Trading In A Car On A New RV

[Ricebug]

We haven't bought our RV yet, but we've known for quite awhile that our 2010 Mazda CX7 (Front-Wheel Drive) is going away. Not towable. We were considering trading it on the RV we plan to purchase, and buy a temporary beater TOAD car.

Has anyone out there done this? Is it worth it? I'd just as soon donate the CX7 to a charity rather than get hosed by some dealer.

[Oaklevel]

Most RV dealers will not take cars on trade......... ??

[PastorCharlie]

Trade the car for one that you can tow...buy the RV.

[JD_and_Beastlet]

Ricebug wrote:

Fla904 wrote:
I could really use a car at the moment, I have a few bucks I could give you if you're in the position to donate a car and money isn't your first priority it would help a lot.

I'd like to help you out, but I still have 10 payments to go and then it's Wham!, Bam!, get the RV, and get the heck outta Dodge.

Or Mazda, as the case may be. 🙂

I'll echo the advice to sell it privately. In the cases where I've done that I've more than doubled the selling price compared to the trade in value. Well worth the hassle in my opinion.

[wbwood]

Ricebug wrote:
We haven't bought our RV yet, but we've known for quite awhile that our 2010 Mazda CX7 (Front-Wheel Drive) is going away. Not towable. We were considering trading it on the RV we plan to purchase, and buy a temporary beater TOAD car.

Has anyone out there done this? Is it worth it? I'd just as soon donate the CX7 to a charity rather than get hosed by some dealer.

If you feel you are get hosed by a car dealer, then don't think you will get an even bigger hosing from an RV dealer. RV dealers that take auto trade in's normally have a car dealer that buys them from them. So you are basically gonna get hosed by 2 dealers. Sell it yourself or trade it in for a beater toad. You will definitely come out better than giving it away. Sure, you can give it to a charity and claim it on your taxes, but is it going to be enough to make a difference big enough on your final taxes? Maybe...maybe not.... I would go with what I know up front and not wait for a surprise next year.

[wanderingbob]

Many donations firms will eat up the proceeds and your charity will get very little return ! Very few charities are licensed auto dealers and can not transfer title with out first taking and paying transfer fees and sales taxes so they hire a company to do this at a great cost ,
Sell your car and spend the money on wine , woman , and song , or maybe a couple nice fishing reels !

[ncrowley]

Definitely sell it privately. You will get a LOT more money for it.

[paulcardoza]

When we bought our first RV, we discussed the trade in option with our dealer, as we had an extra car at the time. These are not car dealers, so unless someone in the RV dealership has their eye on your car, you'll likely take a significant hit on the value you receive for it. We ended up choosing not to trade and sold it for much more privately.

[Ricebug]

Fla904 wrote:
I could really use a car at the moment, I have a few bucks I could give you if you're in the position to donate a car and money isn't your first priority it would help a lot.

I'd like to help you out, but I still have 10 payments to go and then it's Wham!, Bam!, get the RV, and get the heck outta Dodge.

[Fla904]

Ricebug wrote:
We haven't bought our RV yet, but we've known for quite awhile that our 2010 Mazda CX7 (Front-Wheel Drive) is going away. Not towable. We were considering trading it on the RV we plan to purchase, and buy a temporary beater TOAD car.

Has anyone out there done this? Is it worth it? I'd just as soon donate the CX7 to a charity rather than get hosed by some dealer.

I could really use a car at the moment, I have a few bucks I could give you if you're in the position to donate a car and money isn't your first priority it would help a lot.

[Grit_dog]

Just sell the car outright. No experience with this but I wouldn't bet much that any RV dealer is interested in a random 6 yr old car unless they're also a used car lot.
Either way sell it outright.

[Ricebug]

Jim-Linda wrote:
Ever thought about using a dolly?

Jim

Yep. Thought that WAS the answer, until I read some letters in Motorhome magazine when they asked that very question. It's a good option if you're "young" and still strong. I'm not.

[Jim-Linda]

Ever thought about using a dolly?

Jim

[Ductape]

Negotiation is an acquired skill, and it's possible to get good value from trades. IMO this is one of those situations where if you have to ask...

If you proceed to trade, just decide first what you're willing to pay for the RV, no trade. Then deduct wholesale value for your car. Wholesale is fair, the dealer will just send your car to the auction in most cases.

Some cases wholesale is preferable to dealing with private sales. In many tax situations you're also saving sales tax on the trade value.

YMMV

[rockhillmanor]

sfpcservice wrote:
Sell it privately to get top dollar out of your car. This will help you get more RV than you could on a trade in which is like selling your car at wholesale rather than retail prices. Good luck!

X2
And they will have a field day with you trading it in on an RV you will end up getting squat for the car and paying more for the RV.

Here is an organization that comes highly rated for donating cars for a REAL cause. It is based in my home state and I and many of my friends have donated cars and RV's to this organization.
They DO arrange for pickups in other states.

http://www.rawhide.org/

Scroll down to donate cars/RV's.
http://www.rawhide.org/support-our-work/