Trading in question...

[vdubee]

Ok, the wifey and I are considering trading in our 2010 Dodge Ram and travel trailer on a Class C in the near future.
Does anyone on here have experiences doing this?
Advice/warnings??

[seb1899]

Are you really sure you cannot afford the new route?

That said I was negotiating on a used (2009 8600 mi) class c and cannot get them to 'come to the party' to replace 6yr old tires a missing spare and a 'gone' brake controller as well as some trim repairs.

I have stopped discussion on this and am now looking at a new unit, and am shopping the unit across the net

[Harvard]

You buy my 2010 Class C motor home from me for $500,000 and I will give you $420,000 for your TT/Truck Combo. :B

[NWnative]

We did this in two parts. Worked out a deal on the Motor home with our old 5vr as trade. Once we agreed, I traded the truck in on something else at the auto dealer. Unless your RV dealer specializes in used cars, may want to consider a similar approach. At the end of the day though.......do what will give you the best deal on YOUR terms.

[Mich_F]

KristinU wrote:
We traded both truck and trailer to the dealer we bought our C from. I know we probably could have done a bit better selleing both individually and privately, but we just wanted a clean single transaction and we got what we wanted in trade value.


And the other thing is that we saved in sales tax since we're taxed on the net amount paid after the trade, which was the majority of the purchase price.

My wife and I did the same thing back in Sept. 1994 when we bought our first Class C. In our case we traded in a year old Ford E150, which the dealer sold to a Ford dealer immediately. Our 2 year old trailer sat for so long neglected, that the dealer had to fix a bathroom floor that rotted out due to a leak that developed while sitting there.
Our sales tax worked the same.
Our son (15 at the time) started working there at that time, part time after school. We sold the motor home in 2004, but our son is still working there. I can't tell you how great it is to have someone who knows their way around RV's.

[KristinU]

We traded both truck and trailer to the dealer we bought our C from. I know we probably could have done a bit better selleing both individually and privately, but we just wanted a clean single transaction and we got what we wanted in trade value.

We use a storage lot for our class C (and did for our TT), so showing the TT and going out there all the time just didn't seem appealing. And dealing with people flaking out and no-showing and knowing who to trust to test drive the truck was just not my cup of tea. Plus, we were pretty sure the truck would sell before the trailer then we'd be stuck with something we couldn't use just sitting there unused and depreciating, waiting for a buyer while we tent camped since we didn't have another vehicle to tow the TT. It ended up being a good decision because the truck is long gone from the dealer's lot, but the TT is still there (though grossly overpriced.)

And the other thing is that we saved in sales tax since we're taxed on the net amount paid after the trade, which was the majority of the purchase price.

[mikeh449]

when we got our 5er last year we traded our tt which was a 2006 travelstar 32 ft we paid 6000$ for the tt got 9500$ trade in

[ron_dittmer]

If your goal is to do this as affordable as possible, you'll want to sell your trailer and truck by yourself, individually. If your trailer isn't worth much, you might want to offer it up as part of the deal for the truck advertising it on Craigslist that way..."Buy This Truck And Get This Travel Trailer FREE".

If you don't want to be selling them on your own, then trading them into an RV dealer is the way to go, but you won't be getting street value.

I know that Phoenix USA takes in just about anything as a trade-in. They will deliver your new motor home to your front door and drive away in your trade-in. They'll give you a price on your trade-in after some pics and data are reviewed. Order on-line, stay at home, and let someone else do all the footwork. It's not the way I would buy a motor home, but many people have done it just like that.

[Desert_Captain]

We did this last summer but with a twist. I put our 2008 22' Pioneer Spirit TT on consignment with a local RV dealer that sells a lot of trailers in this size. I agreed to take $8,500 which was a good price for us as the TT was immaculate and well equipped. He agreed and listed it at $9,500 looking to sell it for $9,000.

In the mean time we made a strong cash offer on our dream Class C (a 2012 Nexus Phantom 23P with 6K miles), at another local RV dealership. They were quoting me $5,400 wholesale trade in and I just laughed at them, not going to happen. Told them I would not buy the C until the TT was gone and proceeded to start walking off the lot. Here in Arizona the sales tax is computed based upon the difference between the trade and the new purchase price. Suddenly they came up to the full $8,500 in trade to close the sale on the C and we saved $600 in sales tax.

I then put my 2006 F-150 Scab on Craigslist and the first guy to look at it bought at my full asking price. I miss that great truck but could not justify keeping it with nothing to tow.

Bottom line I recommend selling the TV and TT yourself but don't hesitate to negotiate with the dealer your buying from on a possible trade as there may be a tax advantage to doing so. It helps to haggle with a large dealer on the last day of the month as they have in all probability made their nut for the month and any additional sales are just gravy. Good luck!

:C

[mlh]

I am not sure what part of Louisiana you are in, but we did the same thing at Berryland Campers back in 2010. Berryland also has a used car dealership. They may have taken the truck in on trade anyway, but I'm sure having the auto dealership helped.

My advice....check the trade value on each item separately and make sure you get both at the trade value you are looking for. There are more places for a dealer to hide things when there are multiple vehicles involved.

I do not have any regrets doing it the way that I did. I did miss my truck though (2009 dodge 2500 quad). I fixed that two years ago and bought a 2012 1500 just like the one I had (except the 2500 which wasn't needed). Same color too.

[Old-Biscuit]

Sell both and then buy used (couple yrs old) via private parties.