Buy long distance?

[jen b]

I'm another person who laid down a deposit for a trailer advertised on Craigslist a good distance away from home (Philadelphia to Minneapolis). I didn't haggle on the price, just sent the deposit and showed up to pick up the trailer a week later. The only challenge I had in the deal was that the lights on the trailer were pretty funky and I was super glad I had my dad along for the ride. He'd brought his tool box so we were able to jimmy up a good enough wiring solution to get the thing home.

Would do again, if the trailer I want at some point in the future shows up on the market.

I know a lot of people are automatically suspicious of anything craigslist, and there definitely are scams running out there, but those are usually pretty identifiable, and as long as you can get a seller on the phone and get some "reasonable, sane person" vibes, it's not a super high risk thing. It's just regular folks on craigslist, some total nutjobs but most pretty reasonable.

[stevebaz]

Before you travel accross state lines for a used trailer make sure they have proper documentation in their name. While it may be legal to purchase on only a bill of sale trying to get it registered in your state may be very difficult to near impossible. Dirty paperwork really sucks and can really try your mettle.

[k0wtz]

I have bought so many things instate out of state I cannot recall it all but I have never had one problem with regeristing, titling or anything.

I have yet to meet a dishonest seller except one time and I got it fixed in the end.

Now do I even look at something 1/2 price of normal? No and absolutely not. I have flown to a city more than once to buy a car or truck everytime I look locally it is overpriced and most of them wont bend.

use common sense and when you see what you want strike while the iron is hot!!

bob

[k0wtz]

Honesty is always the best policy!


good for you


bob

[1500]

My scamp purchase story.

About three weeks ago I was looking at fiberglassRV-4-sale and a 16 scamp layout 4 (the layout I was looking for) popped up with a very good price and a "days" (11 hours, 750 miles) drive from my location. I contacted the seller had some questions answered and then told him I would come and meet him the next day at noon (this all happened late in the afternoon the day before).

Took off from home at 7pm, picked up my father at 8pm (he was on the way) and started the drive. After talking to the seller on the phone I got a text from the wife that the ad had been taken down. Expectation was that we would drive most of the way there get 4-5 hours of sleep and then check out the trailer. At about 1am we hit what was basically a blizzard that closed the interstate. We could either stay on the interstate and wait the 9 hours they claimed it would take to clear the road or find another way. As adding those 9 hours onto our trip would definitely make us late we opted to take other roads. This added about 300+ miles, required 4WD drive and took us up over a 10k mountain with snow covered roads (but at least the road was open).

Driving all night we ended up only 15min late. Inspected and purchased the scamp. I found out that the seller took the ad down because they had 8 other buyers, all willing to make a full purchase over the phone. One was going to come out that afternoon, and others were going to start driving from further out than me. So he took it down because it had basically already sold, even if I had not purchased it, and didn't want to keep getting calls.

After 3 hours of inspection we headed back at 4pm. Shortly down the road we discovered that the door would swing open, ended up buying bungee cords to keep it closed (I replaced the spring in the interior door mechanism and this fixed the problem). Thankfully the interstate was open by then. Non stop driving and I got home at 6am (stuck at 65mph really adds to your travel time). Ended up being a 35 hour non-stop road trip.

The scamp had only been on the sellers local Craigslist for 7 hours at the time he took it down. Anyway that was my scamp purchase story.

[k0wtz]

well you earned a good deal on a scamp is all I can say! I recently listed our A-Liner for sale these are very hard to find it sat for 5 weeks. we got nibbles but no serious buyers then bam out of nowhere a guy in Dallas texas called he wanted it he sent a deposit. He drove 10 hours to pick it up brought cash, we got our full price.

After he had paid a deposit got a call 2 hours away he wanted it so bad he offered more money and said he would be here in the 2 hours!

The small well priced trailers are easy to sell to me!

bob

[Ruban&Martha]

What we did:

1. Researched FG campers for about a year before buying by reading this forum, talking to owners, and seeing the inside of different eggs whenever we could. This narrowed our field down to three models we were interested in.

2. When one of those three models would come up for sale and the photos looked good to us, we'd call the seller to get a feel for who they were, and what shape the RV was in.

3. On the egg we purchased, during our phone call the seller said a few people were looking at it that day and he'd let us know later in the day if it had sold or not. Since we were 12 hours away and it was a Saturday (we are still of the working class so we can usually only travel on weekends) we jumped in our tow vehicle, went to the bank and got cash, then started driving. When we got his call informing us it was still available, we'd already been on the road 7 hours. We scheduled to see it first thing on Sunday. Bought it and towed it home.

4. Back to work on Monday.

[k0wtz]

You 2 are tough people is all I can say!!!


bob

[Ed Harris]

I have bought several Egg now over the years as I move up the ladder of age and features and it has always been a challenge and not always without trouble.

My worst was when I "Bought" a Casita in San Antonio and sent the seller a deposit via Fedex with the promise of driving right down there the next day to pick it up.

I had already bought & Sold several Egg and was well aware of the trials of buying sight unseen and knew what to ask about and had even seen many pictures before buying and was satisfied all would be OK with the deal.

Upon arrival I noticed that there were 2 Casitas sitting there and the one the seller claimed I had bought was not the one I had seen pics of?

To make a long ugly story shorter there was a Camping World store a mile from the seller and I don't think the Egg he was selling me would even make it that far!

I was pissed off to put it mildly and lets just say I "Retreived" my Fedexed deposit and turned around and drove back to STL empty hitched but having learned yet again that there will always be someone out there to reaffirm my faith in human nature and his ability to lower the bar even further than I thought possible.

I can not imagine why he thought it would go well for him but I try to live and learn through it now.

Fast Forward a few years and I see an Ebay listing for a Casita and I can tell right away that this is that same trailer and I contact the seller who tells me he showed up a day after me and was intimidated into taking it anyway and did?

He got it to the Camping World after noticing the shell falling clear off of the frame and he had to pay to have an entire new frame fabricated before he could move it anywhere again!

He fixed everything that he saw and was trying to get any of his money out of it on Ebay.

I consider myself more than many knowledgeable about these rigs and clever enough to feel people out on the phone but this plot sprung on me was pretty advanced and unexpected too.

Every other deal I have made has worked out just fine,pretty much though I have also had people try to raise the price before I arrived claiming that others offered more money but on the end I was always able to appeal to something inside of them and the deal went through as agreed to.

Buyer Beware!

And then some!

[Rnupnorthbrrr]

Originally Posted by LucyH

Most of the trailers I'm seeing are fairly long, or really long, distances from me in E TN. Many of the listings I'm seeing seem to sell quickly, like in just a few days, if that long. Are people buying long distance without actually going to look at and inspect the trailers? How is that done? I am a newby... makes me nervous to go that route although it seems I'm missing out on potentials....

Curious how people are accomplishing their purchase so quickly...........

This thread is old but just wondering if you ever ended up making a long distance purchase ?
I too struggle with this and can’t seem to be able to just take off and drive across country at moments notice....work, weather, uncertainties, time and I consider the expense of that trip, I could add that to a new camper. I only live about 40min from Scamp factory, I’m so tired of looking for a camper I’m almost ready to just order a new one [emoji849] but I really want a casita !!

[Dan-NS27]

Originally Posted by Rnupnorthbrrr

This thread is old but just wondering if you ever ended up making a long distance purchase ?
I too struggle with this and can’t seem to be able to just take off and drive across country at moments notice....work, weather, uncertainties, time and I consider the expense of that trip, I could add that to a new camper. I only live about 40min from Scamp factory, I’m so tired of looking for a camper I’m almost ready to just order a new one [emoji849] but I really want a casita !!

Tough buying long distance when/if you are unable to see the condition for yourself. I ended up getting a Burro sight unseen and ended up worse than the guy let on. But, it doesn't mean there isn't good ones out there you can nab. I ended up using uship to deliver it to me since I couldn't get it myself.
As far as waiting for a good used one or just buying a new one goes... What's your time worth? Buy one from scamp and go enjoy camping now? Or keep dreaming/waiting for the day to come?
Could even start off with the scamp and get the one you really want when it comes up.

[Rnupnorthbrrr]

Originally Posted by Dan-NS27

Tough buying long distance when/if you are unable to see the condition for yourself. I ended up getting a Burro sight unseen and ended up worse than the guy let on. But, it doesn't mean there isn't good ones out there you can nab. I ended up using uship to deliver it to me since I couldn't get it myself.

As far as waiting for a good used one or just buying a new one goes... What's your time worth? Buy one from scamp and go enjoy camping now? Or keep dreaming/waiting for the day to come?

Could even start off with the scamp and get the one you really want when it comes up.

So true, I love logic, wish I didn’t over think every decision....for YEARS !!![emoji849]
Not many used fiberglass campers up here in da nort [emoji851]
Thank you

[thrifty bill]

I've bought cars, campers, and motorcycles long distance. Its just how it goes. I even drove to Colorado, trailer was not what I expected, and drove home without it. I have gotten to the point that I will walk away from a deal, regardless of how far I have driven. In the old days, I'd feel stuck. No more. I do walk sellers through what I will be looking at, hoping they will take the hint and check those things first to save us time. Well, the Colorado trailer had an obviously rotted out floor, how could they miss that??

I flew to NJ for one motorcycle. Seller picked me up at Newark Airport, drove me to his house. I inspected the bike, paid for it and drove home. My last long distance truck purchase, I arranged to have the seller take it to a nearby Ford dealership. I paid them to do a purchase inspection. It passed so off I went.

But I like almost any excuse to do a road trip. I bought my Trillium in Michigan, and my Escape in Paducah, KY (basically the border with Illinois). I like to say if I am ever reincarnated, I'll come back as a truck driver....


The lack of used FG campers up north is not unusual. There aren't any in NC either. Or anywhere else for that matter. You are fortunate to be close to a manufacturer. The only manufacturer I am close to is Little Snoozy, and we know how that ended up.

[KathleenMaine]

Hello...could you explain where to find this "buyers checklist" and what Eilleens CD is? I thought that sounded like a great piece of information but can't find it on search.

Thanks!

[gordon2]

Check the document center (under MORE on top right if using a web browser here)...
Here is the direct link:
Fiberglass RV - Document Center

I linked to the top page so you can see all that is available.. look for the Buyers Checklist section.

[John in Santa Cruz]

I drove to Dallas (or, ok, Lewisville), to buy our E21. Reno,NV to Lewisville in 26 hours :-O

[KathleenMaine]

Thank you!!

[Iannn]

I drove 17 hours down to California years ago from where I live in Oregon to buy a Chalet A frame camper I found on Craiglist. I was young and pretty fresh to buying things. I should have been more suspicious when he said I would be able to pick him out because he would be the one with the t-shirt with the fake pink boobs on it. He was honest about that and was easy to find at least.

But met the guy at a truck stop because we negotiated that he would drive at least part way to meet me. But the camper was not like described at all. Lights did not work inside and he acted shocked and had some exuse. Then I looked at the front and there was a huge dent that covered half of the trailer. He acted shocked again and said he must of hit something on the way over and did not notice. I left him moaning about how I had screwed him over. Luckily I had not put a deposit down. My grandparents had a place in Palm Springs so I made a little vacation of it but before I ever do anything like that again I will do better at gathering information.

But after that I was pretty turned off from buying used and bought a brand new Aliner A frame. That was bitter sweet also. But now I am back looking for a used molded fiberglass camper again.