Buying an older Coleman pop up

[Camping Squirrel]

Hi all, new to the site and can use some help. I'm looking at a 1994 Coleman Cape cod pop up camper with hard sides, its in great condition, has a new roof mounted air conditioner and the factory four bike rack on the roof, comes with a Coleman cooler, no heater, 10 gal water storage tank. What should I be expecting to pay for this the asking price seems kind of high to me at 4400. Is it worth paying that and is this considered a rare camper.

 

[Jireh Financial]

Hi all, new to the site and can use some help. I'm looking at a 1994 Coleman Cape cod pop up camper with hard sides, its in great condition, has a new roof mounted air conditioner and the factory four bike rack on the roof, comes with a Coleman cooler, no heater, 10 gal water storage tank. What should I be expecting to pay for this the asking price seems kind of high to me at 4400. Is it worth paying that and is this considered a rare camper.

Good morning,
The reason the price might be so high is they spent cash on the new AC.
According to NADA, the Used Retail price is $1,425. NADA has not method to add things like condition or how new a particular item is. The selling price is close to 350% higher than used retail. Remember, there will be a day you want to resell this one. The same thing will apply to the next buyer making it difficult to find buyers.
Just for the record, the NADA we subscribe to is online and updates 6 times a year. Values reflect all current market trends. Exactly 12 months ago, the value was $2,700 but those numbers were low inventory influenced. Also last year value does not affect this year or the next. Only current numbers matter.
Let me know how we can help.
Ken

 

[Camping Squirrel]

Ok great Ken, thank you so much for the information. Makes sense and gives me a better understanding of pricing and how it works and fluctuates. The camper's been on sale for a bit from what I can tell. The seller may be using pricing from 6 months ago. Which makes more sense if you add in the new air conditioner which I believe ran the seller about $1,500. Thanks again.

 

[Jireh Financial]

Ok great Ken, thank you so much for the information. Makes sense and gives me a better understanding of pricing and how it works and fluctuates. The camper's been on sale for a bit from what I can tell. The seller may be using pricing from 6 months ago. Which makes more sense if you add in the new air conditioner which I believe ran the seller about $1,500. Thanks again.

Values are always a moving target. Looking back in NADA history, that unit had a used retail value of $900 in 2021. That number is the same going way back. The full MSRP when it was new was $6,295. Chances of it ever getting to $4,400 are slim to none. If $4,400 is in your price category, it seems you could find several units much newer than this one.
Thank you,
Ken

 

[Camping Squirrel]

Values are always a moving target. Looking back in NADA history, that unit had a used retail value of $900 in 2021. That number is the same going way back. The full MSRP when it was new was $6,295. Chances of it ever getting to $4,400 are slim to none. If $4,400 is in your price category, it seems you could find several units much newer than this one.
Thank you,
Ken

 

[Camping Squirrel]

Yes makes sense. Thank you

 

[GypsyR]

I bought a 1997 Shenandoah about 7 years ago that needed the roof recoated for $900. Otherwise VERY well preserved as it had been garage kept. No hard sides but otherwise very comparable to what you are looking at. With the roof and a few piddly other things sorted out, we sold it to a cousin for the same $900. And they are still using it. Not sure I could find THAT deal again but there sure is a huge gap between that and the asking price of what you are looking at.
I put a new roof unit on my current camper. If I were to sell the coach tomorrow I would use the fact that it had a new unit to help push the sale for sure. But I wouldn't expect the buyer to compensate me for having replaced it. "New" AC just doesn't appreciably increase the asking price over AC that simply "works".

 

[Camping Squirrel]

I bought a 1997 Shenandoah about 7 years ago that needed the roof recoated for $900. Otherwise VERY well preserved as it had been garage kept. No hard sides but otherwise very comparable to what you are looking at. With the roof and a few piddly other things sorted out, we sold it to a cousin for the same $900. And they are still using it. Not sure I could find THAT deal again but there sure is a huge gap between that and the asking price of what you are looking at.
I put a new roof unit on my current camper. If I were to sell the coach tomorrow I would use the fact that it had a new unit to help push the sale for sure. But I wouldn't expect the buyer to compensate me for having replaced it. "New" AC just doesn't appreciably increase the asking price over AC that simply "works".

Thanks for the input Gypsy. I already killed the deal. Seller wouldn't budge less then 3600. Campers almost 30 years old not sure how many times it went up and down in it's lifetime. I'm already working on other pop-ups much newer for about the same money.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Just a note.

There are many more reasons not to buy a pop-up, than reasons to buy one.

Storage space.
Tire size
Less than optimal system reliability.
As well as many others.

Advantage
Pulled behind many smaller cars.

The above list glares the price point for these trailers.

 

[Knobs]

Just a note.

There are many more reasons not to buy a pop-up, than reasons to buy one.

Storage space.
Tire size
Less than optimal system reliability.
As well as many others.

Advantage
Pulled behind many smaller cars.

The above list glares the price point for these trailers.

That's looking at it from an RV perspective.

If you look at it from a camping perspective, there are more advantages than just the size of the TV, ...

Compared with tent camping:
More storage space.
More comfortable beds.
Off the ground sleeping.
Furnace and AC.
Stove
'fridge (if you want).
Even toilet/shower (if you want).

And, best of all, it's still camping, under "canvas" and all!

(We enjoyed our popup for many years.)