We have been thinking about getting a new travel trailer.  We have a “pop up” tent trailer.  We went camping a lot this year.  We like to go all the time in the summer.  This year has been a really wet year.  Every time we would go, it would pour buckets, sometimes we would have to leave a day or two early because it was raining so much.  When it rains and you are in a tent trailer, the canvas gets wet and then your sleeping bags get wet.  Sometimes I lay in bed, when it is pouring and lightening and I just hope that the lightening does not strike me.  I have read that people have gotten struck by lightening in a tent and they die.  Plus, then trailers have holes, they are not air tight because the beds slide out, so there are little openings all over it.  In the summer, bugs get in and crawl around, lots of spiders and ants, the ants go marching one by one, by one, by one, you get the idea.  Anyway we wanted a regular travel trailer.  I looked and looked on the internet and got a pretty good price on what they cost, all over the  United States.  I told my husband that I would even travel to another state, if I got a great price.  I went to a RV place on Saturday to a place we found on the internet.  We want a trailer that is pretty basic and does not weigh too much, one built to be pulled by our vehicle, a SUV.  I saw this trailer and the ad said “Make an offer, any offer.”  I called them and said “I would like to know how much this trailer is.”  The guy said  “Well, you make me an offer and I will present it to my boss.”  Now I have checked out all the prices,  so I said “I would say I would give you  an offer of $13,000 to $15,000.”  He said “Well, ok, can we do the deal?”  

I said I had to look at it first, so we drove to see it the next day.  It was light weight, for a travel trailer.  It has a bed, a couch and a dinette  and a stove and a bathroom.  I wanted a stove with an oven, it only had a cooktop.  We sat down with the salesman and the “manager”.  The offer just seemed to vanish in the wind, like there was no “Make us any offer and we will deal.”  They told us what they would give us for our tent trailer, which we figured that is what they would say.  The manager came back with his magic numbers.  The sticker price on the trailer was $18,000……but with our trade in,  we would pay $22,000 for this trailer…..something about it had to be written like this because of the bank….it was such a deal.  SAY  WHAT?  We said  “No, we will think about it.”  (Not really.)  The manager said  “Oh, the offer is only good today, not tomorrow.”   We got up and left.    He friggin marked up the trailer $4,000 over the sticker price on the door tag.  The thing is they said they had “Blow out prices”.  Yeah blow it out your butt prices. 

The Jayco dealer did the same thing.  “This trailer is $20,000, but I have to jiggle around the numbers….for the bank, so it will end up being $22,000.”    I said Good bye to them too. 

We happened to be driving to Alcoa, to go get more cabinets for our kitchen (remodeling the kitchen).  We saw this RV sales place so we stopped to look at the trailers.  We saw one that was perfect.  Front queen bed, a sofa, a dinette, a kitchen area, with a stove, microwave and the stove has an oven.  It is a Layton Joey 209.  (You can go to the link to see pictures of it and of the inside to see what I am talking about.)  There was actually a sign inside with the price.  A great price.  I went up to the salesman and said I will buy that trailer if you give me “x” for my travel trailer and I pay exactly the price in the trailer.  He said “OK” .  He wrote it up.  I brought in my trailer.  They liked it.  I called my credit union and they said “Sure, you are approved.”  I went there and got the check, signed the contract and I pick up my new trailer on Thursday.  We want to go to Yellowstone next summer.  There are some campgrounds there where you are not allowed to take tent trailers because of bears.  We can now go camping there.  It will be so nice.  No more putting down a tent trailer in the rain, pushing the wet canvas in over the bed and getting the beds all wet.  No more going home and opening up the wet tent trailer to dry out the canvas and the beds and the sleeping bags.  No more washing the canvas because it was covered with tree sap.  No more buying lots of bottles of seam sealer to cover the entire canvas, so it would not leak.  We had to do that several times.   We had that tent trailer for 2 years.  It was on warranty for 2 years.  In that time, it seems what could go wrong, did go wrong and the dealer fixed it.  The fridge stopped working.  The lift system stopped working the first month we had it.  They had to fix it.  The air conditioner kept leaking.  They worked on that.  The sink leaked and ruined the cabinet.  They fixed that and put in a new cabinet.  The battery died like the second time we ever used it.  They replaced that.  The list goes on and on.   It was a Rockwood.  Don’t ever buy a Rockwood tent trailer.  That is why I just traded it off.  I didn’t want to wait and see what I had to fix, now that it is out of warranty.