2 Foot'its - Trading a camper

[Rickm]

I purchased my first "new" camper, a Jayco pop-up, seems like forever ago, back in 1998, kept it for a year and traded it in on a travel trailer. My dealer gave me top dollar for it, because it was still like new ( i'm anal when it comes to clean), and for the next few, i traded them in on new. Ya, i probably lost money, but i was upgrading....that was o.k. , at the time. When i think back, it was dumb.... i was always paying, never caught up. Than, i started buying used.... and actually, at one time i had a pop-up in the garage, and one in the driveway sitting next to my hybrid(kiwi). I was making money on them. My last venture was a Jayco Eagle sitting next to my StarCraft AR-One in the driveway.... i could have traded it in, but i new that the eagle was in such great shape, i could sell it and make out better than trading it in. Live and learn! Keep them in tip top shape, they are easy to sell, unless they are a stupid layout, and there are some out there

[mick]

Agreed on the extra payment amount.

Since the lenders allow such long terms on RV loans, its really difficult not to get upside down.

[camper79]

Good advice on the extra payments.

I try to put a little extra on every payment. I include a note that the lender put it towards the principal, otherwise I am afraid they will apply it only to interest.

[rbrent]

If you plan on trading in 5 years try to send in a couple extra payments a year and put it on the loan not the interest. that would help a lot at trade in time.

[jcarlilesiu]

Good information.

[mick]

We paid ours down for 5 years on a ten year loan, and then upgraded. It wasn't even, so they allowed us to roll some of the balance over and we increased the downpayment to cover the difference.

The problem with rolling over is that most lenders don't like to lend more than the actual value of something.

[jcarlilesiu]

I am not really interested in trading it in now, more like.. maybe in 5 years.

Do campers ever "break even". I suppose it depends on the term of the loan.

[rbrent]

I'm sure you will get hit big trading it in with it being less then a year old. might try to sell it out right to a private buyer rather then trade it in. You would surely have to roll a lot of cash over into your new camper since you just got it. I have rolled a little over in my trades over the years but not more then a grand. I would sell it or wait a few years to trade it in. But then it don't hurt to check out what the dealer would give you for it since you want to upgrade. Good Luck on whatever you decide to do!

[jcarlilesiu]

I just bought my 16RB last fall.

Just curious, for all of you that I see that upgrade. Do you take a huge hit on the trade in for your camper? We financed our camper with a pretty long term to keep monthly premium payments low. Just curious if this hampers upgrading. If you financed, do you roll the balanced of your current camper over on the new one?

Obviously, upgrading often is a bad financial plan, but I just wonder how many people pay cash outright. If not... how do you upgrade if you are upside down on your current camper?