Poptop caravan trade-in

18 months ago we came to a similar conclusion when trying to trade our 2 year old windsor, after even the dealer who sold it refused to offer a fair price as a trade on a full van, hence we took our business elsewhere. Ended up selling the van privately for far more than he offered, but substantially less than everyone including dealers were advertising the same make and model for despite being as new. Bought a 15 month old full van with ensuite at a substantial discount to the new price though, so it all evens out in the long run.

Our friends tried to do the same as you, and wound up selling it privately, it took them about four months to sell and we are having the same problem with the resale of our van, so far we have had two enquiries and one of those was from the dealer we were originally dealing with and they offered even less, ours is a full size van and quite old 1996 roadstar but it has been brought up to modern standards. I personally think they only want to sell you a new van and not have the hassle of trading at a reasonable price, and then try and pick it up cheaply when you do advertise it . Just my thoughts.
Broodie H3

We've traded our cub camper trailer in on a nova terra sportz with no probs but they'd been chasing us to sign the dotted line for a while try a different dealer even interstate so you can test it out on the way home!! Best of luck

We recently took our 4 1/2 year old 18ft van with corner (combined) shower toilet to get a trade in price at the same local dealer we had bought it from, and were told that people who buy vans now want full ensuites....and those who buy pop tops want corner ensuites!
We werent sure whether it was a trend or not but had no problems selling it for considerably more than we were offered as a trade in.

I suggest you try to sell privately too.

When we traded two vehicles previously ( a wind up camper van and then a pop top) we got almost the same price as we had paid so it came as a bit of a shock.

Maybe the dealers don't want second hand vans to sell..they would rather sell new ones!

regards,

Heather

Try another dealer jak75, we recently traded our 18ft 5 year old poptop in on a new van a few months ago and most of the dealers made an offer sight unseen other than a few photos on our phone. We originally were going to order a van to our specifications, as we were quoted 2 months delivery from several well known manufacturers ( must have empty production lines if you can get a new van that quick ? ).
In the end we found a van that exceded our specifications that had just hit the dealers floor, each time they couldn't get us to sign up on the spot the price would be shaved a little more or something would get thrown in for free. We tried our luck by telling them we would sign if they fitted the optional solar panel upgrade for free ( van was cabled for solar but no panels fitted ), they baulked at that so we went away to think.
They must have been keen to make a sale, as 2 days later they rang up and said they would include panels but have to charge for fitting. So we said put all the freebies in the van and we will pick up that afternoon, and have the panels fitted later.

My advice, make a list of your wanted features. Be truthfull about how serious a buyer you are, and if you can't get the price down get things thrown in that will cost you ( our last try at getting another $1000 off the price failed, but they came back with a H/Reese WDW thrown in if we signed). Lastly, don't get bullied by the salesman telling you the deal is only good for that day - its a lot harder for them to find a cashed up customer than it is for you to find another van to buy.

Regards

Mark