Blue Book Values for Sportsmobile

[ramblingman]

I am looking for a book that lists values of sportsmobiles so that I can offer fair prices for a used one if I go this route. Does anyone know of a blue book value book or online resouce that tells or shows used sportsmobile prices.

Thanks in advance!

[adventureduo]

I dont think such a blue book exists. There's way too many options to factor in.

I would go on SMB's website and look at their used rigs and go off of that.

[jage]

There is not. NADA values seem to be off by more than 50% at best. Really you have to watch the previously owned section on SMB's site and get an idea of what SMBs are priced at. If you're looking for an older model maybe try to find someone who has a similar rig and find out what they paid.

It's also possible to throw info up on the board and ask for opinions, however if you're looking at a specific buy I can understand why you might not want to do that.

[ramblingman]

Thanks for the replies. I couldn't even find a list for SMB under NADA. The most fair way that I can think of is to price a Kelly BB Econoline E- 350 (or whatever model) for the actual vehicle, then factor in a price reduction for the floor plan and its accessories by a certain % of depreciation.

For example, if a RB -50 floor plan is about 19K, a top is about 5K, and a quigley 4x4 is another 10K all full price. I would then take all these aside from the KBB value and cut it by a certain % for depreciation for each year. Don't know what that is yet though. It is my understanding though that once a new car is off the lot, it depreciates up 40% of its value there already, so what it might be for every year after I am not sure. Any suggestion for that may help as well.

I've been looking around at used SMBs and they are all way off from each other. Perhaps it's the sentimental value or the niche group of followers that hold these vehicles in high esteem versus those that want to just sell. I don't know. Pricing a SMB seems to be a very subject measurement.

[jage]

There seems to be a real drop off too. At some point besides new they lose a lot of value. I can't really say what or why, but looking at the older model prices and the newer model prices there must be a steep decline at some point. I have exactly zero evidence to back this up, but that's always the impression I've had.

[neeemo]

When I bought my rig, I researched '02 Ford E350 Diesel cargo van values so I could give a fair purchase value to my local county assessor so sales tax could be accurately determined. There were no shortage of them on Ebay for $7-8k. Sounded fair to me. It turns out some states list the previous owner's lien value directly on the title. $53K! Crap.

[wannaSMB]

I think you'll probably find that the approach you laid out (blue book plus depreciated add-ons) will result in a price estimate that is far below that which folks sell them. You listed $34k in add-ons, while a typical new cargo van might be $35k: this suggests $69k total new, while most drive out of SMBW spending north of $85k. Lots of add-ons not considered. Also, people add more stuff to their vans as they go, which serves to increase the "basis" if you will.

I had the same question when I was looking, and ended up doing a very geeky analysis on all the relevant listings I could find on the SMB site and here in the classifieds. I included only ones with PH tops, 4x4 and interior conversions, since that was what I was looking for. I basically used excel to chart price vs. model year and vs. mileage, and then i ran a regression to determine the coefficients of those variables.

It's a little dated now: I think prices have come down since last October. I just tried to attach it, but you can apparently not attach excel files. Here are the details of the regression:

y-intercept= -5790688
Year coef = 2923
Diesel yes coef = 7443
Mileage coef = -.2328

Using the regression sheet, you can input the "vitals" of any vehicle and it will spit out an estimated price. E.g. a 2005 diesel with 60k miles on it gives you the following:

-5790688 (y-intercept) + {2005 (year) * 2923} + {1 (diesel) * 7442} + {60,000 (miles) * -.2328} = $64,230. All else equal (which it isn't sadly), an asking price below this is below market, and a price above this ain't. Maybe subtract a few grand b/c I bet most are selling for less than ask these days.

When I say all else ain't equal, think about other expensive add-ons that might be on some but not others: Aluminess, furnaces, hot water, underfloor storage, etc. But this does give you some guidance from asking prices last fall.

Hope this helps.

[ramblingman]

Originally Posted by wannaSMB

I think you'll probably find that the approach you laid out (blue book plus depreciated add-ons) will result in a price estimate that is far below that which folks sell them.

I would agree and suspect that they will result in a lower price estimate than most people are selling, but it is probably the most logical I can think of at this point. Of course, it would be tedious to list all items and their cost depreciation to get a "truer" fair market value estimate. But for the sake of arguing this, I am trying to keep it a simple as possible for to get an "approximate" type estimate of a what a used SMB should really go for.

It's possible that many people over list their SMBs because of the amount paid as a new vehicle not realizing that the they should be lower in value due in part to the fact that the chassis itself is somewhat over priced and that the Econolines depreciate very quickly; and some of the work from SMB seems to be a bit pricey because you're getting custom work done if it isn't a standard floor plan. And of course, the economy isn't really helping anyone right now, especially the RV industry.

You could find many used Ford/Chevy's for a good low price, and then just take it to SMB and have them add on all the the things you wanted based on their costs and you could probably end up paying less than you would had you bought used from a private party.

I like the geeky analysis, but wouldn't probably have done it myself. I'd be interested in seeing it if you could email it to me. Thanks for your input! Btw, did you end up getting a rig based on your geeky price analysis?

[wannaSMB]

I did. At the end of the day, we really wanted 4 captains chairs b/c we have 2 year old twins. Found one that was a little overpriced, and talked him down a little to a point of reasonableness. But still a little pricey compared to comparable 50 layouts that were available (which did not work for us). But the geeky analysis did help.

Site's e-mail service does not allow for attachments at all. Shoot me an e-mail with your e-mail address, and I'll send it directly.

Good luck!
Jim