Dealing with consignment lots

Consignment is more like buying Real Estate than buying from a dealer's inventory. He is sort of acting like an agent for the owner and usually working on a commission. Therefore it is to his best advantage to make the transaction happen - he gets a piece of pie only when the unit sells. He knows what the owner wants, and should be able to figure out what the buyer is willing to play. He can try to talk the owner down, talk the buyer up, or even cut his commission to make the deal.

We're looking at a TT listed around 15K. NADA retails around 14K. I went to PPL site and could not find a similar TT. I don't want to insult the seller, but I also don't want to pay more than I have to. Since consignment is like real estate - will there be counter offers if my first offer is too low?

Some consignment dealers may, for the sake of convenience, have the seller sign the transfer papers prior to any sale. So the dealer can complete the sale with the buyer without the seller being present.
For me the issue is the authenticity of the signatures. All documents relating to the transfer should be signed in the presence of the seller and the buyer to avoid the possibility of fraud.
If this is not possible the buyer ought to make alternate arrangements to verify the authenticity of the sellers signatures.

drop 20% from asking and see how it goes.

you can always go up.

Make an offer and do not worry about "insulting" the seller - it is Your money that you are using for the purchase. If the Seller thinks your offer is too low, then he can counter it with a reduced sales price. Also, I would insist that the lot relay ANY offer, regardless of the amount, to the seller.

Remember, that in a lot of the consignment deals, the dealer gets a percentage of the sales price so it is in the dealer's interest to sell the consigned unit for as much as possible.

Finally, be ready to walk away if you can't get your price - there are a lot more units for sale then there are buyers.

Ron S

We have both sold and bought through PPL, a consignment dealer. When we sold our 5th wheel a few years ago, they told us what the market was and what we should expect to get for the rv. We set our price and a floor price we would accept. It sold quickly and they handled all of the paperwork. Buying from them is easy and they will do a good inspection for a fee. If you offer a price lower that what the asking price is, the sales person should contact the seller to see if they are willing to negotiate. I liked selling through them because they handled the financing, title transfer, etc. etc., which can be a real pain for an individual, especially if financing is involved. Hopes this helps some. We just bought a 17' TT from PPL to pull behind our SUV and are looking forward to getting back into RVing.

Thank you all for your inputs. I value all suggestions and information. Safe Travels everyone.

Bought our last one through a consignment lot in Whitmore Lk. Very pleasant experience. Everyone walked away happy. The nice thing was that they have a repair person on staff and were able to make repairs according to our offer. Can't usually get that from a regular seller.

homedad wrote:
Bought our last one through a consignment lot in Whitmore Lk. Very pleasant experience. Everyone walked away happy. The nice thing was that they have a repair person on staff and were able to make repairs according to our offer. Can't usually get that from a regular seller.

How much less did you pay from the selling price? Did they also tack on fees like the dealerships do? Ex. prepping