Pre-Owned MH Prices

[turn1fan]

What seems to be the going rate for used motorhomes. We are looking at some used Beaver Montereys. NADA low retail with options is around 144K for both. In today's economy is there still more room for negotiations below the NADA low retail point? I know there are lots of reasons and different pressures that make people sell these and everyone has a different bottomline. Just looking for some ballpark numbers for starting points. Never want to put more $$$ on the table than required. Anybody been able to make a deal with a bank on a short sale?

[Billieg]

Look for 20% - 30% below NADA low retail point. I just talked to a friend that got his for 60% below NADA low retail point because they had to get rid of it. It's sad that so many people are losing there MH and will sell for what's owed on it. Place a very low bid on one. The worst they can say is no. Banks will lose big $$ just to unload them because they can write them off. The bank was asking $325 and he offered $130. He got it. Good luck!

[bacr]

Five days ago i had purchased A 2006 Fleetwood Southwind 37C for mid sixties. NADA was at 84k in the middle. There is pleanty of room for negotiations. If at a dealer you can get real close to how much they paid for any given used coach with this equation 1.35X=Listing price X=cost of coach to dealer. I have had several friends use this with great success. Hope this helps.

[moisheh]

Not only should you be able to buy for at least 25% of low NADA do not add any extras into the price. Dealers do not allow one cent for options!

[Mike Canter]

According to a close friend that is an RV saleman at a large well known dealership that you can shop around and buy the MH you want in a private sale at or below wholesale price. Now if you buy from a dealer then you are going to pay a higher price but then you get stuff fixed that is wrong and usually get a short term guaranty from a reputable dealer. Before the economy dropped the standard good price on a MH from a dealer was about halfway between wholesale and retail and now it is a lot lower than that. The problem with a lot of private sales is that if they are the original owner then they are trying to recover what they owe on the MH so they are asking a real high price way over NADA. You can pick one model MH and you can see prices that vary from $150K to over $300K for exactly the same model. That $300K MH is probably no better condition than the $150K model. Sometimes if you are handy it is better to buy a MH from in a private sale and save $$$$$ and spend a small amount fixing minor problems yourself. You can always take that MH and have it tested and checked before you buy it. If it has a Cummins motor then there are a lot of Cummins dealerships that specialize in MH and will test that motor for you on a dyno.

Cummins Onan

[heresoscar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moisheh Not only should you be able to buy for at least 25% of low NADA do not add any extras into the price. Dealers do not allow one cent for options!

By no options, you mean air/furnace/microwave etc? When I select nothing on NADA the low end is $13k on a 1999 Pace Arrow. Minus 25% would be less than 10k on a coach offered for $17500 by a private seller. That seems low...

[Dave and Jaime]

Quote:

Originally Posted by heresoscar By no options, you mean air/furnace/microwave etc? When I select nothing on NADA the low end is $13k on a 1999 Pace Arrow. Minus 25% would be less than 10k on a coach offered for $17500 by a private seller. That seems low...

That's correct. The NADA pricing assumes a MH that is equipped with all that you would expect: TV, generator, awnings, appliances. Most people mistakenly select the features (options) that their MH has and get an incorrect, inflated value. Those "options" should only be applied when your MH has a feature that very few in that year/model also have. For example, if that model MH almost never had a generator, so that it wasn't part of a "standard" set of features, it would be appropriate to check the generator box if your MH had one. The boxes are not to be used as a comprehensive set of features -- just select those that are unique compared to others of the same type/year.

[moisheh]

Even when the options are items that did not come with the unit dealers add NOTHING. This all when the market collapsed in 2008.

Moisheh

[Billieg]

I called Lazy Days last week about a 1999 HR Navigator. A local dealer also has one on consignment and is asking 91k but said offer 75k. Lazy called me back with a 151k price and then said "with the going discount" 81k..... NADA average low is 105k. The local one has just 35k miles on it with a motorcycle lift and looks brand new. It sure is a buyers market.

[srydve]

I tried to buy one through a bank short sale and found the process very frustrating, put in my bid but the bank would basically not talk to me telling me to discuss with the owner, and the owner had no information. I found the worst thing was there was no end date when they would check the bids and make a decision, you are just left hanging. Unless you are on very good terms with the selling bank I would advise against it. There are plenty of good deals, you just have to be patient enough to wait for one on a unit you want. Always get an independent inspection. Good Luck

[cb5300]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moisheh Not only should you be able to buy for at least 25% of low NADA do not add any extras into the price. Dealers do not allow one cent for options!

That's only if you allow them to do that... I know that when I traded for my 2008 Signature I got a heck of a deal on my trade in (2007 Monaco Dynasty...Diamond floor plan). Of course, I really didn't care if I traded or not and if the dealer hadn't come to my terms I'd walk away. I also want to point out that my deal took place BEFORE the big crash (Oct 2007).

[Billieg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by srydve I tried to buy one through a bank short sale and found the process very frustrating, put in my bid but the bank would basically not talk to me telling me to discuss with the owner, and the owner had no information. I found the worst thing was there was no end date when they would check the bids and make a decision, you are just left hanging. Unless you are on very good terms with the selling bank I would advise against it. There are plenty of good deals, you just have to be patient enough to wait for one on a unit you want. Always get an independent inspection. Good Luck

The banks are so screwed up that IF they were a business they would be out of business. They can mess up and still get relief from the government so what do they care. Tried to buy a foreclosed house from a bank cash. They wanted my past tax returns, bank statements, and prof of income. I said "I have cash" let's close! No go, still wanted all the paperwork which I said "keep your house"! What should they care as long as I brought cash to the closing table? No wonder they are in such deep C#@p....

[frankdamp]

Buy privately. We did and got a good deal on our signature rig last July. It was advertised in our local paper. The owners (orginal purchasers new) had run into medical issues and could no longer travel too far from their medical support team. Although we were the 5th people to see it, I was the first one that the owner was comfortale selling to. I'm a retired transit driver and was very much at home in a 32-foot rig.

They had priced it to cover what they still owed, and it was about $8K under NADA. It's in cherry condition, though we did find some water damage in the living room slide this spring because of a rotted slide topper. I'm about half-way thgough fixing that.

We financed the deal through a home equity loan with our Credit Union (Boeing Employees). On-line application, sailed through with no glitches (a credit score of 785 may have helped).

Because our older Labrador has medical issues, we may not use the rig as much as we'd planned this season, so the restoration of the slide-out isn't a major distraction. She'll be 14 in October, if she makes it that far, and is very frail. The five steps up into our basement style rig are a real challenge.

[Mr_D]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moisheh Not only should you be able to buy for at least 25% of low NADA do not add any extras into the price. Dealers do not allow one cent for options!

As others have mentioned, keep in mind when using NADA that the base price shown for a rig is with all standard items. So if the unit comes with three slides, DO NOT add slides in to the base, same with water heaters or heat pumps. On ours the 10 gallon water heater is standard, but there is a listing for it as an option. We do have the motor aid option so that's an add on to the base. Alum wheels are an option so you would add for them. If the dealer won't add for options then I walk.