Showing my RV to prospective buyers

[shirlw]

We want to try selling our 2006 Four Winds Class A ourselves, but have some concerns about showing it to prospective buyers. There are plenty of articles about advertising and setting your sales price, but nothing about the interaction with the buyer. Do we just let them go out on a test drive by themselves? That seems risky for our coach. Do we hop in the RV with complete strangers to go on a test drive? That seems like a safety risk! Has anyone here been either a buyer or seller in a private transaction? How was the test drive part handled? Any other advice appreciated!

[ThorResidencyNe]

I bought my motorhome about a year and a half ago and the seller had just inherited the motorhome and did not have a title. He and I spent about 3 hours at a local AAA club getting the title/registration worked out. I was a little concerned when he said he didn't have a title, but in the end it worked out.

As for the test drive, he was very trusting. I had only driven one RV before this one and it showed. He drove it to a large parking lot and let me drive it back. I don't know that I would have been that trusting. Several years ago I was selling a Ninja motorcycle and the potential buyer wanted to test ride it. I asked if he had ridden motorcycles before and he said no. I let him start the bike, test the controls but said NO to a test drive. I did drive it on the street so he could see that it worked. He insisted on riding it and I said NO again. I told him if he wanted to ride it, he would have to buy it and then assume the risk of crashing it.

Well, he did buy it and once the paperwork was done and money exchanged, he proceeded to take the bike (which was showroom mint)out for a test ride. A few minutes later I heard a screech and a crash. He smashed it into a wall. Broke the foot pegs, the turn signals, smashed the exhaust and tore up the fiber glass. He said to me "what do we do about this? How do we fix it?" I said, we don't. This is your bike and the exact reason I didn't let you test ride it.

Buyers AND sellers need to be careful. Good luck.

[randallb]

I do not know where you are financially with your RV but when we sold ours it was to one of the big dealers. Could I have gotten more on the private market, probably, but I did not want the hassle. They were looking for units for one of their big annual open houses and the price was close enough. Our ex-RV has since been wholesaled and is sitting on another smaller dealer's lot. We sold the unit in January 2013. So if you have a loan against your RV and it takes 18 months to sell you are still making the payment, the insurance premium payment and will be dropping the asking price to sell it. Factor in these additional costs and it may be more advantages to sell it out right to a large dealer. No one knows how long it will take to sell your RV but the chances of it occurring before you incur more costs are pretty slim and you will be fixing the items the potential purchaser finds or dropping the price to offset the repairs.
Randy

[shirlw]

Thanks, everyone, for all the excellent suggestions. I think we have worked out a plan to advertise and show the coach, but now I have another question. Has anyone bought or sold an RV for which the bank still holds the title? How was that transaction carried out? All of our purchases have been through dealers and we just traded up.

[deandec]

When buying a boat, the sea trial was the last step before the agreed funds were transferred. Motor home could be done the same way.

[rumrunnerxx]

I have sold a couple of MHs myself over the years without any problems. Your gut feeling is usually right. I would not let someone test drive without me along. Beside I'm talking the whole time about the MH and where to turn on the drive. I have also only ever bought privately as well and never had a problem. The seller is probably going with his gut feeling as well. Works both ways.

[dayakster]

I purchased my 97 Allegro bus in April of this year, 2014, but I started looking online late last season. I caught the surge in available units for sale once school started in September then followed the ads all winter....well, there are hardly any locally all winter but I noticed the one I ended up buying on Craig's List late late in the fall and though it was a few more $ than I had at the time and I wasn't really ready at the time I used it as a comparison to all the national sites through out the long winter.

The thing that made my bus stand out in the crowd besides it's quality was the fact that the seller inadvertently was in one of the photos. Actually, I couldn't even see his face. The picture was from the back of the bus and he was beside it looking in one of the storage bins....may have been at the genny. Older gentleman in a purple polo shirt....looked like he may have been a retired doctor or such, he ended up being retired military but none the less when I saw the Craig's ad pop up again in March I remembered it because of him and I answered the ad.

After a few phone calls we decided to meet at a mutual medical clinic (they lived about 30 miles from me and the MH was stored at their daughter's another 20 minutes away) since it was still winter here in March with several inches of snow still on the ground we decided just to ride out there and look at it.

They were surprised that I came alone but I told myself that if they (he) didn't appear to be the same guy that I'd make an excuse and follow in my own car. It was funny because their daughter called them about 3 times on the way down and I asked if she was worried about the ax murderer (me) they just picked up!? I actually had a duffle bag filled with snow boots, a flash light and a mat so I could crawl underneath on the ice. LOL

A smart ax murderer wouldn't put his picture on Craig's List.

Anyway, that's my story....it just felt right. I ended up giving them $500 cash that day to take it off the market and we made arrangements for the pick up a few weeks later.

[tom076]

We are also involved with trying to sell our MH. We are trying the diy approach and have it listed on RV Trader, no bites, probably a little high, looked into trade with a regional dealer and they were extremely conservative with their allowance maybe $15,000 low, I worry about consignment it sits there and they use it to sell theirs, nicer upgrade or lower priced similar. I had not considered the issues of trust with potential buyers, will have to think about what you all have said.

[mtofell1]

In any private party "Craigslist" type transaction I start gathering information about people from the first point of contact. Type their name, email address and/or phone# into Google to see what comes up. Very quickly you can start to establish if their story adds up or not.

I have no problem asking people for their driver's license and asking a bunch of questions about their "story".

When I'm purchasing things I readily offer this information and my background to sellers to put them at ease. I've been a business owner and licensed through our local contractor's board for 15+ years and have a healthy "footprint". Anyone without any verifiable history I'd be leery of.

In most of the larger scale transactions I've done I just get a gut feeling for people. Once we all check each other out it's like we're old friends. But you have to do the work up front to be sure they are for real.

For buying/selling a class A I might just give the 5-10% on each end and let a dealer/consignment place deal with it.

[JALLEN4]

You should be concerned about being alone with people who come to "look" and drive your unit. Every year there are multiple instances where dealers have salespeople abducted or killed and the unit stolen. I had multiple instances of that involving my personnel in my career.

On a lighter note, does anyone find it ironic that people are responding with all these draconian rules they devise when selling their own property but almost monthly on this forum people complain about locked inventory and salespeople accompanying them when they go to a dealership? Yes, I know they are in the business to sell their inventory but none of us are in the business to have that inventory stolen or to be killed in the process.

[cjalphonso]

When selling mine, I would let them come take a look at it, kick the tires, run the engine, forward reverse etc. If they wanted to do a test drive I told them that I was confident in its performance and would give them a test drive when they were ready to purchase, i.e. had a check. That way I knew they were very serious and I only had to do one test drive 🙂
Worked for me...

[peaches_cream]

I have sold 2 Class A MH personally in the past 6 yrs. I have found, doing the walk thru, you will see if the prospective purchaser knows anything about MH. Ask if they have previously owned or driven a MH. Both of the purchaser's I sold too had owned MH in the past. I still rode in the pass side seat as they test drove it. Even if they are familiar with a MH, they do not know where everything is located on the dash, and appreciate help in locating these items. If they are scared of the unit or have never driven 1 before, I do the driving and let them observe.

[bluwtr49]

I like the idea of only letting them drive in a bit empty parking lot. Especially if the have never driven a large MH.

[obgraham]

Out here in a smaller city, I would simply evaluate the person standing in front of me. If he/she seems reasonable, we can go out for a test drive. With me along.

If he gives off weird vibes, I'll need to see the cash first. Or my neighbor the cop can go with him. In uniform.

[rgatijnet1]

In our area, because of concerns and a few problems with Craigslist, eBay, and other online sites, the local Sheriff's office has announced that anyone that wishes to conduct a transaction are more than happy to come to their building or parking lot to meet with the buyer/sellers. The deputies do not get involved in the transaction but, judging from the public response, many people feel that the extra security is fantastic.
You might want to check if there is a local law enforcement office in your area that will allow the same.
As far as driving the RV....When I sold some Classic Cars and my RV's, the only place I let anyone drive them was in a large park near our house. I would not allow them to drive out on the public roads. If they wanted to experience the vehicle on the open road, I was behind the wheel. Since I sold many cars and my RV's in a short period of time, usually in a matter of days, this method worked for me.