RV Weekly

RV Trade Digest ran two news stories during the last seven days about manufacturers laying off employees. I suspect that these are merely the first of many manufacturers that will have to readjust their labor force in coming months.

I applaud Winnebago and Monaco for being the first to make this difficult decision, knowing that it will most likely protect the future health of their companies. For obvious reasons it is always hard to make those kinds of decisions. That said, I must add that I truly sympathize with the men and women, as well as their families, who have lost jobs.

RVIA reports that 2007’s total new unit RV shipments were 9.5 percent under 2006’s banner year numbers. Based on predictions of manufacturer’s 2008 new unit shipments, this year will be a little slower than last year.

While press releases on RV manufacturer’s staff reductions reach my computer, I have to wonder how hard RV dealerships, suppliers and aftermarket manufacturers are being hit. They are the front line when it comes to consumer confidence and purchases. Are these companies also finding it hard to keep employees busy?

While attending the Stag Parkway show, it seemed that overall, dealer attendance was down this year –– some exhibitors estimated by as much as 10 percent. But some exhibitors I spoke with also told me that their overall show orders were up this year.

I suspect this means many smaller dealerships didn’t see the need to incur the expense of attending. Larger dealerships with high-end aftermarket retail facilities not only attended but felt that the coming year would see increased parts and accessory sales. It will be interesting to see if the attendance and buying patterns at other distributor’s shows in coming weeks mirror Stag Parkway.

Also on the bright side, with fewer new units hitting the road, this can only mean positive things for service and the aftermarket departments at a dealership. Qualified service technicians have been in short supply for as long as I can remember. Wouldn’t the men and women displaced by manufacturer and supplier lay-offs be good candidates as service technicians? I would think that if an employee can build a travel trailer, or RV furnace, they would already have at the very least a rudimentary understanding of how to troubleshoot and repair units in a dealer’s service bay.

I’d love to hear dealers’ predictions on what kind of year they expect 2008 to be, if they have made staff reductions or if they have considered what benchmarks would make those reductions necessary. Will service and the aftermarket be a bigger priority this year with present market conditions? What can dealers do to seize opportunities in this business environment? As usual, your thoughts are welcome.

Several days ago we posted a link to a news story from a South Bend, Indiana, TV station’s website. The story told of RVs being broken into on dealer’s lots after hours. It seems some nefarious characters have discovered that RVs are an excellent source for free electronics- namely flat-screen TVs. The news story mentioned how this type of crime is not that uncommon at RV dealerships.

Several bloggers on the website began to discuss solutions to prevent this type of theft. Everything from armed security guards who shoot on sight, to ferocious dogs, to just removing all electronics from the RVs until they are actually sold were mentioned.

I wonder how many dealers have actually had problems with this type of thing and what measures dealers are taking to protect their inventory. Any bloggers have some helpful tips or thoughts on this out there?

It seems to me that removing the electronics prior to sale is a great idea, but it doesn’t resolve the bigger problem of a whole bunch of damaged RVs because the thieves didn’t know or didn’t believe the TVs were not inside.

Most conversations I’ve ever had regarding security guards usually involved a joke on how ineffective they can be. Something to the effect of a security guard saying “Stop thief or I’ll …… say ‘stop’ again!” Not to mention the scope of problems that might tumble out a security guard actually shooting someone on the dealer’s property.

Ferocious dogs? Sure that would work, but you have worry about the poor employee who has to open the dealership each morning getting mauled to death. Plus there are all the little surprises dogs might leave for people to step in the next day.

The best solution in my mind seems to be having some kind of fence or wall surrounding the dealership. I’ve seen this done where it looked quite classy. I wonder if all of the various dealers who are building new facilities (the list is lengthy) take into account and have planned for the security of the RVs themselves. Sure they may have a security system on the showroom, sales office and service buildings, but the easy mark is the RV itself. Do any dealers as a standard practice install aftermarket security system on every RV on the lot? Is that even necessary? Do any dealers install them and then market the practice as a standard feature/benefit of purchasing at the dealership? How serious of a problem is this nationally and what do you think is the best way to prevent this kind of theft?

BY DANA NELSEN

Recently a dealer called me up, told me he sold more than 1,200 RVs a year, and then asked me to do a story on his “dealership.” When I get such calls, I try to ask a few preliminary questions to get a basic understanding of the size and scope of the business just to see if it is a good fit for the magazine. When I asked him what part of the country his dealership was in, he informed me that he was located on a farm on the southeast coast. I’d never heard of an RV dealership being located on a farm before, so naturally I became curious—especially with the number of units he claimed to sell.

After probing deeper, I learned that 100 percent of his new unit sales were from the Internet. Now he had me really curious. Was this some sort of Internet marketing/sales guru?

When I asked how he sold so many RVs, he told me that he could sell units at prices substantially lower than dealers anywhere else in the country. He said consumers literally saved thousands of dollars on each RV purchase merely because of zero dealership overhead. He didn’t have a showroom, a service department, a parts store, or any of the many other business costs that others dealers face. This savings translated into a direct savings for the customer.

When I asked how warranty issues are handled, he smugly informed me that consumers are told throughout the buying process that to receive the savings, they must buy the unit “as is” and that the manufacturers have warranty repair centers throughout the country. Because most consumers who purchase from him are from other areas of the country, he told me he wouldn’t be able to service the RVs anyway being located so far away. The dealer said he refers customers with problems to their local dealership for warranty solutions.

Wanting more information about the man’s business model, I asked him how the manufacturers he carries feel about his business strategy. Did it violate his dealer agreement? He told me that with the volume of RVs he sells, manufacturers don’t seem to mind how he moves them.

When I asked how he gets around advertising a price different from MSRP, the man’s story got really good. He told me that rather than advertising the sales price of the “for sale” RV, he would show the deeply discounted price of a “recently sold RV” as an example next to the “for sale” unit. The “recently sold” RV would be the same make and model as the “for sale” RV and next to the “for sale” RV it would simply say, “Call for sales price.”

After hearing the scope of the man’s business, I decided doing a story on his business is probably not in the magazine’s best interest. In fact, his business strategy has me deeply concerned with how it affects other dealerships and even the industry as a whole. I refuse to condone what in my mind is questionable behavior. I am fairly certain there are no federal laws preventing what he is doing and since most of his business crosses state borders, I don’t think state laws are applicable, but I’m not certain. This seems to really come down to whether manufacturers will protect their network of other dealership partners across the country.

In the spirit of keeping this blog from getting overly negative, I won’t mention the dealer or the manufacturers he represents, but I would be interested in dealer’s thoughts on this practice.

BY DANA NELSEN

Hello RV industry. While to many RV dealership readers I’m no stranger, this blog goes out to people who I may not have closely worked with in the past – OE manufacturers and suppliers. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Dana Nelsen and I am humbly the brand new editor of one of the oldest and most reputable trade magazines in the RV industry. Many may recognize my name as an editor of a previous magazine on the aftermarket side of the industry. So while I find myself covering the RV industry at a new desk here at Cygnus, the chair feels comfortable and very familiar.

It is no secret that an incredible set of circumstances brought me here typing this blog to you. I could recount the tale, but I’d rather focus on issues important to the industry and the RV dealers that read the magazine and this blog.

That said, while wading through all the issues of taking over here at RV Trade Digest, it has become very clear to me how important it is for RV dealers to have a succession plan. I wonder how many dealers have seriously contemplated succession if something unexpected should happen.

RV Trade Digest was very fortunate in that we have a very talented associate editor named Erica Schulz, who held down the fort editorially until the reinforcements could arrive. With a new publisher and editor on board, the RVTD team is gearing up to offer the magazine’s 28th year of service.

I once did a story on Bill Rucker, the founder of American IronHorse motorcycles. His story and the evolution of his company, Rucker Performance, is amazing. Several years ago he experienced a terrible motorcycle accident where he lost a leg. Luckily, Erin Rucker, his daughter, rolled up her sleeves and stepped into the leadership role of her dad’s company until he could recover and return. Today, with Erin at his side his company is stronger than ever and with more business than it can handle.

How many dealerships have an Erica or Erin prepared to step in at a moment’s notice? What preliminary steps do you think dealers should take to prepare? Do you agree that this issue should be a paramount concern for business owners? Any advice readers can offer the industry would be welcome, and again, thanks for reading RV Trade Digest.