Wife and I have been searching for a motor home to buy for a couple of month now with no success. I'm surprised by the number of sellers who either don't return our calls or emails or who get offended when you ask too many questions especially about price or money. We get the same treatment whether it's a paid ad as on RV Trader or free craigslist ad. Then there are people who want us give them a bunch of money to pay off their lien so they can get the title and then sign it over. We think too many things could go wrong with that. Seems like going to a dealer is the path of least resistance. Anyone else having these issues?

A lot of owners are upside down and want more then the MH is worth.

Usually to buy from a private buyer they are upside down in their RV and looking for that sale that will pay off the loan completely. Not gonna happen. Best bet is to keep looking or yes get one from a dealer. Just do as much research as you can so you don't over pay for a RV. I had a ton of equity in ours when we traded so not an issue here. Best way when a lien is involved if a local bank is to go with seller and get title there. If it is not a local bank I'de make arrangements with their bank so they know title is to go to you and not seller.

Keep looking for owners that do not want you to pay off their loan or dealers that will answer your questions. They are out there. Many of us have found then and purchased RVs from them.

ranger smith has the right way for the trans action to take place, banks deal with this all the time ,find your rv and it can be worked out. most times a private seller just doesn,t know what to do. and I don,t trust used of a dealers lot, they really don,t know any thing about them there just trade in,s and dealers have no history.

I'm going through a purchase of a crossroads fifth wheel right now from a private individual. In my case I'm using SE financial and the seller has first merit. my bank first needed a copy of title from their bank before anything could move on...that actually took two weeks. then my bank is sending their bank a check and giving me a check to take to owners for the difference. I'm not exactly sure how its going to be from here. I expect I will get the title, get my plates, and send the title off to my bank. taking forever. Now I just sold my motorhome. I had title and people had cash. took ten minutes LOL.

Trying to buy a motorhome | Good Sam Community

wbwood
Explorer
Apr 28, 2016
Yep, if a buyer owes any money on the RV, they are going to have to pay it off in order to get the title from the lien holder.

Even if you buy a used unit through a dealer, there's a chance that they don't have the title in hand. Often they are consigning and money is still owed to the Bank.
DrewE
Explorer II
Apr 28, 2016
wtmtnhiker wrote:
I have decided not to pursue any coaches that do not have a clear, clean title in hand. Thanks to all who replied.

I hope (assume) you realize that in New Hampshire (and Vermont and Maine) you don't need a title to register a vehicle older than somewhere around 16 years, and the states will not issue a title for a vehicle of that age. Depending on what your price range/date range is for looking at RVs, it may simply be impossible for the seller to have a title in their name, depending on when they bought it.

Probably this is not an issue if you're looking at units that have a lien on them due to being financed.
ol_Bombero-JC
Explorer
Apr 28, 2016
wtmtnhiker wrote:
I have decided not to pursue any coaches that do not have a clear, clean title in hand. Thanks to all who replied.

"Naio" here's (above) the opposite of flakey sellers....

plenty of flakey buyers out there too, LOL!

~
ncrowley
Explorer II
Apr 23, 2016
You can purchase an RV that is not paid off. But you want to pay for the RV and have the owner worry about paying off the loan. That way you just negotiate a price with them without having to take over their loan.
beemerphile1
Explorer
Apr 22, 2016
ol' yeller wrote:
wtmtnhiker wrote:
I have decided not to pursue any coaches that do not have a clear, clean title in hand. Thanks to all who replied.

This is going to eliminate a lot of nice newer RVs from your search.

Not just a lot, probably most.
ol__yeller
Explorer II
Apr 22, 2016
wtmtnhiker wrote:
I have decided not to pursue any coaches that do not have a clear, clean title in hand. Thanks to all who replied.

This is going to eliminate a lot of nice newer RVs from your search.
wtmtnhiker
Explorer
Apr 22, 2016
I have decided not to pursue any coaches that do not have a clear, clean title in hand. Thanks to all who replied.
georgelesley
Explorer
Apr 22, 2016
We recently sold our RV and explored the process although we finally traded due to sales tax credit on a trade in our state. The process is not all that difficult. Talk to your bank. they can set up an escrow acct for you if you are paying cash. They then can safely set up the details of title, etc with the other parties lien holder. You and the other party are out of the picture.

All you have to do is find the RV you want and agree on a price and get a bill of sale and insurance. Do check with the state you will register the RV in as to how sales tax is handled. Here in TN it is 7.5 on the entire purchase price minus any trade in allowed. Thus a dealer buy can be attractive as buying privately would forfeit the sales tax credit of a trade.

Your state is likely different so check it out. good luck.
CavemanCharlie
Explorer III
Apr 22, 2016
I don't know about a Motorhome but, when buying a car or truck I figure the search is going to take anywhere from 3 months to a year.

There are a lot more cars and trucks then Motorhomes so you may have to look for a long time to find a good deal on one.
Jayco-noslide
Explorer
Apr 22, 2016
I've both bought and sold privately many items over the years and have not run into this. I think if you keep looking you may find that most sellers will cooperate better. Why wouldn't they? It is common for all of us to think our stuff is worth than it really is so people tend to overprice. buying from a dealer may not be the worst thing and maybe smoother?