advice about how to sell

[Craft99]

Hi everyone.

I can't believe it's been a year since I got the Beast and joined this forum.  I'm thinking about selling the Beast and I was wondering if I could get some advice. 

I have a 95 Fleetwood Flair (28 ft, class A) and I'm thinking about getting a 5th wheel.  I've never sold a vehicle and I could certainly use some advice about ... well, pretty much everything.  I know that I have to look up the vehicle's value with Kelly Blue Book, but is there anything else I should do?  I'm going to post an ad on Craig's list, but is there anywhere else I should post it?

I know if I use it as a trade in I don't pay tax on that.

Any advice about showing the vehicle?

I just went to NADA to get a price and ... wow, all of those questions. I have no idea what extras are in the vehicle.  NADA says my vehicle is worth about $5500 but I was thinking $7500 is a fair price.  Now I  don't know what to do.  I'm going to bed and hopefully some of this will sense tomorrow.

I appreciate any advice. 

 

[Flyboy]

I recently purchased a '96 DP after having sold my newer MH.  After kissing a lot of frogs (90% of the sellers), I finally found what I was looking for.  A couple of RV owners who were serious sellers with an understanding that I was buying both a house and a vehicle wanting both to be free of major defects.  If have a certified shop inspection of the engine/drive train and an RV shop inspection of the coach systems then it will give you leverage on your pricing because you know, and can show a buyer, that your price is realistic. 

The blue book value is a not so realistic starting point.  It's a specialty market and also a buyer's market plus you have a lot of competition.  Expect to go lower especially if your rig isn't in excellent shape.  If your tires are over 5 years old then replacement cost of those is probably going to lower the price.  Know the specs for your rig or be able to look it up in the manuals.  Most of the sellers couldn't answer a simple question about the tank capacities, know the difference between a converter and an inverter, or could even tell me the tire size.  It didn't take long to scratch them from the list.  Have all of the maintenance records available.  Triple the number of pictures you think that you will be taking.  Make them good ones.  I didn't want dark pictures that took infrared goggles to make out what was shown. Even the owner that I bought from had to go take a dozen more pictures for me.  Those included all areas of the interior, all outside storage bays, the roof, and engine/battery compartments. 

I only know that I was,  so I can't tell you what a serious buyer is but you will shortly figure it out.  90% of them are mostly likely frogs, also.  Be open minded about what is being asked of you if you know that you are talking with a serious buyer.  If I were talking with you on a potential buy then you would have needed to have the rig hooked to all utilities so I could check them out for proper operation.

I know that the buying process was a pain in the posterior for me as so it's probably worse for a seller.  We are all consumers who want the most for our buck.  Buying an RV is no different.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

You can pretty much forget about all those extras listed in the NADA RV Guide. Unless your rig has some extra feature very unusual for its size and vintage, any and all installed options won't make more than a few hundred dollars difference in the net selling price. Condition is everything in an older RV, so adjust your price up or down based on that. A nice clean, older RV, with recent tires and everything in known, good working condition, may well be worth 20-40% above the average value shown in the online NADA RV guide.

In my opinion, $7500 would be really top dollar for any 1995, so it would have to be an outstanding example of its type. $5000-$6000 is a pretty good one, and $3500 for a run-of-the-mill example with shoddy tires, some wear & tear, etc.

 

[MicheleF]

We just bought our first RV - a 2010 Keystone Alpine.  We have been looking for about a year, but we weren't in a big hurry.  Here's what brought us to the seller, and why we bought from him:

• Great Pictures on the Internet.  Find someone with a DSLR who can take a decent shot without a flash.  Make sure all of the photos are oriented properly, so buyers don't have to tilt their monitor or their heads.  Take pictures of EVERYTHING.  Critical is the kitchen and storage space, size of the shower.  Take pictures from different angles so that prospective buyers can orient things in their own mind. 
  Find a picture of the floor plan on the internet if you don't have one, and post that.  Some sellers had 10 pictures of the outside of the rig - one of each side is probably enough, and some of the basement.  Close-up of the generator (that's my husband talking)

• I agree with being able to justify your price, you can do that more easily if you have a record of every service you've had done on the MH.  Say that in your ad, "all service records available".

• Know why you're selling, and don't say "it's a pig" or "I can't afford it" or anything negative.  Our PO said that they'd wintered in it for 3 years, and now wanted to "do a different kind of travel".

• When we went to see the rig the first time, it was parked in a self-storage area, the PO had it hooked up to his truck, and the batteries were charged enough for him to have the slides out, but that was about it.  We went equipped with a list (from here) of what to look for, and he was very open to us spending significant time looking at those things we could on the list.  Don't take offense at people wanting to do their due diligence.

• As we approached the end of our examination, and said we were going to think about it, he asked us to give him a couple of days notice before we came back.  If we were coming back, he would then move it to a local campground, get it hooked up, and we could go through it again when it had full power, water, LP, etc.  We took him up on his offer, and he moved it to a campground for the following weekend for 1 night - at his own expense, still with no guarantee that we would buy (but we were looking pretty serious by that point - we'd just spent 3 hours with the guy).

• The day we picked it up, he brought it to the campground - again at his own expense - so that he could give us more lessons on how everything came apart, fit together, how to flush the tanks, how to hitch it to the truck (which we also bought from him), how to unhitch it, how to pull out of a tight spot - and THEN he took us to an empty parking lot and had us practice driving it and parking it.

Bottom line - act like you're selling your prized possession, and others will respond. [/list]

 

[therealsimpsons]

I would just add this from Becky, my best friend. She wants to see ALL of the interior lights ON when looking. Is there enough light to put on make up? Is there light for reading, in bed, on the sofa, at the kitchen table? Can she find things in the closets? We have looked at hundreds of RVs for sale online and in person, and it was very disconcerting, as MicheleF says, not to see good pictures.

 

[JiminDenver]

We looked at a lot of used RVs when we were looking and the one bit of advice I can give is CLEAN IT. Not just a quick wipe down but rather a good ol fashion spring cleaning. Polish every surface until it shines, vacuum out every storage area and make sure the tanks don't stink.  We ended up buying new because the used units were filthy and stunk.