Advice for Sale of Beaver

[David Henry]

My wife and I are going to sell our 40’ 2000 Marquis Tourmaline.  It is in good shape, low miles and has all the options that you could ask for on such a rig.  We are trying to determine if consignment or an advertisement on one the various website is the way to go.  If we decide to consign the sale to professionals, is there is one dealer or another that is better to work with when selling a Beaver of this vintage.  Any ideas, thoughts or input is welcome, as we have not done this before and would like the benefit of this groups’ knowledge and experience.
  
Thanks
DH

[Michael Kauffman]

This is just me, but I would try yourself first.  Why give a 3rd party a cut of the sale.  I would try Craig's List, Ebay, and possibly one of those national RV online fore-sale sites.  I bought my 98' Patriot on ebay sight unseen, flew to Phoenix from Seattle, and drove it back.  I got lucky and only paid 51K.  It was scary, I never did that before.

What were going to ask?  Good luck, Mike  

[Tom and Pat Fudale]

I had mine on EBay twice,listed in FMCA, listed in Beaver Amb. listed on EBAY classified, with Classy RV and not any offers. Mine is a 05, 36ft Montery and listed fo $140,000 and seems to be inline with other Beavers in FMCA. It has been on the market for two years if that gives you a clue.

[Jeremy Parrett]

Just a heads up....in 2010 we bought our loaded 2000 Marquis Amethyst from Lazydays in Florida for $117,000.  

[Larry and Heidi Lee]

I am in agreement with Mike- consider selling on your own.  Spend some time to write up a very detailed ad, take as many pictures as you can. The trick is you have to decide on a reserve (the very least you will accept) where the coach will actually sell.  Some people become emotionally attached, or base their pricing on what a dealer is asking.  A dealer can ask what they are asking, because people are willing to pay a premium for the peace of mind a dealer offers.  If you have a friend that has an E-Bay account, consider putting the rig on E-Bay.  If priced competitively, it will sell quickly, without the 20-25% you would pay to a dealer.  You can also watch and see what similar rigs are selling for on E-Bay.  I truly believe this is where the smart RV buyer looks for a deal.  That's where I bought mine and saved a fortune.

[Craig Rollins]

Hi David,

My wife and I recently purchased our 2005 40' Beaver Monterey Laguna IV from a dealer after a very long search for just the right coach for us. Aside from the things we wanted in our coach what I looked for in the ad were lots of pictures, a clear and concise description of the coach and it's features and of course, competitive pricing. When I know I'm going to spend in excess of $100K, I also know that it's going to be in my best interest to be willing to travel a long distance for the right deal. In our case we traveled 1800 miles and we believe it was worth the trip.

Because of this, I want as much information as I can get up front without having to pull teeth to get it. If an ad only showed one or two pictures, I passed it right by. The same with cryptic descriptions. In other words, make it easy for potential buyers to do business with you. Be prepared to field emails asking you lots of questions. My dealer and I emailed back and forth for almost two weeks before we even laid eyes on each other. Personally, I would set up a separate email account for this and then cancel it when you're done. I've done this with craigslist and it works great.

We did purchase from a small family dealership. Without going into exact pricing we paid somewhere between what beavermarquis paid for his and what TomPatFud had theirs listed for. The Sales Manager had dropped the price by $5K about 2 weeks before we bought it. After the sale he intimated to us that his Dad (the owner) had disagreed about dropping the price. Had the price not dropped chances are I would not have made the purchase because it was at the very top of my price range. With the lower price we were able to add a couple of things we didn't think we'd be able to have.

BTW, yes, I did consider purchasing from private sellers if their pricing was realistic and they provided lots of pictures and a good description of the coach.

That's just my 2 cents FWIW. I hope it helps you in your decision.

Craig

[Joel Weiss]

[quote author=]I had mine on EBay twice,listed in FMCA, listed in Beaver Amb. listed on EBAY classified, with Classy RV and not any offers. Mine is a 05, 36ft Montery and listed fo $140,000 and seems to be inline with other Beavers in FMCA. It has been on the market for two years if that gives you a clue.[/quote]

The NADA RV guide gives low retail price of $93.7k for the most expensive 36' 2005 Monterey with an average retail of $113k.  In our experience last year most RVs are selling at roughly low retail regardless of condition.  The fact that an RV is priced in accordance with others does not mean that is what the market will accept.  We found there were a lot of RV owners trying to sell rigs for what they owed on them not what the market was willing to pay.

Google the sold vehicles at PPL and you will get a feel for how soft the market is.  So far in 2011 PPL has sold around 120 DP's and only ~35 of them were sold at prices over $100K; only one was above $200k.  The vast majority were in the $50-75k range.   That is where the market is at the moment as a result of inability to finance things, etc.

[Richard And Babs Ames]

Have a friend trying to sell his 1994 Contessa for $40,000 (amount he owes on it) for the last 6 months. Has consigned it for twp months and placed at various locations next to highways. He has also listed on several web sites with very little action.

He did get three "scammers" try purchase sight unseen with forged cashiers checks where you wire the "excess" dollars or someone picks up the motorhome and cash. Be careful and use a yor bank as a transfer agent or make sure any check is legit.

[Michael Kauffman]

[size=14][face=Arial]When we were looking 1-1/2 years ago, I was offering 20% below low NADA.  That's just me though, I'm a low baller.  This is a VERY soft market right now.  At $4.25 a gallon for diesel the average looker is having a hard time making that decision to buy.  It makes me wonder where this RV lifestyle will be in 10-20 years.  Maybe we'll all just have a big extra bedroom in the yard (sigh).  

I better have another cup of coffee, I'm depressing myself, lol.  Mike[/face][/size]

[Roger Baldwin]

We have had our 2001 Patriot Thunder for sale, for over a year, with only one looker.  It is on Craig's list and RVsearch.com.  We have it listed for $98,000, and it is in very good condition.  We get lots of scammers calling, so be careful.  We were going to trade it in on a smaller rig, but had to bring $40,000 to the table to get rid of it.  Looks like we are stuck.  Unfortunately, for health reasons, we can't drive it now, and may have to have our son take it somewhere in the south (AZ) for us in the winter, and then drive it back to CO for the summer.  What a pain!

[Gil_Johnson]

Although I have experience with PPL in TX, they seem to do a great job of marketing and maintain a huge consignment inventory.  If I was looking for a used coach this place and a couple of supercenters, like Lazydays, would be on my must visit list.  Selling privately is hard and almost always successful based on really low price or meeting the needs of a local buyer.  FWIW, I'm not a fan ofCraigs List.  I view Craigs List as a storefront for scammers. i would and have used eBay.

Gil

[Richard And Babs Ames]

http://www.lazydays.com/ just opened a lot in Arizona and we were in Tampa last weekend and they have the lowest inventory of used doesels in the last 15 years so should be actively looking. You may try Beaver Coach Sales, one of our sponsers and they may help with out having to have your coach on the lot.

[LarryNCarolynShirk]

One consideration about placing your coach on consignment:  Is your coach insured while away from your normal storage place?  Does your insurance cover it?  Does the dealer's insurance cover it?  In some cases the answer to both is no.  Check it out before you leave your coach.
Larry

[Joel Weiss]

PPL puts their sold RV data online http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/sold/diesel-motor-homes.htm and it is very helpful for determining what prices units are actually selling for.  A couple of weeks ago I was bored and went through their list and found that, as of that date, since the first of this year they had sold 117 DPs.   What I found rather amazing, however, was that only 35 of them were sold for more than $100k and only one for more than $200k.  Most of the over $100k units were less than $150k.

Given that the prices of most new DP's are well over $100k I think this demonstrates that the upper end of the RV market virtually does not exist.  People are concerned about their financial situations and, even if they wanted to spend the money, many of them would have problems getting financing.   So even if a MH is listed at a fair price the actual chance of selling it may not be that good.  

BTW this market data would agree with what we see happening at Monaco; to my understanding, the most expensive coach even being built currently is the Diplomat and most of their efforts are centered around MH's selling in the >$150k price range.