Saturday, July 25, 2020

RV Boom & Consequent Problems

Driving across Oregon to Idaho, I now understand why campsites are so full. Every couple of miles, I passed RVs of all shapes and sizes. In my nine years as a full-timer, I have never seen so many RVs on the road. My guess is that people want to get out and travel, but fear of the virus is keeping them from staying in motels, so people are buying RVs. I read that they are selling RVs faster than they can make them.

The bad news is new campgrounds are not being built fast enough to keep up with the demand, so finding a place to stay is becoming increasingly difficult and prices are continuing to rise. The other problem is getting your RV repaired in a timely manner as shops face huge backlogs. The quality of new RVs is so bad that they almost always need work after the sale. One service department told me their wait time for repairs was over a month and that they no longer had room on their lot to even store vehicles.

The above has made the RV lifestyle more frustrating and less enjoyable than when I first went on the road. New RVers are in for a big surprise if they see those slick RV ads and think this will help relieve the stress in their lives. Let's hope things get better before they get worse.

2 comments:

lastrick said...

You think a month wait is bad, Newmar is over three months...if you're lucky.

Jim Brown said...

Imagine how those individuals, who financed their RV, feel making payments while not being able to use their vehicle.