Use a selling service or sell RV myself?

[archeogal2]

We are regretfully preparing to sell our 2015 Great West Van on Promaster, due to health problems that are severely limiting our ability to travel. Thus I need some advice from some of you who might have experience buying or selling an RV online. In looking for valuation estimates for our van, I ran onto a company that provides free valuations, as a tool to recruit customers for their service of facilitating private parties’ selling their RVs. For $599 they create an ad, post it in all major RV selling websites, pay all posting fees, field the first round of calls until serious buyers emerge, then put those in touch with the seller, facilitate a loan for the buyer, deliver the vehicle if desired, . . . If they do all of those things and do them well, it would be well worth the $599. My question is: has anyone on the forum had any experience buying or selling a rig with National Vehicle or a similar company? Would you recommend going this route, or is it better to bite the bullet and do it myself?

[mkguitar]

If you can't sell it then I suppose a "service" is the way to go.
I'd really check their bona fides and explore what happens should you allow them a power of attorney/ sign the title over



A friend passed on my offer to help and engaged a service/dealer through the rv storage lot his family used
Service sold his 31' airstream for $5000 (less 20%)
Most people thought it was worth 15~18k


I DIY and have purchased and sold vehicles on craigslist. That determines that any interested party is local, not someone 2000 miles away wasting our time. There is no advantage is placing an ad like that.


80% of respondents are lookie loos



Selling is easy and doesn't consume alot of time if you are clear and set conditions. You can schedule appointments for viewings at a time convenient for you at a public place with lots of cameras, like your bank parking lot.

You can research and look at realistic selling prices and determine the number which works for you.


If someone starts talking about trying to get financing, they are wasting your time. Cut them short, tell them that once they have the funds, to respond to your ad if it is still running.
I am always a cash buyer/seller


( if you are in Phoenix, I can help you write an ad )




my 2¢

[archeogal2]

Thanks much for encouraging me not to be lazy. I can definitely write an ad, and don't mind showing it away from our home. So, I make a try of that first.



Any other experiences with one of these selling services?

[jrobe]

The most important thing for me to sell anything online is to include a lot of detailed well done pictures. People want to look at what they are considering buying. What is the old saying, a picture is worth a thousand words.

If you don’t have the camera and photo skills to create a good photo gallery, this is worth spending money on more than a selling service just to enter the information to web sites. For an RV I would include as many photos as the website allows and then creat a link to a photo storing service to include even more. Including a few good videos makes it even better.

[Rocinante]

We sold our first Airstream trailer via Airstream Classifieds. No problems, only a couple of easily detected and genuinely stupid scammer types jumped in. All others were generally pretty serious, though one wanted to talk us down to a lowball - no harm in asking, but we said no, thanks. We had clear title to the trailer, which made the transaction easy. We showed the unit at our storage facility so nobody came to our home. We insisted on payment via wire transfer. Our eventual buyer was 3 states away. We gave them a detailed Facetime tour of the unit, hid nothing. Showed them all the cool stuff and all the warts so there would be no surprises. They made a wire-transfer deposit to hold the unit and then came to buy within a week, closing the deal with a wire transfer on location after seeing the trailer, confirming it was as advertised, and being certain they wanted it. Afterward, they towed the trailer away and camped in it that very night on the way back home.

We bought our current AI via a private sale initiated by us finding it locally on RV Trader. The seller had clear title, and we replicated most of the process above in closing the deal. Since we were local we went to see the camper van and tested out many of the systems before committing. We wire transferred a deposit to hold it, and then made a final payment whereupon we took the keys and the title, got it registered at the local DMV, put on the new plates and then drove it home. The van needed a little more work than anticipated to really whip it into shape for camping, but it was good enough for basic camping trips on day one. Honestly, that's the same experience most have with a brand new camper, so it was fine.

In some ways both transactions were easier than selling or buying at a dealer.

[mkguitar]

Originally Posted by jrobe

For an RV I would include as many photos as the website allows and then create a link to a photo storing service to include even more. Including a few good videos makes it even better.

yes good tip!


google photos makes it easy to create an album and then create a link to share the pics in high rez


for instance this is a link to an album I created to inventory an old guitar amp-
the point is easy to share pics this way, uses no data



https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZpkobHMQ6yA162mG8

[archeogal2]

Thank you all for the suggestions above. I do a bit of photography, so I think I can make a reasonable album of photos. Time is my problem. I must first do the detailing before the photos, so that will be my job over the next few days. I will let you know how this turns out.

[avanti]

One way to reduce the hassle is to list a "FIRM" price and stick to it. Obviously, such a price should be realistic and lower than the market "asking" price. The advantage is that you will get fewer low-ball offers, and when you do get one, you can just say "Thank you, but the price is firm".

[ks@yvr]

I’d sell it yourself and post it on Craigslist (used to be free but the last motorcycle I sold there I think I had to pay $5 for a vehicle ad) and I can recommend the paid ads on RV Trader. In the last 3 years I have sold 2 RV’s and one was sold through Craigslist and the other through RV Trader. I advertised in both putting a good description along with recent service and repair history and about 8-10 pictures (view of 4 sides plus 4-6 interior shots).

RV 1 sold in 24 hours (Westfalia) and RV2 (Pleasureway) in 2.5 weeks. Both were priced fairly and both were within $500 of asking.

[Urlauber]

Originally Posted by mkguitar

A friend passed on my offer to help and engaged a service/dealer through the rv storage lot his family used
Service sold his 31' airstream for $5000 (less 20%)
Most people thought it was worth 15~18k

Ouch!

[folivier]

I'll go the other way. I don't have the time or patience to deal with others. I've sold 4 different motorhomes over the years, 3 at the same RV dealer and 1 from an online forum. The RV dealer charged 10% then 8% for the other 2 since I was a repeat buyer/seller. They handled all of the inquiries and paperwork and just sent me a check when they sold. No interaction on my part. Good luck whatever you choose.

[Stovebags]

I used POP RVs to by the 2012 Roadtrek adventurous. I live in Ca and the RT was in North Florida. They handled everything, including tricky tax issues registering in CA while having to pay FL sales tax. I one way rented and drove out summer of 20 (dodging the virus) and picked it up myself. I was able to do preliminary paperwork contingent on my actual inspection once I got to FL.
I'm glad I used it but I did have an inspection (long distance) done which helped. One thing: Pop RV's have several people who jump into the process, it can get confusing; from the listers to the closures to the local rep in FL. I had to deal with about 5 or 6 different folks. But they seem honest and guided my through. Would recommend.
rusty

[Pam G]

I'm on my 3rd Class B, which I've had about 9 years. I bought all 3 of them off of ebay and in states other than the one I live in.