I am looking at older 36' coaches. I check NADA and I see there is a big difference in price between a 1998 and a 2000 m3600 U320.
1998 Avg Retail $17,500. 2000 Avg Retail $68,050. Why is a 2 year newer coach worth more than more than 3 times as much?
I appreciate any input.
NADA doesn't work with these older FT's
Your best bet is to search for sold coaches, and pursue the Motorhomes of Texas website to get and idea of asking price.
Also be sure to check the classifieds here.
NADA used last reported sales much like a home appraiser would use recent sales for his evaluation. A few good or bad sales can swing valuation. I would recommend you follow RVTrader or MOT to get more realistic asking prices. I'm a retired mortgage banker who has cried many times over appraised values!
2000 year coach may have a slide, 1998 would not
We went through this last year when purchasing. For tax reasons, I wanted to take a loan out and ran into this on a 1996 model. IIRC, 2000 was the year they jumped and are aligned with what the true market value is. 17K for a 1999? I think all of us would be purchasing a 2nd one!
Unsure what you are doing, but if it is to see what a the current sales are, see the recommendations above. If you are working with a bank to get an RV loan, look at 2000 or newer, you won't win that battle on an older one. There are other ways to finance the 1999 and older if that is what you choose, ie, home equity, 401k etc.
Every coach is its own beast. Some or nice some are not . Pre 1998 lower tow capacity. No slide, may or may not be a benefit and will certainly be much more liability and maintenance costs. Under 10K tow capacity is a deal breaker for me
MOT thinks very highly of their coaches - for good reason. They don't have a "back row" for the refugees from the junk yard. Also, they charge a hefty fee for consignments, and that has to be paid for by the purchaser.
Check rvtrader.com for real world pricing. Ours is listed there right now, but is probably too old for you. If I remember correctly, there are two or three other Grand Villas of similar vintage listed, but they are all 36' U238's. All are within about $1000 of each other.
The big problem with buying from a private party is that you may not know what you are getting. You, by being a member of this forum, know much more than the average looker. MOT has a reputation to uphold, so I suspect that they may not take every consignment coach that comes their way.
When you buy a coach from MOT that was on consignment....they take NO responsibility for its condition..Have it inspected !!
Just sayin
Definitely have any coach you buy anywhere inspected!
That said, MOT has a fairly comprehensive "Pre Sales Inspection" that they do on each incoming coach for consignment. If they find major issues they ask the owner to correct. You should ask for the Pre Sales Inspection results on any coach that you look at at MOT.
Also, they have learned their lesson with taking on poor quality coaches, they just sit and don't sell. They are getting "pickier" on what they will accept on consignment. I wonder how much longer they will take in our mid nineties to early 2000 coaches - even at a 10% commission fee, there isn't much for them to pay all the overhead to move the coach.
Perspective - my coach might bring $75,000 at MOT - they have to clean it keep it plugged in, advertise on the web, show it, pay a salesperson to sell it and pay the accounting folks to do the paperwork. On average I think most Consignments are there longer than 60 days, the poorly priced ones much longer.
Contrast that to the Kia I just traded in on a new KIA EV6- I got $29,500 for the Niro EV on trade, (initially offered $28,000, but I had a purchase offer from Carvanna and Carmax so at least I got pretty close to actual wholesale.) The dealer did a minimal wash and vacuum detail and put it on the lot at $36,000. The car sold in 3 days, and they grossed $6,500.
The car business is probably better than the RV business. Of course, an RV on average will take a lot more expensive service than a car, so that favors the RV dealership. MOT is doing well, and it looks like they are reinvesting in the business on the service side of the business. I like that approach.