Trying to find a used TT - a rant!

tomkaren13 wrote:
No! my(our)rant is about anyone who advertises a unit for sale and then does not return our call or e-mail. Most dealers have not answered our inquiries. They want us to travel a minimum of one hour to find out the unit is to small or too heavy or too expensive for us!

We have called or E-mailed on at least 10 units and recieved only one call back and that was about the wrong unit. Must say Camping World finally called after more than one inquiry, because we stopped at their display in a shopping center.

As we said before we are close to only one small dealer. Florida is at least 120 miles across and 675 miles from Pensacola to Miami.

Too bad for them as we have money to spend!

If you think of the dealers as spiders and your self as a fly, it might become clear why you're not getting many return calls or emails. The salesman want you close to the "web" so they can do their thing and make a quick sale.
Offering information and answering questions yields very few prey for an RV spider.

FWIW, right now, I'm shopping for a used car and Craigslist is full of what appears to be what I want. Unfortunately, about every fourth listing is a scam. I don't know if they are harvesting email accounts or what their intentions are but nobody's Sister has that many used cars for sale, lol.

Good luck with your RV hunt!

It took me close to 2 years of looking to find my bunkhouse. The problem I found wasnt that people from craigslist wouldnt call me back . It was they owed much more than the rv was worth . They took 15 year loans with little or nothing down and wanted their pay off . Or they quoted NADA prices with every option at the excellent condition. If I was going to pay NADA prices I would have gone to a dealer , since thats who feeds Nada the prices for the book . Finally found one they guy owed nothing and wanted to move the camper .

I must've just lucked out searching for my used Hideout. I went online searching casually and found a HTT that interested me at Demontrand RV Conroe Texas. All specs were listed online, as well as a dozen pics of the HTT.

I called them ONLY to ask how late they were open that day. I showed up a few hours later and asked a salesman where the HTT were located. He took me over to it and I told him I wanted to look at it by myself. He said "Sure no problem." He left, & I looked it over. I didn't like it as much as I thought but there was the Hideout right next to it, so I scoped that one out and liked it better. Looked it up on my phone while I was in the lot for the specs and pictures. It was listed for $9995, which was over my budget.

I went in and jst happened to get the owner. When I told him what I was interested in, he invited me to his office . I told him upfront the listed price was more than I jhad budgeted, so he said "How about $7995?" I hesitated a little and he said "OK $7200 out the door."

Paid for it 2 days later and towed it home. Easy peasy.

I bought used and don't think I would go through that process again. Wasted so much time looking at overpriced garbage. Nice well kept rvs that are reasonable are few and far between. I did find exactly what I was looking for but it took me almost a year.

No! my(our)rant is about anyone who advertises a unit for sale and then does not return our call or e-mail. Most dealers have not answered our inquiries. They want us to travel a minimum of one hour to find out the unit is to small or too heavy or too expensive for us!

We have called or E-mailed on at least 10 units and recieved only one call back and that was about the wrong unit. Must say Camping World finally called after more than one inquiry, because we stopped at their display in a shopping center.

As we said before we are close to only one small dealer. Florida is at least 120 miles across and 675 miles from Pensacola to Miami.

Too bad for them as we have money to spend!

tomkaren13 wrote:
Thanks for all the replies. But we have and are following alot of your suggestions. Searching Craigslist first (every FL area)and every other avenue.

Do not want to go on wild chases without the basic info we need. i.e. lenght,weight and an idea of price. We call, email and do not get answers. Therefore this rant!

So is your rant about private parties that don't list basic relevant information then don't return your e-mails? Well... there are a lot of idiots on craigslist... no arguement there!

I recommend finding the floor plan you want at a dealer lot or RV show. Once you know the floor plan you want you should be able to find the private party trailers on craigslist just by looking at the pictures. Calling a seller is usually more fruitful than sending an e-mail.

When I started looking I didn't know a bunkhouse from a slide. It didn't take much self education before I could tell a bunkhouse just by looking at a picture of the side of the trailer. Some idiots give no specifications and only a picture or two that aren't worth a darn.. these people are just idiots! The art of purchasing off of craigslist is learning how to quickly seperate the gems from the rough!

Thanks for all the replies. But we have and are following alot of your suggestions. Searching Craigslist first (every FL area)and every other avenue.

Do not want to go on wild chases without the basic info we need. i.e. lenght,weight and an idea of price. We call, email and do not get answers. Therefore this rant!

OP - take the advice of otheres here and fire up Craigslist. Select the city your in. You are wasting your time filling out online forms or chating through a website. My advice for CL is look at ads by owner only, then look at dealer ads only. If you see an advertised TT that sparks your interest at a dealer, use the phone. Check out http://www.rvwholesalers.com/ as well

Go to the rv dealers to find the style / floorplan / length you like. Then find the one to buy on craigslist from a private party and save at least 50% if not more.

I don't give out any information to online questioners! I'm not parinoid, I just don't play that game.

The "live chat" thing is pretty cool but it just boils down to the same BS. No answer to your questions. Just the old, "would you like to come in at 10 or 1 tomorrow to look at it?"

I bought a new truck a few months back and was just blown away at the lack of any genuine effort on a dealer's part to help me out before I was on their lot. The same lady emailed me 3 times to try to make an appointment without answering a very simple question I had asked. That alone kept me from going to that dealership. There's a good chance I would have bought a 40K truck from them and they couldn't be bothered.

So many businesses these days have transformed to service above all else. It's funny how auto dealerships are the last to give in. It's like when you are spraying the pile of dog******off the sidewalk and there's that last piece just stuck in place and won't budge :)