buy from dealer or private seller

I agree private sellers may provide a lower price , keep in mind dealers are taking 10-20 or more grand for their service.. that said ......private owners have an inflated opinion of their units value and may become more easily insulted with a low offer, I have found most owners also lie ..” No Pets” when there has been obviously pets in the coach to someone who doesn’t have then the smell is obvious. We looked at 6 “owner” coaches and all of them neglected to mention or outright lied on several things , from pets to leaks, to condition ( one in “great condition” 2 hour drive and it was a mess .. but so was their house so .theres perspective I guess ... )
The big problem is financing at a reasonable rate on a older unit. Dealers can have relationships with lenders that will go further . They may make a “cut” of the financing but if the deal is still good who cares. Lenders tend to offer better rates and terms via dealers . Of course if your cash or have your financing already that’s not important.

mleekamp wrote:
Personally, I prefer private sales. Mark up is usually not there, and there's usually more room to negotiate and get personalized help on all the little things with the unit. As mentioned by midnightsadie, the dealer knows little about the history of their used units, in general. And I also agree with A1A, as both private and dealers can lie. But sitting that aside, if you can, have an experienced RV owner or technician go with you and review the unit, private or dealer.

In my experience, the sales personnel I've dealt with have very little knowledge about the new RV's either. They are just sales people trying to sell a product. Most have never spent one night in an RV.

Personally, I prefer private sales. Mark up is usually not there, and there's usually more room to negotiate and get personalized help on all the little things with the unit. As mentioned by midnightsadie, the dealer knows little about the history of their used units, in general. And I also agree with A1A, as both private and dealers can lie. But sitting that aside, if you can, have an experienced RV owner or technician go with you and review the unit, private or dealer.

Lastly, not sure about Delaware, but in Illinois, sales tax is vastly different. With a dealer, I pay the same sales tax new or used...plus any local taxes. For a used unit that is say, at half of it's new value or less, that tax can hurt. It's a percentage of the value of the unit. With private sales, it can still be high if a newer used unit, but older units (like 5 years and older) you pay a lesser amount of tax. That's a general statement...of course there are rules, etc that govern the tax. Point is: In IL, for us, used is less cost to buy private (usually...it depends!) and always less cost for tax.

midnightsadie wrote:
I like private I think they tell you more about the rv and the truth, whats a dealer know about a rv that comes to the lot, really he knows nothing, so he lies his way threw it. buying from a private goes easy things taken care of at the bank. and no hidden fees. and most the time can be bought at a better price from a private.

So, only dealers lie their way THROUGH it, right? Certainly a private owner would never EVER misrepresent or lie about anything, would they? ;)

I like private I think they tell you more about the rv and the truth, whats a dealer know about a rv that comes to the lot, really he knows nothing, so he lies his way threw it. buying from a private goes easy things taken care of at the bank. and no hidden fees. and most the time can be bought at a better price from a private.