As most of you know we're new here and still a year or two away from buying our retirement coach....and it will be a FT in the mid 90's to mid 2000's in all likelihood.
We've enjoyed looking at the listings here and certainly have enjoyed the MOT and FOT pictures and videos. They really help visualize the floor plans. Fred and Dawn were also kind enough to welcome us to their home and showed us our first FT in the flesh. If we were closer to pulling the trigger theirs would have been a contender.
As I've watched and listened here I've been interested to see several really nice coaches that were consigned to MOT without, apparently, being listed for sale by the owner individually. I'm curious if this is about the seller disliking the "sales process"? Or not wanting to be responsible for mechanical representations and more comfortable having MOT do the mechanicals before selling?
Or is it the ability to get a higher selling price through MOT marketing? What does MOT typically charge to sell a consignment coach?
The main reason for these questions is to find out if it makes sense to simply look at MOT to begin with? Initially I'd planned to post some type of "LOOKING FOR" classified here in the hopes of not only getting a superior coach but also the relationship with a knowledgeable seller who might be a great resource for questions after purchase.
Thanks in advance for helping us advance the learning curve.
Randy in Florida
Lots of reasons, a lot of sellers don't want to deal with the process personally( sending pics, test drives, tire kicking) Additionally dealers are able to get financing on older coaches.
In general MOT will you'll do a higher price then an owner sale, which offset some of their selling cost in commissions that you pay. Further from the convenience standpoint you don't have to worry about fraud, schemes or dealing with people you don't know who come to your coach to see it.
Following the MOT and FOT website until you buy will give you a great sense of what market Prices are for these fine coaches.
Be aware that there are often folks on waiting lists at MOT and FOT looking for the right coach, so a lot of coaches are never listed on those websites that actually get sold via MOT and FOT.
Randy,
We are listing our coach at MOT for a number of reasons.
I do not want to deal with tire kickers.
MOT can repair any and all things wrong with the coach. We have a bumper to bumper service contract on the coach we purchased from Foretravel when we purchased the coach three years ago. MOT will honor and work with the service contract.
MOT sells a lot of Foretravels and sells them fairly quickly.
We will be happy to talk to and assist a buyer with any and all questions about the coach after it is sold. While it is on consignment we are required to refer all prospective buyers to MOT. We will answer all Items such as maintenance performed on the coach, how the stereo/tv works, etc.
Larry
Larry
Randy,
When you're in the market, it can be hard to find the "right" coach. I would suggest you use every resource available, including FOT, MOT, the classified section on this Forum, other online classifieds, Craig's List, local "trader" type papers, etc. You never know when or where you will stumble across the perfect (for you) coach. It certainly won't hurt to make your particular desires known on this Forum. We have many members all over the country, and occasionally "somebody will know about somebody who is getting ready to sell...".
We employed all these tools when we were shopping. We looked at candidates at MOT, and looked at privately advertised coaches. We finally bought our "Last Coach First" from 2 long-time Forum members who were trading up to a newer Foretravel model. We could not be happier with the deal we got, but we would have missed it completely if we hadn't been keeping a close eye on the Forum classified section.
I agree. We searched all available resources while we were shopping. As it happens, we found the right coach for us listed here on Foreforums. I really appreciated that, because when I'm buying a vehicle I really like to evaluate the previous owner as well as the vehicle. However, it's clear that buying from a reputable dealer such as FOT or MOT can yield excellent results. Even though there are additional risks involved, I've even had good success purchasing from Craig's list. There can be many "right" answers!
There are risks when you consign your coach at MOT or anywhere, people walk thru your coach, some are very aware of being careful but some are really not concerned about what damage they create. Point is you can have a coach that is in great shape and have the door messed up due to forcing it closed without unlatching it, broken awning arms, no idea why but they get broken, much of the electric stops working such as seat, rear view camera, HWH air compressor, etc, etc, etc...
Very educational how some TurkeyBirds treat things.
Not a concern here but in ca a consigned unit is considered part of the inventory of a dealership.
If they enter bankruptcy the coach may be able to be considered an asset?
At least this was my understanding long ago here in ca.
.....yes and on that note, one is free to walk or crawl thru any of the coaches on the MOT lot (without supervision) while looking, so indeed, there could be some "stuff" happen....good point, Dave....hopefully most folks looking for FT's will respect the process. 8)
When you are looking at ads don't be afraid to check on some that are asking more than you want to pay. The only reason we bought the coach we have is because I saw an online ad that listed the options and the one with levelers was not checked. The coach was listed at $76,000 and way out of our range. I called the person up and told him he needed to change his ad as I was sure a '99 Foretravel had levelers. When he asked me if I was interested in buying I told him he was way over what I was able to pay at that time. He asked what I could afford and after some negotiations came down to $50,000 After driving 2,400 miles to look at it and found some issues that could be expensive (Aqua-Hot) not working settled on $47,500. There are some deals out there.
Yes, check everything that is anywhere close to what you want, especially if you are new to Foretravels. And, yes, that includes those that are a little more expensive than what you think you can afford. Remember that you should set aside money for repairs and upgrades. A coach that has those already done will obviously be more expensive than a similar one that hasn't had them, but not by the price of the upgrades and repairs.
We really figured that we'd probably buy from MOT, but checked the classifieds anyway. Our coach was actually listed for sale before we were ready to buy, and I talked to the PO about it. It sold, but the deal fell through and it was relisted, but at a higher price due to additional work that was done. That asking price was well over what we could afford, but we made an appointment to go see it, as it would be only the second Foretravel we had seen and the only one that was close to what we thought we wanted. A few days after seeing it, we called the PO and explained that we loved the coach but couldn't afford their asking price. They asked us what we could give, and we gave our top dollar. They accepted after about two seconds.
More than three years later we are needing to sell our coach. It is listed on the Classifieds. We've spent quite a bit on repairs and upgrades in these three years, partly because the coach wasn't driven much the last two years the PO had it. We don't really want to sell it, but it no longer fits our needs. We're open to people who want to see a Foretravel (there aren't many of them up here in southern Wisconsin) or who are considering purchasing one like ours. Of course we'd love to get an offer, but in the meantime we're enjoying our home.