depreciation of travel trailer

[flasteve]

How much does a new travel trailer depreciate after one year. We are going to make an offer on one and want to be fair to the seller. He said he paid $22.000 I do not know if that is with tax. for it a year and half ago. He said he used it only about 5 times. It is not that great Made of ALUM. outside not fiberglass. but it looks good. Any help would be great.

[Jetta03]

Why in the world would you want to be fair to the seller? You have no reason to trust that he paid 22k, or that he's not hiding damage to the unit. Used has no warranty and I can guarantee he is more interested in getting top dollar for his sale than in being fair himself.

Price wise I'd take a good look at the local classifieds, craiglist, etc. to arrive at a ballpark price. Then if the trailer checks out after a good inspection, make a low-ball offer for a few thousand less than you think is 'fair' and see where you land. There are so many low hours used trailers for sale out there you really are in the drivers seat.

[Lowsuv]

depreciation for a TT is minor compared to a motorhome.
I lost more in depreciation in the year and a half i had a motorhome ( a used 1995 beaver monterrey diesel pusher ) than i paid brand new for the 2002 komfort TT i ordered from the factory .
i actually did this in 2001 , i was surprised to find that my komfort came with a model year 2002 title even though it was delivered in early june 2001 .
in my opinion the best RV ( boat , pickup ) is the ten year old that i bought brand new and kept in first class shape its entire life .
just like a good woman. you know where it's been and who it's been with .

[Jayco-noslide]

Ah, depreciation. One of my favorite soapbox topics. RVers don't like to talk about it because RV's depreciate a lot and that is, for many, the single biggest cost of RVing. I can't give a specific answer but just look at some used ones and compare the price with a new comparable. I would think a 20 some thousand dollar trailer would depreciate several thousand the 1st year and loose half in a few years. Also, keep in mind that new ones seldom really sell for anywhere near the posted sticker price so if he paid 22,000, the sticker price may have been well over 25,000. We paid about $10,000 for a 1999 in 2003 and the sticker price was $17,000 when new so it depreciated 7,000 off the sticker in 4 years.

[Kevin_O_]

The mark up on new trailers is ridiculous. My 2012 trailer had a MSRP of $34,990 and i got it for $20,990. That doesn't include taxes and the extended warranty i purchased.

[jwstewar]

Bill & Kate wrote:
I don't know if our case is typical, but here is what we experienced:

In May, 2012, we traded our old trailer for the trailer in our signature. We still owed $11,000 on the old trailer - which was about the NADA value. The 2012 Outback 277RL was built in June, 2011, so it was less than a year old when we bought. We were the second owner - for what it is worth, the salesman said the original owner bought it because it was the biggest trailer he thought his truck would handle, but after one trip, he traded the trailer and the truck for a huge fifth wheel setup. It still had plastic on the furniture and carpet, and the head had not be christened yet.

For comparison, the same day we looked at an essentially similar NEW 2012 277RL at the dealer up the street. It had a manufacturer's suggested list price of $36,382, and the salesman was talking somewhere in the $28,000 area. Who knows what that deal would have worked out to be, but I still see the same unit listed on the dealer's webpage.

For the used unit we got - which the original owner had installed a Barker power jack, two slide toppers, and MaxAir covers - no money down - just the trade - included taxes and whatever, we ended up financing almost exactly $30,000. After paying off the old trailer, that means the dealer ended up a total of $19,000 in the deal.

You can do the math, but I would say that we got it for almost 50% off the sticker price, and more than 30% off what a brand new "leftover" would go for ....

I'm confused on this. You say you owed 11k on the trailer and it was worth that, what did they allow you on trade in? It seems as though the old trailer should have paid itself off (or came real close) and then you would have only been financing the new trailer. Seems like adding taxes and such, you paid about 27k for the new trailer in order to have to finance 30k.

What am I missing?

[Bill___Kate]

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[Dennis_M_M]

We bought a 2005 Newmar Mountain Aire in 2007 (still have it). It was a like new repossessed unit with very little usage and we paid exactly 50% of the original MSRP.

[skipnchar]

Check NADA prices on the same model, one year apart and use that for a guide. Keep in mind several things though. NADA is based on MSRP when new and NOBODY pays MSRP for a new trailer. ALSO when looking at USED models it's current condition is extremely important so be sure to take that into account.

[nolra]

Depends on the trailer. Fiberglass/aluminum trailers seem to hold their value well. A few premium stick builts hold almost as well. Lower tier trailers seem to depreciate a lot faster. I took a 25% hit on a 2 year old mid tier 5th wheel. Got a 10 year old fiberglass trailer that had depreciated about 30%... Quite different decline curves.