NADA values and buying a pop up!

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MkesAnderson

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Joined
Jun 14, 2014
Posts
6
We are looking into buying our first pop up. We've been watching this Coachman Clipper on Craigslist for a bit now (20 days listed now). It's a 2005 clipper series m 1271 st classic. Thy have it for sale at 5k. They gave a link to the NADA value which they did not fill in any extras and it showed a retail of 10k, low value of 3,500 and an average value of 4,600. (However when I go back and add in the fact that it has a pitta potty, a fridge, AC, and heat it raises the low retail to 4,900.) just wonderingn how you all use the nada when buying your popups and how to get a good deal.
We haven't seen the camper in person but from pics it looks very well taken care of.
 
There is a bit of an art to buying pop-ups. Mostly it's timing. "Supply and demand".

This time of year a lot of people are buying pop-ups for their family vacation. Most sellers know this and price their rig accordingly. The best time to buy a Pop-up is in the fall, after school starts.

Pop-ups are usually (not always) an entry into family camping. New buyers seldom know what to look for and one must be very careful buying pop-ups. The fact that pop-ups are built for economy camping means that they are "Low profile" and lightly built. The low profile adds a mechanical component to the rig that travel trailers don't have. Light weight means that the manufacturer has to consider the weight of every single individual part that is used in the assembly of these rigs to be competitive in the "light weight" market place. What this means to the buyer of a used pop-up is that you need to inspect the rig carefully for signs of weight abuse.

The other issue with pop-ups is water leaks. Like in ALL RVs, constant attention must be placed on caulking and preventing leaks. Check the rig over carefully for any signs of water stains on the interior.

As far as the NADA value on pop-ups......... fagitaboutit........ each individual pop-up must be valued on that rigs specific condition. Two exact same pop-ups of the same yr/mk/model could have very different values. The one that you are referring to could be worth $5,000 or $500. You will only know after close inspection.

My experience has been that a lot of sellers will take considerably less for their camper than they list it for. When we were in the market for our 1st pop-up in 2004, we budgeted $3,500 for the purchase. We had no idea what we were doing or looking for so we found 5 pop-ups to go see in one day and we took our $3500 cash with us. The 2nd pop-up that we saw was a 2002 (2 years old) Coleman Tacoma. The seller had just purchased a new 5th wheel and had 2 trailers. He had the Tacoma listed for $5,500 but was motivated to sell. When I told him that we had others to look at and what our budget was he took what we had and we towed the Tacoma home with us that day.

I must admit that we really lucked out because that owner of that trailer was OCD.... the trailer was perfect. It could have easily been a disaster though because I didn't have a clew what to look for. Now..... 10 years later, we have had 4 pop-ups and now a ClassA motorhome. I am much wiser because I have seen a lot of disaster pop-ups out there.
 

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