NADA/Blue Book Price when trading in

[Wannabe Full-timer]

(Not sure where the correct place is to post this question so I apologize if this is in the wrong area.) Anyway, for those of you who have traded in a non Keystone RV for a Keystone RV (not necessarily a Montana), were you given close to the "Blue Book" price? I am just wondering what we might expect.

We were given a base price I believe, sight unseen on our travel trailer when we visited the dealership this past weekend just to be given an idea but today when I used the Nada website and I plugged in all the options it raised the value considerably - basically it showed our RV is worth what we owe which is much more than what the salesman had told us but, of course he was just giving us an estimate and without even seeing our travel trailer just to give us an idea. We didn't get into any details or discuss any of the options we had on it. Our travel trailer is in excellent shape. Just wondering what other's experiences have been with dealers and the Blue Book price.

TIA.

[Snownyet]

Just my opinion but if youre looking to get nada trade value, be prepared to work that trade price off of the MSRP. NADA prices are inflated, many times dealers will use that number to make you feel good when in reality theyre not discounting off MSRP like they would when a buyer is purchasing outright. Id venture to guess that with the excption of some high end trades most dealers have very little hard cash tied up in the used RV portion of their lot.

[CampingCrazyShirley]

It has been our experience the dealers use the NADA guide, but the guide you use on line is not typically the numbers they get. There is a trade-in value on cars, but I'm not sure if that exists for campers. That's the value you should use to begin with and what they give you will probably be less. However, with that being said, be careful when using the NADA as quite often, the base price includes many of the base options, so be careful that you are not adding on items that have already been accounted for, such as refrigerators. A friend of mine had a motorhome and used the NADA and had a price in mind, but when he went to the dealer to trade, the value was considerably less. It was then explained to him about the base price and what was included in that and then what you can add on. Just a thought, especially if the numbers are pretty far apart. Good luck.

[chieflawdawg]

We were offered wholesale price on our Keystone Sprinter to trade up to a Montana. But our dealer doesn't sell at MSRP either. We bought the Monty outright and are trying to sell the Sprinter ourselves. NADA value was about 5K higher than wholesale. Salesman told me that even if we sold it for $500.00 more than what he offered, we would be $500 to the good. Anybody wanna buy a 2003 Sprinter TT? lol.

[Wannabe Full-timer]

Well, from what I understand and from the research I have done, the dealer we are looking at sells lower than just about anyone else in the U.S. on the brands that they carry. The price that he quoted us on our trade-in was only about half of what the NADA was and I think that is way too low no matter how ya look at it but again I know he may have just been throwing us a number and maybe even thinking we were stupid enough to accept (I don't know) but at least I have an idea of what a high and low price is for trade in now. Thanks for your feedback. It really helps.

Sandi

[bsmeaton]

Ahh - the "game" of trades.

It really depends on what numbers you are working for the new trailer. If you are offering them list MSRP, you should get an offer for your trade somewhere well above Blue Book Retail plus any option values. However, if you have already offered a discounted price for the new trailer, you won't get much above Blue Book Wholesale on your trade, regardless of what you still owe.

A really good deal would be getting high Blue Book on your trade and 25-30% off MSRP on your new trailer. A really bad deal would be getting wholesale on your trade and paying MSRP on the new trailer. Most deals tend to focus somewhere inbetween.

The only real way to put the money back in your pocket instead of the Dealer's is to sell your current trailer by private sale at it's retail value. Once sold, you should be able to buy your new one at a reasonably discounted price without a trade. Not everyone has the time or tolerance to sell an RV privately, including myself, but you can come out well ahead that way.

This is just based on my own experiences and in no way imply I am an expert negotiator. There are probably Dealers on the MOC laughing out loud right now driving thier new BMW that I paid for

[Wannabe Full-timer]

Brad, from what I am finding, the MSRP on this unit runs between 36-37K. This dealer offers it for jut under 25K, so I am going to guess he isn't going to give us much on trade in. As for selling our TT ourself - well, I can totally identify with what you are saying - my husband & I are both that way! I guess patience is not one of our virtues and should be.

[bsmeaton]

Under $25 sounds about right based on what we were negotiating for my daughter on a Cougar. Her's was a TT coming in just above $20.

With the numbers discounted on the new one, you're probably looking at wholesale for the trade.

[Wannabe Full-timer]

That was what I was thinking too Brad. Since they offer such a low price on the RV in the first place, they are going to make it up in a the trade in.

[Cat320]

eBay is the way to go.

[Wannabe Full-timer]

Have never done E-bay and am fearful to do so particularly since we owe. I think it would be very stressful for us personally,

[William H. Collier]

It really doesnt matter what they are asking for the new coach or what they are giving you trade in on yours. The only thing that matters is the difference, the rest is just a numbers game they play. According to our sales contract we recieved just under $54,000. trade in on our 04 3400.
Bill

[mobilrvn]

Here is how it worked when I sold RV several years ago. The mark up on a new RV is 40%. At $50,000, it means the dealer paid $30,000 plus shipping. What you will really get for your trade-in is wholesale less 10% or $2,000 whichever is greater. If the wholesale value is $25,000, you'll get $22,500 actual cash value. Inbetween are just numbers to make you feel happy. You're much better off selling it yourselves. If you owe more on your rig than the actual cash value, it will be rolled into the sales prices---there is no free lunch in this business.

[mtnhntr]

When I was negotiating for a 5er (not a Montana) and I had a Lance camper to trade in, the dealer said my camper had a wholesale value of about half of what the NADA web site said for a low value. He said that to get the wholesale value you need to buy (subscribe ) to the NADA book like he did and many Banks and Libraries did. That book lists the wholesale value according to him which is much less than what you see on the web site. I never checked this out since I ended up selling it for the average retail on my own. I also used the NADA web site low value for negotiating for the Montana that I now own. The party selling the unit was asking a much higher price than even the highest on the NADA site stating that they added up all of the options NADA listed. I pointed out that you could only list those options that did not already come standard and that since this was a private sale that low retail is all they could expect to get. I sold my old camper and found the Montana on Craigs List. I would suggest that you take a couple of pictures of your rig, set a fair price and put it on Craigs List. You just might sell it quickly and be money ahead as others have suggested. ( www.craigslist.org ).
Good luck,Ken

[virgil47]

I just traded fivers and in order to do my homework for the trade process I subscribed to the NADA Recreation Vehicle Appraisal Guide referred to in the previous post.
If you like and care to email me the specifics of your fifthwheel, I will tell you what this book says.This book does not deal with options, it simply gives the year, model number, number of slides length, axles weight suggested list price when new, Used w/s trade-in value and used retail value

Using my old Montana as an example, it says..
1999 Keystone Montana M-3555RL-SL-3 36' X 8' 2-10,000 Sugg List = $40,300
used w/s trade-in= $13,100
used retail = $17,900

Happy to help

[Wannabe Full-timer]

Thank you for your kind offer. I just sent you off an E-mail.

Sandi

[adelmoll]

Now don't you go leaving this forum Virgil. I'll bet that new Excell looks great on the back of Overkill.

Helen

[virgil47]

Thanks Helen. Sure don't want to leave, too much good information here. I have learned so much on this forum since becoming a member in 2005. Glad to see it is possible to stay around and monitor. I've been doing a lot of that. Over on the HDT forum, they call it "lurking". Can't wait for you guys to see the new fiver. We are enjoying it.

[Bill and Lisa]

Quick question on Craigslist since I am trying to sell my SOB privately. Is it only for items in California, specifically around San Fransico? Virginia Beach is a long way away.

BIll

[mtnhntr]

Bill, No, Craigs list is in almost every area of the country. It opens up to San Francisco when you log on, but you need to scroll down the page over on the right side to get a state/city near you. There are at least 8 cities in VA that have listings.
Ken