It seems that there are motorhomes for sale everywhere I look. There are some great deals to be had however, so many people have so much into their coach, their asking price is often outrageous. When you go to a dealer, they often have their starting price equal to NADA values and will usually discount a little further.
When searching for a motorhome for sale, you should get familiar with www.nadaguides.com where you can find estimated high and low retail values for your motorhome. Take a look at the low retail value and expect to get a deal for 20-25% less than low retail. This is typically what you will pay at an auction.
i.e. If the motorhome is for sale for $120,000 and Nada says it’s worth $150,000 then this is a coach worth looking into. I spent a lot of time bidding and viewing auctions on ebay and crankyape but was never successful in winning one of the many auctions I bid on.
One of the auction houses had TWO 2007 Fleetwood Revolutions with 5,000 / 10,000 miles on them. The Nada low retail on this motorhome for sale is around $175,000. The first one sold for $136,000 and the second one sold for 148,100.
NADA $175,000 – $136,000 = $39,000 discount or 22% discount
NADA $175,000 – $148,100 = $26,900 discount or 15% discount
I actually flew from Denver to Southern California to look at one of these motorhomes for sale and had every intention of buying this diesel pusher. I drove to a yard in Adelanto, CA where I saw maybe 50 diesel pushers, most were repo motorhomes. I couldn’t believe my eyes, knowing that there are several more of these yards accross the country. I was determined that I could land a 30% discount off of the low NADA value and would have that diesel pusher in my driveway within the next few weeks. It seems that only the “tire kickers” are bidding early and in the last few minutes of the auction, the last bid goes up dramatically. To add to the pain, on crankyape, the auction is extended for 10 minutes after the last bid. Some auctions actually go into overtime for hours.
Even in this bad economy, people are buying motorhomes if they have the cash on hand and they think they are getting a good deal. I was determined to get my 30% discount so I explored craigslist and ebay since the bids on crankyape seemed to be getting out of hand.
I found this motorhome for sale on ebay :
This coach had a NADA low-retail value of $174,500 and I was the high bidder at $89,000 on ebay but the reserve was not met. Once the auction had ended and ebay racked up another fee for an item that did not sell, I contacted the seller. The motorhome had been used on 3 weekend camping trips and had 1,100 miles on it. They had driven the motorhome from Indiana to Alberta, Canada to try to sell the coach in Canada (where everything is more expensive) back when the Canadian and US dollars were parr. With winter setting in and the Canadian dollar dropping like a rock, there was a motorhome for sale in Canada and nobody interested. So off I went .. I flew to Calgary, rented a car and went to see this beast. This coach is 41’4 long with a 400HP Cummins engine and all of the toys / accessories including the aqua-hot system. Once in the coach, I noticed several minor problems that were unexpected so I negotiated a further discount to fix all that was wrong.
I wound up paying $99,500 for a motorhome with a NADA value of $174,500 and a cool 42.5% discount on NADA. It’s now in my driveway and she’s ready to head south with a few hours notice.
I spent 3 weeks searching for this deal and believe me : There are a lot more where she came from.
