michaelc7a
Member
- Location
- California
Buying direct from Generac has seen many recent negative changes, including horrible warranty issues, myriad new dealer requirements and restrictions and a general change where Generac squeezes its dealers for profit. After all, Generac dealer pricing used to be 25-30% of the list price. Now, dealers pay between 5% (Select level) to 11.6% (Premier level) less than the minimum advertised price, plus shipping. Meanwhile, online stores, Costco and home improvement stores get just over 20% off, last I checked, and they get free shipping while a dealer ordering just one generator can end up paying more after shipping than he would have if he just went to Home Depot and paid retail.
With Generac trying to make all its profits off the backs of just dealers, buying direct feels more like being Generac's whipping boy than the reasonable business model it used to be. While it was good for a time to be listed first on Generac's website, we get better leads now using SEO (invest in your website once and then sit back and let it work for you) or, if things slow down, adwords (hasn't been that slow in about 9 years).
So it is no wonder we've seen a mass exodus of top Generac dealers moving away from buying directly from Generac and instead partnering with big online resellers for their purchases. For our part, we've found it way less expensive to buy at MaxTool.com or at Lowes, since either will readily let you negotiate 10-20% off the minimum advertised price, with the discount getting bigger with larger orders. We were nervous about the change at first but we figured that, if things got crazy, we could just go back to buying direct. After having made the change, however, there's no way we would go back to the current raw deal Generac is offering.
My question is: where do other Generac dealers get their best deals on Generac generators? Does anyone have a lead on where to buy for more than 15% off (without allowing a home improvement store's hooks in you)?
With Generac trying to make all its profits off the backs of just dealers, buying direct feels more like being Generac's whipping boy than the reasonable business model it used to be. While it was good for a time to be listed first on Generac's website, we get better leads now using SEO (invest in your website once and then sit back and let it work for you) or, if things slow down, adwords (hasn't been that slow in about 9 years).
So it is no wonder we've seen a mass exodus of top Generac dealers moving away from buying directly from Generac and instead partnering with big online resellers for their purchases. For our part, we've found it way less expensive to buy at MaxTool.com or at Lowes, since either will readily let you negotiate 10-20% off the minimum advertised price, with the discount getting bigger with larger orders. We were nervous about the change at first but we figured that, if things got crazy, we could just go back to buying direct. After having made the change, however, there's no way we would go back to the current raw deal Generac is offering.
My question is: where do other Generac dealers get their best deals on Generac generators? Does anyone have a lead on where to buy for more than 15% off (without allowing a home improvement store's hooks in you)?