Selling an RV While Gas Prices Jump to $4
No that doesn’t sound fun. That’s because it isn’t. In the last 3 weeks since we arrived in Vermont and put the circa 1995 Winnebago onto Craigslist and about 6 other websites north of the border, gas prices have gone from $3.49 to $3.95 at the local pump. With every penny jump the value of our RV was dropping as people, frankly, are smart enough not to burden themselves with an aging beast that costs 4X45 ($180) to fill up, then gets 8-10 miles to the gallon slurping that sweet crude. Dealers are dropping their prices and would be RVers are thinking harder about buying the ultimate guzzler.
A couple weeks went by and a few emails trickled in, mostly from folks in Rhode Island or Mass. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Pump prices go up, rain falls endlessly on the suspect roof seals, and the vehicle itself sinks into the waterlogged driveway. Delusions of selling it for anything near what we bought it for are fading fast. Two people make appointments to come and visit, both cancel. Ugh.
Since most folks are far away and the passion to see it is tempered by the idea that it’s likely an old beater, I posted a 9 minute goofball monologue stream of conciousness, took a little off the price and reposted the listing going into this weekend. Bam! Locals! A couple from Barre drive up immediately and proclaim they will make an offer on Monday when banks open. That’s cool. Another guy makes an appointment to see it on Monday. Then the phone rings again at 6pm. “We’d like to drive up from Rutland right now”. Niiiice. By 9pm the beast was gone.
So how did it all work out? We bought the beast for $13,000, owned it for 6 months, lived in it for 3 and put 5000 miles on it. Sold it for $12,500. Was hoping to magically sell it for more than we bought it for, but with gas prices doing what they are, I’m damn happy. Time to go get a fuel sipper.
