You can’t run a business when you don’t have a target. That’s the basic message I’m hearing as I sit here in Indiana. If you don’t know, there is a moving target in the form of tariffs on all sorts of goods, and it’s creating a lot of hair-pulling and loss of sleep for the RV industry.
One builder said that the cost of the RV refrigerators in their units went up by many hundreds of dollars, for example. All sorts of components are affected, and the changes seem to ebb and flow, making it very challenging to predict things.
This was one of the things RV industry folk shared with legislators when they visited the nation’s capital during RVs Move America Week. I had already shared some of the details of this focus on Washington shenanigans, er, on politics in this RV news recap. And don’t think I’m choosing sides by calling things goofy; they’ve been harping on D.C. since Mr. Smith Went to Washington in 1939. Have you seen that movie?
At any rate, if you’re looking at RVs, know that the price that you’re paying is directly affected by these tariffs, and the fluctuation and lack of certainty is a challenge for any business.
The RV industry, which produces more than 80% of the rigs sold in the U.S. in northern Indiana, can often signal the direction of the nation’s economy. Inflation-adjusted consumer outlays on recreational goods and vehicles fell in April for a fifth straight month, according to Commerce Department data, the longest slump in real spending on the category since the height of the Great Recession in 2008.
So, if you talk to your elected officials, and you should, perhaps tell them that these moving tariffs and wars and all that aren’t so great for making stuff here in America, would you?
Source: https://woodallscm.com/americas-rv-industry-feels-chill-of-war-high-gas-prices/
Don’t take investment advice from me—Class B rentals
I get all sorts of news pieces sent to me now, and something that caught my eye was a report on the rental market for Class B RVs. According to altCamp, searches for Class B vans in the rental market continue to remain strong. Their study reports 122,270 searches per month in the U.S., with 3,243 active listings reported, meaning that each listing gets reported on about 40 times per month as listed on Outdoorsy.
The average nightly rate for these vans is $215, with the median model year being 2021.
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter-based vans are the ones that get the most results, but the category, overall, is strong. As for which RV converter is in the lead, it’s Winnebago by a long shot, with four of ten listings being a product of that company.
In the report, supply and demand aren’t always in sync. Denver sees more searches than Los Angeles despite having a third the supply. Las Vegas and Seattle both see search volumes close to Los Angeles on much smaller fleets. Conversely, Anchorage and the Maui MSA have meaningful supply but comparatively lower search volume.
So, if you’re thinking of buying one of these, you might consider the brand recognition of the Winnebago name, but many of the independents are also doing okay search-wise. The report is interesting and worth a look, especially if you’re at all considering renting a Class B.
Source: https://www.altcamp.com/research/2026-us-camper-van-rental-market-report#cite
Your dose of cuteness: Kids visit RV plants
Here in the greater Elkhart area, the RV industry employs a lot of folks, and many of those folks have little folks. A lot of those home-made humans participated in a visit to Thor this past week through the Boys & Girls Club of Elkhart County to conduct their own RV reviews.
Those kids are my competition!
When I was but a wee lad, my dad’s company would have open houses where I’d see how turbochargers were made, and it always fascinated me. So, I can imagine that many of those future RVtravel.com readers, too, were fascinated to see what mom or dad does with their time all day. The kidlets were allowed to see various Jayco RVs and got to meet some of the Jayco folk.
“There’s a lot of kids at these camps that have family members that work in the RV industry, so it’s pretty neat for them to see, you know, one of their family members build one of these RVs. So it’s a neat environment for them to be in,” said Annisa Blosser, the RV education director for Thor Industries.
Source: https://www.wndu.com/2026/06/16/boys-girls-club-elkhart-county-brings-rv-day-club/
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