One way to place a value on a trailer is to price its replacement. This will determine if it's worth it to you, to effect a restoration/upgrade and keep it, or to sell it outright. A complete restoration of a non LQ stock trailer can easily exceed $4K, particularly if you farm out all of the work. Much of the labour costs can be a DIY project, saving a great deal of money.

Twenty year old steel trailers usually need work, and don't command high resale prices. They are only worth what someone is willing to pay, and that would involve any planed future maintenance/upgrades. Without a restoration, including new tires, brakes, bearings, rust issues, lights and wiring, many steel trailers of that age are only worth a couple thousand dollars.

If you do complete a restoration, and your trailer has been fully amortized, your costs will be significantly less than a new purchase. You will also have the chance to add the many things you've put off, and customize it to your wishes.

If you like the trailer and it has no structural issues, keep it. Enjoy it for another twenty years.

I was in the same position about six years ago and decided to have my trailer repainted thinking I planned to keep it for years more.  At the time my trailer was parked outside and I started to notice surface rust after three years. 

It made me think about a friend of mine that had her trailer repainted three times. She still has it and would have liked to have traded it off before the last paint job but was looking at retiring the next year. I thought I'm young enough that could happen to me and didn't want to do that and decided I could take the $3,000 + for a future painted job to apply towards another trailer.  

I thought it would be best for me to sell the trailer while it was looking good and I unofficially start to look for an aluminum trailer.  It took a year to find a trailer with the size and options I wanted. I was blessed to be able to buy my aluminum trailer for a $6,000 difference and managed to sell one for more that I had in it after owning it ten years.  We built and new barn last year so my trailer sits in now and I have no regrets and love my trailer I have now.

If my trailer would have been inside, I probably would have kept my trailer I had but one thing is for sure, rusts happens and I under estimated how quick.  The big thing is how much money are you willing to put into buying a different trailer vs. putting into your current trailer. 

Not trying to be negative. Sometimes it pays to be proactive and replace things before you have to. How much will it cost to do the repairs on your current trailer? Can that be applied to the new one? Will a little cosmetic work on the old one get a better price?

You have a lot of questions to answer within yourself.

Good Luck!

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After building a new barn last year, I'd probably would have told myself "no" to a different trailer so I'm glad I bought a different trailer before building the barn which at the time wasn't in the plans.

When I decided what to price my trailer, I looked at lots of ads and had been following ads for about a year. I really couldn't find a comparable either because I couldn't find a another 1997 trailer in exceptional shape like mine. I took into factor the new paint job outside and also in the horse compartment, newer tires plus living quarters.  I use my trailer a lot so I kept everything up in good working shape so the people that bought my trailer didn't need to do anything to it.  I stayed firm on my price because I knew looking at ads I couldn't find another one out there for sale at that time like it and was able to sell it within a month.

When I looked at I'd have to spend at least $3,000 down the road sometime for a new paint job, I thought of it that I really just spent another $3,000.00 to get into an aluminum.  I'm known as the bargain queen so I did search high and low for over a year to find that right bargain and was willing to travel for it, from Iowa to Nashiville, TN.  I didn't buy a new trailer but one the same year as I had and went from a 2h to 3h and good quality Sidekick trailer. 

I knew that I would have to spend some money on it as time went by so I put an awning on it the first year and new tires the 2nd year. You're always at risk on refrigerator, air, furnance and hot water heater on an older trailer but all are in good working condition and I figured I would deal with it down the road if they go out.  I don't do loans so it made it affordable for me.

I said I was unofficially looking because if I didn't find the right price for me, I was keeping what I had unless I did.  Having patience is a big key on finding the right trailer and if it takes you a while to find it, maybe your husband will start to get over the crunch of buying a new barn.  If you look long enough, you'll know the right trailer when you find it.  Good luck! 

Typ the rust you see is the tip of the ice berg.

Problem with steel horse tralers is,, they are made of steel beams (tube, channel, andgle) and sheet metal.

Often there are multi layered seams where sheet metal meets fram, etc. when the factory paints then they only paint the exterior, then caulk the seams. The caulk dries and fails in 6-12 months and water gets in the seam and starts rust.

The underside is worse, the seams/joints are not sealed, and often not painted.

Have you crawled under the trailer, and spent a good hour under there.

Unless you strip the trailer and have it dipped,, you are just slowing the rust down. Not to say that with a lot of effort you could make the trailer look good for another 10 years,,  but how are you going to deal with the rust "INSIDE" the seams.

This issue with steel trailers comes from the consumer,, we gladley pay 10K for a new steel trailer that will start rusting in a month,, but we will not pay 12k for the same trailer that would be rust free for years :(

Nick

Terri (who had the same problem!)