after order, they aren't advertising a purchase price at all, they are advertising an estimated price with an open-ended right of price increase on their end and a penalty, however 'nominal', imposed on the prospective purchaser who has no control whatsoever on the actual eventual price.

I suggest it doesn't take much imagination to see there are better ways that could be handled in the current market. E.g. - why not add the costs of 'processing' the cancellation to the price offered the replacement purchaser .... they, after all, are getting the benefit of a quicker-than-expected delivery if they take-on a canceled order that's far ahead of them in the queue. If / when the market changes and ETI truly is at risk of being 'stuck' with cancelled orders unsold, they could revisit that policy.

[rbryan4]

While it's difficult to calculate a cost comparison as some of the options have changed over the years, the best I can figure, a 19 that is comparably equipped to ours would now run $48,900. Ours was $28,050. That's an increase of more than 74%.

We purchased our Escape in 2015 because we considered its VALUE (price vs quality) to be far superior to the other available choices. I'm sorry to say it but the massive price increases over the last two years have turned a great value into just another expensive choice, and I would most likely not consider a new Escape if I were in the market.

They're great trailers, and now I have more reason to hang on to what I've got.

[brain]

If manufacturing/supplier costs decrease in a year, are those passed on to the customer? ...

[Iowa Guy]

Doubtful.

[stratos175]

Sorry but I don't think their price increase is 'because they think they can.'

As a business owner myself that sells a product my cost to create and manufacture that product has increased roughly 37% in just the last year, now seeing other increases like payroll, healthcare cost and rent also increase 15-25%.

[stratos175]

That depends on the commodity and the demand for it. With Escape I think they would have to see this current backlog go away before you saw them reduce any pricing.

[rbryan4]

Helpful hint: when replying to a specific comment, quote that comment. That way, we can see who you're responding to. Thanks.

[Centex]

Originally Posted by stratos175

Sorry but I don't think their price increase is 'because they think they can.'

As a business owner myself that sells a product my cost to create and manufacture that product has increased roughly 37% in just the last year, now seeing other increases like payroll, healthcare cost and rent also increase 15-25%.

I don't doubt that ETI has seen significant production and corporate cost increases in each of the recent years. In addition to commodity and and labor increases suffered by most companies, we know ETI is incurring likely not insignificant costs associated with R&D of the 23 which has yet to enter production.

But by the same token I think it's pretty evident that the RV market remains very 'hot for sellers' at the moment and IMO it's likely that a part of the price increases we observe are an understandable response to that market situation.

While the combined effect is unfortunate for some wish-to-be consumers, IMO there's nothing at all 'wrong' in ETI increasing their margin of price above costs when / while the market supports that.

Yeah, it's possible that ETI is operating on the slimmest of margins even today. Being privately held there's little public disclosure of costs vs revenue of course, so all is admittedly just speculation.

[Mike G]

Originally Posted by Centex

But by the same token I think it's pretty evident that the RV market remains very 'hot for sellers' at the moment and IMO it's likely that a part of the price increases we observe are an understandable response to that market situation

For RVs in general I am not so sure about the market being "very hot for sellers." The smaller number of used Escapes helps their sellers' market stay better than the RV market in general, but the latter seems to have cooled quite noticeably. RV dealer lots look well stocked (as in, crowded) lately.

[mfschu]

I was at a traditional RV dealer today getting my stove replaced. It took about 30 mintues for them to change out the Suburban so I had time to chat with the Sales manager. I asked him how much his RV prices have gone up in the last 2 years, he replied 100%. He sells Forest Rivers and the like. So maybe Escape pricing is actually behind compared to the market?