Trade In old Camper at Dealer or Sell Private?

[MFJ]

So basically what the title says. We have an old 2010 Rockwood Freedom Toy Hauler pop up we bought a year ago. It’s was good, but some issues started creeping up on us. Not expected for an old trailer, but some problems I’m worried will become bigger ones down the road. We’re out camping now and discovered another problem.

Down the road there’s a dealer that happens to have a camper with a floor plan we’ve been wanting to upgrade to. The price is really good, but they said the trade in price for the pop up likely won’t be great.

So on one hand we thought “who cares, let’s just sell and be done with it”, and on the other it’s “maybe we can get more selling it ourselves. A quick google search places average retail at about $5,500 which I’m assuming is for good condition. We were thinking if they offer more than 1,500 for it then sell and be done.

So my question to this group is do you think this is a good strategy? By my understanding this isn’t a sellers market for campers at the moment so I’m not too confident on the effort needed to sell the camper.

Also the issues I’m talking about are things like a broken wire for the powered lift motor switch and a broken handle on the faucet. There’s one soft spot on the floor which can be reinforced. Things a dealer can probably handle easily and turn around to sell, but I just want to get a good, new camper that’ll last lot than a year without issues.

We’re probably going to talk to the dealer again tomorrow to ask about trade in values and a few other details. We’re going to likely make a decision by then as well. If anyone as any advice between now and then we’d appreciate the feedback. Also I apologize for any typos, I’m writing all of this on my phone.

 

[Rich W.]

I’d say if the deal meets your goals than go for it and don’t worry about the price difference selling private. You could end up waiting a long time for a buyer and while you would get more for it selling privately, you don’t know how much more, and you’d have to deal with all the tire kickers etc while you wait for a serious buyer. And it would be fun moving into a new camper now. So I’m in the “who cares, let’s just sell and be done with it” camp. Good luck tomorrow!

 

[John&Andrea]

We have sold and traded over the years. If it is a deal that gives you what you want, do it. Selling yourself can take time plus you need to make time to show the rig. Depending on how you sell, you can get scammers looking as well and you need to be ready for that. But if you do sell, I recommend RV Trader. Good luck.

 

[Jireh Financial]

Trading in can be clean and easy. Most states give a trade credit as well so that helps save a few dollars. If you want a hand with the value of what you own, I just need the model. Maybe it would help you negotiate your trade amount.
Let me know how we can help.
Thank you,
Ken

 

[Kevin D Pem]

I hate selling!
I guess how you feel about that should make up your mind. I have a friend that always needs a little cash so I give him part of the proceeds.

 

[MFJ]

Thanks for the responses. Rich, I saw you post before heading to the dealer and we ended up setting a opting for trading in. They actually offered way more than we expected, so that made our decision easier. Thanks everyone for the advice, we just put down the check and will be picking up the new camper tomorrow (Grey Wolf 25RRT if anyone’s curious)

 

[fluffywhitedogs]

I recently sold my Clipper 17bh. It was a pain in the butt, with tire kickers, no shows, and people whining that it had cosmetic flaws (which were very minor for an 8 year old trailer!). But it did have a LOT of frame rust, which I clearly stated in the ad. Due to the rust, I started out thinking I’d get maybe 5k for it but I decided to start high and ended up getting 12k! I’m sure a dealer would have offered 4-5k at the very most! So ultimately it was well worth the aggravation…

 

[Rich W.]

Sometimes it is.

 

[FL-JOE]

I almost always sell my RVs myself rather than attempting to trade them in.

I figured out early on that dealers will always discount at least 30% to 35% off MSRP if you are buying without a trade. If you have a trade then they will either make up a huge chunk of profit on the trade or the actual price of the new unit. My advise would be to sell your old unit and then start shopping for the new one.

 

[Jireh Financial]

There is a third option - having a dealership sell it on consignment or brokerage. That way the dealer puts up with all the showing and selling. The percentage may vary depending on the dealership. We have seen them anyplace from 6% to 10% of the selling price.
Having a dealership make a few dollars is not a bad thing. We all count on them being there for service when needed.
Ken

 

[Joe Hogan]

As always, it depends. Last year I sold the 2018 Canyon Star Privately in less than a week at full asking.
A friend who manages the storage facility I use actually did the sales work, listings, pictures, phone screening, etc for a commission. Once a serious buyer was interested, I helped close the sale, essentially acting like a sales manager.
Well worth it in my opinion but that said the market was hot for class a rv and I was not buying new rv at the time So any sales tax credit on new was not lost.
Trade-in’s on new can be very reasonable if that is what the plan is, especially in a high sales tax environment like FL.

Of course this one was not a hard sell for the right buyer