Buying an RV from Dealer vs Private Owner

Elizabeth24 wrote:
We recently purchased from a private sale, we are not new to RVing and did checkout what was available from dealers, but honestly their asking prices were quite high and did not provide much if any after purchase warranty. One other consideration for us was from a private sale - no sales tax, from the dealer, we bought in AZ and are leaving it there, -approx. 10%.

We ended up getting what we are very pleased with, at a price that we were very comfortable with, so to answer your question, private sale was best for us.

Private sales do not exempt the vehicle from paying sales tax. You will pay it when you transfer the title and register the vehicle. Proper research and inspection is the only defense you will have either against a dealer or an individual sale. But remember, a totally dishonest dealer won't last too long and you can do some research and usually find out they are shady, a totally dishonest individual seller has no history to check. Also, the dealer has insurance and you have some protections if the vehicle turns out to have had the miles rolled back or the title isn't good, or if the guy selling it doesn't pay off their loan. With an crooked individual, good luck getting anything but the phone hung up on you.