RV Weekly

When the new RV shipments report from RVIA hit my desk this morning, I was a little hesitant to open it. It’s one thing to call up two or three dealers in California and have them tell you sales are down by 70 percent, it’s quite another to have a detailed report from an association that takes painstaking care to make sure its reports are correct tell you with factual data that motorized shipments are down by more than 50 percent.

Check Out the June New Unit Shipment Report Here

In an effort to put this in perspective, I called Mac Bryan, RVIA vice president of administration to see if the forecast Dr. Richard Curtin gave at Committee Week in June would be revised. I was told that the data I received today was just sent to Dr. Curtin as well and in 2-3 weeks we may see a revised forecast.

Because so many decisions are made based on what the business environment will be in coming months, Bryan made some points that further put this data in perspective.

• While most economists agree we are in a nationwide recession, there is no evidence to suggest it will not be fairly shallow, short-term one.
• The core baby boomer demographic still represents the greatest potential pool of customers our industry has ever known. Every day they move closer to retirement and the purchase of an RV.
• While new units shipments are down, this has more to do with the national economy and nothing to do with the popularity of RVs. In fact, RVs are more popular than ever and primary demand is very strong.
• The RV industry usually suffers from a recession early on because it is a discretionary purchase but also traditionally pulls out of a recession before other industries.
• The percentage decline in travel trailers is smaller than in the motorized categories. This may indicate the presence of first-time buyers in the market.

I’d love to see some comments on if this data on new unit shipments reflects new unit sales in your local market. How is your dealership doing? Does this snap shot reflect retail business in your area?

My phone has been ringing off the hook of late regarding the new Top 50 Dealer Awards program RV Business recently announced that it would give in Las Vegas during RVDA’s convention. RVDA has not endorsed the evening event but it will take place at the Rio hotel during the convention.

While most of the phone calls I have been getting look at the top 50 dealer awards as another ploy of AGI, when I called around to ask other less vocal dealers of their thoughts, many were unconcerned. That said, it seems a good number of dealers are worried that this will be a repeat of the “Marcus Lemonis as Man of the Year” situation we saw in RV Business in 2007. I’ve heard many complain (justified or unjustified) that the magazine has a history of biased coverage and the awards are another opportunity for AGI self-promotion.

Some feel that the dealers who win in 2008 will be a lengthy list of FreedomRoads dealers. When I asked Marcus Lemonis about this, he said that he had asked the judging panel to only consider one FreedomRoads dealership for the award, which is within the guidelines of the published rules. Dealers eligible to win the award were selected by RV manufacturers with reportedly no input from AGI. RV Business then sent qualifying dealers a questionnaire for the panel of independent judges to choose 50 winners from. The panel is composed of Jim Sheldon of Monaco Coach, Bob Parish of (RV Group) GE Capital Solutions, Brad Sargent of Dometic, Carl Pletcher of Thetford and Larry Lebryk of Atwood Mobile products.

Others feel that in the first year, the contest will be fair and unbiased, but will be heavily slanted in subsequent years after the award has been established. Some dealers I spoke with are entirely indifferent and don’t even plan on returning the application.

Another concern of people ringing my phone is that this is merely a sneaky attempt to gather information about FreedomRoads’ dealer competitors. Others feel that this information can be obtained easily from Statistical Surveys in Michigan and that supplying the information to Affinity Group is no big deal. Some dealers have said they will send in the application but will refuse to answer certain questions.

While some dealers view the top 50 dealer awards as a great idea and a very positive thing that will promote higher quality standards, others are equally passionate about how nothing good will come of it. One caller suggested that the award program was a method for AGI to decide which dealerships they would attempt to purchase next. Another caller bluntly told me that he didn’t feel that an award from his biggest competitor, who is trying to put him out of business, had any value. He said he was adamantly boycotting the whole process.

Since there seems to be a great deal of interest surrounding this, I thought it would be nice to toss it out there for everyone to discuss. Good? Bad? Indifferent? What do you think?