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Tuesday, February 20, 2007

FEMA Deliver RVs--on the Cheap


What hurricane Katrina did for the RV industry, FEMA may now undo. It's a good-news, bad-news scenario, and folks shopping for travel trailers may come out on the winning side.

In the little burg of Hope, Arkansas, there's a most unusual RV park: It's the FEMA "parking lot" for 12,000 travel trailers destined for hurricane survivors. Some of the trailers helped folks, others never got beyond this 450 acre lot. Now FEMA needs to let them go--but that's just the tip of the iceberg: Nationwide there are nearly 46,000 trailers in FEMA's inventory, most of which will eventually be sold at auction. For how much? Figure about a 25 cents on the dollar for what FEMA hastily paid for them.

Even now, Uncle Sam has plenty of travel trailers at auction. Some have been beat up pretty good by tenants, others "scavenged" for parts. But with prices on 2005 model year units in the $3,000 to $5,000 price range, you can bet the bargain hunters are on their way. Maybe you can cash in on the deal--mind you, if you're the successful bidder you'll need to make haste to get your new rig off the lot: The government typically allows 10 days for removal after the auction closes.

There's a dark side of course: With so many FEMA trailers flooding the market, what will happen to RV dealerships who have to compete with the inundation of low-cost trailers? Uncle Sam's folks say they're not unconcerned about the matter. Time will tell.

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posted by Russ and Tiña De Maris at 2/20/2007 01:43:00 PM

39 Comments:

  • Ok, how do you find out where the excess FEMA trailers are being auctioned off? And, if they are located throughout the US, how do you then select by region or state? Thanks

    By Anonymous Hatcrazy@PA.net, at 5:30 AM, February 24, 2007  

  • where and when this will happen? time place.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:59 AM, February 24, 2007  

  • Interesting! Do you have more information?

    Where is the government auctioning them off now?

    Where are the trailers now? When will the auctions be?

    Details, please. Thank you.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:21 AM, February 24, 2007  

  • Be interesting to see how many "gypsy" dealers will pick these up to sell to unknowing purchasers as "new" or used "by an elderly couple that developed health issues"

    Also, wonder if some municipalities will purchase used trailers to help with the homeless in larger metro areas. It's a common issue that shelters are set for men and women - but the shelters cannot accomodate families, or the families themselves (because they need to seperate - men/women) feel unsafe using the facilities. Inexpensive trailiers could help alliviate these issues.
    RoadAbode

    By Blogger RoadAbode Crew, at 7:05 AM, February 24, 2007  

  • Disgusting what was done to the american taxpayers by these washington bottom of the barrell,ambulance chasing,never had to work in their life politicians!It would be interesting to follow the money trail on this one.Thank you so much for the article!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:12 AM, February 24, 2007  

  • This is just crazy - they need to be 'sold' to other government or state agencies and stored for the next natural disaster (Hurricane, Twisters, CA Earthquakes) or used as low cost housing for families in need. Selling them to the public is one of the stupidest ideas I've heard - knock the bottom out of the TT market and make a few people with money better off.

    Just crazy, short-term thinking yet again.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:13 AM, February 24, 2007  

  • i read when these travel trailers were sold how campaign contribution to Bush really paid off big time for RV manufacturers who made them. $9 trillion dollar debt thanks Bush and your tax cutting lockstep republican congressman.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:57 AM, February 24, 2007  

  • The auctions can be found at the following link:

    http://www.govsales.gov/fassys/fassubcat1/

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:49 AM, February 24, 2007  

  • You can go to www.govsales.gov There are trailers in arkansas and alabama. Internet bids are taken and trailers have to be picked up within 10 days after auction is over. Both auctions are over in the next few days or so. All the trailers have been well used and sure weren't taken care of.

    By Anonymous kathy martin, at 10:20 AM, February 24, 2007  

  • To get a list of trailers, try:

    http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/aucindx/

    It lists the trailers by state. Sale is via an online bidding process.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:35 AM, February 24, 2007  

  • This url is not working for me. It says that it has expired
    http://www.govsales.gov/fassys/fassubcat1/

    By Blogger Barb, at 10:56 AM, February 24, 2007  

  • This url will not work. It says that it has expired:
    http://www.govsales.gov/fassys/fassubcat1/

    By Blogger Barb, at 10:57 AM, February 24, 2007  

  • Excellent idea to store for future use.

    Trailers could be stored at the various military base.

    Transportation would be via National Guard when they are sent to assist.

    By Blogger James McDermott, at 11:10 AM, February 24, 2007  

  • http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/aucstsrh/
    this is the site - I was just there checking it out!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:10 PM, February 24, 2007  

  • I don't know how well these trailers were built - but a friend who works at a trailer factory in Elkhart said that the house trailers his company built for Katrina were so shoddy they often fell apart on the way to delivery. Factory orders were to get them on the road as quickly as possible - not to sweat the small stuff.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:33 PM, February 24, 2007  

  • I'm so surprised at all the misinformation posted here. FEMA bought these trailers just above cost. When FEMA didn't deploy some trailers, but stored them in Hope, people complained about them sitting a rotting away. You cannot have it both ways. Either FEMA stores them or they sell them. Make up your mind.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:36 PM, February 24, 2007  

  • Neither of the url's were in use.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:38 PM, February 24, 2007  

  • I live where Rita hit..have seen the trailers on their locations. They were, for the most part, sub entry level quaility, built cheaply because the public outcry was "get them out there." Bush, politicians in Washington, nor FEMA could win for losing. Take time to provide quality, be condemned for not moving quickly. Move quickly, be condemned over quality. Perhaps we need to get back to personal initiative, and put our hands to work instead of out for a handout.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:58 PM, February 24, 2007  

  • Amen to anonymous "I live where Rita hit". The government does lots of crazy stuff because the population it tries to serve is even crazier. If we all stood up on our hind legs and took care of ourselves and our own business, there would be plenty for the very few who simply can't.

    Having a media infrastructure that is fond of ignoring the inconvenient fact(s)that keep a story from being a good is no help. Witness the reports of the horrific crimes occuring at the Silverdome in the aftermath of Katrina that never happened.

    Humbug!! ;)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:09 AM, February 25, 2007  

  • I went to the GSA Auction page and what I saw was all a bunch of junk. Screens were missing, tables gone, forget about floor covering and anything fabric. Some units didn't even have holding tanks! One appraiser even mentioned the terrible smell!!!!

    By Blogger Capt Wally, at 8:58 AM, February 26, 2007  

  • I live in Mississippi. Believe me, you wouldn't want to spend much $$ on most of these trailers.

    They might be OK for a hunting or fishing camp IF you built a roof over them and if you got one for under $1,000.

    Most were severely substandard right from the factory. There are stories on the internet about formaldahyde in some of them.

    Some of them are like park models with residential type refrigerators and toilets (probably no holding tanks).

    Bidder beware, just know what you are bidding on.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:50 AM, February 26, 2007  

  • Amen to that! I live in Iowa and we just got hit with the ice/snow storm of the decade. No Red Cross, no FEMA, no problems! I am the Fire Chief and we ran around town and found food and shelter. We used the fire department generator to run the building. We went and took people out of their non-heated apartments to the shelter. In other words, we made due for ourselves and our community without waiting for someone to do the work for us! Geez, this country has developed into nothing but a bunch of whiners that couldn't survive 1 day without Government intervention (all the while complaining about 'Big Brother')!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:25 AM, February 27, 2007  

  • Who in their right mind would want to buy a trailer unseen anyway. Pictures may not do justice. I don't trust any of the politicians, there all crooked-not a one of them is worth a nickel.They get pardoned for crimes if the average person would do they would be thrown in jail. Get rid of them all-clean sweep both the house and the senate. start fresh-before you know it we'll be overrun with illegal aliens too!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:43 PM, March 02, 2007  

  • I agree with anonymous..."This is just crazy" and roadabode crew...
    Other govt.agency's need to buy these trailers and store them for the next time they are needed. Hurrican season will be here sooner than you think. Store them on the military bases. We store our RV's all the time without them rotting away. A few preventive measures is all they need. I am sick of all the waste the government is guilty of! We don't know the half of it.

    By Anonymous RamblinRose, at 7:07 AM, March 03, 2007  

  • Most of these trailers have 120 volt only refrigerators. No water tank or water pump. No holding tanks. When you buy one of these, what are you going to do with it?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:38 AM, March 03, 2007  

  • I agree with those who said the government is damned if they do and damned if they don't! How can we complain about not having places to put people and then expect the government to put together quality equipment in a matter of days? We just can't have it both ways.
    Also agree that the government shouldn't have to be responsible for everything. Maybe I'm showing my age, but what ever happened to personal responsibility and "picking yourself up by the bootstraps?" Now, if a guy needs the bootstrap, we can help him get a good hold on it, maybe even help him get the boots, but we don't necessarily have to provide the entire outfit!
    Also, I visited the website and these RVs are in pretty bad shape. I did, however, appreciate the honesty of the appraisers when it came to the condition of the trailers.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:03 AM, March 03, 2007  

  • Everyone blames the politicians,, but what about the pigs that lived in these trailers? Cleaning and not damaging a home (free at that) does not take any money. Obviously most of these people are used to getting things handed to them and they have no self respect. If you had to work for a living, you would take better care of these trailers and thank God you had a roof over your head.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:14 PM, March 03, 2007  

  • Please be warned to all that are buying these trailers. Do you think any dealer is going to help with problems? I know my dealership will not help. Buyer should know this up front. Fema said they would not flood the market with these trailers. All dealers stand together. They are taking the food off our tables.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:23 AM, March 14, 2007  

  • you can found the travel trailers at gsaauctions.gov

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:43 PM, April 08, 2007  

  • To all the dealers - were you complainig when the government was buying up everything you had? Why complain now - take advantage of the situation by selling all the parts these buyers will need to repair the units. I have seen many of these units - they are not that bad other than they don't have many windows and are missing some parts. Most were not taken very good care of, but then they are not designed to be lived in full time.

    This whole processed is filled with misinformation and people complaining about both sides of the coin. Make the best of it and go on. If there is anything to learn from this it is the media will minipulate stories to get the most reaction out of it regardless of the truth. And that minipulation often costs the American taxpayer and consumer large amounts of money

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:05 PM, April 11, 2007  

  • hi this is 4 roadabode crew what are you talking about "gypies" can you explain more im curious?

    By Anonymous Babs, at 7:14 PM, April 18, 2007  

  • This action is said to be good, as well as bad. In some ways it's both. For the buyers whom can't afford much and do not mine the old fixer-upper, it may be good. But for a lot of buyers whom are not rv knowledgeable, this will be a bad experience. Buyers must realize the large consequences, no warranty, used rough, most are missing many expensive parts, smells, mold, and 100 more problems. Hopefully this will not hurt the rv sales market much or at all. Just remember to be a concious buyer and get as much knowledge about your purchase before you buy as you can! Do the right thing, buy from the pros, and from someone who cares about you, "dealers"! They sell, and are in business for a reason, for you, THE CUSTOMER!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:50 PM, April 19, 2007  

  • I think the solution to the problem is storage! FEMA & the Government should store the used units somewhere (or atleast a large amount of them) in case of another disaster! What if in 2007's hurricane season we need more rv's to house the stranded? Why not just save the ones already purchased from the dealers incase of an emergency? The government always says "PLAN AHEAD", why don't they practice what they preach?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:52 PM, April 19, 2007  

  • If I was in the market for a trailer instead of a Class B RV, I would purchase one of the FEMA trailers.

    Many of those opposed to it are affiliated with dealers who don't want the competition.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:45 AM, April 21, 2007  

  • When and where can I buy a TT?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:39 AM, May 13, 2007  

  • Did anyone buy these? How were they?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:43 PM, September 23, 2007  

  • I purchased an RV from FEMA,it was a great deal. The RV had all the features one would need: holding tanks, monitors, ac/heat, antenna, entertainment center, awning, fridge, microwave/stove/oven, bathroom, stabilizers, etc..... I DID RESEARCH before I purchased the RV, so I felt save. As far as the toxic hazards, I have not expirenced any problems,even while using the RV for weeks at a time.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:43 PM, October 21, 2007  

  • I would like to buy a FEMA Travel
    Trailer.Must have slid-out,31ft or longer,lots of cupboard space..
    Now Where Can I buy One?I live n
    Wisconsin.

    By Blogger David, at 9:53 AM, December 13, 2007  

  • David from Washington State here - we want a 24 to 31' travel trailer - not a 5th wheel, any idea where I can get one?
    dcthh@hotmail.com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:30 PM, January 03, 2008  

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