Selling RV and flying home.... crazy?

[cardtarget]

So, we live in NC and the last two summers my family of 5 has done a 6000+ mile trip to Yellowstone over 30 days and a 3000 mile trip to Maine that we just got back from. Wonderful times. Now, we have a 2002 Class C that has had some leaks in the past and is probably only worth $8k-$10k at this point.

So, I want to set up a trip for next summer where we don't come back in the RV. We drive from NC to Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Arches, Sequoia, etc, then drive up the coast of California. The max time I could take off work would be about a month so this really isn't a possible trip unless we did crazy amounts of driving and crammed everything in.

But, what if we drove up to Seattle or somewhere in the Northeast, sold the RV and flew home?

Anybody ever done something like that before? Did you plan the sale in advance? Only bring linens, pots/pans you didn't care about and sold them with the RV or tossed them? I guess you could always mail yourself a few boxes of stuff too.

[extreme_cat]

Since you are ok selling your Rv, do it at home , fly to Seattle and buy one there. You can do your trip in reverse as you start at the end and work your way home.

It is a lot easier to sell your Rv at your home and at your time frame. Buying can be done remotely as we did this exact same thing with a car. We flew to Seattle, picked it up and drove it back to calgary

[MargaretB]

We sold our used Class A on RV Trader to two couples from Australia. They flew over to take possession from us. The plan was that each couple would tour the US for three months, find a place to park it, fly home, and hand the keys to the other couple, who would then fly over and pick it up and repeat the process. They did this very successfully for about four years, during which they saw every state and every NP and drove it from the Bering Sea to Key West in one 3-month period. When they were done, they sold it on RV Trader again and flew home for good. It worked brilliantly for them.

[96Bounder30E]

I sold my motorhome at a campground one weekend.... I had a check for it by the end of the day.... We did drive it home though.... The new owners took delivery of it a couple of days later....

Anything is possible if you try...

[IBcarguy]

Sounds like a great idea but might not be as simple and easy as it sounds. Leaving it on the west coast in someone else's hands to sell it for you sounds a little risky to me. Finding a reputable dealer to consign it won't be too easy either. If its not priced right to start with, it could sit on a lot for months. If it doesn't sell fast, a dealer will loose enthusiasm to sell it. Meanwhile you are home in NC with no control over the situation or options other than to keep dropping the price to hopefully find a buyer. Maybe this plan could turn out great...but maybe not.

[John_Joey]

People do that all the time. For you the trick will be to find a good consignment place that will do the sale for you after you take off. Do your homework on the consignment place upfront, and that will tell you where your trip will really end.

[Stars101]

As far as an inspection is concerned.... people drive their vehicles for many months with expired inspection stickers when they just plain forget to check when it is due. Not a huge big deal.

If you got stopped you could just explain you were on a family vacation and just realized it was expired and were planning on getting it done as soon as you get home - which is true.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Lack of registration, no insurance, driving an RV with known mechanical issues that could hurt others - those are biggies. Expired inspection sticker - small stuff.

[TyroneandGladys]

cardtarget wrote:

RedRocket204 wrote:
Another option to throw out there.

Don't rush to see as many sites as you have listed but do see some of those sites. Then, get to an end destination of that trip, winterize the RV and then store it at a RV storage location and fly home. The following summer, fly back out and continue on with your western trip and maybe have the time to possibly drive it home then sell it on your leisure.

This is brilliant.

So in North Carolina we have to get the RV inspected every year. How would you handle that?

This way

[TyroneandGladys]

Look for a Non Profit agency in the area that you could donate it to and take the value off of your taxes as a charitable contribution.

[RedRocket204]

cardtarget wrote:

RedRocket204 wrote:
Another option to throw out there.

Don't rush to see as many sites as you have listed but do see some of those sites. Then, get to an end destination of that trip, winterize the RV and then store it at a RV storage location and fly home. The following summer, fly back out and continue on with your western trip and maybe have the time to possibly drive it home then sell it on your leisure.

This is brilliant.

So in North Carolina we have to get the RV inspected every year. How would you handle that?

Hmmm, that is a good question and something in CO I'm not confronted with but to make it easy would depend on when registration was due. Maybe someone who full-times who has their RV registered in NC can chime in... or post the question in the Full Time forum --> Full-time RVing

Per the making it easy comment, if the registration time conveniently worked out, you could offset the two different trips. First trip later in the summer, second trip earlier the following summer. But, chances are your registration/inspection schedule will not make it that easy.

[cardtarget]

RedRocket204 wrote:
Another option to throw out there.

Don't rush to see as many sites as you have listed but do see some of those sites. Then, get to an end destination of that trip, winterize the RV and then store it at a RV storage location and fly home. The following summer, fly back out and continue on with your western trip and maybe have the time to possibly drive it home then sell it on your leisure.

This is brilliant.

So in North Carolina we have to get the RV inspected every year. How would you handle that?

[RedRocket204]

Another option to throw out there.

Don't rush to see as many sites as you have listed but do see some of those sites. Then, get to an end destination of that trip, winterize the RV and then store it at a RV storage location and fly home. The following summer, fly back out and continue on with your western trip and maybe have the time to possibly drive it home then sell it on your leisure.

[hokeypokey]

Here's what 2 Florida families did: Bought an RV in partnership. One party drove it to Alaska and when done touring, flew home while the second party flew up and drove it home when done touring. I thought it was a great plan.

[Golden_HVAC]

Yes I can see this working. You might end up taking a huge loss on the RV in the end, but at least you will not need to pay for gas to bring it back home, say 2000 miles at 8 MPG, that is worth something. And you could see everything you wanted to see, without needing to spend another week or so bringing the RV back home.

Of if the hubby likes to drive the RV, (and has more vacation time) let him bring it back from Portland or Seattle by himself, by driving 400 miles a day, it would take a week or so. . .

The other possibility is get a family member to drive it back from Seattle. Perhaps they are also thinking it would be great to take time in August to drive from Washington to NC, but don't have time to make the round trip. They could meet you in WA, and drive it back, via I90 and see things like Yellowstone and Mt Rushmore, or take the southern route (very hot though that time of year) and see the Grand Canyon, and those places. Or meet up with them in San Francisco, and they could see Yosemite, and that area, before heading back with your RV to your home.

Anything can happen, just plan for the best, and don't sweat the small stuff.

Fred.

[DeanRIowa]

In college we often dd the reverse, we would fly to Texas from Iowa, buy some rust free cars to sell in Iowa.

Dean