A couple of weeks ago we posted our mpg 181 for sale on three RV forums, including this one. So far the only response has been someone who is 2000 miles away - hardly a likely buyer for our trailer. Yesterday, at the Springfield RV show, I talked to our dealer. They will take it on consignment for a flat fee of $350. I also talked to a consignment dealership, who will take it for 9% of the selling price. Both places are on I-44, about 100 miles apart.
Our dealership is closer to us, and can tell prospective buyers that they sold the trailer new and have done all of the service work on it. Unfortunately, they are a small outfit, and don't have a lot of business.
The consignment dealership is one of two RV places at that exit, and there are two more at the next exit. They have a larger inventory than our dealership. I would assume that people looking for an RV are more likely to shop where there are several dealerships in close proximity to one all by itself.
The questions, then are two. First, should we take it to a sales lot and pay the fee, or should we let the forums work over the winter? Second, if we go with a consignment, which place would you take it to, and why?
I'm deliberately NOT posting the names of the two businesses because I don't have firm information on the details yet. I talked to our salesman at the show yesterday, but he doesn't accept the consignments, he just sells them. The other place hasn't seen our trailer, so they can't give any price guide. Some of you may be able to figure out the names of the places and will have an opinion about them. If so, please PM me. I don't want to post any names yet.
Thanks for your thoughts.
kb0zke said
12:47 AM Oct 17, 2012
We made arrangements to take the mpg to the dealer who sold it to us for annual service, winterizing, and then leave it on consignment. However, when we checked with our insurance agent (State Farm) we found out that it would NOT be covered while there. Their comment was that the dealer should assume the liability (actually, the dealer's insurance company) so I asked. The dealer said their insurance specifically says they are NOT liable for any loss to a consigned trailer.
PPL has hundreds of rigs on consignment at any one time, and I can't believe that none of them are insured while on their lot. So, what to do? I'm thinking that I may try to give PPL a call tomorrow and ask them how it works with them. Maybe we need to change insurance companies?
On the original topic, as you can see, we had decided to go with the selling dealer rather than the consignment place. The main reason was the lack of security there. We made arrangements to see a particular DP they had on a particular day and time. When we got there, the coach wasn't as described (no great surprise there), but even more disturbing, one of the two start batteries was missing. I'm pretty sure that it was there when the owner delivered the coach. Maybe they removed it themselves to make it harder to steal, or maybe someone else did when the office was closed. I say "office" because the lot itself was completely open - no fence or gate. Due to the damage on the coach, the battery compartment couldn't be locked (couldn't even be properly closed) so it wouldn't have been hard for someone to drive up and help themselves to a battery. That, more than anything, helped us decide that we wouldn't go back there.
Lucky Mike said
01:06 AM Oct 17, 2012
it is only not covered under the insurance while on consignment if you sign the clause or leave it in the sales contract....or if it is Posted visible within an unobstructed area viewable to the customer
kb0zke said
01:32 AM Oct 17, 2012
Mike, I'm confused. Are you saying that my insurance would cover it UNLESS I specifically signed a clause that removes the coverage? Or that the consignment agreement will try to ditch their liability if I sign it as is? Isn't the idea of a consignment to have the customer have an unobstructed view of the trailer? Or do you mean if the dealer has a prominent sign that says they aren't liable for consigned trailers?
Lucky Mike said
02:17 AM Oct 17, 2012
your insurance is secondary durring consignment......it becomes the dealers responsibility when they take possession of for business purposes.. if you look at the consignment contract you will find in the nice jumble of words (probably on the back where you wont lookbefore you sign) a clause stating liability over damage fire and theft or it is posted clearly in the customer area. sometimes outside on the lot itself that all it takes to make it legal.
but no matter what the dealer has to carry liability insurance or they will leave themselves open to civil liability because it occurs on there property.
unfortunately to unravel the legal knot requires courts and lawyers fees to get beyond the small print
wildbill2673 said
04:10 AM Nov 11, 2012
If the unit has not sold already then and only if you do not have a binding agreement with an outfit that will try and sell it for you then I would try craigslist and sell it yourself. I have done this successfully and would do it again.
kb0zke said
03:53 PM Nov 11, 2012
I took the mpg in yesterday for winterizing and annual service, and while I was there I talked to the owner of the dealership. Since we had last talked, he talked to his insurance people and his attorney. Their position is that their insurance covers my trailer when it is there on their property for service (and a reasonable time thereafter), but does NOT cover consignments. We talked about some options, including switching to another insurance carrier. When I got home I contacted Progressive and asked about coverage during consignment. The agent I talked to went to talk to someone higher up, and came back with the same information I got from our State Farm agent - no coverage during consignment.
We also talked about getting a rider put on our policy, and tomorrow I'm going to check with our agent about that. One suggestion was to use a line like "You mean that we have to switch our home and car insurance to another company just so we can have coverage when we want to sell our camper?" Based on what the Progressive agent said, though, it doesn't look like we'll get very far with that idea.
To me, this means that any unit on consignment is completely uninsured, and I can't believe that that would be the case UNLESS dealerships are trying to get rid of consignment places. My dealer would have no problem taking my mpg in on a trade, because then he would own the trailer and his insurance would have to cover it. What he doesn't want happening is for me to have him sell it and then I buy from a private individual or another dealer. The other possibility is that this is just a Missouri thing, and if I wanted to drive 700+ miles down to Houston I could take my mpg to PPL. I have asked PPL about this, but haven't heard back yet.
Several people have suggested that I just list it on CraigsList. I've held off on that because that is just a wider form of a newspaper ad, which means that we'll be getting lots of calls from people who are just looking for information. CL has also been used by thieves before.
A couple of weeks ago we posted our mpg 181 for sale on three RV forums, including this one. So far the only response has been someone who is 2000 miles away - hardly a likely buyer for our trailer. Yesterday, at the Springfield RV show, I talked to our dealer. They will take it on consignment for a flat fee of $350. I also talked to a consignment dealership, who will take it for 9% of the selling price. Both places are on I-44, about 100 miles apart.
Our dealership is closer to us, and can tell prospective buyers that they sold the trailer new and have done all of the service work on it. Unfortunately, they are a small outfit, and don't have a lot of business.
The consignment dealership is one of two RV places at that exit, and there are two more at the next exit. They have a larger inventory than our dealership. I would assume that people looking for an RV are more likely to shop where there are several dealerships in close proximity to one all by itself.
The questions, then are two. First, should we take it to a sales lot and pay the fee, or should we let the forums work over the winter? Second, if we go with a consignment, which place would you take it to, and why?
I'm deliberately NOT posting the names of the two businesses because I don't have firm information on the details yet. I talked to our salesman at the show yesterday, but he doesn't accept the consignments, he just sells them. The other place hasn't seen our trailer, so they can't give any price guide. Some of you may be able to figure out the names of the places and will have an opinion about them. If so, please PM me. I don't want to post any names yet.
Thanks for your thoughts.
PPL has hundreds of rigs on consignment at any one time, and I can't believe that none of them are insured while on their lot. So, what to do? I'm thinking that I may try to give PPL a call tomorrow and ask them how it works with them. Maybe we need to change insurance companies?
On the original topic, as you can see, we had decided to go with the selling dealer rather than the consignment place. The main reason was the lack of security there. We made arrangements to see a particular DP they had on a particular day and time. When we got there, the coach wasn't as described (no great surprise there), but even more disturbing, one of the two start batteries was missing. I'm pretty sure that it was there when the owner delivered the coach. Maybe they removed it themselves to make it harder to steal, or maybe someone else did when the office was closed. I say "office" because the lot itself was completely open - no fence or gate. Due to the damage on the coach, the battery compartment couldn't be locked (couldn't even be properly closed) so it wouldn't have been hard for someone to drive up and help themselves to a battery. That, more than anything, helped us decide that we wouldn't go back there.
but no matter what the dealer has to carry liability insurance or they will leave themselves open to civil liability because it occurs on there property.
unfortunately to unravel the legal knot requires courts and lawyers fees to get beyond the small print
If the unit has not sold already then and only if you do not have a binding agreement with an outfit that will try and sell it for you then I would try craigslist and sell it yourself. I have done this successfully and would do it again.
We also talked about getting a rider put on our policy, and tomorrow I'm going to check with our agent about that. One suggestion was to use a line like "You mean that we have to switch our home and car insurance to another company just so we can have coverage when we want to sell our camper?" Based on what the Progressive agent said, though, it doesn't look like we'll get very far with that idea.
To me, this means that any unit on consignment is completely uninsured, and I can't believe that that would be the case UNLESS dealerships are trying to get rid of consignment places. My dealer would have no problem taking my mpg in on a trade, because then he would own the trailer and his insurance would have to cover it. What he doesn't want happening is for me to have him sell it and then I buy from a private individual or another dealer. The other possibility is that this is just a Missouri thing, and if I wanted to drive 700+ miles down to Houston I could take my mpg to PPL. I have asked PPL about this, but haven't heard back yet.
Several people have suggested that I just list it on CraigsList. I've held off on that because that is just a wider form of a newspaper ad, which means that we'll be getting lots of calls from people who are just looking for information. CL has also been used by thieves before.