Page 14 - Spring 2018 GMC Vintage RVing

Technical Corner MAINTENANCE, PARTS, TIPS, INNOVATIONS AND MOREShowing Your CoachMake four lists and share them with your prospective buyer – in this order – as this is the order in which the buyer will see your coach.External Appearance: This will be thebuyer’s first impression and likely the lasting impression of your coach. Clean, buff and detail the exterior of your coach carefully. Consider having a professional detail shop do this for you as an investment here may well pay handsome rewards. Buy color matching touch up paint and apply it to rock chips and small paint blemishes. If the grill and head light surrounds are old and faded, removeand paint them with a good quality auto trim rattle can paint like SEM brand purchased from an auto paint dealer. Avoid big box store off-the-shelf paints as they may not hold up well in this application. Black works well with most paint colors. If the window surrounds and windshield wiper arms are faded or worn off, mask and repaint them at the same time. List everything you did to enhance the external appearance and when you did it, including when you last did the touch up, trim, grill and headlight repainting so they do not think you are trying to hide anything.Internal Appearance: Clean and declutter the interior carefully. Be sure to eliminate any hint of animal smells and soiled spots. You may forgive “Fifi” for those indiscretions, but your buyer likely will not. Remove all family pics, mementos and cover up throws. Your stuff gets in the way of the buyer seeing themselves in your coach. Keep in mind that the more you deviate from a stock layout, the smaller your universe of prospective buyers will become even if you paid a lot of money for those changes. You may love how you customized the coach interior to your needs/tastes, but your buyer may not like what you did at all. They cannot and will not complain about stock layouts for that is what they expect when looking at a GMC. Know also that lighting is critical. Today’s buyer will expect warm white LED puck light fixtures and hidden rope light accents. Many buyers will reject florescent fixtures as ugly, even if you replaced the bulbswith LEDs, so replace the fixtures themselves. Glaring blue white LEDs are also a non- starter for many buyers. Similarly, flat panel LED TVs are expected today. Remove any old or tube style TVs and replace or remove any non-functioning A/V equipment. BlueTooth connected stuff rocks for most new buyers.Systems: Be explicit about the age and condition of the refrigerator, stove, sinks/ faucets, toilet, countertops, furnace, hot water heater, water pump, house batteries, inverters, the converter/battery charger and the generator. Nothing will ruin the buying experience faster than having these things unexpectedly not work the first time the buyer tries to use them. A reliable, properly running generator willbe expected. If you have not already done so, consider installing an electronic ignition anda conversion to allow your generator to run on propane as well as gasoline. Having the generator fire right up will go a long way to easing the buyer’s mind about the condition of all else. Minimize tools and spare parts! You may be proud of your 1,000 pounds of spares, but your prospective buyer may be put off by the thought of needing to lug around all that stuff. They will decide for themselves what all they want/need to carry on board. Put all your spares in boxes and offer them to the buyer if they want them once they express an interest in buying your coach.Mechanical/Safety/Reliability Enhancements: Show these in three subgroups – things done within the last five years, things done five to ten years ago,and things done more than ten years ago.Most buyers will value things done within the last five years at around replacement cost while things done five to ten years ago will be valued at about half the replacement cost, and things done more than ten years ago not at all as they will think those things will need to be redone soon anyway. Be candid about anything you know that is not up to snuff. The buyer will respect you for your candor and will be more likely to buy than if they have to discover such things on their own. And, know that most buyers will expect the coach to start and drive well (unless you are offering a yard queen with a tree growing through it) so focus their attention on the things you know will need replacement within the next year. Be forthcoming and don’t hold anything back. You want them to make an informed decision!The bottom line here is honor your prospective buyer!As a seller, do not make the mistake oflisting every dollar you ever spent in terms of determining what you think is a fair price for your coach. Condition, especially aesthetic condition, is everything to a prospective buyer. Things done aesthetically five or ten years ago will be valued if they were well done, did little to alter the original GMC floor plan, employ neutral colors and muted patterns, and still have a contemporary look and feel. Mechanical things done more than five or ten years ago likely will be of far less value to a buyer than they are to you.One more thing – Just because it is “new” does not make it a benefit. For example, cheap tires, wheels or batteries may be viewed by the prospective buyer as a big negative, not as a positive, even though you just bought them. They are not going to pay you for something they feel they will need to replace in the near future so will subtract that replacement cost from what they otherwise would be willing to pay for the coach. When you decide to sell your coach, don’t buy anything you would not buy if you were going to keep your coach.Most buyers will see right through any attempt to “doll it up”.14 GMC VINTAGE RVING MAGAZINE | GMCMI.COM