We stopped our search for an RV; for now.

[ChrisParise]

We bought a 7 year Route 66 warranty on our 2006 Sunseeker 2860DS, which we still own.

Didnt get the value out of it, not sure I would buy one again. Probably paid out about $2,000 and cost more than that.

The dealer did an excellent job on coach repairs, electric steps went out twice in that time frame, but the chassis work was done somewhere else, engine codes, and the workmanship and attitude was awful.

Took them 3 or 4 times to fix, finally they took it to a Ford Truck center for the solution. And the first time they claimed it was fixed they wanted me to pay them out of my pocket before they would give me the keys. A phone call to the dealer who sold me the plan and they turned the keys over to me.

[reevesfamily]

Yeh, we bought ours last September before the “troubles”. We found what we wanted and it was a unit that someone had ordered (had every option available for 2020) and not been able to complete the delivery. We negotiated about $5k off the dealers list price on 2 base model units they had on the lot and got all the options. List prices for 2021 models are between 5-10k more than we paid out the door for ours. We are happy and glad we pulled the trigger when we found this one. Right place right time. We don’t plan to change anytime soon and it’s been great “isolating” this year in our camper. Good service from the dealer also.

[jwfrede]

Originally Posted by Swimmer

My wife and I had been actively looking, and were ready to purchase a new RV (Super C) by early Q1. Lots of internet research, and then brief trips to dealers Over the past 3 months .

As C19 ramps up, I was uncomfortable visiting the dealerships anymore, even while wearing a mask and SD.

The dealerships have very low inventories and are charging top dollar, so another reason to pull back and wait. IE, I don’t blame them, but it’s definitely not a buyers market.

Recent vaccine news is looking good, and hopefully things will return to normal next Summer at which point we may enter the buyer pool again.

I don’t want to turn this into a political discussion, just the realities of buying an RV at this point in time.

Any other potential buyers out there reaching the same conclusions?

I've limited my search for a new 5fth wheel to replace a TT to the internet. I can't find inventory anyway to look at. Figured I would try again in the spring, hoping the issues listed might start to subside. Then my brother reminded me that I already have reservations for a 10 wk trip next summer and they all specify my 25 ft TT not a 31 ft 5er that might not fit in the spot. Oh well, I guess I'll wait till next fall, maybe there will be a lit of lightly used inventory available from all these sales.

[rvflyer57]

My daughter bought a nice TT (their first) just before the madness began, and thought it would last until the 2 boys got a little bigger. She returned from a Grand Canyon trip yesterday, and after only the second trip they’ve decided something that sleeps the boys more comfortably is in the future. Probably a bunkhouse model. Advised she sell hers now at a likely profit, then wait for the flood of lightly used to go on the market 2021. Sadly, probably will be a lot of repo’s as well.

[slomotion]

Everyone must decide for themselves & live with it. There’ll be plenty of RVs available downstream but plan a sellers market until 2022, maybe 2023. The market can only build X units of each type/kind per month & that won’t change. Hang in there. One suggestion: rent. Not from a company but an individual. Plenty of people’s units are sitting because they’ve no $ or are concerned about traveling right now.

[Lundy]

The reason Rv's are more expensive in California is, well its California, the other is shipping costs. It costs dealers over $4,500.00 to ship to the West Coast. Dealers near the manufactures don't incur those costs. We purchased our Rockwood 2608BS Monday from Toscano RV in Los Banos. We negotiated 27% off of MSRP, which I thought was fair especially since this unit is so hard to find. I have also been told by more than one dealer that FR is going to raise prices significantly over the next year and shipping costs are going to be raised 40 cents more per mile. Time will tell about the quality of the build, but during our PDI we couldn't find one item that needed to be fixed. We also spent the night at the dealership and went through every single component on the trailer. Keeping our fingers crossed.

[dustman_stx]

Originally Posted by Swimmer

Interesting. Why is that?

They won’t let us post the honest answer to that here on the forums, lol.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Lundy

The reason Rv's are more expensive in California is, well its California, the other is shipping costs. It costs dealers over $4,500.00 to ship to the West Coast. Dealers near the manufactures don't incur those costs.

I'm not sure it costs that much but even if it does, California dealers will turn around and charge $10k to $30k more, than Midwest prices. I've contended for years that West Coast dealers make profits on the shipping costs.

[Lundy]

If you look at the build sheets provided by FR it shows the transportation costs for delivery to the dealer. I have seen build sheets from many different places around the US and $4,500 is the cost to Cali. I negotiated with RVWholesalers for a potential purchase and it was the same charge. I even looked into picking up half way at their Texas location and they wanted $2,000 for that far. In the end the price I got from Toscano was close enough that it didn't warrant a 4,000 mile week long drive for us to go that route and then have to deal with local warranty issues that would come up. Manufactures pay hot shot drivers to deliver these RV's and they charge a fee per mile. FR does not control the cost of delivery other then to go with the lowest bid.

[Velosprout]

With my last Forest River RV purchase I ordered it built specifically, selecting each option, fabric, and finish that I wanted. Forest River was excellent in sending me by mail small swatches of the available fabric choices (requested through my salesperson). Yes, it takes a while to get built; but you get a unit that hasn't had hundreds of potential buyers traipse through, has not been sitting outside in a lot for months, and has exactly the features you want. We placed the order in early January and picked the unit up (Eastern Indiana-area dealership) on April 27th. I imagine the wait time might be a lot longer now, but ordering a specific new build avoids all the dealer visits and negotiations can be largely done by phone/internet. When it does come time to buy again, I will sell mine privately and special order a new replacement.

[Tom 2424]

We are new to RV-ing and also just bought new about 4 weeks ago. It makes all the sense in the world that prices on lightly used units should be much lower once COVID is behind us and/or people figure out RV-ing isn't for them.

But, life is short, we are getting older, so we went ahead and bought. It's a Rockwood mini-lite 2509S, and as others have mentioned, we did a pretty exhaustive check before accepting delivery. The dealer was short of inventory, but we visualized the 2509S by looking at similar components (such as the murphy bed) in other Rockwood models on display.

We have "driveway camped" for 3 nights now, and the unit unit appears to be working perfectly and was pretty well made.

The major change we did so far (after driveway camping night #2), was to remove the top bunk. The size of the bunks are excellent, but it was so tight vertically that I was getting claustrophobic. The construction is impressive: welded aluminum framing that I had to cut out with a DeWalt oscillating tool.

With the upper bunk gone, the former bunkhouse is a spacious (for a TT), airy room. We take our first trip in two weeks: Point Reyes, north of San Francisco....

[nicoal425]

Originally Posted by RobbieH

Look at used. Lots of pros compared to buying new. The two big ones are: 1. You don't take the depreciation hit, and 2. They already worked out the "new RV" bugs hopefully.

There were lots of things I loved about our Super C, but I'd never get one with a full-wall slide again, especially if it has Schwintek slides.

What is your experience buying used with someone else’s holding tanks? I’d love to buy used but the thought of someone not taking care of a holding tank from the very beginning makes me nervous. I totally understand the “new RV” bugs!

[Brewhedd]

Originally Posted by TheWolfPaq82

Oh....quality started to suffer LONG before covid hit. Quality started to suffer at least 5 or more years ago with the RV BOOM. They're predicting another 19% increase in sales in 2021 over 2020. Expecting a half million more rigs will be sold next year. Camp grounds aren't getting better, they're getting worse. We got out of the camping thing when we bought our cabin and acerage. Sold the 2018 Cherokee this summer.

Sold my Grand Design Reflection TT about 2 weeks ago. After a punch list as long as my arm and the dealer bs I have concluded owning an RV is too much of a pain. The industry operates like the auto industry did in the 70's.

[dmctlc]

Originally Posted by Brewhedd

Sold my Grand Design Reflection TT about 2 weeks ago. After a punch list as long as my arm and the dealer bs I have concluded owning an RV is too much of a pain. The industry operates like the auto industry did in the 70's.

I agree 100% on what you stated. I've been saying that myself for sometime now. They need the same wakeup call similar to what Japan did back then. The RV industry is slowly implementing change but at this rate we won't see anything comparable to the auto industries improvements for another 100 years..IMHO..

[Jcape]

If you are worried about covid-19, you have no business leaving your house much less taveling in a rv. Just wait a few years, I sure don't want someone with all tha fear of being around people screwing up my experiences.

[moose074]

Originally Posted by Jcape

If you are worried about covid-19, you have no business leaving your house much less taveling in a rv. Just wait a few years, I sure don't want someone with all tha fear of being around people screwing up my experiences.

The one of main reason why RVs are in such high demand, is because of people who think differently. Excluding groceries because I would by them at home as well. When I travel in my RV I don’t have to use services like restrooms, restaurants and hotels. When I camp I am not crowded it’s outdoors and if I choose to talk around the old fire I have room to social distance.

[Swimmer]

Thanks for all of the feedback and sharing your experiences. Belated Happy Thanksgiving.

[sherman12]

Yep, I agree that by probably 2022 there will be a huge glut of used RV's on the market. This will be especially true in the low end "beginners" model TT's in the shorter lengths going up to modestly priced 5'ers.

However, to the OP's initial concern about jacked-up prices now because of C19, even in this record-setting year of double-digit sales increases, motor home sales were still off 8% to 10% from last year's sales figures. What that would tell me is that deals can be had now, the slowest time of the RV sales year for most of the country for driveable RV's. Throughout this past summer, my son was shopping for a used, five years or less, class C. Our local RVNet dealership was offering some really good pricing, around NADA low retail, for several of the rigs they had on the lot.

Another factor to consider is the RV manufacturers offer different pricing schedules to the dealers, often at substantial discounts, to keep the production moving and to keep their employees employed. I have been told the winter months is when the best deals are had for the dealers, who then should be more aggresive in their retail pricing to move units.

OP, go for it now! Good Luck.

[Bubbleslisa68]

Originally Posted by Swimmer

My wife and I had been actively looking, and were ready to purchase a new RV (Super C) by early Q1. Lots of internet research, and then brief trips to dealers Over the past 3 months .

As C19 ramps up, I was uncomfortable visiting the dealerships anymore, even while wearing a mask and SD.

The dealerships have very low inventories and are charging top dollar, so another reason to pull back and wait. IE, I don’t blame them, but it’s definitely not a buyers market.

Recent vaccine news is looking good, and hopefully things will return to normal next Summer at which point we may enter the buyer pool again.

I don’t want to turn this into a political discussion, just the realities of buying an RV at this point in time.

Any other potential buyers out there reaching the same conclusions?

Oh yes!! It's been a crazy year that's for sure. We had a D12MMST A Frame trailer. Unfortunately it was in a bad accident and totalled by the insurance. We started looking around for about the same size A Frame so we can store in garage. Wow the prices and basically no inventory. This one dealer near us always advertise but when you call, out of stock more coming. After 3 weeks of searching we found one in Iowa! We live in northern California. The dealer there was fantastic and very easy to work with, even discounted a bit because it was a 2019. I talked to my RV mechanic, he said stay far away from anything built in 2020/2021. Says his lot is full of them for repairs. The quality control isn't there. What we did is looked on RV trader and also googled rv dealers out of state, that might help. Good luck on your search, happy camping

[jwfrede]

Originally Posted by sherman12

Yep, I agree that by probably 2022 there will be a huge glut of used RV's on the market. This will be especially true in the low end "beginners" model TT's in the shorter lengths going up to modestly priced 5'ers.

However, to the OP's initial concern about jacked-up prices now because of C19, even in this record-setting year of double-digit sales increases, motor home sales were still off 8% to 10% from last year's sales figures. What that would tell me is that deals can be had now, the slowest time of the RV sales year for most of the country for driveable RV's. Throughout this past summer, my son was shopping for a used, five years or less, class C. Our local RVNet dealership was offering some really good pricing, around NADA low retail, for several of the rigs they had on the lot.

Another factor to consider is the RV manufacturers offer different pricing schedules to the dealers, often at substantial discounts, to keep the production moving and to keep their employees employed. I have been told the winter months is when the best deals are had for the dealers, who then should be more aggresive in their retail pricing to move units.

OP, go for it now! Good Luck.

Motor home sales have been down, but overall RV sales are up according to RVIA.org. That means TT and 5ers were up significantly.