Gone are the days when sellers mistake RV inspection as solely for buyers. Now, sellers know that an RV inspection is the most crucial asset to the selling process because it minimizes time-wasting back & forth negotiations and answering the same questions over and over. Instead, with a pre-sale inspection under your belt, you have a definite Actual Cost Value (ACV) and can say with certainty that your RV is in great condition OR be able to address upfront any issues with a buyer. The less see-sawing you have to do with potential buyers, the quicker you can close the deal and get the profit you deserve.

With me as your inspector, I can help pave you a direct route to profit so you can sell with confidence from a place of certainty, knowledge and excitement. Even more, I have 38 years of expertise in RV Service, Sales, Repair, Maintenance & Rebuilding. In a nutshell, I can advise you the most successful RV sales strategies where you can earn the maximum profit and ultimately return the favor upon you in the selling process.

What will you check during the inspection?

During my thorough inspection, I will spend hours shaking down the RV from roof to tires to bolts, wire and everything in between. Let’s break it down further:

• Exterior
  • Sidewalls for signs of damage & delamination
  • Roof for leaks or damage
  • Joints & seals
  • Slideout assemblies & RV windows
  • Wheel assemblies, frame, axles, leaf springs, ball joints, steering components and hangers on the underside
  • Leveling & stabilizing systems to make sure working correctly
  • Towing and hitching equipment
• RV Systems
  • Electrical
  • Freshwater & Wastes
  • Heating & Cooling
  • Propane Systems
  • Safety devices
  • RV batteries
  • Inverters
  • Generator and oil, coolant and fuel
• [For driveable RVs]
  • Engine components including engine fluid, hoses, belts, batteries and filters
• Interior
  • Appliances
  • Entertainment electronics
  • Furniture

Inspection add-ons (and yes, they are worth it!)

1. Digital Mold Inspection 2-3 business days
2. Transmission Fluid Analysis 2-3 business days
3. Generator Oil Analysis 2-3 business days
4. Engine Coolant Analysis 2-3 business days
5. Generator Coolant Analysis 2-3 business days

How much will an inspection cost? 

During your complimentary Zoom call with me, I will provide a risk-free, zero-obligation quote to you and answer all your inspection-related questions. Inspection costs vary depending on the size of your RV and any RV Inspection Add-Ons chosen.

How to get started

Please call (239) 768-2410 or email rvinspections@comcast.net and if you’d like to have a complimentary Zoom video call, that will be promptly coordinated for you. On this call, you and I will virtually meet face to face to answer all your inspection-related questions and obtain a free quote for your Pre-Sale RV Inspection.

Advanced seller tips

1. Determining sale price:

Bank financing and pricing yourself out of the market: Banks will finance the Wholesale price just like insurance, they don’t finance the retail amount when you see in NADA online, setting the price to high or adding sentimental value to it will simply just sit, people will look, compare and that’s about it, Have you ever been fishing? If your bait is at the top you wont get any bites, dropping it to the middle you might get some nibbles, but at the bottom is where the fish are, we all want as much as we can get, but lets do some math, if you take the NADA suggested list price, no one will pay that unless Elvis slept in it, most make the mistake of adding in all the additional equipment, unless you actually added something specific like a secondary air conditioner or an additional awning or had it custom built, there is no need to select those items. Now if the RV is more than 2+ years old those extra items you thought added value to the sale price can be valued as yard sale material, I can assure you it won’t add value, and the bank will not finance it! They’re worth nothing especially if the person could care less about the so-called upgrade.

 Let’s take this Motor home that’s for sale we’ll take the Suggested NADA retail price of 341,995 and times that by 75%, which comes out to $255,750 the bank will finance the low retail price of $226.400 so that means your down payment needs to be $17,000. Pricing your vehicle to high means the buyer will need a bigger down payment, and that’s when they walk. Your sale price should fall in between the low retail and average retail. Now you’re probably thinking, “I have looked and I see units just like mine selling for a whole lot more.” Let me ask you: how long they have been on the market? A thing to consider is your current monthly payment, how many months do you want to keep paying? 

Suggested list   $341,995

Average Retail $272,750

Low retail $226,400

My suggested selling price 255,750

 Buyers’ Down payment $17000

2. Extended service plan- to transfer or not to transfer: you have two choices, you can sweeten the pot by agreeing to transfer the balance of the plan to the buyer for a nominal fee generally it will cost them $100.00 or option two, you can go back to either the selling dealer or the extended service provider and they have to give you the unused refund. If you have another 3 to 5 years left, by all means get your money! If there is only one year or less throw it in the sale price, this does two things, one it adds strong value to the price and it also protects you if something breaks right after the buyer has taken delivery of it. Many people think As-IS means everything works and is guaranteed, nothing could be further from the truth… the same holds true for tire and wheel coverage, exterior protection and whatever else they sold you. Only do the transfer of the extended service plan etc. once they have taken possession of the vehicle, title is in their name at that point it has crossed the line and is now theirs. Keep in mind if you’re trading your RV into a dealer they cannot accept your extended service plan, you can only transfer it to your buyer, so in that case get your money back before you trade it in.

We’ve all heard that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure:

3. Getting it ready to be listed and sold: Let’s use that extended service plan to get her ready! When we do a complete Pre-Sale Inspection and you have an extended service plan, use it! It’s that simple, get everything fixed that I find wrong, providing it is a listed item on your extended service plan, it must be [Component Failure]; maintenance is not a covered item, or a leaky roof. A covered item must have failed or broke; if it still works but not perfectly that’s not considered broken.

4. Commissions on a consignment vehicle: If you have decided to list your vehicle with a dealer or consignment company, keep this in mind: if the company selling it brings you a ready and willing and able buyer at the price you were asking, and you decide not to sell it (Just like Real estate) you don’t have to sell it, but you will pay the commission, and that is generally 10% of the sale price.
5. How to win the money game: RVs don’t appreciate unless there is that whole Covid supply and demand, or a shortage of good clean inventory. This is what I do: when making a vehicle purchase, I pay all additional expenses up front, like sales tax, extended service plan, dealer fees, delivery fees motor vehicle etc…the only thing in the financing is the vehicle only. Here’s a great example, here in Florida the sales tax rate is 6.5% –so why finance sales tax? And not just today for the next 6 years… Or any of the other items I list, the dealer wants to throw everything in the deal, make it easy, but do you realize your financing the sales tax, the extended service plan, tire and wheel coverage dealer fees, motor vehicle fees, at whatever percentage rate they gave you?
6. How to lose at the money game: Example: let’s say a vehicle that costs $300,000 @ Florida’s 6.5% sales tax = $19,500 dollars, and you rolled that in the deal and financed it for 72 months at an interest rate of 5.75% that’s normally about $270.00 per month, but in this situation you will be paying 490.00 per month for the next 6 years… Let’s take this to a another level:

Let’s say your employed: the first line out of your pay check is taxes, you bought the RV and was taxed again, (Yep) taxed twice, the you financed it, drove it off the lot and loss 30% in value, and to make matters worse, you financed the sales tax… along with everything else, that day will come when it’s time to sell it, and like a Rent a Center you won’t believe how much that TV cost you 4 years later, and what was the interest rate? … You need to know the numbers. Besides the fact when the dealer gets your interest rate back from the bank and they raise it to a higher amount (This is called bank participation) the bank gives them money for ripping you off. And raising your tiers, the bank says we can do it for 5.75%, the dealer comes back and tells you it will be 6.75%, that’s one whole tier. The numbers tell a story, and this is exactly how to lose at the money game- Because the road to debt is paved with discounts!