Why isn't our motorhome selling, feedback needed.

Best to read Thier terms and conditions -When you buy you can buy a warranty and in some cases they’ll arrange finance - again look at T & Cs- may I add I’ve never bought from them only sold. Which I found extremely easy and my vans never left my home and I never met any buyers who gave me hassle 😁No punters walking in and out “just looking” or stealing things like knobs off cookers etc 👍
 
CorinneD said:
We decided to try and find a slightly newer model than our 2005 Avantgarde. There is a proper gap in the market at the moment. Either vans are old (even older than ours) or upwards of 50K. Nothing much inbetween. We were hoping to find something below £45k but not much about and if they are, then they all seem to be ones which need a C1 licence. We are 68 so don't really want the rigmarole of having to start getting examinations and doctors certs. to keep the C1 classification. Most of the vans are huge which I can only assume is because people are getting rid of them for the same reason we don't want one. We thought we might have found one locally at a dealer and went to have a look. A 2010 Autotrail with the right layout for us £32,950. Unfortunately the interior was so shabby - woodwork scratched, window cracked (even though they said that would be replaced) grubby and generally unloved, that we walked away. Our van is 2005 and the interior is like new. The old gent we bought from had kept it immaculately. I don't understand why people don't seem to look after their vans especially with the cost involved. Certainly in our neck of the woods in Lincolnshire there is not much about and the few dealers in the county are charging a fortune for them. We shall keep an eye out but are resigned to keeping Elsa for the time being if not.
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We had an 54 Avantgarde 300. Fabulous van. Small enough to park most places, big enough to sleep 4 but the best bit was the actual, properly sprung upholstery. No sagging seat cushions ever. Loved that van. It’s still around according to the DVLA. I would love to know where.
 
Jim said:
Do buyers have recourse, isn't it a private sale?
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As a company if they misrepresent a Motorhome say by condition ie: low mileage or a gearbox that jumps gears l would think a buyer would have recourse.
They can’t simply say the owner told us everything was in order,they have a duty of care to ensure the description of a vehicle is accurate.
I am only assessing this logically as l haven’t seen MHD T&C’s.

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Jim said:
Do buyers have recourse, isn't it a private sale?
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I just thought l would add a note to my post#425.

Despite them appearing to have many satisfied customers and l myself have purchased from them twice over the years but not sold through them.
I am about to place my 2021 La Strada Nova 4x4 on the market as l have replaced it moving down to 3.5t because of the C1 licence, fourth time and l don’t want the hassle of it anymore.
I don’t think MHD would be able to market such a specialist MH as they are mainly mainstream.
 
Just in case anyone is interested they can PM me.

IMG_4417.jpeg
 
wiljoy said:
My 2022 Autosleeper has just sold after a year. Eventually dropping over £7000 of my original asking price. Buyers are very aware of the vast amount of motorhomes for sale and are expecting large discounts. Motorhome Depot sold my van and they were excellent throughout the year long slog. They charged £3000 which I'd rather pay to them than £10,000 to a dealer.
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Not Knocking Motorhome Depot Got a van from them years ago. So you took a year to sell after dropping the price by £7000.Was that without the £3000 to Motorhome Depot. If so Sorry but it must of been well overpriced to start with.
Sold mine within a week through Autotrader .Still made couple of grand more than i payed for it.
Someone said motorhome Depot does Finance so does the bank. Then there is the Warranty Is it any good?
Autotrader don't give out your phone number or email address. So never had anyone turn up at the door kicking the tyres
 
Littlewheels said:
I am only assessing this logically as l haven’t seen MHD T&C’s
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Misrepresenting a van would leave them open I'm sure. I had a quick look at their terms, I did see that they recommend you get the motorhome independently inspected. So I'm guessing they don't hold themselves at all accountable in that regard.
 
rolosroller said:
Not Knocking Motorhome Depot Got a van from them years ago. So you took a year to sell after dropping the price by £7000.Was that without the £3000 to Motorhome Depot. If so Sorry but it must of been well overpriced to start with.
Sold mine within a week through Autotrader .Still made couple of grand more than i payed for it.
Someone said motorhome Depot does Finance so does the bank. Then there is the Warranty Is it any good?
Autotrader don't give out your phone number or email address. So never had anyone turn up at the door kicking the tyres
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Last year I sold my Carthago with MD within a week but thus Autosleeper wasn't so lucky. Definitely not overpriced at £20,000.00 less than new.

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wiljoy said:
Last year I sold my Carthago with MD within a week but thus Autosleeper wasn't so lucky. Definitely not overpriced at £20,000.00 less than new.
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But it wasn't new
 
Littlewheels said:
As a company if they misrepresent a Motorhome say by condition ie: low mileage or a gearbox that jumps gears l would think a buyer would have recourse.
They can’t simply say the owner told us everything was in order,they have a duty of care to ensure the description of a vehicle is accurate.
I am only assessing this logically as l haven’t seen MHD T&C’s.
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In the past I have asked mhd simple basic questions about a motorhome they're selling and they've either not been able to answer, have given the wrong answer or have said they'd get back to me and haven't.

I wouldn't trust any warranty given on a 3rd party second hand vehicle.
 
There seems to be some naivety being displayed on some posts here.

A van is worth whatever a buyer is willing to pay.

All other things being equal, the speed at which a van will sell is dependent on the price being asked.

If the seller is naïve enough not to recognise the fee/commission to be paid to an agent (be that MHD or any dealer acting on their behalf) and adds that fee onto the price being asked, then it will be a long selling process.

The price has to be market competitive and any selling fee has to be deducted from the competitive market price such that the seller receives a below market price. That is the cost of doing business (ie paying someone to remove from you the hassle of the selling process). Anyone electing to sell through a third party has already decided that is a cost that they are willing to pay.
For others, they take a different view on the value of the services offered by third parties and that is their right.

However, the notion that an agent’s fee is added onto the market value (thereby increasing the price to above market value) is misguided.

Ian
 
bigtwin said:
There seems to be some naivety being displayed on some posts here.

A van is worth whatever a buyer is willing to pay.

All other things being equal, the speed at which a van will sell is dependent on the price being asked.

If the seller is naïve enough not to recognise the fee/commission to be paid to an agent (be that MHD or any dealer acting on their behalf) and adds that fee onto the price being asked, then it will be a long selling process.

The price has to be market competitive and any selling fee has to be deducted from the competitive market price such that the seller receives a below market price. That is the cost of doing business (ie paying someone to remove from you the hassle of the selling process). Anyone electing to sell through a third party has already decided that is a cost that they are willing to pay.
For others, they take a different view on the value of the services offered by third parties and that is their right.

However, the notion that an agent’s fee is added onto the market value (thereby increasing the price to above market value) is misguided.

Ian
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Exactly!

But that is in most cases how it is done, and from what I've seen that's how these agents market themselves too. They basically ask the customer what price they want then they add there fee on top . Anyone bored enough to browse ebay at whats out there and compare the prices between private sale and trader/agent sales can see it.

Every motorhome I've bought I've knocked between 3 and 7 grand off the price asked . You offer most of these agents a grand less and they're turning it down.. they'd rather wait 6 months to get that extra grand than have the quick turnover.
 
Northernraider said:
Every motorhome I've bought I've knocked between 3 and 7 grand off the price asked . You offer most of these agents a grand less and they're turning it down.. they'd rather wait 6 months to get that extra grand than have the quick turnover.
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I don't agree, if MHD or anyone else is on a fixed fee of say 3 or 4k then it doesn't matter what is offered its then up to the seller to accept the offer or not, the agent still gets their cut plus they will still incur costs by not selling so in everyone favour.
 
Northernraider said:
But that is in most cases how it is done, and from what I've seen that's how these agents market themselves too. They basically ask the customer what price they want then they add there fee on top .
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Yes, but the price that a seller wants for their vehicle and the market value are not the same thing.

There will be cases where:

  • The seller has a realistic view on what the market value is and recognises what this means in terms of how much they will receive on sale
  • The seller has an unrealistic view on what the market value is and ends up with an unrealistic price when the agent’s fee is added on.
In the former case, everyone is happy and in the latter case nobody is happy because the selling process becomes protracted. In the latter case it is very easy to blame the agent when, in fact, the root of the problem is the seller’s unrealistic view on what their van is worth.

The likelihood of the latter scenario unfolding is dependent on both:
  • the quality of the agent (do they have sufficient market knowledge in terms of the likely market value and do they advise accordingly (perhaps in the face of an unrealistic seller expectation))
  • the expectations of the seller and their willingness to adjust their expectations.
Ian

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MichaelT said:
I don't agree, if MHD or anyone else is on a fixed fee of say 3 or 4k then it doesn't matter what is offered its then up to the seller to accept the offer or not, the agent still gets their cut plus they will still incur costs by not selling so in everyone favour.
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I've made offers to mhd in the past which were turned down immediately, they didn't have time to ask the seller. So they very much do make a decision to wait for a higher offer. Even when the vehicle has been advertised for weeks on end . In a few instances I've even sent them a link to a similar vehicle listed for less but still they will wait. .
 
Northernraider said:
I've made offers to mhd in the past which were turned down immediately, they didn't have time to ask the seller. So they very much do make a decision to wait for a higher offer. Even when the vehicle has been advertised for weeks on end . In a few instances I've even sent them a link to a similar vehicle listed for less but still they will wait. .
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Maybe because it was below what the seller wanted and they were told not to bother with low offers who knows.
 
bigtwin said:
Yes, but the price that a seller wants for their vehicle and the market value are not the same thing.

There will be cases where:

  • The seller has a realistic view on what the market value is and recognises what this means in terms of how much they will receive on sale
  • The seller has an unrealistic view on what the market value is and ends up with an unrealistic price when the agent’s fee is added on.
In the former case, everyone is happy and in the latter case nobody is happy because the selling process becomes protracted. In the latter case it is very easy to blame the agent when, in fact, the root of the problem is the seller’s unrealistic view on what their van is worth.

The likelihood of the latter scenario unfolding is dependent on both:
  • the quality of the agent (do they have sufficient market knowledge in terms of the likely market value and do they advise accordingly (perhaps in the face of an unrealistic seller expectation))
  • the expectations of the seller and their willingness to adjust their expectations.
Ian
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I know .. but unfortunately it seems most of the time it is the latter. Especially at the minute where you have a load of vans that people paid over the top for a few years back and now cling on to the hope they're going to get that price back. The market may not have dropped a lot with new vans but with second hand vans they're 10 a penny at present. The euramobil I sold last June....I've seen 3 this year selling for 10k less
 
MichaelT said:
Maybe because it was below what the seller wanted and they were told not to bother with low offers who knows.
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And that's my point .

So the seller and the agent have a van priced too high and wonder why it isn't selling.

If there's a similar vehicle for £5k less not selling then the chances are the dearer one hasn't a snowballs chance in hell at selling. But if the agent you're paying to be knowledgeable doesn't pass that on to the seller then it's going to be a long slow process.
 
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As bigtwin states market value is what somebody is prepared to pay for the item.
Market value is not inflated by the sellers costs.
If the seller incurs agents costs, advertising etc or in property sales solicitors fees, they are not added onto market value.
The answer, decide the open market value of the item, put it on the market at that value.
Recognise you have costs, diy or pay an agent but those costs have nothing to do with open market value.
How much you decide to reduce the asking price below what you consider the open market value is a personal choice, you might want to just sell it quickly so the asking price might be less than you consider the open market value.
Some people put things on the market at inflated prices, hoping that inflation or price rises will sooner or later make their asking price seems reasonable. The problem is that if the item stays on the market too long it gives the impression it is “stinking fish”
 
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Barclaybasher said:
The 15 grand one doesn't look right....
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The 15 grand one ..sold in the time it took me to post them . It had a start price of £12k or buy it now at £15k ...only listed this morning ...by the time I copied the links of the 3 vans someone hit the buy it now on the £15k one.

The other 2 are overpriced for 20 year old vans
 
After a lifetime in the car business the one thing that got them moving was “let’s make them irresistible “
& I’m sure Motorhomes aren’t much different.
 

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