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We've ordered a new 'van & have been offered £3000 part ex for our 1999 Elddis Firestorm 500/5.  We paid a lot more than that when we bought it in Feb & obviously the dealer we're buying the new one from will sell our old one at subtsantially more.

We have a couple of problems with it:

1.  Jockey wheel broke when we came back from a weekend away on Sunday - we've bought a new one so problem solved at £31.

2.  The battery charger has packed up hence we came back from our weekend a day early with a flat battery.  We're charging the battery but not hopeful it'll recover so we'll have to spend £89 on a new one (cheapest 110v I can find).  Cost of charger in van would be £110 if we fit it ourselves.

3.  We didn't have any hot water whilst away - not sure if this is a seperate problem or related to the charger not working & the battery running down (only realised there was a problem when the lights went dim then one by one went out!).

4.  Took a damp meter away with us and found damp in the outside wall in the bathroom.  Worse at the bottom but some near the top aswell.  Everywhere else was bone dry.  No idea how much this would cost.

The dilema we have is do we risk losing even more money on it by advertising & outlining all the issues, spend a bit putting things right then sell privately at a better price, or trade in knowing damn well the dealer will sell it on probably without correcting the faults & probably rip some poor un-suspecting first time buyer off?

Arrrrrgh!!!!!!!

Has the dealer inspected the van / aware of all the issues and is the £3k trade-in a fixed amount? If not they may lower trade-in offer based on damp and other points when you go to complete the deal.

We wouldn't trade in without pointing everything out to them & will have to check the paperwork to see if the £3k is fixed (suspect not).  My main worry is that they'd just sell it on without putting things right. 

I know it wouldn't be our problem but they don't have a good reputation for selling used vans - over-priced rubbish mainly (there's been a thread about them on here recently) & it bugs me to think they'd give us less then sell it on at a ridiculous price without any repairs & rip someone else off.  We're getting a good deal on a brand new van but I'd never buy a used one from them. 

if you sell private you may make a few quid more BUT.. you have to advertize it, make avaialable for veiwing (possible several veiwers) if selling on ebay face the risk of not getting any more than the 3k if not less.

obviously youll be pointing out the faults if not rectified to prospective buyers that may use this to haggle the advertized price.

both selling options have there pro's and conns.so the desition is yours.not forgetting the costs involved in selling both finacial input and time involved

as for water heater problem yes that may well be the fact that wont ignite when battery is low,

At a guess in the present climate I would expect your van in good working order, to fetch £5.5k to £6k. I personaly would get a couple of quotes from other caravan repair work shops,or mobile caravan service mechanics before you decide to PX it for £3k

Check out the prices for you van on caravan search sites

Wow!  Think we've already decided to put the new charger in anyway - still have a couple of weekends booked before we change over & don't really want to have to cancel them.  Makes it an expensive 2 weekends away but hey ho.

The guy at the storage site where we are at the moment does repairs & I have to go up later to take the battery off & see if it can be charged so I think I'll leave the keys with him & ask him to have a look at the bathroom. 

It's weird how we get bone dry readings right next to it but damp inside the bathroom.  I'm wondering if something is leaking behind the panel as there's no sign of anything anywhere else & the van has been well looked after in every other way.

we were offerd £3000-£3200 for our 2001 elddis avante .put it on ebay and got £5400 for it plus saved £2000 buying our senator privately and avoiding the dealers.

bit of a no brainer i say.

yes youll always get more for selling private. its just a case of weather you have the time but for an extra £1000. it certainly would be worth while let alone an extra £2k to £3k.

however on the other hand if you were spending nearly as much as you were going to gain in doing up then that would be a differnt ketle of fish.

get the jobs done get the van advertized and get banking the £s( or buying some new caravangear