RV Values Kelly Blue Book

Get the right RV Values with the help of Kelley Blue Book... But first learn how to use it and understand its pros and cons.

What is the Kelley (often misspelled Kelly) Blue Book?

When it comes to buying a new RV, you don't have much of a chance to bargain, all you can do is look for places where they might sell the same brands and models for a slightly lower price.

However, when it comes to used camper trailers, the problems begin. Whether you want to buy or sell a used RV such as a pop up camper, determining the value of the vehicle can be quite difficult.

This is when the Kelley Blue Book comes in handy. This book, which actually has a blue color, has been created to make selling and buying easier, to help determine the value of an RV taking into consideration its manufacturer, model, year of making and many other factors.

Initially the Kelley Blue Book was published only for cars, starting from 1926 and making a huge success. Since then it has been used worldwide, and not so long ago it was also published online. Recently starting from the 60s there are annual releases that contain information about camping trailers as well, such as folding campers, pop ups, and fifth wheels.

In these Kelly Blue Books, called Kelly Blue Book – Travel Trailer Guide you can find very useful information about new campers and used campers, going back to models that are up to 9 years old. The book is published twice a year, and it is sold for about $ 60-$ 70.

While the Kelly Blue Book for cars is available online, the Kelly Blue Book - Travel Trailer Guide is not, therefore you have to purchase it from the bookstores or Amazon. Remember that there are tons of other sources online that have estimates of used RVs and pop up campers, but the Kelley Blue Book is the best and most reliable of them all. There are also other 'blue books' which contains car value information, since this term is also generally used for such info, but the Kelley Blue Book is the most popular one of all.

Pros and cons

The Kelley Blue Book is certainly the Bible of all automobile and RV Value books, which have flooded the market lately. However, it also has some flaws. When people talk about the great Kelley Blue Book, they usually refer to the original book which contained estimate values of cars, and not the later edition which has information about RV values.

This is how the company actually got to be known worldwide. The camper guide is a later project of the company, and it is not as successful as the original guide for automobiles. This is not because the Kelley enterprise lost its touch, it is simply coming from the fact that is much more difficult to determine the value of a used RV than of a car.

First of all, cars have an odometer that records the millage. When buying a car this is the major factor that determines its value. With an RV such as a pop up camper you cannot possible determine the millage. Secondly, most RVs show more obviously the signs of usage than cars do. This is true especially for pop ups and folding trailers: the canopy of the trailer can be damaged quite fast because of being used often.

With all this said, it is obvious that when you buy or sell a used RV, you cannot rely on the same rigorous and consistent rules that can be used to determine the value of a car. Therefore most often when it comes to buying or selling such a vehicle, the price depends of a lot on little things. This is why very often prices can vary a great deal, since they depend on the seller more than anything else.

There are also certain other factors that can effect the estimate value of a camper whether it is a private transaction or not. For instance, the seasonal price of the camper might be different than the suggested value, since in touristic season the prices usually are higher. The market value of the RV is also affected by its location. You can find more information about these factors in the Kelly Blue Book- Travel Trailer Guide.

How to use the Kelley Blue

Even though the Kelly Blue Book- Travel Trailer Guide will not make buying or selling an RV problem free, it is definitely the first thing you should look at before you decide to do anything with a camper trailer. Once you have the book, you can at least know an estimate of the RV that you are about the buy or sell. With such a reliable source of prices you will at least know where to begin and what expectations to have.

If you want to buy an RV, make sure you narrow down the price to an estimate before you go and buy something. As stated above, very often the price of a trailer depends on the owner, and because of this it is also very easy to pay a lot of money for something that has only worth in the eye of the owner. With the help of the Kelly Blue Book- Travel Trailer Guide you won't be cheated as easily.

In order to have a wider perspective, after looking at the information the Kelley Blue Book offers to you, there are other reliable sources that can give you an even deeper insight into the pricing of the RV that you are about to buy or sell. The NADA Blue Book is another value book that contains information about RVs. Another great source that you can get for free is eBay: you can simply look at finished eBay listings, and see how much the RVs were sold for.

When you use the Kelley Blue Book, remember that it is limited.

Up to this day the guide only covers folding trailers or pop ups and towable RVs.

You have to find the desired model that you are interested in or that you own.

If you want to purchase an RV, it is a good idea to look online before at certain models, to make search easier later.

In order to find out the best value for an RV, you must know some information about it, the more the better.

First of all you have to know the size (including the length, width and height, both when it is open and closed), the weight of the trailer, which is also called GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating), and the number of axles it has. Besides this also make sure you know other relevant info regarding the RV such as its facilities, sleeping space and living space, whether it has shower or toilet facilities, air conditioning, water tank and so on. Often these seemingly small things are what determine the price of a camper trailer. When you have all this information, you are only a few steps away from finding the estimate value of your camper trailer.

First you will have to look at the sections of the book, select the type of the trailer (pop pup, folding trailer or other towable trailer), then the brand or manufacturer and the model. Once you have done this, you will find that in the Kelly Blue Book- Travel Trailer Guide lists the results of your search by year of production. Choose the year the camper was made in, or select a year which is suitable for your needs ( this will determine the age of the RV you will buy). Look at the list that you find then carefully, because there might be some additional notes that are relevant. Here you can also look for some optional features before you go on.

Once you have gone through all these steps, you will find various values: the retail value, the trade-in value and the private party value of the RV. The retail value is useful if you are planning to buy the camper, because this is the estimate amount of what the dealer might ask. The trade-in value is what you can get for your old camper if you want to trade it in for a new one, and the private party value is the estimate price that the camper is worth when it is sold or bought in a private transaction.

When you gathered all this information, you will already know what to expect. Keep in mind that when it comes to used camper trailers there are also many other small factors that you should take into consideration, such as damaged parts of the camper, moldy canvas, tears and holes, and other such things that can immediately lower the value of the camper.

However, when you already have an estimate price it will be much easier to find a good price that will make you happy. Once you have all this information, you can be already much more confident and go and buy the RV that you have always wanted. If you want to sell your camper trailer, you can also be happy that you will not be cheated and you won't sell the RV for a lower price than it is worth.

Visitor's Story....

The RV is one of the most glamorous vehicles to be owned by most motor enthusiasts.

Owners can take them on regular outings, safaris, picnics, expeditions and on a whole lot of exciting travel adventures over a variety of terrains.

This class of vehicles serves a whole separate segment of customers who are more in tune with adventure and recreation rather than the mundane aspects of life that most other vehicle owners are used to.

The RVs are also built to ensure that these people get their money’s worth in terms of the quality of the vehicles and their ability to handle most kinds of rugged terrain.

Since most of these vehicles are quiet expensive when compared to the average family car, people take the investment quite seriously. They would like to know that they are paying the right amount for the particular model that they are interested in. Since more people than these specialty vehicles use cars and motorcycles, it is easier to get a better idea of their pricing than the RV's.

pricing. It is easier to find even a price list guide for old cars than it is for RVs. Fortunately, there are a few sources through which a person interested in purchasing a RV can get reliable information on the estimated price of the vehicle.

The Kelley Blue Book and the Nada Guides are two of the most reliable sources for RV prices. Both the Kelly RV blue book as well as the nada RV blue book provide comprehensive information on the right prices for RVs. You can in fact get most of the price of RVs using the Kelly blue book RV values online on their website. Apart from car, and two wheelers, the site also has information even on other vehicles like school buses.

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