Trading up

IceOnFire · 10-20-2015, 11:55 PM

We're in the process of upgrading up to a 28BHBE which we have on order. Our dealership has offered us $7k less than retail Nada value, which will potentially make it a loss for us. Is this common scenario for others who have traded up? Any recommendations on places to list our current rig? We've posted on eBay, Craigslist, and RVTrader.com, but not much luck.

Cgelmini · 10-21-2015, 04:06 AM

When we sold our tt, we put it for sale in the fall. Not one call. We put it back up for sale in the spring and at first nothing, but as it got closer to camping season my phone lit up like a switch board and sold for 500. Less than our asking price. It's a bad time of year to sell that type of unit because people will have to store something for the winter that they can't use. If you can wait till spring you will probably have no problem selling.

jasoncw · 10-21-2015, 04:28 AM

To answer your question, yes that is common. If you want to get a decent price, you need to sell it yourself. And as mentioned, it will likely sell much easier during camping season.

Seann45 · 10-21-2015, 04:48 AM

IF the dealer gave you NADA value for it how would he stay in business?

**norty1** · 10-21-2015, 05:39 AM

You have to weigh the convenience of trading vs selling it yourself. The dealers would not be around selling units for zero profit. Look at the trade in value for a more reasonable value and that is just a guide. Many other things affect the value.

DocBrown · 10-21-2015, 08:35 AM

It's no different than trading a car. The retail price is what the dealer will put on it when they resell it. No way will any dealer give you the retail price on a trade. It's a negotiable number but don't expect them to jump up their offer by thousands. They may give you an extra $500.

There are 3 values of cars, RVs, and boats. Retail value, which is what the deal er asks for. Trade in which is what the dealer will offer you, and private party value, which is how much you can reasonably expect if selling it yourself. In other words, you will not get the retail price if you sell it yourself. You will get somewhere between retail value and trade in value. So if you sell it yourself you *might* get only $3500 below NADA value as opposed to $7k below.

As alluded to above, you have to weigh out the hassle of selling it yourself vs. a quick turn around. In my area small trailers sell in weeks, large trailers can sit a year or longer.

We traded our old 17ft hybrid, in hindsight I should have sold it myself. I took about a $1500 hit by trading it. But it is what it is.

cekkk · 10-22-2015, 03:40 PM

NADA retail numbers are high in my experience. Dealer ads often claim $X below NADA. There is also a much lower number on KBB and Edmunds for what you should expect to be offered by a dealer as trade-in value. You might profit if you do a lot more research before going forward with a deal so you have a good handle on what to
pay for the new one and the value of your current trailer.

IceOnFire · 10-22-2015, 04:01 PM

Thank you for the feedback.

tslarson · 10-22-2015, 04:03 PM

When we traded our 2011 Jayco X23J in on our new 2015 Starcraft 299BHU, the NADA value of the Jayco was 17,000. We got 11,000 on trade, so similar numbers. We purchased the Starcraft for 30% off list price. Plus freight and dealer prep, exactly the same price as RVW.

IceOnFire · 10-22-2015, 04:11 PM

I figured we were going to lose some on the trade-in, just wanted to see if this was out of the norm. I obtained a quote from RVDirect.com which came out to be over $9k difference for what the dealer is offering. I forwarded the quote to see if they can match it or come close. It will be tough to do with the trade-in, probably much easier to haggle with a new purchase.

goducks · 10-22-2015, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tslarson

When we traded our 2011 Jayco X23J in on our new 2015 Starcraft 299BHU, the NADA value of the Jayco was 17,000. We got 11,000 on trade, so similar numbers. We purchased the Starcraft for 30% off list price. Plus freight and dealer prep, exactly the same price as RVW.

My guess is that, that 30% you got off list was 0% because you lost the $6,000 by trading. Dealer still got his 30% when he sold your Jayco.

It's always a no win for anyone trading in anything on something new. You can spin it or the dealer can spin any which way but consumers vary rarely ever win.

**Crabman** · 10-22-2015, 04:33 PM

Never mention a trade until you get the bottom line price on the new unit. Then ask what they will give you for your trade. That way you know what you are really getting for your unit.

jamaddox · 10-22-2015, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crabman

Never mention a trade until you get the bottom line price on the new unit. Then ask what they will give you for your trade. That way you know what you are really getting for your unit.

Great advice and we would normally use it but for our next trailer we dealt with the same salesman

**Crabman** · 10-22-2015, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamaddox

Great advice and we would normally use it but for our next trailer we dealt with the same salesman

Still applies. You simply say we may want to sell our trailer ourself so what is the bottomline on buying outright. If you like the price then you say well what would you give me for my trade should I choose to go that route, just want to know what my options are....

tslarson · 10-22-2015, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goducks

My guess is that, that 30% you got off list was 0% because you lost the $6,000 by trading. Dealer still got his 30% when he sold your Jayco.

It's always a no win for anyone trading in anything on something new. You can spin it or the dealer can spin any which way but consumers vary rarely ever win.

I agree, we had the Jayco for sale for 2 months while we waited for the new Starcraft to arrive. No takers and the new camper arrived so we were forced to trade. Was hoping not to, as you said, it is always a money looser. But sometimes the easiest and most convenient way.

clubhouse · 10-22-2015, 09:34 PM

Just for grins go run a NADA value on the new unit you are buying. I suspect you will see its higher than you are actually paying. NADA is crazy high in my opinion.

I sold my 2012 26BH in Dec 2013 on Craig's list for $4500 more than dealer offered on trade. That was still $2500 less than NADA. It took me about 30 days to sell.

MIFL19H · 10-23-2015, 01:50 AM

We decided earlier this year it was time to upgrade so we started looking and 2 separate dealers 100+ miles from each other (both Jayco Dealers) offered us the same Trade In value on our '12 X19H which was loaded with all the options. Since we were waiting until the end of the year to finally upgrade as we would not be able to camp until then I put it up For Sale this summer and we sold it within 6 weeks (This was it... http://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f1...rid-26674.html ) and got $4000 more than the dealers were offering.

While it might seem like a pain I would definitely sell on your own if you can, I posted only on Craigslist and the JOF and it sold through Craigslist. I did not have any bites for 5 weeks then had 4 within days and sold it to the first family that looked at it for pretty near what I was asking for it... Cash. They drove from Miami (3 Hr drive) and bought it on the spot.

Good detail and lots of photos helps a lot in selling, I had never sold anything of that value on my own and it worked out in my benefit in the end. Going in to purchasing another Camper without a Trade In is a nice feeling like when I bought it originally. I look at it as I don't "need" to buy the trailer but the dealer "needs" to or "wants" to sell it, when you have a Trade then they have the upper hand.

xtruckerbob · 10-23-2015, 07:52 AM

We sold our MH on Craiglist in 3 weeks. Lucky for us we got $1000 under book value but had to hold a check (and the MH while he cashed in some stock) for nearly a month. This was nearly $10,000 more than the dealer offered. We did have to throw in some camping gear and our potty wagon.

Amosmoses33 · 10-23-2015, 08:59 AM

We did good on our trade with Camping world. Good thing about trades is the trade value comes off the selling price of new unit before tax. Here our tax is 7% and it helps on that side of the deal if its close to what you could sell it for. The dealer only sold it for 900 more than we got for trade.

BigJohnD · 10-23-2015, 09:21 AM

Last rig we went through PPL in Houston, and no doubt if I ever decide to get a new rig, I'll go through PPL again for a sale. It is consignment, but I still came out WAY ahead. Got around $12k more than trade value, and never had to do anything. Just got a check in the mail. They do everything. They clean and prep it, they show it, they sell it. I towed the rig to them, but they will come get your rig for a fee. They have a very high success rate at selling almost everything they get.

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