Here's how to buy your trailer at the best price.
First of all, don't have a trade-in. Sell your old trailer on Craig's List or E-Bay or similar.
Decide on exactly the make and model and options of the new trailer you want to buy. Use the manufacturer's website to see the current floorplans and specs. and factory options.
Use Bing or Google or your favorite internet search engine and locate dealers for that brand of trailer, and check their current inventory. You'll probably find at least one dealer - probably somewhere in the Mid-West - that will have the trailer you want at a price you're willing to pay.
Copy the info (brand, model, options, price) and keep it in a manilla file folder. Then find that same trailer/options in your neck of the woods. Talk to that dealer, in person or via e-mail, and put all your cards on the table. Realize that he's going to add dealer packs, such as documentation fee and inventory tax, to your deal. Just make it clear how much you'll pay "out the door" including those dealer packs, but not including TT&L. Then ask how much is the TT&L.
That's what I did. Knowing our requirements, I determined that the SkyLine Nomad Joey model 196S was what we wanted. I found it at dealers near Chicago and in central Ohio for $12,220. I found the trailer at my nearby RV dealer, almost identical to the ones we found in the MidWest, with only a couple of inexpensive options added on. The dealer quickly agreed to sell it to me for $12,316 plus $50 documentation fee and $34.48 inventory tax and $889.75 TT&L. (Texas TT&L is high because of 6.25% sales tax).
So with the agreed-on price of $12,316, my out the door price was $13,290.23 including dealer packs and TT&L. I wasn't going to drive all the way to Ohio to tow my new trailer back to Texas for that tiny bit of difference in price.
My requirements included a real queen-size bed with walk around on three sides. Darling Wife refuses to crawl on the bed to make the bed, and I don't blame her. A shower/tub seperate from the comode, a decent-size closet, a dinette but no sofa, and a GVWR less than 6,000 pounds. The Skyline Nomad Joey 196S met all our requirements.
http://www.skylinerv.com/floorplans/196.gif
Note that Skyline makes that exact same trailer under at least 4 different brand names: Nomad Joey, Layton Joey, Aljo Joey and Mountain States Joey. They also have a very similar model in their Koala brand name.
Our Nomad Joey 196S with $584 worth of options, $450 destination charge, and $250 dealer prep had a total "sticker" price of $18,241.00. As noted above, my out the door price was $13,290.23 including dealer packs and TT&L.
We haven't towed it anywhere yet, other than home from the dealer and to the truckstop to weigh everything on a CAT scale. The CAT scale says the unloaded trailer with nothing filled but the propane tanks, Serta Eurotop mattress replacing the cheap stock mattress, and a small TV added weighs 3,620 pounds on the trailer axles. Plus my Sherline trailer tongue scale says the hitch weight is 650 pounds before you hook up the weight-distributing hitch. So the total actual "dry" weight is 4,130 pounds. GVWR is 5,600 pounds, so Darling Wife can load up to 1,470 pound worth of dishes, food, linens and clothes before the trailer is overloaded.
We couldn't find a floorplan that met our requirements in less than the 19.6' model, which is about 23' overall length (including hitch frame and coupler). Good luck in finding yours.
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