The boss (also known as my wife) feels it is time to get a camper with a regular queen mattress. It so happens that we have stumbled upon a one year old, full size camper with a queen that a relative is selling to us at a very reasonable price. However, we have a 2011 KZ Spree Hybrid that is in perfectly good shape that we need to sell. I need suggestions on what you folks feel is the best way to sell the Spree. What has worked for you? The boss says the hybrid has to go!Any suggestions would be appreciated!

What do you mean by "Going to the dark side"...You might want to actually measure your queen size bed dimensions. There is a difference between HOUSE SIZE QUEEN BEDS and RV SIZE QUEEN BEDS... My POPUP Trailers calls both tent beds QUEEN SIZE. One Measures 60 X 78 and the other measures 67 X 78...We added 3-inch memory foam to both beds - they sleep just fine for us...Roy Ken

Selling your Spree? It all depends upon how much you are willing to "loose" in your sell. If you just want to get rid of it (at any price), take it to a dealer and let them buy it outright from you. You can expect about a 1/3 of what your original purchase price was though. You can take it to a trailer consignment place. You may get a better price, but you'll also have to share an expense with your consignment business owner. Then, you can always put a for-sale sign on it and attempt to sell yourself. Advertising has many possibilities, some may cost, some may be free. Craigslist for one, but then you have to deal with a bunch of whack-o's who will try to rip you off. If you are thick skinned, selling yourself is an option. You may be able to set a higher price, but the higher price also limits the potential for a sale. It all depends upon how urgent you want to get rid of it.Remember, your camper is depreciating fast. The longer you own it, the less value it has. Even if it is brand new and never been on the road, just because of age, it devalues very fast. Personally, if it were me and just wanted to get rid of it ... I'd sell to a dealer and bite the bullet. If you have loan on it, you may still be upside down. Meaning the loan value is higher than the actual value of the camper at this current moment. If that is the case, you'll never sell it for what you need out of it. 2011 model is only 3-4 years old now. If you had a 10 or 15 year loan and making the minimum monthly payment, you are probably upside down. If it's all paid for, then you have the option to do whatever you want, and sell as fast or as slow as you want by targeting the sale price.Either way, good luck!

We sold our '07 ROO in '13 on CL. Now we're parting with our '13 Rockwood through CL. The first time we got a lot of serious idiots, this time the same thing. But.....you'll be able to spot a seriously interested buyer pretty quickly. When they haven't laid eyes on it and want to know what's your lowest price, forget them! We always, always use the CL email account until we're pretty confident that this person is truly interested and then we may give our email address - usually the one I have in my sewing room - or DH cell phone. We never use last names or exact locations until we're really confident. Many will ask you to contact them through their home email or cell phone....tough luck. We came out about even on our ROO, but just having Rocky for a shorter time, we fully expect to have to eat a couple thousand dollars - hope no more. Just circumstances have changed and Rocky needs a new home. The advantage of CL is that it's free. The disadvantage is that there are a ton of loonies that lurk and make a pest of them selves. Camping World has started communicating on each new post or when you renew. They let you know that they have a buyer just dying to have your trailer or they might even buy it. Don't even bother unless you want to lose about $5000. Consignment is going to cost you. You might try an ad in a local paper. We have had 3 serious buyers look at Rocky - unfortunately didn't work out. One decided they may be just too old to get involved in RVing again, one is looking for a lot and their timetable is way too far out for us and the other one went to a dealer and spent $10,000 more than we were asking. Well, rats! But we have someone coming this week who's kept in close contact and we feel that it may work out. We've gotten our pay-off from our lender and decided how much we're willing to lose. Fingers crossed. But having a trailer for such a short time usually means you'll lose some $$$. Good luck.

Thanks for the ideas all. We live in a small town in Mid-Northern Michigan so we don't get the same number responses that a lot of others do on CL. We do get our share of cranks however.We will probably start with CL and go from there.Also, the "dark side" comment is from a hybrid site I used to go to means we are going from a hybrid to a hard side.

DutchmenSport wrote:You can expect about a 1/3 of what your original purchase price was though.That's certainly being optimistic ... with 2016 models now hitting dealers' lots that makes the OP's 2011 Spree 5 model years old. Any new trailer will depreciate in wholesale value an average of 20% the first year and 10% each of the following years, meaning the OP's could have already lost as much as 60% of it's original selling value. My optimistic estimate is he'd be lucky to only lose 50% by trading in ... if that's too much too swallow the only realistic solution is to suffer the process and try to sell it privately.

Going to the dark side, need to sell Spree | Good Sam Community

16 Replies

bikendan
Explorer
Apr 06, 2015
winger999 wrote:
Also, the "dark side" comment is from a hybrid site I used to go to means we are going from a hybrid to a hard side.

in the world of Canvas Campers, going from a popup/tent trailer to a hybrid travel trailer is called "Going to the Gray Side".

going from a hybrid TT to a conventional TT or 5th wheel, is called "Going to the Dark Side".
since you're are abandoning canvas all together.
Oasisbob
Explorer
Apr 06, 2015
Congrats on going to the dark side. Wish I could do the same. Best weight to space ratio is still the hybrid. We are at our max for towing capacity so here we stay for now
crazysimi
Explorer
Mar 27, 2015
sorry didn't mean to break any rules
dadmomh
Explorer
Mar 25, 2015
OP, we've been around here for about 9 years and knew the rules and regs. But I did the same thing, not considering it a For Sale post, but mentioning selling our trailer and so on and so forth. While I had a couple of nice comments, some questions and good wishes for our sale. The Mod did delete the entire post. At first I wondered why but then realized that it did effectively work as a For Sale ad. If we all did the same as I did and you're leaning toward, pretty soon we'd look like the classifieds rather than a social forum. It's a fine line, but I crossed it without thinking and you're right on that edge. Please don't take offense.
SoundGuy
Explorer
Mar 24, 2015
bikendan wrote:
Soundguy, just putting the rules out there, since many join the Forum without reading the rules.
not saying the OP is doing this, but some get around the rule by using a post like this, to draw possibele buyers.

Interesting ... forum rules say - "You may not use the Open Roads Forum for "For Sale" or "Wanted" posts. Solicitations by private/public agencies, or individuals for any cause are also not allowed." Nowhere in his post did the OP make any attempt to advertise his trailer for sale, he merely asked for tips on selling it, a common question that comes up on every forum. If anyone was guilty of "solicitation" it was crazysimi who replied to the OP's post expressing interest ... Seriously?! if he had instead PM'd the OP would that have been acceptable? Really?! ... reminds me of the Draconian bylaw passed recently in Taber, Alberta making it an offense punishable with fines for swearing, spitting, or even yelling! Good grief! :R
bikendan
Explorer
Mar 24, 2015
Soundguy, just putting the rules out there, since many join the Forum without reading the rules.
not saying the OP is doing this, but some get around the rule by using a post like this, to draw possibele buyers.
SoundGuy
Explorer
Mar 24, 2015
bikendan wrote:
... selling of anything on the Forum, is against Forum rules.

Hmmm, I'm new here so perhaps I'm missing something but I don't see where the OP is attempting to use the forum to sell anything, he merely asked for advice on how best to sell a trailer. To whit - "I need suggestions on what you folks feel is the best way to sell the Spree. What has worked for you?" Seems to me it's hardly the OP's responsibility if another forum member happens to read this discussion and expresses an unsolicited interest in the trailer. :@
bikendan
Explorer
Mar 24, 2015
selling of anything on the Forum, is against Forum rules.
crazysimi
Explorer
Mar 24, 2015
deleted
rexlion
Explorer
Mar 23, 2015
You're not that far from GR, Muskegon, Lansing... advertise in all of 'em if you can. Maybe even Traverse City. And be patient. Don't get panicky if it doesn't sell in the first week, or even in the first month. Someone will come along and just have to have your HTT, it simply takes a while sometimes.

I had a tandem 6x12 cargo trailer that cost me $3850. I used it for about 7 years and 140,000 miles, then put it up for sale on CL at $2900 with the thought that I'd come down to $2700. Got 2 or 3 calls in the first month, and no one came to look at it. Then after almost 1.5 months, someone called and was all excited, came to see it, and oh it was just what he needed. $2700, done deal. A pretty similar situation with my 3 year old KZ Escape; no interest for over a month, and then BAM a guy called and committed to buy it sight unseen for 75% of what I paid for it.