Value of my 2003 Airstream Bambi with hail damage and pretty heavily used?

[HeikeET]

Can someone please guide me to find out how much it's worth? Oh yes it's a 19 ft Bambi

[Belegedhel]

Post pics please, and describe "heavily used." Did the hail damage result in an insurance pay out?

[Belegedhel]

Originally Posted by HeikeET

Can someone please guide me to find out how much it's worth? Oh yes it's a 19 ft Bambi

Oh, and welcome to the forums!

[HeikeET]

[HeikeET]

Heavily used means the person before me lived in it for 4 years. The hail damage is on one side really bad and nothing on other of course I don't have a pic of the bad side haha. I read today you can use a torch and get the dings out ???? I may try that. Can't find anywhere what it's worth

[J. Morgan]

A good metal man could straighten out the hail damage, but it would not be cheap , quick, or easy. The inside would need to be stripped out on the. Damaged side.

I would say a cool paint job might be a cool direction.... That is probably what I would do... Maybe a cool American flag theme???

The purists will hate this idea....

[HeikeET]

True ! So where can you go to figure out the value of a trailer?

[Len n Jeanne]

I believe that Airstream dealers can give you a "book" value for your year and model, but it is hard to say what would be the discount for a trailer that's been dinged up. We were at a dealership for servicing a year or so ago, and I asked the owner what ours would be worth, and he looked it up.

[J. Morgan]

Put it on Craig's list, see what the offers are.

The trailer is worth what someone will pay for it.

I will give you a thousand bucks right now....

[idroba]

Two thousand, sight unseen. Anywhere in the US to pick it up. Grin.

[J. Morgan]

Oh, So that's how it is Idroba?

Ok. Fine, $2,250.

[idroba]

Damn you, $3000. gotcha! The bambi comes west.

[HeikeET]

Guys I am not really selling it but neither one of you would even be close. I paid a lot more than that for it not too long ago . So it stays right where it is :-)

[idroba]

Shucky darn, foiled again.

Seriously, if you have any dealer close, they might be the best place to get some reasonable value. It is very hard to establish any real market value sight unseen when the hail damage and interior condition are hard to assess.

Sorry for playing in your post, I know it was a serious question.

[Colin H]

Originally Posted by HeikeET

Guys I am not really selling it but neither one of you would even be close. I paid a lot more than that for it not too long ago . So it stays right where it is :-)

A couple of years ago my brother was looking into buying an 04 19' Bambi & he checked the NADA guide. It ranged from $8K for the low end to $12K for the high end. I'm guessing your trailer would be lower than the low end due to hail damage etc. I hope this helps you out.
Colin

[Belegedhel]

The quickest way for you to get a good feel of what its worth would be to search high and low on craigslist, ebay (completed auctions), RVTrader.com, etc. and try to find a "comparable" trailer and see what someone is willing to pay for it.

Did you buy it with a clean title, or is it considered "salvage?" A salvage title will almost permanently detract from its worth as well.

I can give you a couple of comps: A couple of years ago, I looked at a 2002 19' trailer. Interior was mostly pristine, as it had hardly seen any use. The exterior looked like it had been dragged against a telephone pole along the street side. It had a salvage title, and the seller was asking $5500 for it. I walked away from it, but if I had it to do over again, I would snap it up. The guy's ad kept getting flagged off Craigslist because the price was so low people thought it was a scam (it didn't seem that low once I saw all the body damage, though). It eventually got snapped up, though.

There was also recently a 19' trailer on ebay that was up for bid with no reserve. I think it was around a 2006 or 2007. Its shortcomings were that the owners had made some interior mods that many people might not appreciate, and there had been some relatively minor damage to the exterior that instead of doing panel replacements, they had riveted on patches. The auction ended with a price in the vicinity of $8k less than similar trailers without the mods and patches.

So the question is, "why do you want to know what its worth?" It doesn't sound like you are keen to sell. If you are wondering if you got taken when you bought it, sometimes ignorance is bliss. If you are wondering if it is worth repairing, well that's something else. There are plenty of threads on here about fixing hail damage--make sure you do some investigation before putting a torch to your trailer (its not good for the clear coat or the temper of the aluminum). If you are looking to improve the value of it avoid the bondo and latex paint as well!

good luck!