Toy Hauler - 2002 Millenium by KIT

The KSL ad read "2000 Toy Hauler, Paid $11,000, needs work and I don't have the money to fix it." Asking price was $3,500 Here's the ad:


Here's the punch line for you who want the Short version:
NADA Low Retail : $7,050, Average Retail: $8,525
Cheapest Comparable on KSL: $6,500 (2001 Toy Hauler with Salvage Title)
Asking Price: $3,500
Purchase Price: $1,750 (Including Stabilizer hitch, aprox, $200 value)

THE DEAL:
My Brother sent me this ad from KSL. For 4 days in a row I called this guy 3-4 times per day, leaving messages twice per day and sent one text and one email on day 2. I really doubted that this deal was still available but based on the facts that he never answered his phone for me or when I would have my brother call, I assumed he was just difficult to get a hold of. Also his ad stayed on KSL so I figured he would either pull his ad or finally answer and tell me to stop calling if it had been sold. One thing I was careful to not do in my messages was to sound desperate because I knew that if I was begging him to call me it would hurt my ability to negotiate later on. Late at night on the 4th day I got an email back from his wife saying that she worked out of town and her husband worked 12 hour shifts but that tomorrow he would be home and to call him then. After 3 or 4 calls and an email to his wife I finally got a call back.

I was initially interested in this deal because I would have estimate the value of this trailer in the $6'500 to $10,000 range. I was aware that it had some sort of damage but regardless knew that this had the potential of being s screaming good deal depending on the costs to repair it. When I finally got to see it my impression was that it had had a hard life followed by a bad incident. It was rough around the edges but mechanically sound, tires were good, the functionality seemed in order. All of its problems were simply cosmetic. I was somewhat interested.

One of the things I like to do if the seller will let me is to think about it for a while with out them there to distract me. So I sat with my brother, and then with Sarah when she arrived, and decided that I didn't want it. It seemed like even after some fix ups it would still not be the prettiest trailer and the most important thing to me is that I thought that for the price it wasn't my favorite layout and didn't really give me much that I needed although it did have a lot of things that I wanted.

So we (Brian, Sarah, Zoey & I) decided that it would be worth at MOST to us $2,000 bucks but realized that the guy would likely not go that low so really we were prepared to just pass on the deal. But I always like to let people know what I'm thinking about their deal in exchange for their taking the time to show it to me. I think it gives them some feedback to go off for the next time they show it to someone. So I told the guy that I wasn't really interested partially becuase of its overall condition but mostly because I wasn't sure that it would work for my situation. i assured him that he would likely find someone who would buy it for $3,500 but that if not to call me and I would consider it again for $2,000. To my surprise, and horror, he actually said that he would take $2,000.

I was actually kind of frustrated inside because now I had to take time to really make a decision on this deal when I had a lot of other things to do that day. Not only did this have the potential of being a good thing for my family as far as a good purchase but I also now had to evaluate it on the side of making a financial investment because the price was good enough. 1 - Did I want to spend my money on it for that price, and 2 - if not could I fix and sell it for a profit?

I ended up with this conclusion - at $2,000 I still didn't feel comfortable buying it with either goal in mind but at $1,500 a smile crept up my face because that would be a SCREAMING good deal! So I went back to him again and said that I still just couldn't do it for $2,000 but that I would take it, no more questions asked, done deal for $1,500. He wouldn't go that low so I looked inside myself and said "If I don't like it at $2,000 but I would jump allover it at $1,500, I could probably be just fine halfway in the middle." So I said "Well lets meet in the middle at $1,750 and call it a deal." He agreed, we shook hands and that was that.

So why is this a good deal? I got it for 50% less than asking price, I believe I could make a $2000 profit off of it if I cleaned it and spent a day fixing it, and I could use it as it is for 5 years and still sell it as is for what I paid for it or more. In reality we will likely sell our current camp trailer which will pay for this trailer plus give as another $2,000 or so in the bank.