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She drove it onto my lot on a Tuesday morning. A Class A diesel — clean, well maintained, the kind of unit I liked to take on consignment. She was hoping to get enough from the sale to pay off what she owed and walk away free of it.
I ran the numbers before she finished the paperwork.
The math wasn't going to work. Not for her. And if I was being honest with myself — not for me either. The market on her coach wouldn't support what she needed to net. When you factored in what I needed to make as a consignment dealer, the number she'd walk away with wouldn't cover her loan payoff. She would need to come out of pocket to close the gap.
She didn't have that money. That's why she was standing in my lot.
I took the consignment anyway. I told myself the right buyer would eventually appear. That the market might shift. That generating good leads was something, even if the numbers were tight.
Two buyers came in over the next several months. Both wanted to finance. Both banks declined the full amount at our asking price. To get a buyer financed, I needed to drop the price — which widened the gap between what she'd net and what she owed the lender.
The day I realized the banks weren't going to approve this deal at any number that actually helped her, I sat with a fact I'd been avoiding: time wasn't improving her situation. It was making it worse. Every month the coach sat on my lot, she was paying insurance and loan interest. And my margin — the profit I needed to keep the lights on — was part of the math that was keeping her trapped.
That's when I understood what a consignment lot actually is. And what it structurally cannot do for the sellers who need help the most.
I eventually got out of the consignment business entirely. Not because business was bad. Because I couldn't keep doing the math in good conscience.
What follows is what I learned from the inside — the numbers consignment dealers calculate before you sign, the situations where consignment quietly works against you, and what actually works instead when the equity isn't there.
The Math a Consignment Dealer Runs Before You Sign
Here's what most sellers don't understand: a consignment dealer is not a neutral party. They are a business. Before your RV goes on their lot, they calculate whether your unit makes financial sense for them — not for you.
That calculation has nothing to do with how clean your RV is or how much you love it. It comes down to one question: Is there enough margin in this unit to justify putting it on my lot?
The Two Consignment Structures
Most Florida consignment dealers use one of two arrangements. The first is a straight percentage — typically 10% to 15% of the final sale price. The second is a net number agreement, where the seller agrees to a floor amount and the dealer keeps everything above it.
I used net numbers in my consignment business. On a travel trailer with comps showing $25,000 retail and $17,000 low retail, a typical arrangement might be: the seller gets $20,000 net, the coach is listed at $23,500. The dealer makes $3,000 to $5,000 depending on how fast it moves. That's a deal that works for everyone — as long as the seller has equity.
Travel Trailer — Typical Consignment Math
Move up the RV hierarchy and the margins grow. On gas motorhomes, dealer margins of $10,000 or more are common. On diesels, $15,000 to $20,000 — and higher depending on brand, condition, and how fast the dealer needs to move inventory.
When the Consignment Math Stops Working for You
A consignment dealer needs their margin. That margin comes out of the sale price before you see a dollar. On a diesel Class A listed at $85,000, if the dealer needs $15,000 to $18,000 to make the deal worth their time, the seller's floor is $67,000 to $70,000.
If that seller owes $78,000 on their loan, the math is already broken before the first buyer walks through the door.
Diesel Class A — When It Breaks Down
Most sellers in this position don't have $8,000 to $11,000 sitting in a checking account. That is why they are considering consignment — they need someone else to handle the sale because the situation feels impossible to navigate alone.
⚠ Consignment requires equity to work. If the loan payoff exceeds the seller's net floor after the dealer's margin, the deal cannot close without the seller coming out of pocket. Time does not fix this — it makes it worse.
What Time Actually Does to an Upside Down Consignment
Every month your RV sits on a consignment lot, you are paying loan interest. You are paying insurance — your own policy may not cover the unit while it's in the dealer's possession, which means consignment insurance on top of your existing premium. If storage fees apply, those too.
Meanwhile the RV is depreciating. The market is moving. And the buyer pool for your specific unit shrinks every month it sits unsold, because buyers who saw it in month one and passed won't come back — they've moved on to fresher listings.
Six months of carrying costs on a Class A diesel can run $2,000 to $4,000 or more — insurance, loan interest, and incidentals combined. That money comes out of your pocket while the unit sits on someone else's lot and the equity gap either holds or widens.
Why Banks Declined Her Buyers
Financing is not automatic. Banks appraise the RV independently. If the listing price exceeds what the bank's appraiser values the unit at, the bank will not lend the full amount — or will decline entirely. On an overpriced listing, the buyer is approved for less than the purchase price, the deal stalls, and the only fix is a price reduction. That price reduction comes directly out of the seller's net — widening the gap they need to cover.
The Situations Where Consignment Makes Sense
Consignment makes sense when the seller has clear equity — when the loan payoff is comfortably below the seller's net floor after the dealer's margin. It makes sense when the seller genuinely cannot manage showings, paperwork, or buyer communication. It makes sense when the seller has no time pressure and can wait 90 to 120 days without carrying cost pain.
It does not make sense when the loan payoff is close to or above what the market will support after the dealer takes their cut. In that situation, consignment does not solve the problem. It delays it and makes it more expensive.
What Actually Works Instead
A flat-fee consulting model changes the math entirely. Instead of a dealer taking $15,000 to $20,000 off the top of a diesel sale, the seller pays a flat fee — and keeps everything else. That means a seller who is $8,000 to $11,000 upside down has options that didn't exist under a consignment structure.
It also means I can take situations consignment dealers won't touch — underwater loans, motivated sellers who need to move quickly, sellers who have been on a lot for months with no results — because my fee doesn't depend on the unit having equity. I charge for the strategy and the expertise. The seller executes the sale.
That's not a better consignment model. It's a different model entirely — built for the people the old one couldn't help.
If you're currently considering consignment, or if you've been on a lot for more than 60 days with no serious offers, start here before signing anything else. The first conversation is free. And unlike the math on a consignment contract, it costs you nothing to hear a straight answer.
Go Deeper — The Full Picture on RV Value and Selling Options
Understanding the dealer's math is the first step to knowing whether any selling option — consignment or otherwise — can actually work for your situation.
For upside-down sellers, time at the wrong price is the most expensive mistake. Here's exactly how the window closes.
The COVID correction has significantly expanded the number of Florida sellers in the upside-down position. This is what I saw coming and why Easy Escapes RV exists.
| Watch — RV Consignment: What Dealers Don't Tell You |
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Frank's Take
I knew the math before they signed. Most of the time I didn't say it out loud. That's the part I regret.
There's a version of this story where I tell sellers the honest number on day one. Where I look at the loan payoff, look at the market, look at what I need to make — and say directly: this isn't going to work the way you're hoping. Here's what your real options are.
I didn't always do that. I convinced myself the right buyer would appear. That I was doing them a favor by giving it a shot. That the alternative — sending them away with no help — was worse than putting them on the lot for three months with carrying costs mounting.
I don't think that anymore. The most honest thing I can do for a seller in an underwater situation is tell them the truth about the math before they've committed to a path. Even if the truth is that every option requires them to come out of pocket to some degree. Even if the truth is that the window has already narrowed significantly.
That's what Easy Escapes RV is built for. Not to take every coach on and hope for the best. To run the real math and tell sellers where they actually stand — so the decision they make is one they understand.
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FM
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Frank Mason Former Licensed Florida RV Dealer (2015–2024) · Founder, Easy Escapes RV Frank Mason spent 9 years running a Florida RV consignment operation before giving up his dealer license in 2024 and launching Easy Escapes RV — a flat-fee consulting model that works exclusively for sellers. No commission. No dealer conflict. |
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Not legal, financial, or tax advice. The content on this page is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, financial, tax, or professional advice of any kind. Every RV selling situation is unique. Consult a qualified attorney, CPA, or licensed financial advisor before making decisions based on your specific situation — particularly for matters involving loan deficiency, short sales, repossession, estate transactions, or tax consequences of forgiven debt.
About the author. Frank Mason is a 25-year Florida RV industry professional and former licensed Florida RV consignment dealer (2015–2024). He is not a licensed attorney, CPA, or financial advisor. His guidance reflects professional experience, not licensed professional advice.
Market conditions. RV market values, interest rates, lender policies, and Florida statutes change regularly. Information on this page reflects conditions as of publication date. Verify current figures with appropriate sources before acting.
Affiliate disclosure. Easy Escapes RV may receive compensation from third-party services referenced on this page. This does not influence our recommendations. We only reference services we believe provide genuine value to Florida RV sellers.