Community Forums

BCam · 04-16-2018, 07:31 AM

For those who aren't familiar with it, PPL is a dealer in Houston that posts actual sold prices. Here are the relevant links:

http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/sold/di...otor-homes.htm
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/sold/cl...otor-homes.htm
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/sold/cl...otor-homes.htm
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/sold/travel-trailer.htm
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/sold/fi...l-trailers.htm

krudawg · 04-17-2018, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rvethereyet

How do you settle on a price? Do you pick a number out of the air? Can you figuire 20% 30% off asking price. Do you look at nada? I know that the condition of the MH and parts will have an impact on the price. How did you settle on the price?

Spend some time on RVT.com pricing the exact model you are interested in. You will find that the NADA is worthless information when you actually compare it to Market Price. If the price on the one you want to buy is within what you found on RVT(keep in mind Classified ads are just "asking" prices NOT Market Price), after you are ready to make the deal ask the seller: "how much do you REALLY want for this coach" The seller will let you know and thats where your negotiations should start. Remember the Banks will lend on the NADA data, so be prepared that the 20% down payment may not be the actual cash you have to come up with. IOW, if you negotiate a price of $100k than 20% would be $20k but if the Bank is using NADA and it says the coach is worth $80K then the bank will finance 80% of $80k. So your down payment is going to be $36K. If you dig your heals in and refuse to pay more than the NADA, then you will be looking for a long time but eventually you will find someone who HAS to sell their rig and will sell it at the NADA price - of course that would be called "selling under duress" and does not really represent thedefimition of Market price

srogers · 04-17-2018, 07:47 AM

For research, in addition to the usual suspects (RVT, RVTrader, PPL, etc etc), I like cruising Craigslist regularly. When shopping/researching, I'll do both a local Craigslist search and nationwide ones, via SearchTempest, AllCraigs, or the like (make sure you use good keywords/search operators). This gives you a good sense of your local market and the national or regional market. You can always narrow a Craigslist search by eliminating what you don't want. For example, you could use "class a -trailer -5th -fifth" and you'll cut out a lot of towables that you don't want to see. In case a seller of a class A didn't include that in his/her post, you could do just "-trailer -5th -fifth". Just some ideas!

We've bought two older class A's, both for outrageously good deals, well below market value. I was one of the first or first to contact the sellers in both cases, because I had done tons of research and was constantly cruising/researching/reading online (I think it's really fun, I'm weird).

If you're seeking a particular or "special" class A (we were, with the current rig), a great place to go is an owner's forum or enthusiast site. I found our current rig in the "for sale" section of my rig's owner's forum. He had not put an ad anywhere else, lucky for me/us!

Great deals are out there! Enjoy

MrWzrd · 04-17-2018, 07:59 AM

and then there is the condition of the unit.
I looked at 2 almost identical rigs but the condition differed considerably. They were both older than 10 years but one looked like it had been driven hard and put away wet. Everything looked "dull" and worn from the carpet to the roof. The seller could not answer basic questions about even oil change intervals. It became obvious that they used it but only repaired things if they broke.

The second unit looked factory fresh, had complete maintenance logs that included repairs, upgrades and regular interval servicing.

Now, the phun part. The first unit was priced $15K Higher than the second unit AND had over 50K miles more on the odometer. Amazingly the first unit was sold for the asking price while the second unit sold for 5K less.....

Like eating before going grocery shopping.... don't go looking at a rig if you are hungry to buy it. You may not see problems staring you in the face.

Hope you get a good price on a good rig.

brokenrule · 04-17-2018, 10:58 AM

We shopped for two years and thought we had a good feel for the market. We found our current coach but the dealer would not budge on the price. We walked and looked at others then from another lot called and said we would take what I felt was an over priced coach. I pushed and got them to put new tires on it as the ones on it were 12 years old. The dealer said since it was a high quality coach in very good shape with new full body paint they would sit on it till it sold. Being short was also a plus. Comps were hard to find as none were for sale when we were looking. So I guess some times you can’t get a deal but pay market price in a hot market. We could have walked but couldn’t find one that was just what we wanted. Now they are popping up on line for about what we paid.

rvethereyet · 04-17-2018, 02:16 PM

Thank you all for some very good information on how to look for a good value. This has been a very helpful thread.

BCam · 04-18-2018, 02:55 PM

I don't know if this helps but I bought a 2002 Itasca Suncruiser 35U in Nov. The PO just taken it back from a dealer where he had it on consignment. The dealer had been asking an "internet price" of $37,995 and quoted an MSRP (????) of $39,995. I have no idea where this came from. NADA average retail is $23,665. I purchased it for $26k, including a commercial use certified wheelchair lift that the owner had installed four years ago for $15k, which is a valuable asset to me. If someone hadn't needed the lift it could have been removed and sold since it was installed in the area where the automatic steps had been located (they were included).

This was the second rig I looked at that had been taken off consignment by the owner due to it not selling because the dealer was asking too much.

MarkK · 04-18-2018, 09:55 PM

It took me 6 months of daily dogged Internet searching, and looking at and inspecting several rigs before I pulled the trigger on my signature rig with 8500 miles on it for $95K. While NADA offered some help, it was the perspective that made the deal feel right. Other people wanted 110K for say a 2005 Monaco Dynasty with 70K, but I had a pit in my stomach trying to feel right to spend my money on a rig that was that used, and had issues needing to be addressed. The 3815 felt like a no brainer.

Price, condition, and the amount of work and money you have to put into it vary, and that determines your comfort zone.