Disappointed and Disgusted

[Rocky68D]

In addition to my first rant, the other frustrating part of the search is no maintenance records and no history of the coach.

Lots of folks here strongly recommend seeing the records and that makes sense. But the sales folks say that's a no-go because they have the name and address of the previous owner(s).

At least with a private party, that shouldn't be a problem. You already know the seller's name and if you're in his driveway, where he lives.

[cb1000rider]

PPL actually asks the prior owners for records and provides them in a "packet", if they have them. No idea if they remove the name/address. Might point this out to any dealer that says they can't do it. (at least in my state)

And many dealers here, if the docs are in the RV, provide all the docs.

Any time I wanted to know the owner of a vehicle, all I have to do is look up the license plate - which is public info in many states.

Dealers will also (sometimes) tell you that it's "dangerous" to sell a vehicle yourself and much smarter to trade it in...

[Rocky68D]

I asked one salesman if he'd ever heard of redacting with a felt tip marker? No response.

[skypilot_1]

Originally Posted by Rocky68D

The salesmen say it can and will all be taken care of at time of sale. Really? What I wonder is if the previous owners didn't take pride in the interior, what else was neglected that you can't see so well?

Last month at Lazy Days, we were told that they don't clean/repair used coach until it sells. That way the buyer can see the condition better.
Not sure how industry wide spread that procedure is...!
Not sure I agree with it either.

[Gordon Dewald]

Some of these units sound like three trade units and others are on their last trade.

Bought a new car years ago. Paid cash as I usually sold the old one privately. Was driving past a used car sales lot and thought I would see what they had to say. The salesman called my car a three trade car. He explained that the trade in he would be able to take in on my car could be traded down twice before he was left with a junker.

You can rest assured that when the dealership took possession of the questionable coach they knew what they were buying and paid for it correspondinly.

[Speedjester]

I don't know how they check the trade ins.. I traded my Georgetown... They never looked at it or walked inside.... (Yet hey agreed to give me almost 10k more than what I paid for it 11 month ago) when I came to drop off my trade and pick up my new to me coach.. A worker escorted us to our rig.. Did a 5 minute walk around..then did the same 5 minutes inside.. He asked a few questions.. Does everything work..I said"Yes" does everything stay.I said "yes" he walked outside and slapped a lazy days sticker on it.. As well as an inventory sticker...I transferred everything over to he new rig ...The next day we moved to the park side...That very same day they drove our trade in from where we left it right across the way to the used for sale lineup.... ...

[Nana25K]

We saw all of this in the almost 3 years of searching for our MH. When we found ours it was so clean and in such great shape it almost scared us away. We just assumed the dealer might have detailed away a problem !!!!
We actually had the opportunity to meet the previous owners. Once she told me that the only reason they changed up to a newer coach was because her husband had a bad case of "keeping up with the Jone's"
She actually never wanted to let go of this coach. Her pride in ownership showed thru. They even gave us their phone number!!

Just keep looking. You'll find it

[1mainiac]

From the dealerships side I have never met a customer that did not tell us what a creampuff their trade was. It is also hard to tell them their piece of junk will likely be headed to a scrap heap. Last summer we had one come in after filling out his side of the trade sheet to pick up his new coach. he left with his old coach because after we inspected his trade he needed 40k to make the deal and could not finance that much. Many people misrepresent their trade and often there is enough in the deal to make it happen. Not always We had a rough used coach on the lot last year it was listed at full retail value because we had 25k set aside to remodel and repair it in the deal. That is not always something you can do so much like back when we were kids the old crap is out back.

[SissyBoyBob]

I have found in buying any expensive item like car, RV, or home, I want to buy from a FSBO. I want to buy from a meticulous person like myself, but even more important, I want the person to be able to tell me everything about the history, maintenance, upgrades, service, et al. You cannot get hardly any of that info, and trust that it is correct, from a dealer.

I never buy new items either. Not only to save the humongous depreciation, but so the new meticulous owner can perfect the item by correcting any manuf. defects, as well as updating and upgrading the vehicle in question also.

I am just so much happier to know that I bought something decked out and upgraded, and saved a ton of money on it also.

The main trick to doing it this way is that you must not be in a hurry, and most times be able to travel anywhere in the country to see what appears to be one of these rare gems at the right price.

I have a couple times actually bought sight unseen. That is a gamble of course, even if you have a great feeling about the owner being honest, see lots of good pics, and review all the records, upgrades, and services. I even had the owner take a MH to a service dealer in another town for me so I could have them check it out the way I wanted. I paid for it of course, and dealt directly over the phone with the service manager from start to finish. Once I flew to get it afterwards, and once just had it shipped to me. Gamble paid off on both after doing my due diligence the best way I knew how. Both 'meticulous' owners were older gents, one a professor at a university, and the other an 85 yr old guy.

[OlYeller]

I can understand why a dealer wouldn't want to add any cost to a unit in inventory. If they spend money repairing everything on the hope it will sell and it doesn't then off to the auction it goes for the next guy to try and make a buck. Given how much time (read $) it would take to creampuff some trade-ins, it probably isn't worth their time as long as they are willing to repair and clean it after the purchase. That said, I would withhold final payment until the RV is my idea of satisfactory condition.

What I had trouble with was when a private party wouldn't clean up their RV before they try and sell it. A dirty damaged RV just screams that they didn't care for it. I was amazed at how many ads I saw on CL that had garbage on the counters and mold on the outside. I have sold 2 TTs both on CL. I scrubbed every nook and cranny and made sure everything worked. I got above NADA average retail for both. I also sold them both to the first buyer to come and look at them. I think the reason why was because mine stood out from the rest and buyers could see themselves hooking the TT to their truck and going camping the next weekend. It took us 2 years to finally find a used RV that met my standards for cleanliness and condition. I also had to raise my purchase price finally by $25,000 to pay for what I wanted.

[GBRG07]

I can sure understand your frustration, we have ben looking for a few months and can't believe how filthy some of these units are.
They all say they have new tires as well but tires are 5 years or more.
All the adds say "serious buyers only". How about a serious seller ?
Or don't contact me if your not serious and the add has limited pictures and info.

People ask why I have so much luck selling things. Whether it's a house,bicycle,motorcycle, whatever and I tell them it's because when I sell something it is clean in good working order priced according to market value.

Although like some else they are doing us a favour taking pictures with their garbage stacked in sink and old Mcdonalds drink cups in holders. Saves me the drive over to look at it.

[AbdRahim]

Very interesting thread. When I bought my first ever MH this spring, I was attracted to the idea by a used 2015 unit at a great price. ?It was not too bad, but not clean and wood trim in the bedroom beaten already, and a piece of molding coming off. Not impressed. used can be an advantage if the PO was meticulous in their care of the unit and got a lot of the bugs worked out. On the other hand who knows what could be wrong that would take six to 12 months to find. Yes some body work needed. Fixed then replaced a leaky bathroom faucet. ?But overall very happy with the new unit, which is more to my liking than the used one anyhow. .just had to get over the sticker shock.

[gacamp]

Originally Posted by skypilot_1

Last month at Lazy Days, we were told that they don't clean/repair used coach until it sells. That way the buyer can see the condition better.
Not sure how industry wide spread that procedure is...!
Not sure I agree with it either.

I don't think your salesman knew what he was talking about. Living close to LD's I have been there dozens of times and look at many dozens of FWs and DPs and only remember once seeing a coach that was really dirty and the salesman warned me that they had just got it in and had not cleaned it yet. They also do a final detailing when you buy.

[luckyd]

We have a record of every cent we spend on our coach,
All service records showing date and mileage.

We are Canadians so when we want to buy a newer unit, we
cannot fiance one if we buy in the USA. We must pay cash.
Salesmen love this until we ask (demand) records.
Trying to get a warranty is another story.

We looked at a 2010 Monaco Majestic V. The price was $399,000.00
The salesman said he could get this down to $350K.
Three days later it was listed at $299K.

We have found one lie equals many.

Stand firm and insist on what you want.