Put the motorhome on consignment

I was checking a few MH at a consignment dealer this year. I finaly did not buy from them because I found a very good deal from a private sale.

The consignement dealer I checked with only does consignment, he was selling Monaco before and started his consignment business in Montreal. His business looks like PPL, although I never visited PPL but I checked with them a couple time. If I would not have bought from the private owner, I would have probably bought from a consignment place.

One thing for sure is that there was many MH to look at, different years and style in one place. Easy to compare and the dealer know the different models, their pitfall, their strenght. The MH seemed to sell at a good pace. The price where also very good compare to the price sold from private sellers, some private seller think their rig is worth much more than what it is, some dealers too... but this one seem to be right on the price. I checked with him to sell a Bigfoot Camper. He told me he fixes the price on a few things: His own experience, does the model sells fast, he looks at the real market value and fixes the price with the owner.

Sure PPL will negociate the price with a potential buyer. When I dealt with PPL, there was a quick dealing on price, they told me fairly quickly what was their evaluation of the asking price and how low they could go. One time, I offered 20% below asking price and I came very close to their bottom price. Another ocasion, they told me that the seller was eager to sell and I could get a good deal. But it also depend on how long the rig is in the lot, RV's have to move and they will tell you to lower your price if it does not move fast enhough.

Anyway, good luck with your's and bottom line, I think that consignment is probably a good way to go if the dealer does not sells too much of his own rigs.

I had a different experience than the rest of the posters when I consigned my rig at PPL in Houston. I was selling an expensive pusher and never had even a nibble in 9 months, even though I listed it at their suggested price and consistently lowered the price. The rig was a very desirable model, A bath and a half Holiday Rambler Imperial that was 6 years old with less than 50,000 miles and no damage. I live a long way from Houston, so I was unable to periodically check on the condition of the rig. When I went to pick it up, it would not start. Now that is not PPL's fault, but they never notified me there was a problem, so any potential buyer would have been looking at an inoperable rig. They claim in their listing agreements that they will start the rigs regularly, keep the batteries charged, keep the rigs in sellable condition and report problems promptly. Did not happen
Also, the rig was parked in the middle of a giant mud puddle, and since it wouldn't run, it had to have been parked there all along. That mud puddle was not the result of rain, instead it was a low spot in the parking lot where water accumulated every time they washed rigs, so it was constantly there. That meant either buyers needed to wade through a swamp to view my rig (tracking in water and dirt in the process) or they just pass it by .
Since it took a couple of days to repair my rig (needed a new diesel control module, part needed to be ordered) I had the chance to spend a lot of time looking around. I found numerous rigs parked so close together you could not open the doors to get in them. Yes, you were never "bothered" by salespeople, but you never had anyone around to answer any questions or help you get inside the rigs that had the doors blocked. Those rigs would also be unsellable, since you couldn't look at them.
After being there for a few days, and killing way too much time, I came to the conclusion they are best for consigning older, cheaper rigs. The sales boards of sold rig photos were full of 1990s era rigs and cheaper trailers. The expensive rigs appeared to languish. The rig will have to literally sell itself, because no salesperson will ever demo the features or explain the options and upgrades. Might be a great place to buy or sell an older rig where a low price is virtually the only hook, but I would never, ever place an expensive rig there again.

debandi wrote:
PPL doesn't have a salesman following you around when you shop or push you towards a certain RV. They have all the rv's open with prices clearly marked. They don't lead you from one rv to another. Its up to the shopper to decide which unit they want, make an offer, accept/decline the counter offer and sign the papers.

In the case of my Dad's, the dealer told him they would sell it for $26,000 easy. But if you visited the lot, the similar RVs that were owned by the dealer (not on consignment) were being sold for less than $26,000. In addition, if someone came into the lot looking at my Dad's, but didn't want to spend more than $25,000, the dealership wouldn't contact my Dad to see if he was willing to lower his price, they lowered the price on one of their owned RVs to meet the customer's price.

A year later, they still hadn't sold my Dad's RV and was still making payments and paying insurance for it while it sat on their lot.

I'm not saying consignment sales aren't good, but that you need to stay on them, keep informed, and know what's going on at the lot.

frankdamp wrote:
The dealer we've put ours with has both new and consignment rigs. Most of the consignments are around 1996 - 2004. What we liked about the deal is that it's a fixed sales fee of $595.00. Friends put their 98 Bounder (32', no slides) with this dealer in late August and it sold the third week in October for only slightly less then the dealer's initial estimate.

Our rig is out front by the street. There's still a few details to be sorted. but we're hoping it will be sold before the end of the year. The dealer said that this is a good time for sales, as people start getting antsy about winter and decide be snowbirds.

It's always a good time to sell RVs, ask any dealer :) In the dead of winter people are thinking about summer. In the fall people are looking for good deals, you get the drift. As a retired salesman (life insurance not RVs) I can assure you that there is never a bad time to purchase a product that is for sale. If there is a willing buyer and a willing seller, the time is right.

Good Luck and I hope your willing buyer comes along soon.

The dealer we've put ours with has both new and consignment rigs. Most of the consignments are around 1996 - 2004. What we liked about the deal is that it's a fixed sales fee of $595.00. Friends put their 98 Bounder (32', no slides) with this dealer in late August and it sold the third week in October for only slightly less then the dealer's initial estimate.

Our rig is out front by the street. There's still a few details to be sorted. but we're hoping it will be sold before the end of the year. The dealer said that this is a good time for sales, as people start getting antsy about winter and decide be snowbirds.

When my motor home sells, I will be the happy camper. If they make some $$, they are happy.

Example: Say my 2013 Itasca Class A, MSRP approx. $135,000, was bought by me for $105,000. 18 months later and 11,000 miles I was offered $50,000 for it by dealer XXX. That is a 48% depreciation. Dealer XXX claims it would sell for $75,000. So, if they sell it for $75,000 they are making a 50% profit, when new the markup was about 22%. Since they sell "as is" and try to add on an extended warranty there is little risk to XXX. I would say it is a bit excessive.

Yes but what toadtoes is saying is that the ones they buy out right and are marking up and selling for a 40% margin maybe better placed on the web site and on the lot. They have a lot more room for a shine up on one marked up at a 40% profit then one you bring in on consignment and a 10% profit for PPL.

PPL doesn't have a salesman following you around when you shop or push you towards a certain RV. They have all the rv's open with prices clearly marked. They don't lead you from one rv to another. Its up to the shopper to decide which unit they want, make an offer, accept/decline the counter offer and sign the papers.

afrescop wrote:
They will gladly buy your RV for about 40% less than market value. There is gold in them thar used RVs!

The question here is: if they've buying RVs and then selling them, are they going to push the sale of THEIR RVs over the sale of your consignment RV?

Say they have 5 RVs on the lot that they own and 10 RVs on consignment. Those 5 RVs are a loss of money, while the 10 RVs are just taking space. Better to sell one of the 5 rather than 3 of the 10 because they're not out any money on the 10.