With autumn making its presence known by colorful leaves and cooler night air, the used RV market is likewise cooling off. Wholesale auction houses are moving used rigs across the block and reporting fall RV price cuts. If you’re in the market for a used RV, it could bode well. And if you want a new RV? Read on, there’s something here about market reflection.
Fall RV price cuts show up at the auction house
This news comes from Eric Lawrence, the principal RV market analyst for Black Book, a used vehicle sales number-crunching firm. We spoke with him this week to get a steer catered to the RV consumer. “The average values for motorhomes and towables sold at auction fell slightly last month,” Lawrence reports. The month he refers to is August 2024, the most recent for which figures are available.
Motorized prices not much different than a year ago—but there’s a reason
The average selling price for motorized units was $68,309, down $2,047 (2.9%) from sales in July. The graph shows that’s pretty close to sale prices in August 2023. The reason? As has been the case for the last three reporting months, Lawrence says it’s due to “an unusually high percentage of expensive Class A’s crossing the block.” The number of motorhomes actually sold was way off—down 12.5% compared to July sales. The average model year sold was 2014.
We speculate that the used market is reflecting the new. Right now, motorhomes are the industry equivalent to sea-anchors, with new Class A sales way off. Dealers are likely eager to get these older big “boats” off their lots.
Towables a new-to-used market reflection
What about the towable market? Used towable sales in August came in at $19,048, down $263 (1.3%) from July. Again, new-to-used market reflection. There’s just no “pop” in the RV sales popcorn popper. The number of towables towed across the auction block was basically flat in comparison to July sales, up just one-tenth of a percent. The average towable unit sold was model year 2019.
Are motorhomes really doing better than towables?
Year-to-year comparisons would appear to show motorhomes doing better than towables. One year ago the average motorhome sold for $68,166, and now at $68,309. That’s an upward gain of just two-tenths of a percent—barely a freckle. On the other hand, towables in August 2023 fetched $21,053, compared to $19,048 this August, a whopping 9.5% decline. But again, Eric Lawrence would remind us that a few high-end Class A sales can really skew the figures. The price of a motorhome you might be interested in is probably going to be a lot less than you would have paid last year.
Advice for RV buyers—both used and new
Advice for would-be buyers? On the used market, prices are evidently more attractive. If you’re looking to buy new, think about this approach. If your dealer is sitting around with new 2024 models on the lot, they’ll likely be more arm-twistable.
If you think about buying a “new” 2024, factor in the idea that when you turn around to sell or trade it in, you won’t see as much value. Of course, if you’re buying a rig and keeping it a while, the difference won’t be near as important. And if you’re financing your RV, the difference in payments could be significant if you buy the “older” new rig.
For earlier Black Book reports, click here.
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Thank you, Russ and Tina! 🙂 Interesting. Will keep following these prices. Thanks again, have a great day, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
In my experience, RVs of all types located close to or north of the snow line drop in price in the fall/winter. The opposite is true for RVs located south of this region. Their prices drop in the spring/summer.
It will be interesting to see how many more used RVs hit the market after Helene. Even if Florida avoided the worst, the routes south are substantially disrupted. My guess is a lot of people won’t drive to the SE this winter, and we don’t know how many will take a longer drive to the SW.