Negotiating Trade-In

[InTheRockies]

Hi Folks. I’m looking to purchase a new TT and considering trading in my current TT. Camping World offered me $15,500 as an outright purchase price for my trailer, and I’m not buying anything from them. The dealers I’m negotiating with for the new purchase are offering around $14k for my trade and aren’t budging. NADA value (FWIW) has my current trailer at $22,850 low retail. I’ve let the dealers know that I know the NADA value and shared that CW will purchase it outright for “X”.

So, my question is, what else can I do if anything to at lease get trade offers that match the CW purchase offer?

I can try to sell privately but timing wise would love to wrap up both transactions in one, rather than waiting for my trailer to sell.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[monkey44]

Money wire from buyer bank to your bank works ... and is safer than cash. Just verify with your bank first and transfer funds into a different account of yours at the same branch... Very Safe. Your bank guarantees the funds have arrived.

Altho, a note ... I would not do international tranfers, only USA or Canada, depends on your country and country where the funds initiate.

[hornet28]

delwhjr wrote:
Just a few words of caution in these times.

Certified or Cashiers checks are not always legit, check them out. Wire transfers are safer.
Have someone around when you meet buyers.

No checks of any kind. Cash always works. As far as the amount a neighbor sold his trailer last year for 19K and asked for cash which the buyer brought him from 5 hrs away. I've always heard a wire can be ok but I've never done one

[InTheRockies]

I’ll let you know the outcome. I’m going to try a private party sale and hope it goes quick. If not, I’ll reevaluate options. Appreciate all the input and advice.

[bgum]

Let us know the outcome and who bought it.

[delwhjr]

Just a few words of caution in these times.

Certified or Cashiers checks are not always legit, check them out. Wire transfers are safer.
Have someone around when you meet buyers.

The offer from CW might be a come on with many ifs, ands, or buts.

[Sandia_Man]

I am not sure what answer you are looking for, up to you to decide if you want to sell it yourself, trade it in, or take offer from CW. In the long run it may not amount to any significant difference since MSRP can be manipulated by dealer and/or manufacturer, what dealers strive for is to make customer believe they got a great deal. Just be as knowledgeable of current market pricing throughout the country, up to dealer if they want to match or beat competitors.

I never found NADA to be truly realistic as it pertains to current market pricing, and dealers only talk NADA when it is favorable to their interests, dealers always make their margin, at least those that have been in business for awhile. They always ask if you have a trade in, being deceitful will only lead to changes in final deal, again it is just part of the game when buying big ticket items in our great country.

We are pretty busy and would either trade in or take CW offer, participating in the RVing lifestyle is a losing proposition money-wise no matter how you slice it. Selling it yourself could be a major hassle, certainly will be time consuming for the nominal gain to be had with the scenario presented. In any event, hope all goes well with the sale/trade in and purchase of your new TT, and that your maiden voyage goes smoothly.

[InTheRockies]

CW offer is in writing. They upped it $500 from their initial offer about a month ago. I’d love to get more than the $15,500 they’re offering and just figured that would be my floor. Again, I’m just trying to gauge if the dealers I’m negotiating with for the new purchase should at least be able to match the CW written offer. Anyways, I think I’ll test the waters with a private sale and use the sites you all mentioned. I realize I won’t get low retail, but if CW is willing to pay $15,500, seems a private sale should be around $18,500 or so fairly easily. We’ll see I guess.

[hornet28]

Is the CW offer in writing or just verbal? If not in writing without an expiration date you don't have a solid offer it's just so many words

[bgum]

Take the cw offer and move on.

[nickthehunter]

No dealer is going to give you "Low Retail" unless there is something truly spectacular over the top about your unit. Low Retail is basically "no money in it for me" to the dealer.

And, no buyer with any savy is going to give you Low Retail either.

And I'll add, the Nada prices are highly inflated if you ask me. The Low Retail price on Nada for my 6 year old unit is more than i paid for it brand new 6 years ago.

[Grit_dog]

InTheRockies wrote:
Thanks for all the info and advice. There’s no lien on my current trailer so that’s pretty straightforward. I’m prepping it to post on FB Marketplace and see what kind of response I get. I guess I know at the least I have the cash offer from CW to fall back on. I was able to negotiate pretty good deals on the purchase of the new trailer. Sales tax in my state isn’t too high, so I should be able to cover that difference pretty easily with a private sale. I do live in a very rural area, so a bit concerned about buyer pool. I may bring my trailer to the closest city and pay for a month of storage which isn’t very expensive and arrange to meet buyers there.

Dude, stick in FB and CL and sit back and wait for the calls. Don't be one of those weirdos who doesn't post their phone number. Do take plenty of good pics with it all cleaned up and none of your personal stuff on the counters etc.
It's a camper. People who buy campers drive. Taking it to the "city" will do nothing. Folks who are interested in buying private party big ticket "things" generally don't limit themselves to a super restricted geographical area. It's just a small bonus if you find what you want and it's nearby.
Small sample of things bought and sold by me and distance:
Bought:
Snowmobiles, 200, 300, 500 mi away.
Truck to restore, 300 mi away
Son's Mustang, 200 mi away
Snowmobile trailer, 200 mi away
Boat 700 mi away.
Last camper, 300 mi away and was planning on one that was further but it sold before I could get there.

Sold:
Old boat. Guy drive from Nebraska to W Slope of CO to buy it.
Wife's old car buyer was 200 mi away.
Old sled, another 200 miler

What you may want to do though if it isn't getting many hits, is advertise it in Denver or GJ or SLC as well. To catch those that may be just out of a search radius of your location.

[dedmiston]

Can somebody remind me? Was the $15k offer from CW less than he thinks he can get privately? I thought $15k was what he's looking for.

[jdc1]

The $7,000 difference makes me want to sway towards a private, or consignment sale. That's $7,000 more to spend on a new unit. Yea. Living in a remote area is limiting. Winter in Colorado is limiting. But, your biggest limiting factor is advertising. Place it on MANY different venues, Craigslist, Nextdoor, RV.net, RV TRader, Offer Up, ect. Sure, you'll get a few miscretes sending messages, but....

[Grit_dog]

dedmiston wrote:

InTheRockies wrote:
I guess I know at the least I have the cash offer from CW to fall back on.

I'm probably missing something, but what's the harm in just taking CW's offer and being done with it? Are you looking for more than they're offering?

I've sold plenty of cars, motorcycles, and other stuff, and the private RV sales are a lot harder. Usually with a motorcycle or a car, you pre-screen the texts and phone calls and then show it to two or three people before you're done. With an RV though, it's a lot more work to find just the right buyer. Think of how many RVs you walked through at a lot before you picked one. It's been a while now, but I think it took 2-3 months to sell my last trailer, and I showed it to 2-3 people per week.

Spose I have a different view. But I've only sold 2 campers. Neither was even remotely a hassle.
Guess I wouldn't pass up on a very potential $5-10k greater net sale just for the convenience of trading it in and letting the dealer make money on 2 transactions.