Where Is The Best Place To Sell My RV?

Where Is The Best Place To Sell My RV?

Maybe it’s time for you to upgrade to a newer or larger model, or you’ve reached the end of the line for your full-time RV adventure and now it’s time to sell your recreational vehicle. If you’re not trading an older RV in for a newer one, you are confronted with the challenge of trying to sell your rig on the open market.

RV classifieds

Of course, you can put a sign in the window every time you go camping, or list your RV for sale online. You could list your RV for sale in the local classified section of your printed newspapers or online forums, or you can park your rig on a consignment lot and hope a buyer will discover it and take the time to reach out to you.  But these techniques for selling your RV limit your scope of potential buyers to your immediate area, and finding an interested buyer is only part of the challenge.

Another option to increase its exposure to more interested buyers is to list it in one of the national online publications such as RV Trader. But all of these options are only marginally effective. You may not get any response for a long time, but you’re paying for the advertisement costs or you’re paying for the consignment lot space for the duration of the time you’re trying to sell your RV. 

You may get lucky and be contacted by an interested buyer, but that is only the first step in a complicated process. If you and the potential buyer are not located in the same geographic area, it becomes even more challenging to successfully negotiate a deal. The greater the distance, the harder it is to come to terms with a remote buyer.

Private listings vs RV consignment

If you have ever sold a car, boat, or RV, by listing it yourself or using a consignment lot, you know how difficult all this can be.  First you need a prospect, then you need to show the prospect the vehicle, possibly take it out for a test drive, or bring the buyer to your home to inspect the vehicle.

If all of that goes well, and they decide to buy it, you still need to get paid for your vehicle and that can get a little dicey.  If it’s a cash sale like on Craigslist and the selling price is low enough that the buyer can manage the cash payment, it’s not too bad.  

You could accept a cashier’s check but those are not always legitimate.  You could accept green cash only, but that can pose difficulties for the buyer, or you could both go to the buyer’s bank, so you can witness the issuance of a cashier’s check, payable to you.  

Financing a used RV

But what if the purchase price for your RV is $50,000 or $100,000 or more? Few buyers are going to show up at your door with $50,000 in hundred-dollar bills.  They will probably need to secure financing but funding the purchase of a used RV, especially if the buyer is a full-time RVer, or is intending to be one, can be difficult.  

We experienced this ourselves. As full-time RVers with good credit, we attempted to finance the purchase of a new RV. We had no debt and enough money in the bank to purchase the rig outright, but we were still not able to obtain financing.  We ended up buying the coach outright.  That was a new RV. How much more difficult is it to finance a used RV, and if the buyer’s credit is not stellar, that might be a deal breaker.  

If that’s the case, and the financing falls through, you’ve spent a lot of your time and energy trying to sell your RV and you’re right back to looking for a new prospect.  How frustrating is this process and if your new prospect is in some distant geographic area, it compounds the process even more.

Selling an RV through a broker

There is another way to sell your recreational vehicle. In full disclosure, this article promotes a specific organization, but I will not receive any remuneration for this promotion.  I stumbled upon this service while doing research for another article and was so impressed with their basic premise, I thought it was worth passing on to our whole RV community.

So if it’s time for you to sell your RV and the process described above just seems too daunting, I would recommend checking out the services of Nationalvehicle.com. This top-rated organization will create an ad for your RV and place that ad in the most popular online publications where RV buyers are most likely to be searching for an RV to purchase. They also sell cars, motorcycles, boats, and commercial trucks.

National Vehicle will list your RV for you on eBay, RVTrader.com, RVUSA.com, NationalVehicle.com, and RVDaily.com.  They charge a modest one-time fee, not a commission or percentage of the asking price. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to sell a $30,000 travel trailer or a $2 million Class A diesel pusher, their services are the same. 

The best part of their service, however, is that they manage inquiries and offers. In addition to creating and placing ads in the most popular online publications, your consultant at National Vehicle will assist interested buyers, by providing a professional inspection of your RV so the buyer is confident that the rig has been correctly described in the ad. This is in the best interest of the buyer and National Vehicle because they also provide the financing for the purchase. 

Buyers do not need to find their own outside financing. In fact, financing these vehicle purchases is the core business of National Vehicle.  Since they are underwriting the purchase, they control the exchange of money, so you will receive full payment for your RV before it ever leaves your driveway. Finally, National Vehicle will arrange for the transport of your RV from you to the buyer, if needed. 

Their service is end to end: consulting on the front end to make sure your vehicle is clearly described and priced correctly. Then they create online ads and place them where buyers are most likely to discover your RV. Then they handle the inquires, vehicle inspection, financing, money transfer, and transporting, if needed, all for one fee.  

See also:

• How To Determine The Right Price For A Used RV
• How To Avoid Bad RV Financing