Selling a Montana Best Method

[Wicked1]

Ok, so we decided to get out of Camping for a few years, we need to purchase a house, but not sure what the best method is to sell a newer Montana. We have a 3121RL, with every option but full body paint and Legacy package, well kept mint condition, and we are looking to sell fairly quickly but not desperate. I tried listing it here but doesn't seem to be doing anything, how do you folks sell these things online? Do ppl use RVTrader? or Craigslist? I have been asked about P&L Motorhomes who will broker it in Texas, but taking 10% is a lot to sell it.

Looking for some ideas and guidance, any help would be appreciated.

[mtlakejim]

First off you need to look at the bluebook value of the RV. It doesn't matter how well you maintained it. IF folks can't borrow the money from the bank to buy it your out of luck and that all depends on the bluebook value. The banks are only going to lend 80% of that value period! So if you owe more than bluebook, you are as they say, underwater and will most likely have to take a loss to unload the unit.


I say the above so that you understand you cannot overprice the unit "because you consider it well maintained". It will help it sell faster if it is clean but your not going to get more money for it. An overpriced unit will NOT sell. An underpriced unit might sell fast. A properly priced unit will sell but its going to take a while. You want to price it far enough above your bottom price that you can negotiate a bit but not so high that run folks off.


The reason you see folks trading in rigs for higher prices than you can sell them for yourself is the dealers are building a loss into the deal up front. IF your outright selling the unit, you will always come out better to sell it yourself. Craigslist is a very good option just be very careful of the scammers!!! Do not accept anything but CASH in PERSON and do the transaction in a bank or even a police department or courthouse. Crooks will run for cover but honest people will actually feel better about the deal if it is conducted in a secure place. If the buyers insist on a check, it has to clear the bank BEFORE they take ownership/delivery!

[Eagleback]

100% agree


90% of all rv purchases end up underwater the minute you pull off the lot.

[mazboy]

any and all ways are the best. rvtrader is good.


for me, the one way to figure out a value is to find out what a dealer(s) will give you for a trade in and then go from there. and 10% for selling your trailer really isn't too bad considering everything.


As for all of your options counting for something, that really doesn't count for much, sorry. I have put the IS system on my trailer and I increased the valuve $0 amount.

good luck.

[1retired06]

We have always sold on our own, majority of the time off our park site during our Snowbird Florida season when getting ready to buy a new one, or else by parking it in a highly visible location at home.

[lightsout]

The RV Blue book is CRAP its sole purpose is to show devalued pricing to allow dealers to steal your rig on trade. Last 3 years sold and purchased 3 RVs (2 class A and the current 5er).

My last two Class A ai sold dealers pulled out the blue book and quoted me values that ended up being $20-$30K below what I sold them for.

I sold both on Craigslist very fast. Because there is no wholesale used RV market there is no data for wholesale, trade in cost. unlike the car industry that has a ton of data to render somewhat realistic prices.

Look list it for sale in all the publications, Craigs List, and RV Trader and RVT.

RV buyers are not just regional, the last 3 we purchased (we are in WA) were in California, Nevada and Georgia (Had 2 of the three delivered.

As far as value look at the others similar for sale Nationally and then price accordingly.

[jetskier]

It's the wrong time of year to sell a trailer. You'll have more interest a few weeks before holiday weekends in the summer months.

I used Craigslist when I sold my last trailer and got my asking price which was the high value in NADA guides. The convenience upgrades help sell it too. Things like solar, catalytic heater, inverter, quad batteries help set it apart from bone stock rigs.

[lightsout]

Originally Posted by jetskier

It's the wrong time of year to sell a trailer. You'll have more interest a few weeks before holiday weekends in the summer months.

This could not be further from the truth, this is the best time to sell especially for 5ers since retirees or those preparing to retire or those seeking temporary warmer climates are primary owners of 5ers. While more younger family oriented TT's are better sold during spring and summer due to more spontanious needs. Buying a 35'-45' 5er is a planned purchase.

I wold also argue that most RV shows are late winter and fall. Jan and Feb are great months for sales as those planning often buy then to allow time for outfitting and planning for spring and summer usage.

This is the same reason that most Boat shows are in the winter.

My last two Class A I sold in 2018 sold in December and the one I sold this year was Oct. both lasted less then 2 weeks on Craigslist.

[lightsout]

Originally Posted by Eagleback

100% agree


90% of all rv purchases end up underwater the minute you pull off the lot.

Agreed which is why we held out for used, although we purchased a 2019 3791RD Legacy with full body Paint it was 6 months old/used, the original MSRP sticker was $110K it sold for $86K we purchased for $58K, it lost nearly 30K in 6 months not to mention the loss of sales tax by the original owner. Granted we made a great deal (we even purchased from a dealer) we can use it for a year or two without much if any loss.

Do not limit your self to a local purchase it does not cost that much to transport across the country or do like we did we drove from WA to Ca to pick ours up and made a nice short week camping trip out of it. You can have a 5er transported between $1.00 and $1.30 per mile if it saves you Thousands to buy in other parts of the country go for it.

This is also why you need to sell based on national pricing.

[twindman]

For those using Craigslist, how to you handle financing? Do the buyers get bank loans and you meet at a bank? I have heard even cashiers checks can be fake or bogus. I am just curious. Also, 4-5 years ago a guy with a 11 year old class A told me he had trouble selling because banks won't do loans for anything over 10 years. Is this true?
Thanks.

[lightsout]

Originally Posted by twindman

For those using Craigslist, how to you handle financing? Do the buyers get bank loans and you meet at a bank? I have heard even cashiers checks can be fake or bogus. I am just curious. Also, 4-5 years ago a guy with a 11 year old class A told me he had trouble selling because banks won't do loans for anything over 10 years. Is this true?
Thanks.

NEVER accept check in any form unless you meet at the Buyers bank and verify. You can also set up an account at the buyers back so they can direct deposit, or have funds wired

[mtlakejim]

Originally Posted by twindman

For those using Craigslist, how to you handle financing? Do the buyers get bank loans and you meet at a bank? I have heard even cashiers checks can be fake or bogus. I am just curious. Also, 4-5 years ago a guy with a 11 year old class A told me he had trouble selling because banks won't do loans for anything over 10 years. Is this true?
Thanks.

Craigslist is famous for fraud. But it also happens to be a great place to sell stuff. I have sold many big ticket items there.

Always demand cash in person or the buyer MUST wait till funds are in your hands before they take ownership. Good buyers will understand this.

The bank loan thing is why I said you have to be careful about pricing your rig. You are correct that most banks will not finance rigs over 10 years old. In fact they don't really want to finance even 5 year old rigs. If you can sell to a cash buyer you can get a little more and that will work if your rig is old and not worth much. But if you have a rig still worth over 10K or so then your most likely talking a bank loan and the BLUE BOOK OR NADA WILL come into play. The bank will only loan 80% of whatever the midrange book value is PERIOD! It doesn't matter what you owe, your not going to get more than someone can get a loan for. Only way to get more for your rig than Blue Book or NADA is to trade it in and truth is the dealer is inflating his price on your new rig to compensate so at best your only getting out from under water on the old rig to go back underwater on the new one.

[AZ Traveler]

Originally Posted by Eagleback

100% agree


90% of all rv purchases end up underwater the minute you pull off the lot.

Unless you are using it as your primary residence, it makes no sense to finance a RV. Those that finance their toys will find getting into retirement comfortably a bigger challenge.

[jimandlaurie]

A lot of great advice above , but what ever happens on selling,please give all feedback on your experience. Thanks in advance. Good luck. Hoping for the best for you .

[vipermanden]

We were lucky and sold our 2017 3820 FK full body paint legacy edition with every option and more, within 1-2 weeks of posting it on RV Trader. If someone is looking for the model you have, and you have maintained it, and fixed all of the little bugs, then it should entice them to buy yours over buying a new one and having to fix all the bugs themselves. The people that bought ours were keeping an eye on RV Trader stalking the site until the unit they wanted came up. So maybe someone out there is waiting to find your model. Good Luck

[ChrisW]

We bought ours off RV Trader and it’s the first place I look for RVs.

[Maury]

Tried to sell on our own for over a year via Craigs List, RVT, newspapers, signs, etc. I noted other responses to your question are all good and all over the place. Craigs and RVT brought out a lot of kooks; not a single bona fide! Finally took our "well maintained" 5th wheel to a dealer, accepted their price ($8000) loss to us and moved on. In the end we figured at the rate of $500 monthly payments, we would be OK in 16 months. We had to accept reality of a buyer wanting to pay as little as possible (just like we would do)!

[Byron B]

PPL in New Braunsfel sold ours abour two weeks ago. Got what we wanted for it got their check in the bank. They sold it for us while we are here in Mexico.

We are looking for a 3121rl. Please tell me about yours and how much you are asking.

[masterdrago]

Originally Posted by AZ Traveler

Unless you are using it as your primary residence, it makes no sense to finance a RV. Those that finance their toys will find getting into retirement comfortably a bigger challenge.

We had to finance ours but got the rig for 58k and had 25k as a down payment. Just finished paying off both it and the TV and it really feels great. I know that if we were selling ours, I'm sure I would ask far too much at the beginning. But then let negotiations be your friend.

[mtlakejim]

Originally Posted by masterdrago

We had to finance ours but got the rig for 58k and had 25k as a down payment. Just finished paying off both it and the TV and it really feels great. I know that if we were selling ours, I'm sure I would ask far too much at the beginning. But then let negotiations be your friend.

I would warn against setting your asking price to high. It tends to lose a lot of potential buyers right off the bat. Particularly if your having to post the unit for sale in a public forum. Granted you do want to ask a little more than what your bottom end will be but don't get carried away. At the very most being at the top end of the Blue Book value is about as far as you would ever want to push it.

Despite what some may have done I doubt there are more than a handful of people on here that paid cash up front for their rig if they are not retired and or dipping into a retirement nest egg. I pull down six figures and even I couldn't pay cash for something over $50K without liquidating some stock. If you can save for long enough to do it, my hat is off to you. Personally I didn't want to miss out on the 5 years or so of fun we would have lost if we hadn't bought ours when we did. Of course as it worked out we would have had to buy it anyway since we are temporarily full time.