Used SMB Purchasing Experience

[CharlyBaltimore]

That was part of the problem with our first encounter with buying used; the rig was 900+ miles from our home. That made going to look at it a little difficult.

There is a rig available not far from us, but it is overpriced. We went to look at it anyway and it was love at first sight.

Boy, if they would come back to reality pricewise, we would get that rig in a hot second. We suspect the price is high because the loan balance is that high. Too bad.

[Ed in Montana]

I have to chuckle at Saline's comment:

I actually had never driven one until the day we looked at it.

Hell, I had never driven one until the day we bought ours!

We flew into Fresno late one Monday night, and got picked up by a Sportsmobile West employee to go see our new rig the next morning. The SMB employee starts to chat and says:

You know, some people fly in here and pick up their new rig without ever having driven one.

"You mean like us?" I replied.

We had looked at a couple of Sportys in person, talked to people that owned them and read the comments on the old SMB Owner's Yahoo listserve. What was there more to know?

[Bones_GSXR]

I am pretty new here but can see how people still use a vehicle. I have a Quigley cargo van and drive it as my daily driver. Many SMB owners seem to do the same. It is not like a Dealer (Used or New) where the Car just sits waiting for a Buyer. If the person stated they were still using it and the Mi was correct I do not see a problem. Did they tell you one Mi then add 5000 more? Damage it and not lower the price accordingly? It sounds to me like he had contioued to use it for its intended need. If you like the unit and if it fits your needs get it. SMB was not selling the unit just allowing its ad. Just my two cents worth.

[mb309]

Charly: I buy and sell a lot of used cars. It is a good way to ensure I never accumulate too much money (ie, I do it for fun, though often not profitably).

My opinion is that the cars are still mine to use, wreck, sell, or give away, until you bring me a check or give other evidence that you are a committed buyer. I suspect the sellers you mention had a similar take on the issue.

When I have oddball stuff, and get calls from far away, from people who want me to hold the car, promise they're coming, know they're buying, yadda yadda, it often doesn't work out. My point is car buyers (and sellers, too ) blow a lot of smoke and and it is difficult to take an offer "sight unseen," particularly with no deposit.

To whom did you make the offer? And how might SMBw be implicated in it?

Good luck with your search. The market seems to favor the buyer at this point. I have not bought a rig from SMBw, but they are working on my van now and they seem sharp, impeccable, honest, forthright, etc. Please do give them another chance to connect you with a seller.

Originally Posted by CharlyBaltimore

Made an offer on a unit still held by the seller, and upon contacting the seller, we were told that they were going on a family vacation in the rig the following week. There was some misunderstanding about the amount offered for the rig. We were turned off by the fact that the SMB was still being taken on vacations to 4x4 havens even though it was listed for sale (and not exactly for a cheap price either).

Just wondered if this is typical for private sales and if it is unreasonable for us to think that a rig for sale is not being used on family vacations?

[oclv]

I had been looking at the "pre owned" section on the Sportsmobile webside for 5 or 6 years. Lynn at Sportsmobile was very good to deal with, sending me additional information on several vans during this time period. When we finally hit on one that worked for us, we then dealt directly with the owner who was in Southern CA (and so was the van). The transaction was very smooth. We have had it for over a year now with no regrets. As far as the seller using the van, I guess it is still his until someone buys it.
We live in Nevada and they passed a new law a couple years ago affecting the purchase of a used vehicle. If you buy a pre owned vehicle directly from the owner, you don't pay any sales tax to Nevada, no matter what state you buy the vehicle in. If you buy a pre owned vehicle from a used car lot or dealership, you have to pay Nevada sales tax. If we had made the check out to Sportsmobile, we would have had to pay Nevada sales tax. Since we purchased directly from the previous owner, we saved $2,500 in sales taxes. I don't know how other states are, but this is worth checking out. oclv

[Langton]

After reading nearly every post on this fantastic forum I bought a SMB from Sportsmobile Indiana then had it shipped to the west coast. It was in SMB’s possession and SMB’s Nancy Nix handled the sale, shipping and everything. I did not deal directly with the seller. Nancy handled all the negotiations.
I can’t say enough good things about Nancy. She answered all my many email questions promptly. The carrier she found was excellent. The van arrived in beautiful condition and right on time. The van itself had really been cared for, almost like brand new. I couldn’t be more pleased and would not hesitate to buy a used van again from Sportsmobile.
You are in for a lot of fun when you do get one.

[NJJEEP]

Same here - bought in Indiana and Nancy handled the entire thing. Couldn't have been easier. She arranged to have the van checked out for me and I was able to call the mechanic to discuss some issues he found. SMB checks all the SMB stuff and they replaced a couple of iffy parts.
I'd buy again from them in a second.

David

[jage]

Just to chime in my rig had an extra 1500 miles on it when I showed up to purchase. I was fairly peeved, but SMB's advice was to ignore it despite a large motivation for buying was the remaining extended warranty.

I was also in a jam, 17 hours from home and already comitted to buy or face a long painful drive back in the Jeep and have no SMB for our niece's visit in 2 days. Apart from the mileage "lie", I made the mistake of trusting SMB's judgement on a sight unseen van. It was SMB who said it was pristine, immaculate, etc. and convinced me that this particular unit was above and beyond nice.

It wasn't and the seller was done negotiating before I arrived, so even knocking $500 off at that point was a no-go. I don't regret the purchase at all, however I regret believing that SMB knew anything about the unit's present condition.

[NRL]

Originally Posted by jage

Just to chime in my rig had an extra 1500 miles on it when I showed up to purchase. I was fairly peeved, but SMB's advice was to ignore it despite a large motivation for buying was the remaining extended warranty.

I was also in a jam, 17 hours from home and already comitted to buy or face a long painful drive back in the Jeep and have no SMB for our niece's visit in 2 days. Apart from the mileage "lie", I made the mistake of trusting SMB's judgement on a sight unseen van. It was SMB who said it was pristine, immaculate, etc. and convinced me that this particular unit was above and beyond nice.

It wasn't and the seller was done negotiating before I arrived, so even knocking $500 off at that point was a no-go. I don't regret the purchase at all, however I regret believing that SMB knew anything about the unit's present condition.

I also bought my used Sportsmobile "sight unseen" with a cashier check. It's pretty much what you need to do in order to get the "one" you want other wise you have to be real "lucky".

There was a slight dissappointment when I first saw it after driving 10 hours to get it but with other buyers wanting to buy a low mileage sportsmobile, I happened to be first in line thanks to Lynn at Sportsmobile.

The disappointment on minor items turned into a smile after driving away and camped in it for the first time... first silly thing I did was had the radio on all night which killed the battery, thus starting off the hobby of mods on the Sporto.. larger new AGM battery, new Powerverter, etc..

As the years roll off, I'm pretty happy I spent most of the money saved from buying a new one on improving the one I got..