Buying an RV from Dealer vs Private Owner

[rkburdick]

Getting closer to purchasing our first RV. We are looking for a good used unit and have found a few contenders. Not sure how this all works but when I recently spoke to a dealer he told us absolutely do not buy from a private owner for lots of reasons. Since he is a dealer we're not sure if we should trust his opinion. He may be right but I would like to hear from the community. Would appreciate some insight from you all. Also, is it more of a hassle to purchase out of state from either?

[Elizabeth24]

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.

[TugCamp]

I have also bough from both dealers and private parties. Conventional wisdon will tell you that its always a safer bet going through a dealer. The thought is dealers have to stand behind thier product in order to keep thier reputation and stay in buisness. I can tell you from my personal experience that this is not the case with many dealers. They sometimes make promises to close a sale only to find after purchase support is non-existant. Also, be aware that just because its sitting on a dealer lot does not mean there is an extra quality satandard above what a private owner offers. Either way take your time, inspect everything and ask questions. If a dealer cant answer questions on provious issues with the coach, leave! If you buy from a dealer make them put any promises in writing, remember you will be paying a percentage more because its coming from a dealer, make them earn the extra money. Sometimes a private person is a better option, the previous owner will most oftern know how everything works, and the quirks of the coach; this is something the dealers wont know. The risk with a private party sale is the warranty ends when you hand over the money, trying to take someone to court for misrepresentation is a long uphill battle...like others say, check it out take your time do your research and have fun doing it! good luck!

[phillyg]

I've done both and think you just have to be as knowledgeable about RVs as possible. Check out each unit thoroughly or if you can't, pay an expert to do so for you. Anything you buy used could break as you're driving it away regardless of how well the dealer or private seller talked it up. The only advantage to a dealer sale I can see is you might get a 30-day 50/50 warranty.

[Snomas]

I have bought from both. You have to have some knowledge of RV's to be able to buy from a private party and it helps also to buy from a Dealer. Some dealers only want to sell regardless of a used units true condition. My DSDP I bought from out of state & was 2 yrs old and still under MFGR warranty. I would buy again from a private party. It has been as good a MH as most of them (re:problems) from following this RV Forum for 12 years. Good Luck in you decisions.

[raindove]

We purchased ours privately off of a Craig's List ad. We never had any kind of camping unit before, at all. I told DH to call friends of ours and ask what to look for. These friends were a God-send. They had rv'd for years. Talked us through the purchase -- told lots of things to check out that we wouldn't have thought about, as newbies.

We got ours pretty cheap - guy had purchased it from his mom and dad, and at the time he was getting divorced and needed out from under it.

We had to put a few bucks in here and there - O2 sensors, new tires 2 yrs after we bought it -- but at some point you will have that with anything - normal maintenance and repairs.

We've never regretted buying it and had no problems. The main thing is knowing what to look at and making sure everything works. Private deals are "as is", so no warranty to fall back on.

[Trackrig]

We bought our 2005 Excursion 39S from a private individual last spring. We had several phone conversations with him. He sent us over 100 photos of every little detail that we asked for. He had the maintenance records, tire and battery ages, told us the few minor things that were wrong with it. He spent five hours with us going over everything and he filled the fuel tank with 100 gallons of diesel. ll of this after we negotiated a reasonable price.

His service contract still had two years on it that he signed over to us. If this had been a dealer, they might have thrown it away so they could try to sell us a new one.

If we buy another one, I'll look at a private sale first, but I will have to have "a warm and fuzzy fealing" about the seller.

Bill

[Bill___Kate]

It is a tough question. There are both honest and dishonest dealers and private sellers out there. If it is your first RV, and you are not too familiar with how they are constructed, maintained, and supposed to work, you might be better off finding a reliable dealer that offers some kind of warannty with the unit, and is willing to spend some time with you and the RV you choose.

As said above, you can probably get better prices from a private seller.

[hipower]

I've done both with equal success. Just be an informed buyer. Obviously you can't expect any kind of warranty from a private party where a dealer may offer something, or not.

[Altern]

I would think that unless someone has purchased at least two from each, preferably more, private & dealer, their opinions won't mean much. In other words just a very subjective data point.

[ChooChooMan74]

If you know what you're looking for, you can get a better deal from a private sale.