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Experience Selling a Late 90’s Vintage 40′ XL?
Hi,
I own a 1997 40′ Liberty XL that I plan to sell sometime this winter. I was wondering if anyone here has had recent experience selling a bus of my vintage (especially a 40 footer). If you’ve recently sold one, a few questions for you and the a few related to general advice:
1) How long did it take to sell?
2) Where/how did you sell it?
3) Price-wise, how did your selling price compare to similar 45′ coaches?
My wife and I live in our coach fulltime. That presents a few selling challenges:
1) we’re not in a fixed location that we can list on a for sale site. We’re been in over a dozen states in the last four months (not including states such as unconcious, confused, etc.).
2) we also frequently fly to various events and can be away from the coach for between one week and two months depending on the time of year.
3) we have the bus setup with two offices, one on the dinette table and a second temporary desk (both with big 27″ displays and office chairs). The second office causes the lounge chair to be crowded into a corner. That makes showing the bus a bit less than ideal since viewers have to visualize would it would look like once that gear has been removed and those areas have been transformed into normal living quarters.
Ideally, I’d like to sell the bus by mid February, but not too long before that time.
At the moment, I’m assuming we should list the coach for sale on this site at the beginning of January. By mid January, we could clear all our stuff out of the bus, make the interior spotless and then plan to stay in one spot for a month or so to make it easy for people to come and look at. We can move all our stuff into my in-laws 2nd home (they’ll only be there for maybe one weekend a month and have an entirely empty basement). The in-laws are great, so no need for jokes unless you’re referring to your own family. Once we have it completely ready to show, then we’d become more aggressive about listing it on other web sites.
If it doesn’t sell by mid february, then possibly drop it off at a dealer to see if they can sell it since we’ll be out of the country for two months starting at that time and wouldn’t be able to show it. We would also have to pay for parking while we’re away from the coach.
What are your ideas? Just keep in mind, that I’d rather not sell it today. The Jan/Feb timeframe is when I expect to have it ready to sell and would be somewhat ready to part with it. I’m very aware that I can list the bus on this site and plan to do so eventually. I just need to figure out the proper timing since I’m not ready to move out of the bus just yet.
Here are details about the coach, just so you have an idea of what I’m referring to:
It has a series 60 with allison six speed and independent front suspension (helps with tighter turning radius). Bus air for going down the road, three cruise airs for while parked.
The layout is sofa behind drivers seat, lounge chair across from that, then kitchen on drivers side and dinette table across from it with fridge aft of the table. Private toilet room behind kitchen, then bath with shower on one side and sink opposite with closets on each side of the sink. Queen bed with headboard on drivers side and closet with bank of drawers across the back of the coach, pocket door separates bedroom with shower/sink/closet area. It has a modern light wood look interior (more yellow than brown in color) with black accents and rounded corders on all cabinets. The fabrics are beige with dark green accents around windows and dark green carpet.
The photos below are not current, but should give you an overall idea of the layout and style of the interior.
Any advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
-Ben
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5 Replies
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Simply put if the coach is pristine, if you have a long history of good service and the logs and reciepts to prove it you move to the head of the line.
If the coach does not present well, isn’t shining, isn’t clean, has old tires and batteries and things do not work step to the rear. Especially if you cannot prove its service history.
But anything is relevant. Even a dog with a cheap price will move. Ignore the asking prices, I know of several 97 coaches whose final selling price was way down even though the coaches had all the attributes which make a coach a good prospect for sale. It is a tough market and it is my personal opinion that sellers who are unwilling to recognize all they need to do to properly present a coach and price it right are going to own their coaches for a long time. Older coaches are difficult to finance so when a cash buyer appears the seller has to be willing to step up AND accept a low price.
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It sounds as if you would like to sell your bus in about a months time frame, since you say it will be ready to show in mid January and you would like to sell it it by mid February.
Unless you have an extremely attractive price point, or you happen to find a buyer who wants specifically a 40′ Liberty, this time frame is very optimistic.
It took me nearly 18 months to sell ours, and, in my opinion, it was one of the nicer coaches available at the time.
I would limit the amount of your “stuff” displayed both within the coach and in the storage bay areas. This will give prospective buyers a much better opportunity to visualize your bus decorated more to their taste.
I also found that my maintenance history was important to the more serious buyers. I found there there were plenty of “lookers” who were simply curious about Prevost conversions.
Good luck….
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Going Retro? Think I know rest of story. Good luck! Looks Good . If your in midwest stop by and I might be intrested. Bob
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Ben email me a friend is looking for a 40 footer to buy. Hatcreek122@gmail.com
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Ben,you are serouis about giving up your bus for the 60’s model Flx how is Larry doing on it I bet it is going to a nice rig when he gets through
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