Mini Lite to Ultra Lite? Trade in Value?

[25RockwoodinMO]

Hello all, last year we made the jump and bought our first travel trailer a 2017 Mini Lite 2504s. We love this new travel trailer but are already thinking about possibly getting into something a little bit larger. We are looking at the new 2018 2707WS and are concerned about how and where to go to trade as we have limited Rockwood Dealers here in Missouri. We drove 6 hours to find this one we really would prefer not to drive that distance again. We will look at the comprable Flagstaffs also. To those of you who have traded before how do you go out and look up the value of your trade-in without relying on what the dealer says it is worth? We tried going to one website and of course after you submit all the information and options they want your name address email and phone number before releasing any dollar amount. We are just toying with the idea at this point. We know about the huge depreciation but still are considering a larger travel trailer. Any direction or advice would be appreciated thank you. Chuck

[bikendan]

NADA, don't add value for stuff that comes standard or that are "forced" options.

RV Trader

No matter what you check, be prepared to be shocked, since RVs depreciate significantly when you drive it off the lot.

Trades always work against you. You'll always do better selling it yourself.
I've never done a trade in with any of our vehicles or RVs.
Just sold it myself.

Trading in is always a losing game.
I sold my last RV for 2x what the dealer offered in trade.

[25RockwoodinMO]

We knew we would take a big hit more just trying to figure out how big thanks for your input.

[25RockwoodinMO]

Okay how do I edit a post haha!

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by 25RockwoodinMO

Okay how do I edit a post haha!

There's a time limit on being able to edit your post.
You can PM me or any other moderator to edit it for you.

[itat]

I’ll echo what Bikendan said. If you can, sell it privately rather than trading it in. I got $4500 more than the dealer wanted to give me on trade when I sold our last trailer privately. If you really want to save, don’t buy new either! They depreciate much slower after 4-5 years and the previous owner will have worked out all the kinks, or they’ll be fairly obvious if you know what to look for.

[desiphil]

Wholesale/Trade NADA book is around $18,500. Full retail is $24,300. Typically dealers ACV at 80-90% of trade value. ACV = actual cash value

Definitely sell privately if you can.

FWIW

[NorSnrub]

Dealers that give good trade, Jack up the price and dealers that have a good price have a bad trade. So if you can sell privately.

[25RockwoodinMO]

We always wondered how long it would take to sell privately we will consider that option. The Ultralite 2707ws we want has a MSRP just over 39, a local dealer says their sale price is just over 34 and they offered 18.5 for ours. We have played this game with car dealers and I guess we just have to decide how bad we want this particular trailer. Thanks for everyone's input.

[SuicideSaints]

I just went through this last year, RV dealers use a NADA wholesale value, this about 2k less than NADA low value when you price it yourself on NADAs consumer webiste (this was how it was with mine). I went to NADA site and then when I go to the dealer they showed me the NADA book for wholesale and it was 2k less. Doing the same for you it looks like your TT on NADA is 20,150 low value to if you take 2K off that your are in the ballpark of their offer.

[desiphil]

Originally Posted by SuicideSaints

I just went through this last year, RV dealers use a NADA wholesale value, this about 2k less than NADA low value when you price it yourself on NADAs consumer webiste (this was how it was with mine). I went to NADA site and then when I go to the dealer they showed me the NADA book for wholesale and it was 2k less. Doing the same for you it looks like your TT on NADA is 20,150 low value to if you take 2K off that your are in the ballpark of their offer.

It's normally a percentage, but your point is valid. Looks like the dealer offered 100% of wholesale. The next step is to shop the best price on the trailer the OP wants to compare to what the dealer is showing as a sales price. My experience tells me the dealer is putting a actual cash value of $16k-17k. Which means if you took the trade out, then offered the dealer $2k less than their sale price, they'd take it in a heartbeat. ie, same deal for them to the one they offered.

[wicked1]

Originally Posted by bikendan

NADA, don't add value for stuff that comes standard or that are "forced" options.

RV Trader

No matter what you check, be prepared to be shocked, since RVs depreciate significantly when you drive it off the lot.

Trades always work against you. You'll always do better selling it yourself.
I've never done a trade in with any of our vehicles or RVs.
Just sold it myself.

Trading in is always a losing game.
I sold my last RV for 2x what the dealer offered in trade.

What method have you used for selling it on your own that works the best? Some say eBay but this fees can add up? I am curious only because we want to order a new 5er but the trade value is what is keeping me from doing the deal and our unit is in really good condition so would not be afraid to sell it on our own.

[JohnF]

Try Facebook Marketplace. It’s free and you can advertise out to 100 miles from your location.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by wicked1

What method have you used for selling it on your own that works the best? Some say eBay but this fees can add up? I am curious only because we want to order a new 5er but the trade value is what is keeping me from doing the deal and our unit is in really good condition so would not be afraid to sell it on our own.

Craigslist.
I check both NADA and RV Trader to get dealer value and what similar models are selling for nationwide.

[wicked1]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Craigslist.
I check both NADA and RV Trader to get dealer value and what similar models are selling for nationwide.

Sorry I meant what resource or source did you use to sell it? Was it Facebook Classifieds?, RVTrader?, Letgo or some local paper?

I should have cleared that up in my last post

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by wicked1

Sorry I meant what resource or source did you use to sell it? Was it Facebook Classifieds?, RVTrader?, Letgo or some local paper?

I should have cleared that up in my last post

Always Craigslist.
Have sold 3 vehicles and 3 RVs easily. Going to be putting my Avalanche on Craigslist in the spring.

[25RockwoodinMO]

Thanks to all for the advice and comments. We made the switch last week and traded in our 2504s for a 2906ws. We are already out enjoying the new camper! Chuck

[rmillermtsu]

We sold our Micro Lite 25DKS on RV Trader and got our price with the first person to look at it. The dealers were only willing to offer 15- 20% less than what we sold it for.

[csyrell]

We did almost the exact same thing. Went from a Mini-Lite 2507s to an Ultra Lite 2902ws. I can promise, you won't regret it. Nothing against the Mini, but the extra elbow room in the Ultra is worth the price of admission.

As far as the math goes, I bought both trailers from the same local dealer. They gave me a good deal on the Mini, and I expected a similar deal on the Ultra. I compared the difference in the price between the two, and expected to pay somewhat more than that difference since I was trading in a one year old model. For example, on an MSRP basis, my Ultra was about $8k more than the Mini was, so I expected to pay about $10k more, which is what I did. I assumed I'd take about a $2k hit by trading in after 1 year, and also some additional costs for things like a better WDH.

At the end of the day, know you're buying a bigger rig with the same quality, so if you are happy with the additional cost, then go for it.

[Mountndream]

not sure where in MO you live, but when I upgraded from a Micro Lite to a Fifth Wheel, we posted our trailer on Craigslist. We had multiple calls and sold it to the first person who looked at it.
Since we had others interested, we requested a 500 cash deposit and provided a receipt. They arranged their loan and we met next week to exchange money and the trailer.

use form 1957 for the Bill of Sale From Missouri Dept of Revenue so that what ever you sell your current trailer for can be credited to your owed sales tax

current trailer sold for 10 k
new trailer bought for 40 k
sales tax paid on 40-10k=30k

good luck