Should I use a broker to sell my MH

wotme

wotme

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I'm a newbie
I've begun the sale process by advertising with Autotrader and straight away I had an enquiry from "Motorhome Depot" saying they are interested in selling my van for me. Apparently they act in the same capacity as an estate agent but so far no commission rate has been disclosed. I imagine the financial side of things is concluded on the appraisal valuation. As opposed to me selling privately a broker has the advantage of offering finance and part exchange and of course a secure sale. I can't see a problem with using them apart from taking a financial hit. Just wondered if anyone on here has had dealings with these guys, your advice as always would be appreciated
 
Morning Wotme,

We were looking for a specific model / year of motorhome and the only one for sale at the time we were looking was being sold on behalf of the vendor by Motorhome Depot, so I can only say from a buyers perspective. We had also looked at another MH for sale via MHD.

On both occasions the MHD Agent was IMO excellent - very knowledgeable about MH's in general but also very clued up on the specific MH they were selling. We did all the comms prior to viewing through the Agent and on the day of viewing we were shown the MH by the Agent, but at the vendor's home. The Agent gave a thorough demo of how everything worked and was able to answer any questions we had. We did then meet the vendor after the look around, and the vendor then took us out for a drive in the MH.

For the MH we purchased, we then liaised with the Agent after the viewing with some further questions and then the negotiations, and collection on the day. We paid a deposit via MHD and nearer to the day of pickup we lodged the remaining value of the MH into a holding account with MHD, and on the day of pickup the Agent did a full handover and once we were happy he made a phone call to MHD to then transfer the £'s over to the vendor.

Certainly from us, it worked really well - tbh it was good to do the negotiations with the Agent rather than the vendor as it became more of a business transaction rather than a personal one. I am not sure what fees are involved as a vendor. I have a feeling (but not 100% sure!) that the Agents are similar to franchise holders and have an assigned territory, so I guess like any national business some agents may be better than others, but from our experience the two we dealt with were very good.

Hope that helps! :giggle:
 
What I like is that they receive the money, hand over the keys and then pass the money on through a client account. There doesn’t seem to be any other way of safely transferring money privately unless you are comfortable carrying suitcases of cash around.
 
We have just bought a mh through a broker (MHD) and the experience was very much like March Hare above.
The agent had probably 30 years experience and the guy who was selling mh was present to answer any queries we had.
Must say both guys were excellent and settled on price that both I and the seller were ok with.
Pick it up early August, and the handover will be 60-90 minutes.
We knew the model & layout what we wanted and to be honest there was not many for sale, and they went quick when they came available, all in all we were happy with the process.
 
We sold ours through MHD last year because it wasn't selling as quickly as we'd hoped privately. We were at first reluctant to let an agent take a slice off the top but it worked very well.
The local agent was very experienced. They tell you what they believe they can achieve *for you* then advertise it with their fee on top. They show potential buyers round and refer back with any questions.
If there is any downward negotiation on the price they ask if you will accept a suggested lower price and/or they may reduce their own fee. They are flexible to achieve a sale at a price that suits all parties.
Obviously you're in a contract and can't advertise privately during that time.
To be frank we'd rather the new owner had paid the lower price that we were happy-ish with but that wasn't happening and we had plans.
 
Last edited:
ManTheVan said:
Just as a matter of interest Simon Howards Motorhomes, what sort of fee/commission would a dealer typically levy if they sold a MH for a client?
Click to expand...

It varies from dealer to dealer to be honest.
I charge £3000 + Vat, but within that, the van gets dropped off, we handle everything. We also do a full handover and don't expect the old owner to do it!
Most people are fine selling privately but now with their are so many scams on the go, its getting easier that ever to get caught out.
I had a customer a few weeks ago that bought a van from me last year, wanted to go back to caravanning, stuck his van up privately, 3 undesirables turned up at his home address, bullied him into selling it for 10k less that what it was worth as the poor bloke was terrified, gave him a big bag of cash and a cheque and made him sign it over there and then.......

Now before anyone says £3000 + Vat is expensive, that includes marketing it, handing it over etc.
We would prep the van and go through with the seller what does or does not need to be sorted/ fixed etc. Which we would knock off the final amount of course but... as a dealer we can sell a vehicle for more than Joe Bloggs can privately, its just a fact. As a rule of thumb a private sale is a few grand less than a dealer sale so it actually isnt expensive at all. It also minimizes risks for the seller as we take all the risk.

It also means we deal with the tyre kickers, dreamers, no show's etc!

Simon

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Thanks Simon. It’s refreshing to have a straight answer and I think your service sounds very reasonable.

In the scenario you describe above, does the buyer receive any kind of warranty? The one-year hab and mechanical warranty was one of the most confidence-inspiring factors when we bought our used MH, but I suppose we bought from the dealer and not as an owner-commissioned sale.
 
ManTheVan said:
Thanks Simon. It’s refreshing to have a straight answer and I think your service sounds very reasonable.

In the scenario you describe above, does the buyer receive any kind of warranty? The one-year hab and mechanical warranty was one of the most confidence-inspiring factors when we bought our used MH, but I suppose we bought from the dealer and not as an owner-commissioned sale.
Click to expand...

Yeah a warranty can be put on. The same with a hab check. We would take that off the final fee but in reality, internal hab check rate is about £120 and a warranty is about £200 (That would be a full 12 month warranty like we put on all of our used)
 
If you are happy with the resulting price after commission why not use an agent or dealer such as Simon Howard?
You set the min price. It beats selling privately; waiting in for 'no shows' and dealing with tyre kickers, Fusspots and chancers and a payment method that may not be secure.
And the buyer won't be on the phone to you 6 weeks later nagging you about the blocked sink drain.
 
Spriddler said:
If you are happy with the resulting price why not use an agent or dealer such as Simon Howard?
You set the min price. It beats selling privately; waiting in for 'no shows' and dealing with tyre kickers, Fusspots and chancers and a payment method that may not be secure.
And the buyer won't be on the phone to you 6 weeks later nagging you about the blocked sink drain.
Click to expand...

You make it sound like you have sold vans before lol!
I once had a customer ring me on a Saturday night to tell me they didn't have any toilet paper in the van and what should they do..........
They even got upset when I said after 6 Stella's on a Saturday night I couldn't jump in the car to drop some off to them!

I absolutely love the public :LOL: ;)

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Simon Howards Motorhomes said:
You make it sound like you have sold vans before lol!
I once had a customer ring me on a Saturday night to tell me they didn't have any toilet paper in the van and what should they do..........
They even got upset when I said after 6 Stella's on a Saturday night I couldn't jump in the car to drop some off to them!

I absolutely love the public :LOL: ;)
Click to expand...
Yep, you're right. Been there, done that.
I've been restoring, repairing, buying and selling 50+ yr old classic cars and motorbikes as a 'hobby' for 40 years.
Typical is 3 weeks after sorting out a charging problem the owner comes back expecting me to replace his clutch for free as "it must be due to something that you did".
Now't worse than dealing wi' public.
 

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Simon Howards Motorhomes said:
It varies from dealer to dealer to be honest.
I charge £3000 + Vat, but within that, the van gets dropped off, we handle everything. We also do a full handover and don't expect the old owner to do it!
Most people are fine selling privately but now with their are so many scams on the go, its getting easier that ever to get caught out.
I had a customer a few weeks ago that bought a van from me last year, wanted to go back to caravanning, stuck his van up privately, 3 undesirables turned up at his home address, bullied him into selling it for 10k less that what it was worth as the poor bloke was terrified, gave him a big bag of cash and a cheque and made him sign it over there and then.......

Now before anyone says £3000 + Vat is expensive, that includes marketing it, handing it over etc.
We would prep the van and go through with the seller what does or does not need to be sorted/ fixed etc. Which we would knock off the final amount of course but... as a dealer we can sell a vehicle for more than Joe Bloggs can privately, its just a fact. As a rule of thumb a private sale is a few grand less than a dealer sale so it actually isnt expensive at all. It also minimizes risks for the seller as we take all the risk.

It also means we deal with the tyre kickers, dreamers, no show's etc!

Simon
Click to expand...
Hello Simon,

Having sold a few low slung cars of certain value I can say your pricing is spot on (but you don't need me to tell you that) and what I would expect to pay and you are right there is a certain security letting someone like yourself do the selling and all the work around it.

Note to the seller's:
If your going to let any dealer sell your van for you be realistic on price and condition, Fit a new set of tyres if the van needs them, get the MoHo valeted as far as you can make sure there are no faults and if there are be honest with the dealer it's a mutual contract and all parties want a good sale.

In my experience Dealers keep you updated and really do take all the stress away, the last one I did the wheels needed refurbishing the dealer had an external company come in and just took the money out of what he was paying me, having had numerous vehicles sold this way I normally give the salesman a bottle of wine as the process has been so good.

Personally I would take up Simons offer once we agreed the sale price

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Simon Howards Motorhomes said:
It varies from dealer to dealer to be honest.
I charge £3000 + Vat, but within that, the van gets dropped off, we handle everything. We also do a full handover and don't expect the old owner to do it!
Most people are fine selling privately but now with their are so many scams on the go, its getting easier that ever to get caught out.
I had a customer a few weeks ago that bought a van from me last year, wanted to go back to caravanning, stuck his van up privately, 3 undesirables turned up at his home address, bullied him into selling it for 10k less that what it was worth as the poor bloke was terrified, gave him a big bag of cash and a cheque and made him sign it over there and then.......

Now before anyone says £3000 + Vat is expensive, that includes marketing it, handing it over etc.
We would prep the van and go through with the seller what does or does not need to be sorted/ fixed etc. Which we would knock off the final amount of course but... as a dealer we can sell a vehicle for more than Joe Bloggs can privately, its just a fact. As a rule of thumb a private sale is a few grand less than a dealer sale so it actually isnt expensive at all. It also minimizes risks for the seller as we take all the risk.

It also means we deal with the tyre kickers, dreamers, no show's etc!

Simon
Click to expand...
For what it's worth-- I think £3000 is for NOWT to be honest
You will get more enquiries and viewers in a week than a private buyer would in 6 months
 
We bought our van through Motorhome Depot. They were very professional and all went well, wouldn’t hesitate to use them again.
 
wotme said:
I've begun the sale process by advertising with Autotrader and straight away I had an enquiry from "Motorhome Depot" saying they are interested in selling my van for me. Apparently they act in the same capacity as an estate agent but so far no commission rate has been disclosed. I imagine the financial side of things is concluded on the appraisal valuation. As opposed to me selling privately a broker has the advantage of offering finance and part exchange and of course a secure sale. I can't see a problem with using them apart from taking a financial hit. Just wondered if anyone on here has had dealings with these guys, your advice as always would be appreciated
Click to expand...

I don't see that you're taking a financial hit by using a broker, because you tell them what you want to achieve and they work to get that price for you (as long as it is achievable), yes of course they'll sell it at a higher price to make their money but you havent got the hassle or headache of selling privately.and putting up with time wasters etc. We just sold our van to a dealer, he's got it up for sale for £7k more than he paid us for it, good luck to him I say, we were glad not to have the headache of selling it privately!!
 
I sold our Globecar Campscout through Motorhome Depot last year and they were Brilliant.

John.
 
Simon Howards Motorhomes said:
I once had a customer ring me on a Saturday night to tell me they didn't have any toilet paper in the van and what should they do..........
They even got upset when I said after 6 Stella's on a Saturday night I couldn't jump in the car to drop some off to them!
Click to expand...

At least I won’t have that problem, eh Simon ? 😂😂😂
 
We used MHD to move our '06 Rapido. Brilliant service and no pain at all. We got a whole lot more than offered on Trade-In (much to Marquis' surprise - and which meant we could do a better deal with them!) and got a net payout which we were happy with in line with the market at the time. MHD get their cut, sure, but that's fine. They did a great promotion/photo/social media job, met the potential clients during the week - which would have been impossible for me, and made sure there was no funny stuff on the the money. It all felt, and was, very assured and secure. Would highly recommend.
 
Foxhall51 said:
We used MHD to move our '06 Rapido. Brilliant service and no pain at all. We got a whole lot more than offered on Trade-In (much to Marquis' surprise - and which meant we could do a better deal with them!) and got a net payout which we were happy with in line with the market at the time. MHD get their cut, sure, but that's fine. They did a great promotion/photo/social media job, met the potential clients during the week - which would have been impossible for me, and made sure there was no funny stuff on the the money. It all felt, and was, very assured and secure. Would highly recommend.
Click to expand...
Can I ask what price you got and what MHD charged?
 
We bought from MHD in York getting our perfect van for a fair price. We left our old one for them to sell and set off on the 240 mile journey home back to Kent. As we crossed the Thames at Dartford we had a call from the salesman with a potential buyer. Within 2 hrs of getting home the deal was sealed we had the money in our account within 48hrs. I reckon we could have got another £1000 or so if we sold privately but that would have been a lot more hassle and loss of holiday time.
Instead we jumped on the ferry and spent 6 weeks in France with money in the bank.
Result ☺☺☺☺
 

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