Direct sale V's Trade In??

IanF

IanF

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On our 2nd MH now a AutoTrail Savannah which we're absolutely delighted with
Looking now to buy our first MH and needing some further advice. We are presently caravanners and clearly we will have to sell it

To explain further the dealer we intend to buy the MH from will trade our caravan but I don't know if that will achieve the best deal for us.

My question is ---- is it best to use the caravan as a "trade in" negotiation or sell it independently?
Thanks
Ian
 
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If no tradin you can usually get a discount but do you want the hassle of selling
I usually have a figure in mind for what Zim prepared to pay so if the overall deal is acceptable I would partX
 
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Appreciate your answer,especially from Elgin,my favourite NE town
 
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We traded in our caravan and car against our motorhome . It took out any hassle and potential come-backs from a private sale.

I checked the trade-in offer on the car with "we buy any car.com" to ensure we had a better deal. It worked for us.
 
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Your welcome Oldflemo and what took you up to Elgin may I ask

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We sold our last MH privately, only because we had bought one privately, too much hassle, next time will be using a dealer

Staying in for no shows, those that show kicking tyres and asking daft questions

Then dealing with the money, its too much to have in cash sensibly, most buyers quite rightly are not keen to transfer till collected but then as the seller you want proof of funds in bank before they leave

Bit easier with a caravan maybe as slightly less value, but not for me next time

But its your money I am telling you not to save, but really not sure there will be a lot in it, you must have a pretty good idea what your caravan is worth by checking auto trader / ebay etc so unless they offer you way less than that you know where you are

I think the days of big over allowances are gone
 
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camocam1 said:
Your welcome Oldflemo and what took you up to Elgin may I ask
Click to expand...
I worked as Project Manager for the Robertson Group and built the Asda etc some years ago
 
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Hi as above we traded caravan in to save hassle,however did get value of couple of dealers.
 
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DavidG58 said:
We sold our last MH privately, only because we had bought one privately, too much hassle, next time will be using a dealer

Staying in for no shows, those that show kicking tyres and asking daft questions

Then dealing with the money, its too much to have in cash sensibly, most buyers quite rightly are not keen to transfer till collected but then as the seller you want proof of funds in bank before they leave

Bit easier with a caravan maybe as slightly less value, but not for me next time

But its your money I am telling you not to save, but really not sure there will be a lot in it, you must have a pretty good idea what your caravan is worth by checking auto trader / ebay etc so unless they offer you way less than that you know where you are

I think the days of big over allowances are gone
Click to expand...


Good advice there!(y)
 
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Well you lot must have plenty of money if you can afford to throw it away on trade ins.yes it's easy but that's because the person making it that way is making money twice !
You walk in to somewhere and see a van you like that they are selling at a good mark up ,and offer a van they say they don't really want but they know they can make a good profit on.
:doh:
Anything you offer to a trader is an opportunity for them to make money from you at both ends of the deal !
Ive bought my last few cars and my first motorhome privately ,as of yet I've never bought a lemon ,with a little bit of research you can save thousands!
If you get people coming round to view whatever your selling and your not happy with them make your excuses and tell them it's gone to the last viewer, or just be frank and tell them to p1 ss off !
Failing that if your an honest seller get a px price post it on here and you never know you could sell it for a few quid more.


Vlad

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Thanks Vlad- I've certainly not got money to throw away (and being a Scot that is inbred)
 
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When we bought our Motorhome , we traded in the caravan .
We got what we wanted, infact a bit more for the caravan. And paid what we thought was a good price for a Motorhome with the perfect about for us. We got it right the first time too , so didn't have the hassle of having to swap again , and again as in some cases.

Now we are putting our Motorhome up for sale privately. We don't know where yet, Having never sold one before, but on here for sure, once it's valeted and had a service and hab check.
We've bought the new shape Lwb Peugeot boxer to convert from a dealer. Still havnt got it yet though......waiting patiently to start .
 
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We traded in our caravan when buying the motorhome. I checked how much i could sell mine for privately and got just a few hundred less in trade in. So i was very happy and saved the hassle.
 
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I also lived in Elgin and New Elgin :D

I can't offer direct advice on this. It really does depend on a couple of things.
Your tolerance for risk,
Your available finance,
Your time table,

You can have it either fast, safe or cheap but not all three unfortunately.

You may get a cheaper deal privately but it will take time and involves some risk
You may get a faster deal from a dealer but it will cost you in money.

The middle ground is to hit a bunch of dealers and to hammer them hard, do some serious haggling....

However you go, good luck. Hope you get a good one (y)

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We had this with our car. Decided what we wanted for it if we sold private, then took it to dealer (we were buying next car from them) to see trade in value. It was obviously less than what we wanted, but for the ease of sale, (no tyre kickers, length of time it could have been for sale, potential of any buyers offering the price we wanted etc) we were happy to trade in as we drove old car in and new out. If your want price and trade in offer are near enough to live with, go for that. If not sell private.
 
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I sold a MH privately a few years back and agree it isn't a quick fix, however if you are prepared to do some work then you can get a good price. The purchaser of my van travelled a couple of hundred miles and we had exchanged several 'e' mails re HPI etc. He travelled up by train and I collected from the station, inspected the MH, took for a test drive and then we went into our respective banks to sort out the payment. In all I got a good price and enabled me to barter a good discount on my next van, however it is time consuming and I had the MH advertised for 2/3 months - free on Preloved.
 
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oldflemo said:
Appreciate your answer,especially from Elgin,my favourite NE town
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What's wrong with Aberdeen like min ;) You have a lot of info on here to mull over, good luck (y)
 
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Thank you all for your kind and very helpful advice -really very much appreciated
Ian

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oldflemo said:
My question is ---- is it best to use the caravan as a "trade in" negotiation or sell it independently?
Click to expand...

I would sell the caravan privately.... as already said, having no trade in you will be able to negotiate a better deal when buying the motorhome.. and you will get a better price privately for the caravan. Win win .

I recently sold a caravan on ebay.. no problem, provided you are topically honest with your listing, plenty of 'honest' photos, you have nothing to worry about.
The guy who won the auction came the next day with the readies.. and I got more for it than I paid two years previously.
 
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If you are in caravan club they offer a valuation service for a £5 fee. I believe they supply a private and dealer price for sale or trade in. May be worth the £5 fee to get an idea if the dealer is being fair or trying to have your pants down. If the latter, you at least have a good idea of price to set for a private sale.
We sold our caravan privately ( 2 weeks on Ebay Classified. £15, 12 photos and no further fees following sale) and bought the MH privately, however I have previously used the CC valuation service and been happy enough with trade in price for previous caravans.
It all comes down to having the time and patience to deal with everything if doing it privately. If its all down to a couple hundred pounds, then maybe not worth the hassle. If its a couple thousand pounds, a different story.
 
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thank you again for your kind help
Ian
 
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As others have said trade in is convenient but costly.

Selling privately need not be a hassle.

It very much depends on the trouble you're prepared to go to.

Your advertisement should aim to answer all the questions a potential buyer should ask.

You should photograph the van from every conceivable angle.

Over the years I have sold 3 vans, 2 of them to the only person who viewed, and the other one to the 2nd person who viewed.

All for the full asking price.

Being retired I cannot earn the money that I "made" by selling privately.

HTH


Andrew

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You're in the same position has us Ian. We've got a Swift caravan to sell. Been offered £9700 for a direct sale to a couple of local dealers but £12000 on a part ex.
Trouble is we fancy a continental van with a double floor and they are few and far between near us at the minute.
Not looking to buy until April time so might have a go at selling van privately first.
I can recommend Jims book, Motorhome Buying Guide. Some very useful tips in there.
 
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Thanks again and yes I have that book and it's well worth the money
 
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As a canny Scot you must know the answer is to sell private and buy at the bottom of the market mid winter.
 
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