NADA Wanderlodge Listings

[cmillsap]

I can understand why some owners of the older coaches are unhappy with the value NADA puts upon their bus. I would be too. I have no vendetta against Randy but I don’t think his way to solve the problem is in their best interests. I’ll try to explain why I think that way without getting too far out into the weeds.

I think getting the NADA values as high as possible on all models would benefit everyone. At least current NADA values are favorable to later model owner/sellers. If we dump the NADA, how then do we value our coaches? Do we have to resort to an individual appraisal? Will that appraisal be commensurate with what other busses of your particular model are selling for? If not, why not? Is it the condition of your coach as compared to another? What if the appraisal doesn’t reflect the marketplace? Then what else can you do to try to obtain current selling prices for you bus? Do you go to BBBB and Bird Connection and Wanderlodgetrader.com to check what your model ‘bird is selling for on those sites? What if there are no current sales of your particular year & model? These sales sites don’t maintain a list of sold ‘Birds or the price level they sold at. Do you have to rely on Randy’s or Bill’s opinion as to the value of your bus?

Let’s explore why Prevosts are able to maintain such a high value on resales for their owners. First there are several Prevost converter sales sites available that adamantly list their new and used units at high retail values. Then there are several internet sites dedicated to just selling Prevosts. Many of the same Prevost are listed on multiple of these sites. They don’t need NADA, they have their own elaborate system to support sales. You will find that the listing price for like model Prevosts is held fairly uniform over the all those venues. That’s the difference. Even Newell has a factory new and used sale site and so does Foretravel for that matter. These internet sales sites generate buyers and lots of them which supports a lot of turnover and promotes stable sales prices.

Sadly, Bluebird has no factory backup, no new models to set the basis for used prices and there are darn few resales sites dedicated to selling Wanderlodges. You will find the listing price of a same model bus to range widely on the resale sites for Wanderlodges. This makes it difficult to place an accurate and fair value on each model. So we end up selling for less than we anticipated and in the process promote the reduction in value of our busses.

So, from my perspective the best way I can think of to set a standard in prices for our “birds is to use NADA to our advantage. Buyers flock to NADA to get some indication of the value of the vehicle they want to buy. Why throw that away? Let’s fix it. They are willing to work with us to set fair values, let’s take advantage of their willingness to do so. We can’t just keep buying from or selling our busses to other forum members or the occasional “Wannabee” that joins the forums. Let’s realize our past mistake of just blaming NADA for their erroneous reporting instead of helping them set fair prices. We have to tap the bigger outside marketplace of buyers and we need NADA to help us do it.