What does an RV Broker do? [2022 must-know insider tips]

In these days of high demand for RVs of all types, a lot of people have heard about RV Brokers but wonder just what does an RV Broker do? The answer is... a lot! In Episode 345 of the RV Podcast, we talk to Dr. James Upham, a well-known RV broker with years of experience. He offers a very candid explanation of just why someone may want to use an RV broker to either help them find and buy the RV of their dreams or to sell their current model. He also reveals some little-known insider information about a secret industry sales tactic that explains why some RV salesman may steer you towards a particular RV that pays them an under-the-table payment called a "SPIF" instead of recommending what may be the best choice for you. Click the player below to listen to the entire podcast. And for a complete transcript of my interview, keep scrolling down. Here is an edited transcript of the interview with Dr. James Upham of MyRVBroker.com: What does an RV Broker do? Mike Wendland: RVs have never been in higher demand. It's harder and harder to find what you want. And that's why I thought that you would make such a great guest. Tell everybody, first of all, what is an RV broker? What do they do? James Upham: So an RV broker works much like an auto broker. Okay? So they work... The term is used often the middleman, but really the person in between so that it saves, hopefully,  saves money, time and it gets you the best deal. Exactly what you're looking for. RV brokers are generally used to sell or buy or sometimes both, motorhomes. So if you're looking to get out of one, get into one, you don't want to deal with negotiation. You don't have time. Maybe that's an issue for you. You definitely want to get the best deal. You appreciate the whole sales process. This is where you would hire an RV broker to come in and do the work for you. Why use an RV Broker? Mike Wendland: So, one way would be to sell my RV. And of course, this is a prime time to sell them. You might just talk a little bit about that. So if I contract with you to sell my RV, what do you do? Why would I do that rather than putting an ad in one of the trade publications or put a sign out front? James Upham: Well, right now, you hit it on the head, Mike, you don't want to do that. The market right now is such that it's amazing what some of these RVs are getting in the used market right now. I mean, I happened to spend a lot of my time helping buyers, new buyers, first-time buyers, especially. And a lot of first-time buyers are looking into the new market. The reason being is that a lot of the used market, where, as before, you would save a substantial amount of money. In this market, you don't save a lot. So you really don't need an RV broker in my opinion, to sell your unit. Your best way to do that now is to go to Facebook Marketplace, saved Craigslist, some of these free sites that you would do it on your own. Now, with that said, let's say that you still didn't want to mess with that and you wanted to hire someone like us in order to sell. What we would do is we would pre-negotiate some arrangement with you. RV Brokers take a percentage of the deal We would decide on what our fee would be, and then we would take it from there. So we would take all your pictures. We would list them for you. We do things a little differently for our services and what brokers generally do. But yeah, your big RV sites and such, they'll try to line up certain buyers for your motorhome. But it may cost you five, 10% depending on what people are charging. And you just don't want to do that right now in this market, because you have a much better chance of selling it yourself. Mike Wendland: I appreciate you being so honest about that because it really does seem to be a sellers market. So flipping it on the other side and the side that I think is of most interest right now, to so many new people who can't find that RV they want, or they go to a dealer and they find the model and they say, "I want it." And the guy says, "Well, it's going to take you a year and a half to have it built." James Upham: Yeah. Why use an RV Broker? Mike Wendland: Why would I use an RV broker, in that case, to find what I want? James Upham: Well, the main reason... I always bring it down to two big issues. The one being the most, if saving money is important. Now I say that with a smile on my face because I'm blown away and amazed by how many people are rushing into this. They're buying an RV on an emotional whim. They're letting their emotions drive them. And because they're being told the truth in many cases about an RV's delivery date, but sometimes we know that there might be a little bit of embellishment there and a little exaggeration, but they're letting their emotions drive them and they're paying way too much. An RV Broker can save you money on an RV purchase So the main reason why you would hire an RV broker is to help you save money. The second thing that I like to relay to is that I really provide, in my case, I provide a consulting service where I can help you through to identify certain issues that you may have not have considered before. James Upham: And it's good to have a coach in your corner to help you with that. The way that it generally works for us is that what we'll do is we have established relationships. I worked for years as a sales rep, manufacturing rep for Winnebago. And so I got to meet a lot of great people along the way, a lot of dealers, and through the process to starting my own company, what ended up happening is I was able to pre-negotiate discounts based on volume of bringing customers to dealers. And so that's really if you want to save time, you want to save money and you just don't deal or appreciate with any of the headaches out there. You want someone to coach you in your corner to help you and give you a third-party perspective that's not driven by a commission. That's why you would have an RV broker on your side. Who pays the fees for an RV Broker? Mike Wendland: Now, if I contract with an RV broker to help me find the RV I want, who pays the fee, is that paid by me? Or is it by the seller that I end up buying from? James Upham: Yeah. So great question. It really depends. We work, just to answer it from our perspective, we work a little differently, whereas we'll work out a scenario that's best for everybody. A lot of cases, a buyer will actually hire me. I'll provide them with an invoice with the flat rate and we'll go to work. And at any point, as long as they pay us before they pick up their motorhome, we have no pressure. We just work there and we have unlimited access to kind of help you through the process. Other brokers will work out a commission of some kind that either the seller will pay or if they happen to have inventory of their own. So if they're buying and selling their own, then they have that scenario. So it really depends on what the arrangement is. For us when we're helping people to find motorhomes or trailers. But specifically, we find a lot of motorhome buyers right now. Then we will generally work with that motorhome buyer so that I'm working directly for them. And there's no ulterior motive or influence based on what a dealer might pay me, because I really want to have their best interest in mind. It's not always that way. It really kind of depends on the scenario. What fees do RV Brokers typically charge? Mike Wendland: That was one of my concerns. because it seems to me that it would be very tempting for the broker to say, to go to dealer a and say, "Look, I can put him in that RV. I'll sell them to that one, but I want you to give me a cut on that." And so negotiating a fee has got... A rough ballpark, let's say we're talking to a hundred thousand dollar motorhome that somebody has budgeted. What would that cost me as a buyer? James Upham: It could be a scenario where you may have, might pay as much as five to 10%. I mean, now, usually not that high because of the demand right now, because of the market, right? Where you have everybody trying to get out there and get buyers. But yeah, it really depends on that particular broker. For us, we usually do a flat fee and then we offer additional services if they need it. We really want what's best for everybody. The SPIF: A payments to salesmen by manufacturers to push their products We find that just being kind of middle of the road, having a reasonable fee out there is really the best way to go. You know, to your point, Mike, one of the things that we saw that you may have addressed already with some of the other podcasts and YouTube videos is there is something that unfortunately drives a lot of sales and that is a manufacturer's payment to a salesperson. James Upham: It's what's called a SPIF. And it's this ugly word out there and whether or not anybody knows about that, I've gone on and on about that. It's something to be careful, where a SPIF is being paid by a manufacturer, in addition to what the dealer is paying, and that can sometimes influence what we're offering to a customer. So there's an exterior force that's coming in here saying, "Hey, if I sell this one over here, either one will work, but this one over here is going to pay me more." That's what you'll try to avoid when working with an RV broker, hopefully, is that they have your best interest in mind and they don't have additional resources available to them. Mike Wendland: This idea of a SPIF... I've mentioned it in times past, but what does that stand for? Is there a sales incentive something?  SPIF stands for Sales Performance Incentive Fund and is common in the industry James Upham: I have another word for it. I don't know if I can say it on your broadcast, but I mean, it is to me, look, it happens, right? It's out there. It's been around for a long time.