Selling a new Class A Motor home

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1PlasticMan1

1PlasticMan1

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Joined
Sep 23, 2014
Posts
295
Location
Pocono Pines, PA
A friend of mine recently inherited a 2020 Fleetwood Bounder 33C from his brother who died suddenly just before he was to take delivery.  The coach and other items have been settled so, he has taken delivery, and applied for a title.  He does not want the coach due to health problems, so wants to sell it.  The dealer's offer to buy it back was not very attractive, about 45% off the MSRP, so he asked me for advice on how to sell it.  I am looking at National Vehicle, aka RV Daily.com as well as RV Trader, EBay, Craig's list and others.  I like the package that National Vehicle offers, but some of the reviews are a little concerning.  Has anyone had experience with National Vehicle or RV Daily in selling or buying a Class A coach?  This coach is prepped, detailed and winterized, has less than 800 miles on it.  Any suggestions would be most helpful.
 
I was harassed endlessly by a company similar to National Vehicle that assured me they had buyers for my previous rig. Course, I had to pay up front.


I'm not familiar specifically with National Vehicle, but I think all these outfits do is take your money then list in the more 'traditional' spots you've already mentioned. I vaguely recall they wanted about $5-700 for a listing. I finally told them to never call me again.


If you haven't heard of them, neither have your potential buyers.
 
I would recommend RV Trader.
Craigslist can be used, but for what you are trying to do, it would be a lot of work, and the scamsters seem to be running rampant, these days.
eBay can work really well, but can still be a lot of work.
 
Take the 45% off of MSRP.  He should have been able to negotiate 30% off of MSRP easily so no one in their right mind is going to give you 30% off of MSRP.  So you are going to have to sell it for more off anyways.  Is there money owed on it?
 
The dealer's offer does not seem unreasonable, it is now a pre owned unit. He has to sell it with his own stock and make a profit. I assume the estate paid out any debt so anything your friend receives goes in his/her pocket. You don't say if the coach is close to your friends home. Is it practical for him/her to sell it themself? They might be better off taking the offer and walking away.
 
Good points. MSRP  is like "List Price" and has always been some ethereal number, when looking at the market.

Go browse the dealer sites for the same model and see what they are selling for off the lots.
 
The dealers near me are pricing most of their stuff in the 25 - 35% off MSRP

If you want to do the work, and have the time, you can compete with the dealer see what you can get.
 
It is unfortunate and sad to receive a brand new coach this way. It is a very unique set of circumstances and could very possibly be advantageous to the seller.

Keep the unit under cover and protected. Garage it if possible. Plug it in if possible and if not possible, be sure batteries are being properly charged. Make sure all the systems are working.

Create a selling announcement that explains the circumstances and include how you have preserved this brand new vehicle and prepared it for sale. Investigate what warranties will be affected and how they would be impacted by a sale. Be prepared to work with a buyer to take advantage of the transfer of ownership to a new buyer.

Don't pay anyone unless an agreed portion of a sale is agreed to after a sale is complete. Immediately get started on posting the unit with the circumstances on every possible location at little to no cost.

Thousands of people buy RVs each day. There is certainly someone some where that would view this purchase as an advantage and be willing to pay more than a dealer but substantially less than buying from a dealer.

I think this could be a great advantage for the buyer. How often would you be able to buy a brand new RV just off the lot from a private seller in this manner? Probably no other.

Don't under value the situation. Get what it is worth. 70%to 80% of the purchase price should be attainable.
 
Comparing the dealer offer to MSRP doesn't mean much, since most new coaches sell for only 70-75% of MSRP to begin with. The real question is what was offered vs the actual selling price (and without taxes).  Realistically he will be lucky to get 85% of what was actually paid, which means the value is down to something like 60%-65% of the original MSRP.  That makes the dealer offer sound decent.  He should probably take the offer and avoid the hassle and selling costs.
 
It is very hard to sell an RV this time of year in most areas of the US. Dealers start deeply discounting in August.
 
My scam alert antenna are twitching with this one. While everything said may be possible, I can't think of any legitimate RV dealership, even Camping World, that would allow a brand new RV to be delivered to the estate of a dead man. In a nutshell, they get very protective of the asset, and it's real hard to get money from a dead man.
 
But if it had already been paid for, pending delivery... the dealer wouldn't want to lose the profit on the sale.

And 1plasticman is not a newbie here, so hopefully he is telling a story that is true (as far as he knows, anyway)
 
The coach was fully paid for by the brother, was trying to recover from an illness, but obviously did not happen.  Coach was manufactured on September 23rd.  Picked up November 4th by my friend, which started the clock on the warranties.  Regarding RV Daily or National Vehicle, if they are who they claim to be, it makes life pretty easy to sell the vehicle.  They will advertise on eBay, RV Trader and other outlets, who all charge a fee.  They will screen the prospective buyers, then use electronic transfer to pay the seller.  My gut keeps going back and forth as to whether they are legit.  Don't want to give my friend bad advice in this difficult situation.  Thanks for your comments, if anyone has dealt directly with RV Daily or National Vehicle or knows someone who has, would love to hear from them.
 
So sad that someone is not going to get use out of their brand new Bounder, because of sudden death.
Great news that his brother inherited such a vehicle, but he does not want it.  Given  that it appears to  be paid for,  your friend (the brother) may want to consider how long it might take to sell the  RV.  He will have to license and insure it for the time it is for sale.  These will be out of pocket costs to him. Given the realities of purchasing a new vehicle and immediate depreciation, I  would take the dealers offer.  The  brother  has already received a "windfall." Time aggravation, worry etc are all factored  into a sale. How does he want to handle a potential customer's test drive? How does he want to get  registration  transferred, how does he want delivery to take place?  If it were me, I'd  let the dealer have all of the  headaches of selling this vehicle. 

It is a time/headache vs money issue.  Money can't bring back the dream of brother who passed ! Go enjoy life is my  message!
 
He could shop around other dealers, not just the one where the RV was purchased. Especially if there are any consignment lots (similar to PPLmotorhomes.com in Texas) where an individual might come along and be interested in a newer unit. But, there is a hassle factor. He might also consider negotiating up on the dealer's 45% MSRP buyback offer. It would help if he does a little research first to find out what the rig sells for on dealer lots. Let's say it's around the 65% MSRP mark (being a year old now) and perhaps they could agree on 55% or similar.
 
Beware of consignment. I started a posting a month or so ago about the impossibility of finding an insurance company that would cover a rig while it was sitting on a consignment lot. It has to do with potential unknown drivers and the corresponding liability.

We bought a Tiffin and sold our older Winnebago recently, both through
RVTrader. I would not go any other way and I also was hounded mercilessly by some outfit that wanted $599 up front.
 
Since the OP is "advising" the seller who inherited a new unwanted RV perhaps the OP should suggest like others have said to compare a few dealer offers and take the best one he can get. If it were me I would not want to get caught up in trying to sell an RV personally, especially with the seller knowing nothing about RV's. To many things can go wrong with the potential of the OP being blamed. In my opinion the best advice the OP can give is sell it to a dealer.
 
The fly in the ointment is that the dealer (any dealer) is buying at wholesale, so he can make a profit when re-selling it. That's a bitter pill to swallow when compared to the retail price so recently paid, but it's a fact of life.  If the deceased didn't negotiate a steep discounty, the difference could be dramatic.
 
It would be much easier for these guys to deal with facts.

1. What is MSRP?

2. What did he pay?

3. What did the dealer offer?

With these questions answered these guys can nail it down for your friend.
 
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