Have to decide if selling private is better or dealer

[partsman01]

Had a head on collision on Wednesday, Dec 10 so truck is toast, now they way things are we will not be able to afford another truck to pull our fifth wheel, so have to decide on a value and see about selling the rig.

[blofgren]

Hopefully everyone is OK and your insurance coverage turns out OK. I was broadsided a couple of years ago by a woman who ran a red light and I truly wish I had obtained some legal help. Might be something for you to think about, especially if you were not at fault.

I see you are from my neck of the woods. Please feel free to PM me for help if you need to have your trailer moved. I still have the hitch in my truck and would be happy to help if needed.

[Jandsa]

From experience here: You could be able to net more money..IF you are able to sell it yourself. In trying to sell ourselves, we found that the lookers (at least in our area) were expecting a steal, not a deal, and would have to sell at l/2 the value or more at a year old unit...something we were not willing to do.
So, we just traded in our unit for a 5ver. We did not get the trade-in we wanted, but on the other end, we did okay.

Hope no one involved in that accident was seriously hurt. If totaled, your insurance company should be paying for the value of the truck.

[mdamerell]

Just a thought, if the truck is the only reason you are selling the 5er. Might I make a suggestion? We have a "resort membership" (part of C2C, can find memberships people are selling/transferring for $500+) and we store our 5er there ($200 per year). There is an annual maintenance fee but I figure 10 days camping covers that. For $10 they would put it on a site for us and for another $10 they would put it back in storage. I did this for a season until I found the right pickup for us.

[Bumpyroad]

I sold one on consignment but had a contingency agreement on trading it in if my new one came before it sold. fortunately it sold a day or so before the new one arrived. My latest I just traded in. didn't want the hassle.
bumpy

[drfife]

We sold our previous trailer on consignment at a local RV dealership.

It sold in a week for more than my original asking price.

The dealership made a commission and I got more than I expected.

A win-win.....

[DutchmenSport]

rattleNsmoke wrote:
What about your insurance company?? Aren't they going to give you enough to get another pickup truck even if you have to cough up some cash to do a deal?

My thoughts exactly, OP responded he is waiting on the insurance company now.

rattleNsmoke? you know, not everyone carries Full coverage on their vehicles. If the OP carried only the bare minimum, he could be "out" on getting any insurance repairs (unless it's deemed the accident was 100% caused by the other driver, then the insurance would fall on the party at fault). He could be waiting on a settlement from the other company too. And you know ... insurance companies are not willing to fork out ANYTHING ... often times have to go to court even ... and that could take months and months.

I feel for the OP. I think he's in a spot where only he can make these decisions. He wants to off-load his camper, his choice, I definitely understand that.

Edit:
We may never know everything about this event, and it's even possible the OP may want to give up driving a truck all together, and thus, give up his camper too ... (I'm just guessing). I do know, after experiencing an accident first hand, it does emotionally change one forever.

I was 16 years old. Got my first motorcycle. After about 5 months of ownership, I had a wreck. The motorcycle went off the road, and I did not at 60 mph. Nothing broken but my pride and a few parts on the motorcycle. I actually rode it back home, a bloody mess. A couple doctor visits later I finally had as much road tar out of my skin as possible, and today I still retain some interesting tatoo markings.

I fixed that motorcycle myself and continued riding through even two more motorcycles before going in the Army, getting married, kids, and realizing that type of lifestyle was no longer in my life.

But before giving it up for the Army, EVERY time I went to get on the motorcycle, nerves would hit me with full force and I'd have to make a mad dash for the bathroom (if you get my drift). This happened EVERY time, regardless of where I was or how recently I'd just been riding. It never went away.

Fast forward ... my son, now 24 years old gets a motorcycle. You guess it ... all I had to do was just LOOK at it and I had to make a bee-line for the bathroom! I couldn't look at it. It is now 44 years after I got baptized by tar, and to this day, all I have to do is see a motorcycle ... and NATURE calls!

Imaging the experience of a head-on collision!

[rattleNsmoke]

What about your insurance company?? Aren't they going to give you enough to get another pickup truck even if you have to cough up some cash to do a deal?

[musicman54]

sry about the accident sounds like you are ok and thats a plus we sold or tt ourselves defore our firt payment on new was due if you do have the time do it yourself

[john_bet]

Selling my parents class A was not a pleasant experience. We had to practically give it away. JME.

[B_O__Plenty]

Truck doesn't look that bad. If they total it and you can buy it back cheap enough with a little shopping and some used parts it wouldn't be that hard to fix..

B.O.

[partsman01]

Thanks for replies, have not heard from insurance yet, and yes we have the unit at home, so not costing anything for storage.

[DutchmenSport]

Oh yuck! Hope you were able to collect something on insurance! Hope you are OK too.

The problem with private sales ... folks are Leary of purchasing from an individual opposed to a dealer. If time is not a factor and you don't mind (as stated above), the tire kickers, you can put your own price and wait. But that is the problem, you might be waiting a long time, and as I'm sure you already well know, the longer you hold on to your camper, the more it depreciates, even if you are not using it at all.

On the other side, a dealer will be able to move it with no hassle to you, but you more than likely, will not get the price you'd like.

If you have no intention of using the camper again, and no way to tow it any more, and it's all paid for, (if it were me) I'd cut my losses and take it to a dealer for either consignment or for a right out purchase. It can sit on their lot as easy as it can in your own driveway ... and if you have it in storage right now and not on your own property ... well, you are loosing money every month it sits in storage ... get it to a dealer and let it sit on his lot and save the storage fees.

I'd go with the dealer instead of attempting a private sale. However, I live right in the middle of RV country, so selling privately, unless you're almost giving it away, just isn't very lucrative in Central Indiana. (hopefully your geographical area is different).

[KarenS144]

It is much more hassle to sell on your own but you're likely to get quite a bit more for it.

We sold our Class A ourselves about $15,000 over what a dealer offered us but it took about 5 months, a 100 emails, 50 phone calls & 10 lookers before we did.

Sorry for your mishap but glad you weren't hurt.

[caysea7254]

So sorry to hear about your accident!! The great thing it doesn't sound like you had any serious injuries. I would try and sell it yourself, I'm sure you would get more money that way. Good luck!