OT: Used RV Market

[DawgInTheCold]

The used RV market is insane, still. Actually it’s only getting worse. However- it has to correct at some point when people start selling off. When do you think this happens?

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

Talked about this in another thread. It's going to take longer than anyone thinks. Supply chain shortages are driving up the costs of new RV's and delaying production. Winnebago CEO said on his last quarterly call In June, motorhome backlogs are up 320% YOY. It will take 2 years to fill current orders. THOR industries is even bigger than Winnebago and they now have a $14 billion dollar backlog. Up 550% YOY and 32% from January.

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The used RV market won't stabilize until the new one does. This is new RV sales by year. The RV market just bottomed out before Covid. The day I saw these numbers, I started looking at ordering new. I was of the mindset these new RVers would hate it . They don't. 84% of 18-34 yo RV owners plan to upgrade to bigger and better RV's in the next 5 years according to a survey from earlier this summer.

There is and will continue to be way more demand for the next few years than there was in 2016-17. But we are still way behind on new units sold because of raw materials and labor bottlenecks. Employers are way more lenient on remote work now. Even everyday office workers can take a remote work week in the RV, not to mention all the full time remotes.

Boomers are retiring en masse and want to travel and millennials are going to millennial... It's probably a bubble, but it will take years to pop if it ever does and it will likely never get close to where it was 12 months ago or probably even today in prices.

 

[Smoked Toag]

In my line of work, back in summer 2020 most folks anticipated things would be back to normal in 3 years. I would imagine that's the same for most things. We all got spoiled when things 'kinda' got normal at the end of 2020 and early 2021, but Delta has showed us who is boss. Summer 2023 seems very reasonable now for all this weirdness to level back out.

 

[Dawgbite]

Before buying a RV , do some serious research on park reservations. The number of RVs outweighs the number of available sites for rent. I have seen high demand parks that previously required months for reservations now take a year and I mean you better be on the computer or phone at 9 am one year in advance. A local COE park that I'm normally able to drive up and get a spot any day outside of holidays now requires a month of more reservation for mid week reservations. I bought a new to me motor home in March 2020 just as COVID was firing up, I could sell it today for 10-15% more than I paid for it.