A dealer’s take on the economy
Recently I spoke with a California dealer to ask his thoughts on the RV sales, the industry outlook and the economy. I mentioned that many thoughts that I have heard from a multitude of sources suggest that when the uncertainty of the election is over and the “bail-out” bill takes effect the industry will settle down and be more positive.
This dealer does not believe that the election or the overall economy is the problem. He thinks that the home mortgage situation is more important. If that portion of the credit industry will stabilize it will be much more significant than the overall economy outlook or the election. What do you think?
October 9th, 2008 at 10:37 am
This dealer has hit the nail on the head. While I think that the economy and election are a factor I believe as he does that the home mortgage situation is the catalyst for most of our problems. We have been living in dreamland for several years. Most of our customers have been living way above their means. What has happened is that reality has finally arrived. Some of our customers have only been able to fund our product with the false equity in their homes. Now all of that is gone and we have to go back to building and targeting our product to a market that can truly afford it. This won’t be easy and we will have to change our ways. It will be interesting to see who remains standing when the smoke clears. It won’t be business as usual this time.