Chuck Woodbury, editor of the RV Travel Newsletter (great newsletter – great web site – http://www.rvtravel.com/rvnewsletter.shtml) wrote in the latest issue, “As you all know, the RV industry has been hit especially hard by the recession. Many RV makers and dealers have closed up shop.”
Well, I’m sure he’s right. The company I work for has been hit hard, too. I’ve read many articles about the “great RV deals” to be found as a result of economic conditions. The problem is, I haven’t found any of them! My wife and I have been shopping around to replace our 1994 Citation travel trailer with a younger home-on-wheels. Our Citation is a nice rig. We’ve had it for a few years now. It was and is a nice step up from the pop-up we had, which was a necessary step up – off the ground – oh my back! – from our tent camping days.
But, where are the great deals? Where are the sales people who want to build a relationship that lasts? In the last few weeks we’ve met some really nice RV sales people, and some really arrogant RV sales people. A couple of weeks ago, we found a trailer we liked at the area location of a national dealer. Deb said, “I don’t want to do business with that guy!” A week later, we found another RV we liked, but I couldn’t stand the sales person. Neither deal was great, but we might have worked something out if the people had cared to treat us well.
Well, people aside, we haven’t seen what we’d call “good deals” at any of the RV dealers we’ve visited. Maybe it’s just my New England Yankee attitude. Maybe I’m looking for some willingness on the part of RV dealers to make real deals in a down economy. Maybe I’m just dreaming!
Any comments? What’s been your experience?
