Low Retail

[Pusherdiva]

How does one find out what low retail is on a used MH? I've been looking up prospective rigs on the NADA pricing guide and NOT checking all the little boxes for extras just pumping in the year and model etc. And that gives me a Low and an Average retail price. Do dealers use NADA or another system for thier RETAIL pricing?

[COMer]

My experience is that dealers use a method called "whatever we think we can get". I suppose it is based on NAPA value and marked up 50% so that they can come back down when a discerning buyer is talking to them. Be assured that they will never have more than NAPA wholesale in the rig. There is always plenty to play with and while the dealer needs to make some money, the buyer needs to be happy with what he pays.

[Go Dawgs]

That's how I found the value of my 03 Class C. I used that information as a starting point. I then began to list the items that I felt needed fixing as we walked through it and what the cost may be. I then gave them my lowest price and we started the back and forth. I ended up getting the coach for about $7k under what they were asking ($12,200 versus $19,000) and spent about $1500 on fixes. It took about 4 hours and I walked away twice. I also had cash on hand to deal with. Before you go find the value of what you are looking at. I went through PPL Motorhomes website and looked at what similar MH were going for in the area. I also was willing to walk away and not buy. I feel the best time to buy is in the winter because their volume of sales are at their lowest.

[vraines]

I have not placed much reliance on any of the printed or on-line guides as there are just too many variables involved. Age, condition, mileage are good starts when evaluating, but it is hard to factor local, regional and national markets for a particular make and model. My best tool has been to do a market analysis with similar models that are advertised at dealers and by individuals. Keep in mind the difference between asking and actual selling price. I evaluate a little like an appraisal on a home with several comps. and then making adjustments for options, mileage and condition. This is certainly not an exact science, but it is a good start. This is a little easier to do if you can narrow the search to a single make and model. I believe that if you do this analysis several times over a period of several months, you will have a solid feel for what the market is doing. Keep in mind that banks use someone's reference to establish loan value, so it is useful to keep that in mind.

[Pusherman]

Yep, banks DO use NADA to establish a RV's value when lending money to a borrower. NADA does factor in some regional differences as well. It's as good a starting point as any. I also agree with vraines good advice to do some market analysis to see what other coaches are priced at, and more importantly what they sell for.

[Pusherdiva]

Great input! thanks very much! Does anyone find that the dealers are willing to tell you what they ended up selling a particular rig for?

[Jack1234]

Originally Posted by Pusherdiva

Great input! thanks very much! Does anyone find that the dealers are willing to tell you what they ended up selling a particular rig for?

I'm not sure this info is all that important....

.My theory ( as good as anyone's) is that Dealer Wholesale (their cost) is usually around -25-30% below (low) NADA....they then mark-up the unit by 10-15% above (low) NADA to establish their "asking" price. This gives them 35-45% margin to play with .....depending on time of year, unique or special nature of the unit, etc, etc.

In today's market I think the average "buying " price is pretty close to or slightly below ( low) NADA. IMO ....Dealers usually get much more than Private Sellers. Why? People just seem to "trust" the buying experience of a Dealership (financing, trades, etc) and are uneasy/uncertain of the private sale. FWIW we just private sold our MH and we had to drop to -10% below (low) NADA in order to attract interest and drop another -10% in order to close the sale at -20% below (low) NADA.

Hope this helps?