Need to sell a '96 Intervec Falcon Sport

[svseafire]

The main question I have is how to set a price.

The van is not perfect but everything I read tells me that campers and RVs are incredibly popular right now due to the pandemic; I assume that means prices are likely higher than our research back in March and April would have indicated.

If anyone can speak to whether or not prices have gone up post-pandemic, that would be very helpful.



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Backstory for anyone who is bored:

This vehicle belongs to my mother-in-law and my husband (her son) and I need to sell it for her. We were long-term boat owners and did quite a bit of long distance cruising, thus aren't completely unfamiliar with propane or DC systems.

We brought it to a local RV repair shop to get a full systems check, and the items remaining which we either aren't interested in fronting the money to fix or are enough beyond our skill set that the shop would do the work are:

1) the fridge cooling plate no longer cools; the shop recommends replacing the entire fridge for $1.7K but a replacement part for the plate is available for $600. We never had refrigeration on our boats, so we'd prefer to sell as is and discount the price.

2) There's a small propane leak; the van is currently scheduled to have that found and repaired at the same RV shop next week. All systems using propane were verified as functional (well, outside of the fridge's cold plate not getting cold).

3) There's a very small leak in an elbow of the water system the shop to fix / replace next week. (They didn't see this on their original survey as the kitchen faucet would not turn off; my husband replaced the faucet's cartridges, so it works but the small leak is now evident.)

4) There is not insignificant staining on the fabric covering the walls in the left rear corner and the right side by the aft dinette. The van lives outside in the Pacific NW, it's dry as a bone inside, and my MIL did have leaks repaired some number of years ago.

I need to price it both with the gas leak and water system elbow leaks as is as well as fixed; at this point, we do not intend to fix the refrigeration but would discount the price by 1.5-2K.

* She has Alzheimer's and lost her driver's license; we hold the financial durable power of attorney which allows us to sell the van for her.

[svseafire]

...because we decided to keep it.

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by svseafire

...because we decided to keep it.

Similar story here. My mother could no longer use her camper due to declining health and gifted it to us. (Nice being the only sibling that inherited the camping gene...) We lost my father to dementia early in life, and my mother RVed solo for three decades in a series of small motorhomes before throwing in the towel a few years ago at 91.

In spite of being relatively new, there were a number of issues due to disuse, neglect, and weather exposure during the waning years. Original plan was to fix and sell, as we already had a Scamp travel trailer. But in the process of cleaning and fixing, it kind of grew on us. Then COVID hit and its usefulness became even more apparent for socially distanced travel. Afraid it will always be a bit of a money pit, though.

Ours also had some water staining on the fabric headliner around the A/C over the rear folding sofa (likely due to being parked sharply nose-down throughout a particularly wet winter). I had good success with Scotchguard upholstery cleaner, the spray-on foam kind. It took several rounds of soaking, gentle dabbing (don’t rub), and blotting dry, but it’s barely visible now. No sign of any new water entry (whew!).

If I had a dead absorption fridge I’d at least investigate the feasibility of switching to a 12V compressor fridge.

Happy travels! I think your mother-in-law would be happy to know it’s staying in the family and getting loved and used.

[svseafire]

My MIL bought this van in 2000 after my FIL died and did a fair amount of traveling for 15 years, and since then it's mostly been sitting on its level pad out in the PNW rain.

Our sense of ownership grew the more we dealt with fixing it, and as you said, with covid-19 and the sizzling market, we realized at some point that even with the money-pit aspect, we wouldn't be able to replace it with the sale price and the cost of repairs. My mother lives in Maine, and I anticipate that even by next spring, it's likely I'd need to plan on a 2-week quarantine after travel by plane, so that's another reason to keep it.

Thanks for the info on both the possible fridge replacement and the upholstery cleaning. The boat we owned didn't prepare me for either, so I figure it's just another way to keep my brain as young as possible.