Good Tips for Getting the Best Deal on a Trade-in

[seafreeman3]

How do you figure out what your rig is worth when you feel like getting out of RVing or it's time to trade up/down? I've looked at NADA's site and felt that their estimation was pretty spot on, but of course a dealer I recently contacted says my rig is worth about $5000 less than the NADA site... Anyone have tried and true stories??

[DMRGMC]

We are on our 6th unit in 41 years. We started with a pop up, 2 pull behinds and 3, 5th wheels. What we learned is pricing was directly related to the market for trade ins, what you were buying and you willingness to search, wait and deal. If the dealer has too many used units in there inventory then there trade value might be lower or they don't want your unit. The higher trade value gives us a larger tax savings but you have to make sure the dealer doesn't jack up the sale price.
We bought the second pull behind and the first 2, 5th wheels from the same dealer. We were always happy with his trade values and pricing balance. When we bought the 3rd 5th wheel we took a different approach, requesting quotes from 3 dealers including the dealer we bought 3 units from. He showed us the value Jayco suggested for our model and when it came to the quote he low balled it and his sale price was very high. The 2nd quote was from a large group dealer that is Canada wide and has franchisees all across the Nation as well as their primary location in our city. They played the game of not telling us the trade value just the difference so it made it harder to figure out.
The dealer that got our business gave us more than the suggested value on he trade and there was such a difference in his sale price we couldn't not buy from them. We specked it out, they quoted, we bought it and they ordered it in, not off the lot. We found the dealer on line, they are 5 hrs away and we couldn't believe the prices they were showing on their website. At first we thought it was like the scam of advertising a vehicle on the Car dealer sites that are very low but doesn't exist. To date they have bent over backwards to resolve warranty issues and have sent me the replacement parts as requested so I can install them.
So the moral to our story is as I said at the start, educate yourself about the market in the threshold area you want to deal in, ask lots of questions and be willing to walk away. There is the luck factor as well!
A couple of years ago we met some Canadians from South Carolina, they lived there for 15 years and he said that he requested quotes from dealers in various States for his 2016 Pinnacle and I believe the lowest price was from a dealer in Michigan. He had a large threshold area!
The dealership we bought from is privately owned, sell different manufacturers products, have only one location, sell and ship all over North America. As the sales rep stated, they were very aggressive in trade value and sales pricing. When we did have the occasion to go to their location I had full access to there repair facility, walked in and talked to the techs and learned a few things on site with regards to slides and maintenance. We lucked out.

[RogerR]

I have personally never traded in a unit. The dealer has to make money to stay in business. He will never give you as much as a well marketed unit sold by yourself. Unless your sales tax is 25% there is a great difference to be had by selling yourself.

There are three prices, what the dealer would really pay you for your unit, what you can sell it for and what he can sell it for. You won't get as much as a dealer but you should be able to get more than what he will give in trade.

Always shop as if you were buying for cash. After you get the best deal reveal you have a potential trade, not before. Then you know the true buying price and true trade in price. If they ask what you have in trade before giving you a price say you are selling it yourself. If they grill you hard, walk away.