How hard is it to sell your used motorhome?

Dumb question probably given that the "ease" of selling anything involves too many variables to easily quantify, but in general I'm wondering what your experience was when selling a used motorhome?

One of our potential purchasing scenarios has us buying an RV and if certain life forces work out, selling it after 2-3 years. Given the depreciation factor involved with buying new, it would seem a good used model would make more sense financially. If you've sold an RV privately how long did it take to complete a sale? Can one expect to have it on the market for an extended period of time?

Again, obviously one could put your rig on the market one day and sell it the next, but I assume that would be the exception.

Just did sell my Winnebago, it took about 2.5 weeks. I used RVT.com. It sold via word of mouth, no need for the RVT ad.

  Drop the price down to $100.00 and see.>>>Dan

Make sure you know the true value of the RV when you're ready to sell.  Many people take out RV loans with not enough down payment or for too long of a term, and when they go to sell they find themselves upside down on the loan, owing more than the RV is worth.

Then they try to sell the RV at the loan payoff price instead of It's actual value and wonder why it won't sell.

Lou hit the nail on the head.  When I bought my coach five years ago, I spent a lot of time searching rv sale websites and craigslist.  There RVs for sale by dealers and by private owners.  The dealers will normally list used coaches anywhere from 5-15% to leave room for negotiating and profit, but they're in the business of moving inventory, so they can't set their list price so high that buyers don't bother.  The private owners run the gamut.  Some know what their RV is really worth, but some have a very inflated view, based either on what they paid for it or what they owe on it. 

Bottom line, if you price aggressively (low) and cast a wide advertising net, you should be able to sell pretty quickly.  Just make sure you don't finance it to such an extent that you can't afford to get out of it at cut-rate prices.  I paid cash for mine, so I can get out at any time.

One other point:  There are certain selling times that are naturally slow.  For example, mid winter in the north or mid summer in Arizona are difficult times to sell regardless.

Lou Schneider said:

Make sure you know the true value of the RV when you're ready to sell.  Many people take out RV loans with not enough down payment or for too long of a term, and when they go to sell they find themselves upside down on the loan, owing more than the RV is worth.

Then they try to sell the RV at the loan payoff price instead of It's actual value and wonder why it won't sell.

Click to expand...

Spot on. People also believe by printing out the NADA list price, adding everything including the kitchen sink as options is why their RV is worth what they are asking. Smart buyers can tell in a heartbeat these sellers have no idea of what they are doing as both KBB and NADA clearly spell out in their assessments that options are only those things not included as standard equipment.
Every time I see a CL add that has a listing like this I think to myself.....good luck selling that one. 8)

Sold mine in about 6 weeks, using an ad placed on an RVing web site similar to this one (but with a larger audience). Accurate pricing is a must, and lots of pictures helps.

Utclmjmpr said:

  Drop the price down to $100.00 and see.>>>Dan

Click to expand...

Gee, that's helpful... 

jagnweiner said:

Lou hit the nail on the head.  When I bought my coach five years ago, I spent a lot of time searching rv sale websites and craigslist.  There RVs for sale by dealers and by private owners.  The dealers will normally list used coaches anywhere from 5-15% to leave room for negotiating and profit, but they're in the business of moving inventory, so they can't set their list price so high that buyers don't bother.  The private owners run the gamut.  Some know what their RV is really worth, but some have a very inflated view, based either on what they paid for it or what they owe on it. 

Bottom line, if you price aggressively (low) and cast a wide advertising net, you should be able to sell pretty quickly.  Just make sure you don't finance it to such an extent that you can't afford to get out of it at cut-rate prices.  I paid cash for mine, so I can get out at any time.

One other point:  There are certain selling times that are naturally slow.  For example, mid winter in the north or mid summer in Arizona are difficult times to sell regardless.

Click to expand...

I think yourself and Lou's advice sounds very practical. Thanks for the insights. This gives us some confidence that were we to buy and need to sell two years down the road that might not be a major problem. Again, taking all the numerous variables into account of course.

Given my general distaste for dealers in general (deserved or not) we've been looking mostly at private sellers but as you point out dealers are probably anxious to unload...  uh, i mean "sell" the used units they have in their inventory. If we see something we like I guess there's nothing to loose by offering to buy for say, 20% off what they're asking. If they came back with 15% that might be more realistic but in any event nothing ventured nothing gained.

Given the slow selling seasons you mentioned I'm wondering if, as a buyer, looking someplace like AZ in the middle of the summer might be a good strategy?

We're also thinking about paying cash. I had some discussions here previously wondering if approaching a buyer with cash in hand might be an advantage but got the impression, especially where dealers are concerned that they don't much care where the $$ comes from.

You could look at a place like PPL that do consignment sales. They sell a lot of coaches and I hear few complaints.
https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/rv-consignment
Bill

The best time to look for bargains in Arizona is at the end of the snowbird season, probably March - April or so.  Snowbirds are returning home and there are always some who don't want to bring their RV home for one reason or another.  Or they bought a new one and the dealer still has their trade-in.

Places along the Colorado River like Quartzsite and Yuma have many dealers that are only open seasonally, and they don't want to be stuck having to warehouse depreciating inventory over the summer or moving it to another part of the country to sell.

Phoenix and Tucson have more stable year-round populations, but even there most RV sales happen during the snowbird season.

Lake Havasu City is an exception as the lake provides recreation during the summer so there's the addition of the boating market to keep the dealers open year round.

Housing: it's location, location, location
RV: condition, condition, condition.  Keep it clean and maintained, you will beat 90% of the folks

WILDEBILL308 said:

You could look at a place like PPL that do consignment sales. They sell a lot of coaches and I hear few complaints.
https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/rv-consignment
Bill

Click to expand...

I agree with your general comments about PPL, but, having been to their used MH lot in Houston a number of times, my principal observation is that they don't in any way "stage" the coaches they have for sale.  Owners bring them in quite often without even a basic cleaning and PPL displays them without investing any money to get them cleaned.  As a result, some of the stock on the lot looks pretty bad.  It's like selling a house, if you want to sell it quickly and at a good price take the time to make it look good!

PPL doesn't spend any money "staging" the display coaches because they belong to somebody else.  People send their rigs there to be sold because they don't want to be bothered with advertising, showing, tire kickers, etc. Small wonder they aren't interested in cleaning it up either.

The good news is that PPL won't accept a consignment unless the asking price is within current market values and usually on the low side of that (to stimulate quick turnover). Buyers with a discerning eye can pick up a rig that mostly just needs TLC.

PPL has a detailing service but if you don't want to spend the money that is up to you. I agree if you don't clean it up so it presents well you are not going to sell it as fast.
https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/detail
Bill

In my experience people want a turn key buy.  They don't want to sleep in someone's bed bugs or clean out cheerios.  Any easily repairable items should be done and fresh oil in the engine.  IF you live in an inspection state a fresh sticker helps a lot.  People are ready for the fun part of the RVing not the hassle.

Great advice above, especially in terms of pricing your RV realistically based on its age and condition... and appropriate NADA valuation.  And have it clean and ready to go, which will benefit you greatly as a seller.  Know everything about the rig and be prepared to share/teach the buyer as needed.  When I was buying, I looked at several RV's that had been unused or stored for awhile, and clearly had not been cleaned or maintained.  It was an instant turnoff in some cases, but also later allowed me to get a better deal when I could prove that a few things needed attention.

I found/bought both of my RV's online (1st one Ebay, 2nd one Cragslist) and sold the 1st one on Craigslist.  I used a combination of CG ads, placing them both in my local area's site and large city sites (Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis for me) that were driveable for any seriously interested buyers.  At the time, CG limited identical (or near-identical) ads that a user could post between sites, so I had to space out the postings by a few days.  I'm not sure if that restriction is in place anymore.

I ended up selling within 3-4 weeks, to a buyer from St. Louis.  He drove up one Saturday to see & drive the rig, we made the deal, and he drove back home.  The next weekend he returned on Amtrak, I picked him up at the train station, and he drove the RV home.

WILDEBILL308 said:

PPL has a detailing service but if you don't want to spend the money that is up to you. I agree if you don't clean it up so it presents well you are not going to sell it as fast.
https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/detail
Bill

Click to expand...

I have experience with PPL, having sold 3 RV's and buying 2 RV's at PPL.  I have not used their "detail" services.  I'm not sure just what you will get for the $450 charge.  I know from personal experience, it takes me probably 30 or more hours, over a week or more to clean the interior to "sparkling clean" and the wash and wax the exterior.  Looking at the detailing link Wildbill gave for PPL's detailing, I really doubt you are going to get a really good cleaning. 

If you don't want to, or are not physically capable of doing the work to clean your RV then hire a RV wash and wax person and then hire a interior house cleaner and pay them the 6 to 8 hours of work to thoroughly clear the interior.  This way you can monitor the work and know it is done properly. 

AStravelers said:

I know from personal experience, it takes me probably 30 or more hours, over a week or more to clean the interior to "sparkling clean" and the wash and wax the exterior.

Click to expand...

We've done test rides in brand new, 2018 RVs. Some were simply not ready to ride IMO. Dirty floors, various parts strewn about, a number of fixtures that didn't even work. Uh, really?? You're trying to sell a $100k unit and you don't even take the time to do some basic prep? And don't tell me, "Oh, we'll fix all that stuff after you buy". Yeah, right...

scottydl said:

When I was buying, I looked at several RV's that had been unused or stored for awhile, and clearly had not been cleaned or maintained.  It was an instant turnoff in some cases, but also later allowed me to get a better deal when I could prove that a few things needed attention.

Click to expand...

I think that's a good point. "Curb appeal" is an important factor from a seller's point of view but as a buyer, if there's relatively cosmetic issues observed that might present an opportunity to get a better deal. "Relatively cosmetic issues" being the key of course.