How much to pay for a MH?

Beside PPL, it is pretty hard to know the real selling price. All we see is the asking price, and some people will take a lot less when they really want to sell, especially one that is on sale for a year or more.

Executive wrote:

JALLEN4 wrote:
While I might not be able to give an absolute formula as to how to buy, I can tell you the most common mistakes made by the consumer.

1. Consumers rarely spend enough time looking at and researching the availability and condition of the unit sought. Conversely, they fail to act quickly when the perfect match is found.

2. Consumers fail to add enough value to the very best of the units available. Buying used should be an effort to find the best quality with price being secondary as long as the unit is in your price range. Conversely, there is no "right" price for the "wrong" motor home.

3. There is no substitute for spending money verifying the condition of a used motor home and its provenance. All the warranties and promises in the world are no substitute for ascertaining the motor home is in the proper condition when purchased.

Absolutely the best answer yet..!!...Dennis

Sign me up as in full agreement. There is never a right price for the wrong rig. Research what similar rigs are selling for (not what people are asking, there is a big difference) but be willing to step up for what you want and don't get swayed by price into buying something you don't.

I used NADA price as a base price, checked several websites for like motorhomes and priced ours over $10K under NADA and $5K under like coaches and will see what happens?

JALLEN4 wrote:
While I might not be able to give an absolute formula as to how to buy, I can tell you the most common mistakes made by the consumer.

1. Consumers rarely spend enough time looking at and researching the availability and condition of the unit sought. Conversely, they fail to act quickly when the perfect match is found.

2. Consumers fail to add enough value to the very best of the units available. Buying used should be an effort to find the best quality with price being secondary as long as the unit is in your price range. Conversely, there is no "right" price for the "wrong" motor home.

3. There is no substitute for spending money verifying the condition of a used motor home and its provenance. All the warranties and promises in the world are no substitute for ascertaining the motor home is in the proper condition when purchased.

Absolutely the best answer yet..!!...Dennis

The process of purchasing a used car and purchasing a used motor home are very dissimilar. The "book" values are far more accurate for the car because of volume involved and far less accurate for motor homes because of very few data points. Most amateurs, including Bankers, don't have clue as to how to interpret "Book" values. That is why dealers pay used vehicle managers large sums of money yearly to manage their inventories.

In my career, I was involved in tens of thousands of used vehicle sales. While I might not be able to give an absolute formula as to how to buy, I can tell you the most common mistakes made by the consumer.

1. Consumers rarely spend enough time looking at and researching the availability and condition of the unit sought. Conversely, they fail to act quickly when the perfect match is found.

2. Consumers fail to add enough value to the very best of the units available. Buying used should be an effort to find the best quality with price being secondary as long as the unit is in your price range. Conversely, there is no "right" price for the "wrong" motor home.

3. There is no substitute for spending money verifying the condition of a used motor home and its provenance. All the warranties and promises in the world are no substitute for ascertaining the motor home is in the proper condition when purchased.

crasster wrote:
After countless hours of research and a lot of experience, the best thing I can think of is to look up KBB or NADA for a start, try to get exact features, check all conditions of EVERYTHING, reflect it on price, and start from there.

Usually this means I start at 20-30% off what the dealer is asking.

Agree, it all make sense, NADA without options, plus or minus as condition change, the 20% less NADA average.
Otherwhise it is all wishes and dreams from sellers or buyers.

After countless hours of research and a lot of experience, the best thing I can think of is to look up KBB or NADA for a start, try to get exact features, check all conditions of EVERYTHING, reflect it on price, and start from there.

Usually this means I start at 20-30% off what the dealer is asking.

I think the NADA and KKB values are a good starting point for cars, but lousy for RV's. I think common sense is the best tool.

Let's say you're looking for a 2000 32' Class A gasser. After checking many sources such as Craig's List, newspaper, PPL, etc, you should have a pretty good idea that a coach in that year and size from one of the more well known builders will be $35000.00 (price is just an example). You now have a starting point. Some will be beaters and others will be gems. The difference in price will swing several thousand from one to another. This is when you apply what you learned from other similarly priced models.

Personally, I often think that when someone comes on here and asks how to determine a price, they are more concerned about what they're paying then what they're getting!

Kidoo wrote:

Executive wrote:

Kidoo wrote:
NADA should be a good source, otherwise how do you figure it out? Buyers want to pay less, sellers want to have more. Fortunatly I am looking for an entry level unit, but it must be a real jungle when you are looking for something in the 100,000 to 200,000 used unit, there are many new in that price range.

For example, PPL was asking 62000 for a coach, then dropped it down to 58,000 after a short while. The price the owner was asking before he gave it to PPL was 50,000, I know for a fact, I called the owner. NADA on the unit was ave. 67,000 low 56,000. I bet they would take 54,000 since they take 10% commission on the sold price. This would bring it down close to what the original owner wanted.



I saw used 2011 asking price pretty close to 2013 brand new prices. One thing for sure is that you have to start at minus 25% the MSRP for brand new. This is what MHSRV.com seems to be doing.

In Florida, one dealer was showing 89,000 for a new unit, another dealer near by was asking 69,000 for the same unit.

It is a real jungle when it comes to used price.

So,according to your information posted above...NADA means very little if any.....just sayin....Dennis

Well, I still think it is a good starting point, otherwise who knows? Dealers are using NADA, they even sometimes advertize NADA price. Dealers buy the NADA book to see the Wholesale price, this is how they know how much they should pay at Auction to make a good investment, this is what one seller told me. Wholesale should be 33% below NADA average, but this is published only in the book, or may be on internet if you pay for, don't know.

From my example, asking price from PPL is 62000, NADA average 67000, they dropped down to 58000, NADA low is 56000, I figured they would accept 54000 which is very close to NADA LOW. 54000 is 20% below NADA average retail. So it would make sense to use NADA and make an offer 20% less than NADA average retail. This is how some people say to deal when buying a used RV.

If I use the NADA, which seems to be used by many, I think I could make the right deal and not beeing afraid to loose a bundle if I have to sell back. This is why I asked on this forum to hear from people who bought or sold his RV to see if it all make sense .

Unless you're willing to take the time necessary to do price comparisons on any given brand and year model rig, you'll never learn the market value on that coach.

It is necessary to take all sources; manufacturer, dealers, and private party, NADA / KBB pricings in establishing the current resale market value on any coach. Then you need to plug in condition, options, and miles.

That takes time to do, but well worth it. A lot of factors to weigh, including time of year and geographic location.

Executive wrote:

Kidoo wrote:
NADA should be a good source, otherwise how do you figure it out? Buyers want to pay less, sellers want to have more. Fortunatly I am looking for an entry level unit, but it must be a real jungle when you are looking for something in the 100,000 to 200,000 used unit, there are many new in that price range.

For example, PPL was asking 62000 for a coach, then dropped it down to 58,000 after a short while. The price the owner was asking before he gave it to PPL was 50,000, I know for a fact, I called the owner. NADA on the unit was ave. 67,000 low 56,000. I bet they would take 54,000 since they take 10% commission on the sold price. This would bring it down close to what the original owner wanted.



I saw used 2011 asking price pretty close to 2013 brand new prices. One thing for sure is that you have to start at minus 25% the MSRP for brand new. This is what MHSRV.com seems to be doing.

In Florida, one dealer was showing 89,000 for a new unit, another dealer near by was asking 69,000 for the same unit.

It is a real jungle when it comes to used price.

So,according to your information posted above...NADA means very little if any.....just sayin....Dennis

Well, I still think it is a good starting point, otherwise who knows? Dealers are using NADA, they even sometimes advertize NADA price. Dealers buy the NADA book to see the Wholesale price, this is how they know how much they should pay at Auction to make a good investment, this is what one seller told me. Wholesale should be 33% below NADA average, but this is published only in the book, or may be on internet if you pay for, don't know.

From my example, asking price from PPL is 62000, NADA average 67000, they dropped down to 58000, NADA low is 56000, I figured they would accept 54000 which is very close to NADA LOW. 54000 is 20% below NADA average retail. So it would make sense to use NADA and make an offer 20% less than NADA average retail. This is how some people say to deal when buying a used RV.

If I use the NADA, which seems to be used by many, I think I could make the right deal and not beeing afraid to loose a bundle if I have to sell back. This is why I asked on this forum to hear from people who bought or sold his RV to see if it all make sense .