Cash for junk RVs and campers

An RV is a house and a vehicle at once, and it fails like both. The engine or the roof goes, water gets into the floor, and suddenly the repair estimate is more than the camper is worth. Meanwhile it takes up a whole driveway, or costs storage rent every month.

That’s usually the point where an owner calls us.

What we buy

• Motorhomes: Class A, Class B camper vans and Class C units on a van or truck chassis.
• Travel trailers and fifth wheels, from small single-axle trailers to long ones with slide-outs.
• Pop-up and tent campers, including ones with torn canvas or broken lift systems.
• Truck campers that sit in a bed or on stands.

Running, not running, with a dead generator, gutted inside or with a soft floor. Tell us what works and what doesn’t.

What to have ready

The title. Motorhomes and campers are titled vehicles in Illinois, so a title in your name is the simplest paper to sell with. A trailer bought years ago with only a handwritten receipt is a harder case; tell us what you have and we check it on the call. Our page on selling without a title explains why Illinois law makes us ask.

Your ID, matching the name on the title.

The plates. They stay with you. In Illinois, plates belong to the owner, not the vehicle, per the Secretary of State.

Things inside. Campers collect a lot: bedding, dishes, tools, a TV bolted to the wall. Take what you want to keep. What’s left goes with the RV.

Getting it ready to leave

A few things make pickup safe and quick:

1. Close the propane at the tank, or remove the tanks if you can.
2. Drain the black and gray water tanks if they still work.
3. Bring in the slide-outs and the awning, or tell us if they’re stuck out.
4. Raise the stabilizer jacks. If one is seized down, say so.
5. Tell us the hitch. A ball coupler and a fifth-wheel pin need different setups, so we ask before we book.

Where RVs sit, and what we need to know

Junk campers around here usually sit in one of three places: a long suburban driveway or side yard, a paid RV storage lot, or the back of a business lot. Each one raises its own questions:

• Driveways and yards: overhead wires, low branches and soft grass. Tell us if the RV is on dirt or lawn, and whether it’s been sitting long enough to sink.
• Storage lots: the lot sets the rules. Some want rent paid up or a signed release before a vehicle leaves. Sort that out first, and give us the gate hours.
• Business lots: someone with authority over the lot needs to know the RV is leaving.

An RV is longer and taller than anything else we pick up, and it doesn’t always go on the same truck as a car. Give us the length if you know it and we arrange the right tow for it.

Before you call

Have the year, make and model (or the chassis maker for a motorhome), the length, whether it runs or rolls, the title status and where it’s parked. Then send the form. If you’re weighing a repair, our guide to a blown engine or transmission has a way to compare the numbers. For a work truck or a box truck instead, see box trucks and semis.