We are thinking about upgrading our current travel trailer to a bigger and newer model. I'd like to find out your thoughts on trade-in vs. selling the trailer personally. Also, is there a big difference in selling in the fall vs. summer? I figure we won't get as much this time of year as there may not be the demand there would be when spring fever hits. However, having no experience in this area, I'm hoping you can help me out.

Thanks for your help!

Hi Campingirl - I don't know why I thought your TT was new. I think that selling out right versus trade-in is always a better way to go, moneywise, as you will get more. But then you have to decide whether you want to deal with the bother of doing that. Every time we are preparing to get a new car, hubby always says he is going to sell the one we are getting rid of instead of trading it in but then he thinks about all the phone calls, taking the time to show it, having to be home when people say they are coming and then never show up, etc. and he always ends up going with the trade-in option. I am not sure of the time of year but I would think there would be less demand in the winter. I am sure that some of the guys around here can help you though. Good luck in whatever you decide to do...

We sold our last TT outright instead of trading because of the amount of money that we made. I dealer offered us 10k for a trailer that was 2 years old that we paid 18k for. We put a sign on the camper at the storage facility and ran an ad in the Boat and RV trader and sold it in 2 weeks. The only problem was trying to show it in storage. We got 14k for it by selling it. It really depends on how much more you can get because of the way sales tax is figured. If you are not going to get a lot more for selling instead of trading, I would trade because you might make up close to the difference in sales tax.

Thanks for the input.

One of my concerns is that my sister-in-law ordered a new trailer this year, assuming she'd have no problems selling the trailer she had - she is now the proud owner of two trailers! I guess her first mistake was ordering her new tt before she had sold the other one - I don't know what shape her trailer is in, or if she's asking too much, but I don't want to get stuck in this situation.

I think I'll get hubby to check on what we'd get in a trade-in and then scout the RV trader etc. to see what similar trailers are going for. He's still not sure he wants to move on up, however, I think I can be pretty convincing when I want to be!

I think I'm in a "catch 22" - I'm guessing we'd get a better price on a trailer right now, however, we probably wouldn't get as much for the one we have as we would if we sold in the spring!

Thanks again for your help!