Despite the RV manufacturing industry’s “cautiously optimistic” spin, there’s no magic in RV retail sales. Put simply, sales of new RVs are down across the board as RV consumers walk away from new rigs.
According to the May 2024 report from industry number cruncher Statistical Surveys Inc., there are no winners in any category of new RV sales. Here’s the breakdown.
RV retail sales drop 16.2% in May
A total of 37,523 retail registrations made the books in May. That’s 16.2% down from 44,787 in May 2023. Year-to-date for 2024, only 150,945 new rigs sold. That’s off 10.4% from January through May of 2023. These numbers include U.S. and Canada sales. The balance of our report reflects U.S. sales only.
Towables tumble
The travel trailer industry, a key player in the RV market, is experiencing a significant downturn in sales in 2024. This May, 23,203 new travel trailers sold, a decrease from 26,367 in May 2023, marking a 12% drop.
Fifth-wheel trailers are facing even steeper declines. May 2024 sales figures show 5,364 units sold compared to 6,375 in May 2023, a 15.9% decrease.
Pop-up trailers continue their downward trend, with only 513 sales recorded this May, a sharp fall from 727 in May 2023. This represents a 29.4% drop in sales.
Park model trailers have been hit the hardest, with just 193 new units sold this May, down from 338 in the same month last year. This marks a staggering 42.9% decline, the largest drop reported in the sector.
RV retail sales: Motorized sales out of gas
Sales of large Class A motorhomes have taken a significant hit, with only 708 units sold in May 2024. This is a notable decrease from the 885 units sold in May 2023, representing a 20% drop.
Class C motorhomes, typically more popular, have experienced an even steeper decline. May 2024 saw just 1,784 units sold, down from 2,285 in the same month last year, resulting in a 21.9% decrease.
Class B camper vans are also facing substantial challenges. Sales have plummeted to 878 units in May 2024, compared to 1,251 in May 2023, marking a significant 29.8% drop.
Who’s selling more, manufacturers or dealers?
So who’s crying more? RV retailers, or the manufacturers? From a footnote from the RV Industry Association, you can draw your own conclusions. In May, 33,150 RVs went from manufacturing plants out to dealers. Retailers were evidently making deals to get rid of backlogs—selling 37,523 new rigs. Dealers moved out 12.4% more units than they took on.
On the other hand, manufacturers sold 153,288 total units to dealers this entire year. At the same time, dealers moved 150,945 units. Dealers have taken on 1.5% more units than they’ve sold this year.
A random “eyeball” of RV dealerships in four states these writers have driven through in the last month shows a lot of dealerships with crowded lots. It makes us wonder if last year’s models are still hanging on like a bad case of indigestion.
##RVT1165b
Every trip that we have taken, all the RV lots are full of new vehicles. Tons of Floorplan financing. We can experience some fire sales.
Here in central Oregon, dealer lots are pretty full. Local, high end motorhome dealer has mark downs anywhere from $150 to over $600K on units. Really makes you wonder what the real profit margin is if they can sell at these reduced prices and still remain profitable. Maybe we will begin to see an easing on the campground crushes we have been experiencing if this is going to be a trend.
Perhaps it will keep all the Idahoans in their own state where they belong…instead of hogging everything up in Eastern Oregon.
With all of the daily recalls reported, it’s no wonder sales are down.
Don’t feel bad for the manufacturers or dealers. ” The worm has turned.”
Amen! Perhaps they are finally reaping as they’ve sown.
Big corporations buy family owned RV manufacturers and RV Parks. Zero pride in their products. $$$$ is their God. We are their prey.
Are the Covid buying “Happy Camper” people finding out they are not campers and THEY are selling their RVs, thus sales not going to dealers?
I think your assessment is accurate Kelly. We just got back from a 3,300 mile roundtripper over a 6 week run, no plans to sell. Great time. Texas highways sure are nice to drive. Can’t wait to head out for Canada in August and do another 3,500 miles in 2024.
Cancelproof, it appears you got thru Texas before this storm season. Stay away from this Gulf Coast for a while. Sitting here in Florida we have our fingers crossed for another storm season. Love Florida but not hurricane season. Loved the Midwest but not tornado season. You continue with smooth and safe travel.
Left 4 days before Beryl. Road out Alberto on Mustang Island. Great trip. Stay safe in Florida.
Texas and Gulf Coast in the spring — be prepared to sit in a trailer while watching BIG tornado warnings, multiple times per trip if you’re unlucky enough. Hard to get through one week without a few of those.
Thank you, Russ and Tina! 🙂 Geez, it is my patriotic duty to buy a new rig. 🤔😯 Now, comes the hard part, convincing DW that it is OUR patriotic duty to buy a new rig. 🤔😯 Somehow, I have an idea of how that will go. Sorry manufacturers, DW says, “NO!” Thanks again, have a great weekend, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
Sounds like DW knows equating the market with patriotic duty is citizen mistake #1.
Perhaps a happy compromise on an immaculate like-new pre-covid RV is possible?
Hope you both get what you want, enjoy your time together & live your best life.
Thank you, Heather! It is certainly possible. I have been looking for my ideal #3 with her decorative sense displayed in the way she specified the appearance (inside and out) of #2 in mind — almost white furniture, floors, and countertops and almost black cabinetry. My real “push” won’t begin until we bring #2 back from Alaska, possibly as early as 2025. Number 1 went in 2019, so it is about time for #2 to go. 🙂 Thanks again, have a great weekend, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
The huge RV down turn was inevitable. Newbies campers found out camping was not that easy . Now, the market is flooded with used units . Plus , people don’t want to take a chance on the inferior RV ‘s being built in the last 5 years!
To the RV manufacturers association. “Liar, liar pants on fire”. True when I was 6 years old and even more true at 76.
Marriott, Holiday Inn, Hyatt and the rest are busy as can be. With free breakfast, flowing hot water showers, great a/c and terrific reservation systems along with great locations and loyalty programs that actually work – buy an RV? WHY? Poorly made, lousy dealer support and Private Equity firms jacking RV Park rates through the roof.
With the current political party attacking oil and gas, prices exceeding $6/gallon in the west – our cars get us to the great outdoors and superior accommodations faster, cheaper and with more time to enjoy.
RV travel has lost its lure
The current administration actually has no effective control over fuel pricing in that it is influenced by production and refiners margins. There is a surplus of production in the world and major producers such as OPEC have been withdrawing production from the markets as demand and growth has been gradually dropping. Too much production leads to drop in pricing which is Economics 101. The prediction is for pricing to drop in the fall so it is market forces at work which is the way it always has been.
Right.
The pipeline was stopped on day one and the adm will do all they can to increase gas prices (until right before the election) so they can try to influence the population to buy electric. It WON’T work. All will change starting in January if the election goes well.
Mark, dragging suitcases, eating Sterno heated eggs in the morning and then driving to wild is not even close to staying in the wild and eating a fresh home cooked breakfast without unpacking a thing.
Hotels are put where there’s the best chance of occupancy, not solitude. Hotel existence demands high traffic, not serenity. They don’t put their stoop closest to the edge in Badlands, they put it closest to the I-90 off-ramp. The same can certainly be said for RV Resorts but not for campgrounds or boondocking.
If you’re a weekend warrior or destination traveler that sticks to the pavement, maybe hotels suffice having less set-up but to an outdoor enthusiast, there’s no allure.
Very key point being that RV parks do the same. Mostly they suck with a few exceptions. And state and national parks… Good luck getting any reservation.
“Marriott, Holiday Inn, Hyatt and the rest are busy as can be.”
Any more, my ideal vacation would be to stay at a nice resort hotel at a destination. But, getting there I would love to have a Class B. Stops along the route to the destination can be made pretty much wherever you want (yeah, some exceptions exist) and you can rise comfortably rested and ready to push on to your destination.
I just wish the Class B RVs weren’t so ridiculously overpriced!
While we enjoy our newest travel trailer it’s unlike the previous ones we owned which never had a problem at all – none. The latest trailer was built by a widely acclaimed manufacturer and has been a constant challenge with problems we never encountered like the black tank vent pipe coming unglued and right in the trailer. Maybe the public has wised up to the workmanship of the products going out the door. The covid years of slapping things together and using any part to get the rig out to the sales lot is catching up with the manufacturers. Today’s RV consumer will research products and based on reviews, is aware of the what’s potentially sitting on the sales lot. And they say “Pass”.
I believe there are many reasons for this downturn and many have mentioned them.
You got the corporate greed part 100% right. But…every dog has it’s day and what goes around…comes around.
Darn those greedy job creators and those silly paychecks that trickle down every Friday.
I fully support JOB CREATORS. But I do not support the garbage that these workers are doing under pressure from the job creators (managers and executives). At some point this cycle needs to be broken. I am NOT for government regulation or intervention, but I really think, for safety purposes, the RV industry really needs to be regulated and held to much higher standards then they’ve been historically held to, even if that means some government intervention and maybe creating less jobs (or maybe more?).
So basically you are for regulation if it affects your life. Without regulations in virtually every area of life, this would be a dangerous world indeed.
My reply was more reflective of the “Corporate Greed” term that gets thrown around willy nilly. The RV industry needs more governance on the consumer protection end. The protections from litigation that the RV industry enjoys makes it unanswerable to almost anyone. It is a pass the buck thru written warranties game.
Basically, build and sell crappy finished product, get sued at the dealer/manufacturer level. Right now, it is the third party parts manufacturers that the buck gets passed to from the builder.
“It’s not us, it is the chassis builder. “Not us, here is the number for the auto leveling company”. Nope, that’s not us either, call Aqua Hot.”
It is called corporate greed for a reason…and it sticks to the wall.
In general, I’m not a fan of government regulation either, but since the manufacturers seem to be deaf to market calls for even a modicum of quality control, it might be time for a little regulation. At the very least consumers ought to have the protection of some lemon-laws. Presently, the industry seems to be in a race to the bottom. My 5er is a 2006 model, and I get warm and fuzzy about its build quality.
Anytime the gov’t gets their hands on, nothing improves. In fact, it gets worse AND more expensive.
Leave gov’t regulations out of the rv industry.
BS. Building quality has nothing to do with creating jobs. It is a corporate culture. Look back at the US Auto industry 50 years ago. They learned and now the RV manufacturers need to learn!
I agree 100% with your Auto Industry analogy. (K-Car) I simply disagree with how the RV industry needs to move in order to improve. IMO, a consumer centric lemon law is the first step. Prices will go up at purchase point for better quality but in time the user cost of an RVs life cycle will drop as a result of lower maintenance and repair bills.
We won’t get better quality for the same price point, is my point. Personally, I prefer to pay a little more for better quality.
Good morning, Cancel. Like I say, “You get what you pay for. You don’t get what you don’t pay for.” Have a great day. 😀 –Diane
“I want it all…I want it now”
Freddie Mercury
✌️🇺🇲
Hmmm. Haven’t heard that song before. I’m partly that way. I don’t want it all; but if I want something, I want it now.😉😅 –Diane
I would like to trade in our 15 year old towable but DW prefers to refurbish. She is not impressed by the quality of the new units we see at the shows, the quality of construction and choice of materials is terrible in the 25 foot models, regardless of price.
Smart move.
Nosedive? Think of that word in literal terms. You think that’s the appropriate descriptor?
I think people are getting fed up with the quality of the units. We own a Flagstaff (Rockwood) which I think is above average but like every RV, it has it’s issues. The biggest thing I’ve seen is 3rd party items installed on the RV failing or just being crap to begin with. The RV manufacturers can only do so much to control quality when the 3rd party vendors produce a lot of junk. I’ve removed things from the RV that never worked well (Wi-Fi ranger, WFCO inverter). I’ve replaced expensive add-ons such as the Furrion backup cameras system because it failed. I’ve put up with things that don’t work well (Furrion TV, iRV audio). All adds up to a poor experience.
The boomers represent a huge market of tent > popup > towable > motorhome sales. But we are increasingly passing the ability to RV. Each following generation is smaller, and current trends are away from multiple family camping trips. The kids are often in any of several organized summer group activities and the ‘family vacation’ time opportunity has shrunk tremendously. I live in a tourist destination area and know many of the hospitality business owners. They have been telling me this for a couple decades. Yes the campgrounds are packed – for about 6-8 weeks a year. And as boomers leave, the vacancies will grow more obvious. And venues have to make a year’s income in 6-8 weeks.
I will keep my pre covid Outdoors RV, the hooey with all the other junk on the roads.
IMO sagging sales of new RV units is an indication of our current economic conditions. With the recent cycle of inflation, consumers are spending more $ on necessities, and have fewer $’s for non-essentials (RV’s are luxury items for the majority of buyers).
Periods of inflation are almost always accompanied, and followed by recession, until market forces readjust.
AND, with the glut of used units on the market, new unit sales will be soft tor the foreseeable future.
Also; the “Boomer” times are almost over, which will negatively impact all segments of the economy, with the exception of senior care, senior housing, and funeral services.
It was fun while it lasted!
I guess now that word is really starting to get around, people are going to say NO to the crap that RV manufacturers are building. If RV executives were smart, they would start playing one-ups-manship in regards to quality of their products. If they can prove their product is better built and not a piece of junk, maybe buyers will look more closely. I sure would NOT buy an RV today even with having the money to do so.
So people got tired of buying trash that breaks down within weeks. Surprise surprise.
If this news surprises you, then you haven’t been paying attention. Considering the poor build quality, low-quality products, and dismal (if not totally absent) after-the-sale support, is it any wonder that the RV industry’s reputation is in the dumper?!? You could say that the chickens have come home to roost. And then add the ridiculously jacked-up prices RV parks are charging, and you’ve got a near-perfect storm. Profiteers are grabbing cash while they can, ignoring that their lousy products and practices will be at their peril.
Well said!
People complain when sales are up (resulting in higher prices) and now when sales are down (with bigger discounts). The reality is this is normal economics. It happens in every industry and will happen again. Enjoy what you have or move on. None of us can control these up/downs so why get wound up.
Is anyone surprised?! Camper prices are up, tow vehicles prices are crazy, fuel prices are up, campsite prices are up. And inflation is up across the board. Then add in the quality issues and who is surprised? In this newsletter is an article about ‘frame flex’, which is a major quality issue to make units lighter and cheaper. American mfg’ers are where US automakers were 50 years ago. They need to change their focus and get better.
The only trend in RV sales is up, down, up, down.
Why do they keep comparing today’s sales to the covid sales? We all know those numbers were off the charts. Why not compare 2024 sales to 2019/pre covid numbers? Seems that would make more sense. At least those sales numbers were more realistic.