The years ahead for RVers

[murphysranch]

Recently, hubs and I woke up at 4:30 a.m., packed and ready to drive to Boise ID to purchase a used bumper pull. He says to me, while we were waiting for the house to warm up, Honey we are making a mistake. So we cancelled the purchase.

Why? Reports of crowded campgrounds with rude campers, increases in cost of gas, insecurity of what is to come with the economy, sky high storage costs for an outside spot.

Sad? Yes, we had so many good years with two prior bumper pulls and a fifth wheel. Toting Grands around the Western US. Seeing places that my Calif Native husband had never seen. We truly enjoyed our travels.

Next steps? Wait. Wait patiently. We are selling a rental with a goal of a modest profit, even after short term capital gains. Hunker that money down. Letting America turn the next corner; for RV crazies to exit the game; to remain healthy enough to go to see the rest of the US in our travel trailer, moseying down the road enjoying the sights as we roll.

 

[AbdRahim]

@Neal ... thanks for starting this discussion. Always enjoy getting everyone's prospective on things. We are one of the folks that sold and ordered a new one. After going through a pretty scary health scare earlier this year, we decided that if we got good news (which we did) ... that we would try to upgrade to our "dream coach" if we could do three (3) things. 1) sell our coach for a good price, 2) get a good deal on the new one and 3) make the timing work so we could do a dealer pass through to make the numbers work. If not, we would be very happy with our current coach and just keep going. So, we placed the for-sale ads the first of July and sold the coach for more that we paid for it new, got 29.7% off on the new one and did a dealer pass through which saved about $20,000 on taxes. The only thing we did not fully anticipate is the long wait for the new one. We sure do miss not having a coach.

Yes, I am certainly concerned about all the things I am reading on the Newmar quality, but believe I will be able to get through that since it's not our first coach especially with the help of @redbaron and his delivery and PDI threads. As far as the prices of RV'ing ... I guess it "is what it is". Don't see me being able to change any of that in the short term, so will just have to put up with it and make the best trip decisions we can as we go forward. We don't really have the luxury of time to just wait it out and want to hit it as hard as we can while we both have our health. So hopefully in February, if we get the new coach, we plan to burn fuel!

So that's our story and we are sticking to it for better or worse.

FLSteve

What is a dealer pass through? Is that a trade-in?

 

[FLSteve]

What is a dealer pass through? Is that a trade-in?

@AbdRahim ... A "dealer pass through" sometimes called an "in & out" is where you basically sell your coach on your own and then pay a small fee for a dealer to handle the paperwork and then treat it as a trade in on a new coach order. That way you get the maximum value for your coach and then get to use that value as the trade in value for the tax savings. Best of both worlds. Also, a dealer can offer potential buyers financing, extended warranties and other services that you as a private seller cannot which may help you sell your coach as it opens up the potential number of buyers ... like ones that may need financing.

In my case I ordered a new coach from NIRVC Atlanta, paid them a $1,500 fee for the pass through when I sold my Dutch Star and saved about $20,000 on sales tax ... plus got what the coach was worth on the open market as a trade in value instead of what a dealer would normally give you.

If you are not buying a new coach, then this approach is probably not an option as the benefit is in the difference in value tax savings. Also, not all dealers will offer this.

That's my layman's way of explaining this. Others may do a better job with it.

FLSteve

 

[RKins]

I am a little concerned that the retiree base, living on a relative fixed income, will feel the pain of the inflation caused in part by the money being spent by the gov't over the next 10 years. People still working will be able to flex with the increased cost of everything as their wages increase but the retiree will take a big hit. Some will not be able to afford the fuel costs and the CG prices.

 

[Voyageurs]

My

I am a little concerned that the retiree base, living on a relative fixed income, will feel the pain of the inflation caused in part by the money being spent by the gov't over the next 10 years. People still working will be able to flex with the increased cost of everything as their wages increase but the retiree will take a big hit. Some will not be able to afford the fuel costs and the CG prices.

Agreed, but fuel prices are headed down, and with the Covid 5th wave starting in Europe and the thanksgiving Covid spread that will happen on this side of the pond I think fuel prices will start to drop in about two or three months. Hard to watch but it is what it is.

Take care of yourselves and each other folks. We got this.

 

[Fish]

Recently, hubs and I woke up at 4:30 a.m., packed and ready to drive to Boise ID to purchase a used bumper pull. He says to me, while we were waiting for the house to warm up, Honey we are making a mistake. So we cancelled the purchase.

Why? Reports of crowded campgrounds with rude campers, increases in cost of gas, insecurity of what is to come with the economy, sky high storage costs for an outside spot.

Sad? Yes, we had so many good years with two prior bumper pulls and a fifth wheel. Toting Grands around the Western US. Seeing places that my Calif Native husband had never seen. We truly enjoyed our travels.

Next steps? Wait. Wait patiently. We are selling a rental with a goal of a modest profit, even after short term capital gains. Hunker that money down. Letting America turn the next corner; for RV crazies to exit the game; to remain healthy enough to go to see the rest of the US in our travel trailer, moseying down the road enjoying the sights as we roll.

I made the reservations for our stops on the way to Florida the other day. I had no problem getting spots at the places I chose. While we're only spending the night I'd have no problem spending a week at any of these places.
While last winter was great at our lease with 3-4 empty spots on each side of me I don't expect any campground to be able to make money like that. The lots aren't small so if I have people on each side of me, I have people on each side of me. No big deal.

 

[High Desert]

This is an interesting thought about retirees and future expenses. Inflation is increasing, but we have all been through the up and down of that before. Social security is seeing an increase in payenmts for 2022, but Medicare cost is increasing, but still a net SS increase, bottom line. Fuel prices, who knows. Historically, it is a cyclic event, driven by anything and everything. This time around is very curious as prices are very high but the barrel cost of crude is around $80’ish a barrel, not reflective of high pump prices. all in all, what I have generally seen in retirees and RV’ing, is people with pretty nice coaches, staying at pretty pricy places, enjoying a higher end life style. Will some people get squeezed out? Probably, but based on my experiences and observations, retiree RV’ing is going to stay somewhat constant. I think the biggest factor for retiree decline in RV’s is heath issues more than inflation issues.

 

[FLSteve]

This is an interesting thought about retirees and future expenses. Inflation is increasing, but we have all been through the up and down of that before. Social security is seeing an increase in payenmts for 2022, but Medicare cost is increasing, but still a net SS increase, bottom line. Fuel prices, who knows. Historically, it is a cyclic event, driven by anything and everything. This time around is very curious as prices are very high but the barrel cost of crude is around $80’ish a barrel, not reflective of high pump prices. all in all, what I have generally seen in retirees and RV’ing, is people with pretty nice coaches, staying at pretty pricy places, enjoying a higher end life style. Will some people get squeezed out? Probably, but based on my experiences and observations, retiree RV’ing is going to stay somewhat constant. I think the biggest factor for retiree decline in RV’s is heath issues more than inflation issues.

@High Desert ... we are fairly new at the retirement phase of life (only 2-1/2 years into it) but what you say makes sense. Especially the last sentence.

FLSteve