Our story on selling our Motorhome

[twinboat]

Did the buyer mention if he had any expensive repaired included in that price ?

Tires, brakes, complete chassis service, engine work and a slew of other things may have been done before purchase.

Who knows, he may have included finance charges.

[Dr4Film]

John,

What does your contract with the consignment dealer say?

Curious minds would like to know.

If the dealer stated in the contract that you would get $7500 for the RV then that's what you should have gotten, not $6000 regardless of how much they sold it for.

What they sell it for is up to them.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

[tizzyfit]

Hopefully, you have a contract with both your signature and the consignment dealerships signature spelling out the $7,500 sales price. If your agreement is just words and a handshake, you'll have a difficult time getting the additional $1,500. Best of luck!

[John1]

I was a fool,
for asking what the new owner paid
for not having anything writing
for accepting the $6000
for thinking I would be treated fair
for thinking a dealer would be selling my unit with my best interest in mind

We accept the $6000 when they said they had an offer and our part would be $6000, not thinking the offer was their advertised asking price of $13,500.
We are glad it sold and we happy with what we got. we fell we got our monies worth out of the Motorhome. We just don't think the dealer should be making $7500 profit on an $8000 unit and not share more.
Thanks for all the replies,
Life goes on
John

[Smitty77]

OP - Well, you said it, so I won't kick you while your down! (And agree, you really did get some good years out of the rig for not too much of a 'usage fee'.)

And, you've provided a great service to your fell RV'er's...

Always get things in writing. Stick to what is in the writing. Sad that that is the way things are now - but, that is how things are now!

As you had nothing in writing, I don't even know if you should post anything negative about the experience.

My personal thoughts on the place that did this to you - is that the behaved in a non ethical manner. Perhaps you could post that, stating it was just your feeling about how things were handled.

But move on, and forget it, and thanks for sharing the story,
Smitty

[mikelcan]

The consignment dealer that I sold my last coach through had three different programs that a seller could agree to. Each had a written contract with the details. I am summarizing them in the recommended order from low price to high price RVs.

1. Set amount that the seller wants. The consignment dealer receives all monies above that amount. If the dealer can not sell for enough to make profit the bottom price can be changed only by a written signed amendment to contract. Dealer recommends for price around 10K

2. X% of sales price. I think the default was 12% but probably could be negotiated only at original contract time. Used for price greater than 10K.

3. Set fee. This is used for high price to limit the commission. For example on a 300K RV limit the commission to 15K instead of 36K (300K X 12%). Fee is set at time of contract only.

In all cases if someone made an offer the dealer had to present it in writing with all cost to be accepted , declined or countered offered.

My opinion on your situation is that once you agreed to 6K then the verbal or written contract was amended and what profit they made is the dealers business.

I have sold on consignment 3 times and to me it is worth not having to deal with the advertising, looky lous, etc and consider that part of their cost to sell.

As to the new buyer if he was ok with paying double what the rv was worth then he maybe saw value in it we can not in a forum. Or perhaps he over paid and is experiencing buyers remorse.


MIke

[4x4van]

I also wonder what the dealer may have done to the unit to make it sell; repairs, etc. Older used units often require a significant amount of work to be "sellable" on a lot. We bought our '04 Itasca M30-W for $27,000 (asking price was $31K). The dealer put $7000 into it (new awning, new slide toppers, new tires, new batteries, new generator carb, etc.), and took $3000 commission, leaving the previous owner $17,000. No idea what kind of contract the dealer had with the PO, but I had to wait while the dealer contacted the owner to OK the sale.

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by Mudfrog

I have never worked through a consignment company. But i thought the way it worked was that the company would get a specified percentage of what the unit ended up selling for. This percentage would be agreed upon by both parties, in writing, up front. If that agree percentage was say, 10%, then the company should have gotten 10% of what the unit sold for.

Maybe i'm missing something and/or thinking wrong but it sounds like the company made over 50% with the OP's transaction.

This is how a reputable consignment place would operate. The seller gets a percentage of the sale price.... and all of it should be in writing.

Also someone mentioned perhaps the dealer put money into it... awnings, etc. A dealer wouldn't do this for a consignment unit. They are 'as is'.

Yes, you and the buyer got ripped off but if you had a written agreement as least it wouldn't have happened to you. It seems you're satisfied in the long run just to have sold it so lesson learned.

[Spdracr39]

I sold my boat through consignment. We decided a listing price together and agreed on a commission percentage of the sale price before it was put on the lot. When it sold he called me and the buyer had made an offer. He told me if it was accepted how much I would get and what his commission would be. As it turned out there was a repair that was necessary. That amount was deducted from the sale price and he only got commission from the money after the repair. It was all above the table and well explained. He made about 2500 dollars for not too much work because it sold fast but I didn't have to hassle with it and probably would not have sold it as fast or for as much on my own.

[AbdRahim]

Dealers are in business for profit. I bought a new trailer in Oct ,for $27,000, used it twice and traded it in the next May, for a New MH. They only gave me $15,000 for it. I am sure they sold it for $20,000or more. Easy money there.

[Mr_D]

Friend of mine took his Essex to a consignment lot. He told them his bottom line and they could have anything over that.

[twogypsies]

Trading it in to a dealer is very different than putting it on consignment. For a consignment the consignment place should get an agreed-upon commission from whatever the sale price is. The seller gets the rest. Everything should be in writing so there are no surprises.

[marknpeg]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

Friend of mine took his Essex to a consignment lot. He told them his bottom line and they could have anything over that.

This. I sold a car on consignment last year and I gave him the price I wanted and he could have anything over that. In the end, we had to negotiate with the buyer a bit and came up with a deal that all three of us were happy with. Very few (if any) dealers would do anything on a percentage basis. That would be an unusual deal and would have all kinds of legalese. Frankly if I'm happy with what I received and he profited 200% more, I'm ok with that. It does mean I left money on the table, but that's my fault.

It cost the OP $2k + maintenance to have 26,000 miles of fun. Boy I would love to get that deal. And the consigning dealer did the legwork and made a good profit, and it sounds like the buyer got a good quality motorhome. Win-win-win.

[Kro1957]

Hi John,

The way I see it here is this.

1. You purchased the coach from them, so they have records showing what you paid for it 3 years prior. $8000

2. They told you it would bring around $7500. Sounds fair to me given you put a few thousand miles and the depreciation.

3. They called you and gave you the price negotiated and your $$ of $6000

4. That tells me they took the time, effort, perhaps finance qualifiy, clean coach, perhaps other things you are not aware of to close the deal. Their dealership and advertising draws prospective buyers in and then it's their job to close the deal. The lights, parking, employees all cost money to operate a business. You would not expect them to do all of this for you for nothing would you? I mean it's not exactly Craigslist. Honestly, it sounds like a very fair deal and if you objected to it you should have voiced your concern to them when they contacted you and you were ok with that.

5. IF the new buyer had not contacted you, you probably would still be smiling happy with the deal you got.

When we traded off our 03 Larado 5th Wheel the dealership gave me $9000 trade in for it. They asked me if it was ok for the new owners to contact me for any questions and I said yes. They have called me 3-4 times and I also found out they paid something like $13,500 for it. I was not the least bit upset about it. Knowing I did not have to deal with the private sale thing. Anyway, just my opinion.... I think you did fine!!