Junking an old travel trailer

[gmwysh]

Has anyone had any experience with any of the places that offer cash for a junk RV? I have an old travel trailer that is in very poor condition. Water leaks ruined the floor and some of the exterior panels. All of the appliances and A/C are in good condition and working but in my opinion it's unusable as a travel trailer. We have purchased a new 5th wheel and want to sell it for whatever we can get. There are numerous places on the internet offering cash for junk RV's but I am always skeptical. Anyone have knowledge of a reputable place?

Thanks

 

[Tulecreeper]

If it were me, I'm thinking I would advertise it as free just to be rid of it. You're more likely to get someone to haul it away for you that way. If you try to make money from it, anyone who might be interested in reselling/using is going to balance what you want for it compared to what they can get for the appliances. The trouble they have to go to in hauling it off, removing the appliances, selling them, then getting rid of the hull is more than it is worth.

 

[DutchmenSport]

Agree with the above post. Just post it "free" and be done with it. I do advise, do the title transfer at the BMV, don't just sign the back and be done. If the new owner never gets a new title, it's still yours legally. So, that would be my only requirement. Do the title transfer at the BMV and just let them have it. Your name is now off the title and you have no more involvement. What they do with it, is 100% up to them now. You are off the hook.

 

[Believer45]

Another vote for the giveaway. And a second vote for meeting "new owner" at the title bureau. DutchmenSport has a very good idea many folks do not consider.

 

[Ex-Calif]

Agree with the above post. Just post it "free" and be done with it. I do advise, do the title transfer at the BMV, don't just sign the back and be done. If the new owner never gets a new title, it's still yours legally. So, that would be my only requirement. Do the title transfer at the BMV and just let them have it. Your name is now off the title and you have no more involvement. What they do with it, is 100% up to them now. You are off the hook.

Agree with posting it for free otherwise it's too much of a hassle.

One does not necessarily have to accompany the buyer to the title office. All the states I know of have a form to "de-register" vehicles and notify the transfer of ownership.

When I was young and dumb I gave my ex-GF a car - we parted on good terms and I took a job overseas. 5 years later the San Diego Sheriff contacted me about "my" abandoned vehicle. She had never registered it.

 

[SC5thWheeler]

Agree with everything above.

I have had problems in the past trying to give things away. I guess people think it's useless junk and won't take it.

I would list it on Facebook for a few hundred bucks, let the buyer talk you down to practically zero and wave goodbye.

 

[Onyrlef]

I think the problem with giving away useless junk is it's useless junk. I have about 10 bags of leaves, grass, etc sitting in the front yard waiting for me to move to the alley which anyone can have, free.

 

[SC5thWheeler]

I think the problem with giving away useless junk is it's useless junk. I have about 10 bags of leaves, grass, etc sitting in the front yard waiting for me to move to the alley which anyone can have, free.

Yes but a junk trailer with some working appliances is not useless junk. Someone (not me) could salvage the fridge, etc., sell the appliances for a few bucks and sell the actual trailer for a couple of hundred in scrap metal.

 

[Babe2201]

I am not as familiar with what people pay for them so I will default to what others have said. The only advice I will offer is that whoever decides to take it have them haul it away before removing anything. We have made the mistake twice letting people take just a few things they need right off and we still had the junk sitting on the property. Once it was an old vehicle and another time it was an old mobile home.

 

[Lou Schneider]

Agree with posting it for free otherwise it's too much of a hassle.

One does not necessarily have to accompany the buyer to the title office. All the states I know of have a form to "de-register" vehicles and notify the transfer of ownership.

When I was young and dumb I gave my ex-GF a car - we parted on good terms and I took a job overseas. 5 years later the San Diego Sheriff contacted me about "my" abandoned vehicle. She had never registered it.

When I went for a job interview in Santa Rosa, CA I noticed smoke coming out from under the hood of an older BMW parked on the street outside the radio station. I told the receptionist to call 911 and she said, "OMG, that's my car!" By the time the fire dept got there the car was fully engulfed. She was recently divorced and got the car as part of the settlement. I got the job and gave her an older Dodge Omni I would no longer need.

A couple of months later she led the police on a drunken chase through downtown Santa Rosa. Fortunately I had insisted we go next door to the AAA office (that also handled DMV transactions) and we did a clean transfer (I sold her the car for $1) so my name wasn't on the car's paperwork.

 

[TheBar]

I have had problems in the past trying to give things away. I guess people think it's useless junk and won't take it.

10 years ago I put my old garden tractor down at the curb with a "Free" sign on it. 3 weeks later a friend suggested changing the sign to $20. It was gone overnight.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Agree with posting it for free otherwise it's too much of a hassle.

One does not necessarily have to accompany the buyer to the title office. All the states I know of have a form to "de-register" vehicles and notify the transfer of ownership.

When I was young and dumb I gave my ex-GF a car - we parted on good terms and I took a job overseas. 5 years later the San Diego Sheriff contacted me about "my" abandoned vehicle. She had never registered it.

In 1999, I was transferring from S. CA to N. CA for a new position with F & W. A week before I moved I sold a Ford Ranger I had bought new in 1987 because I was planning on buying a new 4x4 when I got north. He gave me the money, I signed the paperwork/title over to him, and then it was his responsibility to take it to the DMV and file it in his name.

Six months later I'm in N. CA and I got a notice from the DMV that it was time to renew my registration on the Ranger. Apparently the guy had never registered it. I called and actually spoke with a real person and explained that I didn't own the vehicle anymore. Back and forth this went for about a week because they kept telling me they had no record of the transaction, and me telling them that the responsibility falls on the guy that bought it - sorry, but I don't have the truck anymore.

I was finally able to get hold of a guy that owned the local bar down south who knew the dude who bought the truck from me and he was able to get the guy's name and address. I called the DMV and gave them that info and I never heard from them again.

I had bought and sold several vehicles before that transaction and never had that problem before. I guess I'm lucky the guy didn't commit some crime with the truck in the interim.

 

[old_toys]

i would just call DAV and they will haul it off, work on it and when they sell it you get a receipt for tax purposes if you can take a deduction.

 

[jrclen]

Someone may buy it for the frame, axle, wheels, and tires. To make a utility trailer.

 

[SC5thWheeler]

Many years ago I was stationed in Hawaii and assigned to base housing. My large sectional sofa wouldn't fit in my tiny house. Tried to give it away to a couple of charities who refused to take it, even unseen.

I put an ad up on the bulletin board at the BX to sell it for $200. A very young and very pregnant wife of a deployed Marine showed up to buy it within minutes. She got the sofa and I refused her money, obviously.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Many years ago I was stationed in Hawaii and assigned to base housing. My large sectional sofa wouldn't fit in my tiny house. Tried to give it away to a couple of charities who refused to take it, even unseen.

I put an ad up on the bulletin board at the BX to sell it for $200. A very young and very pregnant wife of a deployed Marine showed up to buy it within minutes. She got the sofa and I refused her money, obviously.

Good on you. I'd have done the same.