RV Industry Faces Worst Spending Slump Since The Great Recession

[Jim]

The RV industry is facing another difficult year, and a new Reuters report points to a mix of war, fuel prices, inflation, high interest rates, and cautious buyers as major reasons behind the slowdown.

Story at the link: RV Industry Faces Worst Spending Slump Since The Great Recession

 

[TR25]

That's a strange way to spell "absolute lousy, faulty products at astronomical prices with no support once the sales contract is signed".

But yeah, must be something else....

 

[Underboss]

The RV industry is facing another difficult year, and a new Reuters report points to a mix of war, fuel prices, inflation, high interest rates, and cautious buyers as major reasons behind the slowdown.

Story at the link: RV Industry Faces Worst Spending Slump Since The Great Recession

I so wish everyone could see..............."war, fuel prices, inflation, high interest rates" the reason behind each and everyone of these.

 

[TR25]

I so wish everyone could see..............."war, fuel prices, inflation, high interest rates" the reason behind each and everyone of these.

Aren't all of those related so you're saying the same thing?
2023 was a record year for RV sales, while inflation/gas was very high (not as high as before though).
33% of campers are 'family campers' and 64% work full time, with the median use being 20 days per year.
So most RV purchasers won't have the income to get these ginormous RVs/Class As. "Most" is the key as far as any non niche business.

We only need to look at the pricing levels for RVs to see how expensive they have become for most people. They have to finance it...and dealerships aren't exactly helping out people afford these, often it's the other way around.
We can see the same thing in the auto industry. A base vehicle is about double what it was 10-15 years ago. So with both, prospective consumers are looking at being saddled with very long term debt.
Other than for the rich, RV-ing has become more of a luxury for most americans. And they just don't see the value in that, unlike purchasing an auto, which they need most of the time.
They will go upside down in vehicle ownership, but it's harder to justify in getting a luxury item like an RV, something that won't be used a lot and also will often have to pay to store when not in use, that 345 days a year.

Don't underestimate 'word of mouth/internet' information as most people get their 'news/information' via their phones/computers. Most are becoming aware of the shoddy products and problematic support for these huge, luxury, non essential purchasess.

So they are sitting on their money. And a lot of that is also a reflection of the job market at present. Everyone is afraid of AI taking their jobs. I've seen people not purchasing even smaller items they would have before.

Debt: most americans have a LOT of debt, non rich ones that is. So they aren't looking to add a whole lot of debt to their lives on a luxury, non essential item that will only cost more and not be used very often.

So the trend is people at the lower end, 'van lifers/old RVs' and the other end, the wealthy/rich with their class As. Debt and income loads separate them.

The debt problem is only going to get worse for non rich/wealthy people IMO and that has been building for decades, "free money" leading to financial irresponsibility by a lot of people that should have never gotten loans in the first place.

Younger people are saddled with a lot of useless student loan debt that they cannot escape, but were conned into getting. These are the future and potential purchasers. Same with housing too.

vehicles, housing, RVs all require loans for most but the rich/wealthy.
Only one of those can be defined as a necessity for most people.

 

[TR25]

Don't underestimate 'word of mouth/internet' information as most people get their 'news/information' via their phones/computers. Most are becoming aware of the shoddy products and problematic support for these huge, luxury, non essential purchasess.

This cannot be overemphasized. While there are people out there who don't do any research before purchasing, or read 'not true' reviews or listen to a few, as time goes on, it will only become harder for the manufacturers and dealers unless the recent trends change direction.

People spending 500-700 grand cash and getting a dumpster on wheels w/no interest from the dealer or the mfgr? They should be treated like kings, catered to.

In the lower price point end, I see a LOT newer RVs with water damage. Mid tier purchasers are going for small, simple and inexpensive and they aren't getting a lot for what they spend, but it's lower financial exposure for them and it's something their smaller/weaker/faulty vehicles can handle.

Social media are speaking.
And props to this board if this is allowed to be shown. Too much filtering out there that is catching people.

 

[Holdmybeer]

The price of any commodity is only what people are willing to pay. The invisible hand of the market, not kvetching, will sort things out.

 

[Michael T Klukas]

The RV industry is facing another difficult year, and a new Reuters report points to a mix of war, fuel prices, inflation, high interest rates, and cautious buyers as major reasons behind the slowdown.

Story at the link: RV Industry Faces Worst Spending Slump Since The Great Recession

I love my Class C now, but it was a nightmare when I first got it, and the dealer and manufacture was out to lunch during the problems. I think some of it was deliberate. Either employees attacking the manufactures, dealer or me. I just returned from a 6 month trip to Asia where I wrote a book about growing up in a corrupt America.
America has turned into a massive Dog and Pony Show. Ok my rant is over.

 

[TR25]

The price of any commodity is only what people are willing to pay. The invisible hand of the market, not kvetching, will sort things out.

And reasonable debt rules/limitations used to aid in not artificially distorting any market. We've seen those go out the window with real estate with atrocious results. Lately it's been the auto industry where people can be 20-40K upside down....and that gets rolled into a new, overpriced vehicle. I have no idea how they can do it and how long it'll keep going as one day these people are going to just walk...when they're stuck with 1500 monthly payments for the next 5 years on a vehicle they no longer own.
Be interesting to know more about how the RV finance industry works as in who is financing it...and who will be left eating some of it.

 

[TR25]

I love my Class C now, but it was a nightmare when I first got it, and the dealer and manufacture was out to lunch during the problems. I think some of it was deliberate. Either employees attacking the manufactures, dealer or me. I just returned from a 6 month trip to Asia where I wrote a book about growing up in a corrupt America.
America has turned into a massive Dog and Pony Show. Ok my rant is over.

There sure does seem to be a disconnect between people and jobs, people and govt, people and people, etc. I had a custom topper made for one of my trucks and it was cheap garbage that had to be returned 3x...and the local 'topper shop' was also incompetent...and IMO a bit lying and corrupt.
Their response when I asked about warranties was they just sell someone elses product. They don't guarantee anything. Each time they put it back on, they left tools in the back. I gave them the tools back as they were.....cheap.....

 

[Michael T Klukas]

One of the things that came out of the great pandemic was massive increase raw materials pricing, like construction materials and metals. Seems that someone wants to make people buy their overpriced crap. Third time my Solar generator went down. Instead of them sending me parts I returned it for repair. Luckily for me I had a back up system I made myself (no issues). I now made a second one (no issues).
Michael T Klukas
Author/ Photographer
Boys Will Be Boys, Corruption or Psychopath?

 

[TR25]

One of the things that came out of the great pandemic was massive increase raw materials pricing, like construction materials and metals. Seems that someone wants to make people buy their overpriced crap.

[as this is a general discussion area, this should be allowed.
If someone does not like/want to read it, please don't, go to another thread, etc. ]

As planned, it wasn't just a few people wanting to make big bucks selling their wares. It was about cowing the population into fearful compliance and submission.

Supplies of everything were artificially constricted. Remember people stealing toilet paper from the bathrooms of parks and hotels? Remember the empty shelves in stores? Runs on dust masks to....stop a virus?(!) Many examples.

That was one of the reasons IMHO for the increase in RV ownership during that time and the next few years. And that was when the "slap them together and gettem out the door" mentality of manufacturers really went into overdrive as no matter what they produced and dealers brought it, they'd sell.

But in reality quality was plummeting BEFORE 2019 in RVs...just the same as in vehicles, houses, etc. The manmade pandemic just put that on steroids and a whole class/group of people were benefitting from it, just just one RV manfacturer, it continued on long after...and I guess, it set the new standard of cash flows and control.

What will reset everything? Consumers stop buying faulty products, stop accepting corruption, stop all the bad that has taken place.

The absurd financing needs to be addressed. The only question in the end will be, who will bail out the people who took loans out they should never have qualified for?
For vehicles/RVs/boats/homes that were faulty?
Who will bail them out?
And then, those that loaned the monies for those. Will they too seek a bailout?

There's a lot going on in that price of plywood.

 

[Michael T Klukas]

I agree, Now that I think about it, My Class C was made before the crises hit and luckily for me I bought it just before the False Flag panic hit. It was on a lot clearance sale. They were making room for their new inventory. I think like you say, the great pandemic just made a already bad situation worse. As far as your comment on general discussion, this topic seems to be RV related. I get it though. "Karen's" everywhere. Someone reached out to me stating that I should not have put my newly released book on the Classified page as it is not related to RV's. I think it is related to RV heath and welfare. I don't want to be in violation of the rules so I asked Neil if I should take it down. He responded that he got some complaints already and removed it. Wow! The complainers must have done the Amazon 3 hour delivery to have read and decided it did not belong. Anyway I told Neil, no worries, I will move on. That is what us RVers do and why we RV.
Michael T Klukas
Author/Photographer

 

[Vint]

During COVID and the next couple of years, there was a rush to get into the camping/RV lifestyle by a lot of sub-40-year-olds, sorry, I don't know the letter designation for them. Around 2022-23, they made up about 44% of the RV'ing market. I guess that many of these newbies found out once they had to go back to work that they didn't have the time or finances to RV and camp, creating a glut of used campers to hit the market, many with very few hours of use on them. At the same time, as with so many of our younger generation today, who seem to be more "Fad" influenced than prior generations, they have moved on to the next cool thing.

The older generation Baby Boomers, who really fueled the growth of the RV industry, are a smaller market today and older, who are getting out of the lifestyle due to health, age, and affordability on retirement incomes. Smarter too with knowledge of the quality and maintenance issues the industry is known for.

Finance rates probably have a lot to do with the drop in sales, adding thousands to the purchase of a new or used RV today. Couple this with a consolidation of dealerships into mega dealers like Camp World, Blue Compass, and General RV, among the largest, controlling the sales narrative. Personally, I would deal with any used car salesman rather than one from any of the largest RV dealers.

Even smaller local dealers cannot be trusted. Just two weeks ago, I visited the largest dealer in my town to try to make a deal on my DP trade for a nice used Entergra Class C. The kid salesman treated my wife and me like newbies, even though I had previously told him we've been RV'ing for 18+ years and I have negotiated 4 RV purchases and 2 boats. So, we left the dealer with a $10K spread between us, shaking hands. A week later, my wife and I decided maybe my offer was too low. I called the dealer, spoke to the GM because the salesman was off, and upped my offer by $5K. The GM said he'd run some numbers and get back to me. An hour later, he calls and tells me he can't make the deal because even with the extra $5K, we were still "$20K" apart! Two days later, I figured it out, he had confused the Entegra we were interested in with another model three years newer and $25K more on their original asking price. Idiots.