Community Forums

Jonesey · 07-27-2015, 04:53 PM

Back in December my wife and I decided to move out of the 5er and into a double wide for more room.

Anyway, we are trying to sell our 2008 Carri Lite SQB through a consignment dealer near Seattle. So far we haven't had a single offer. They're telling us that the larger 5th wheels just aren't moving in this area.

Have any of the IRV2 folks had problems selling? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Ranger Smith · 07-27-2015, 05:30 PM

I have never had any luck selling an RV either through consignment or on my own. Always ended up trading and taking another beating. Last one was a Jayco Pinnacle which we purchased used for 45k and 6 months later wanted to trade for a rv and it was worth only 22k they said. I did not do the deal.

89sandman · 07-27-2015, 06:57 PM

I live in Southern Oregon and the large 5th wheel market here is all but dead. Seems no one wants to pay for the truck it takes to haul one around. Everyone is looking for something you can haul with a half ton or smaller.

450Donn · 07-27-2015, 07:10 PM

Price? If it is priced right it will sell, if notmit wont!

wildirishman · 07-27-2015, 08:03 PM

I do real well selling them on Craigslist. Never had a bad experience. Just be careful and get as much info as you can up front. Meet in a safe area.

Ray,IN · 07-27-2015, 08:22 PM

I wonder how the market is in AZ, a snowbird destination? Many buy a 5er to setup permanent or have stored on-site and just drive a car to AZ and back home. I've also noticed a trend to smaller trailers and 1/2T towables. Seen the price of a 2015 dually, $65.000 will buy a base model.

That's the breaks of the game when we buy a depreciating asset. We traded our '05 40' Grand Junction in on our MH, otherwise we would have gotten $10K less for the 5er. It was still nothing to write home about.

IC2 · 07-28-2015, 05:42 AM

It has to be your market as on the East Coast it seems like bigger is better. The CG where we spend much of the summer usually have a few big 5ers and MHs come in -- that is until this year where everything that is a 'transient/weekender' looks to be in the neighborhood of 35 plus feet with more then a few tri axle toy haulers in the 40-45 foot range. Unfortunately most CGs, especially in the Adirondacks, are barely able to handle those mega sized units.

Then, as said by others, FSBO or consignment is iffy in the best of times as most folks want some sort of warranty or at least the known problems fixed before they take possession. Additionally, and while yours may be the exception, so many of the FSBO's we have looked at in the past appear to have been ridden hard and put in the stall wet. In other words, they don't have a good 'grab ya' appearance that a new one or even a dealer cleaned unit will have.

Of course there is that other bug-a-boo, the economy. Is it really as good in your locale you have been told that it is?

bamaboy473 · 07-28-2015, 05:50 AM

A unit that's been lived in shows it, so yours may be on the lowest end of the pricing spectrum when compared to similar units that were vacation units with minimal use.

Get a pro to clean the unit, paying attention to cushions and carpet.

Make and fill out an inspection sheet that lists condition of everything, and include that in your CL ad. People don't like surprises, so give them every detail; the good/bad, and ugly. Fix or replace the ugly before you go any further, or offer a giant deduct for it.

Make weekly price drops if on CL. People that are looking will see those drops, and your ad will jump to the top every time you do that.

twogypsies · 07-28-2015, 10:23 AM

We sold our 40' motorhome through PPL in Houston within one month's time. . . a very easy process. We named our price. The party flew in from Florida to purchase it. We got paid immediately less 10% which we figured in for the sale price. Had we tried to sell ourselves we would have had to put it in a storage lot, advertise, receive calls, setting up appointments to see it and then deal with 'no shows'. If they did come we'd have to take it out of storage just to open the slides, etc. To us, consignment worked very well and PPL is well-known with a LOT of traffic.

LynnD · 07-28-2015, 10:58 AM

We bought our fiver used, also bought our Winnie MH used, both of those came from a dealer, but when looking for the MH we visited a consignment dealer. We were not impressed. The gal really did not know much about the units she was selling, the units were dirty, and they did not offer any warranty nor repair services. Anyone there looking at units other than MH's were basically told to go see if there was anything they were interested in and then come back. The couple we were talking to knew nothing about rv's, they were newbies. We walked around with them to help a bit, but frankly that turned me off to the dealer altogether.

I would try visiting the dealer anonymously....find out how they are representing your unit.

EMDF9A · 07-28-2015, 12:03 PM

Is this your unit?
2008 Carri-Lite 36 SBQ Quad-Slide Fifthwheel *** REDUCED ***
If so it looks good and is priced under NADA, but the reality is that you need to add another $30k onto that to get the tow vehicle. So for that price you can get a pretty good Newmar, Tiffin or Monaco 40 ft DP.

That being said, PPL just sold a similar unit without the residential appliances for $42900.