I thought I read somewhere on this forum about an RV and camper shortage. Well, if you can't find what you want, just come out to California and look again. I just got back from a campsite scouting trip in the Sierra Mountains. I drove up California Highway 99 from Bakersfield to Merced. I counted more than 8 RV dealerships along the way. All of them were overflowing with stock. The biggest dealership I saw was just south of Fresno. There must have been hundreds of new travel trailers and Motor-homes on their lot right along the freeway. Camping World is also along the Freeway south of Fresno, and they seemed to have plenty of stock as well.
I have also driven by several dealers including a few CWs on the East coast lately. The lots were full of campers. There certainly is a shortage of new pickup trucks due to the chip problem, though.
I've heard that many of those on the lot are models and you order your unit in the sales room. I don't know for sure since i've never bought one on the lot.
It's on most brands and many models. It's due to a chip plant burning a few weeks ago. Ford has several thousand F series trucks parked at a speedway in Kentucky waiting for chips so they can be completed.
I had 4 dealers looking for me a new or slightly used A frame. They can't find or order me one with a guaranteed ship date and want mine before the new on shows up. So now they won't leave me alone and call or email all the time with other options to try to sell me. I told them I have given up on a new camper this yr due to high prices. I told them I was only interested in one camper and nothing else. I have had to resort to rudeness and tell them..... "Look a A frame without a front storage box and no dormers is all I want" And yet they still call and email me. I never figured with the Covid craze they would give 2 cents about me. Boy was I wrong.
A couple of months ago we went up to Corsicana to look at new Casitas. Debi was definitely against it, too cramped, and she was right. But I talked to the salesman anyway. He said the units packed into their 2 to 3 acre lot were all sold and waiting on delivery. He said that earliest delivery on a new sale was a year out. May have just been sales bs, I don't know.
That sounds a little fishy to me. I can see one or two waiting to be delivered. But a lot full? I know that if I bought a new camper I'd be out there picking that sucker up the day they said I could have it.
Our dealer's lot is looking pretty bare these days. They sell everything from the Sylvan Go campers on up to the big RVs, as well as boats. The other dealers along the street have stock, but they too don't look as full as usual. I know some of the folks on the FB pages for Retros that have been waiting since sometime last year to earlier this year, for units they've ordered. Some got notified a couple of weeks ago that their units were pretty well done, except the pipeline problems during the winter has not caused a shortage of foam for cushions. Other pieces/parts have been in short supply too on and off.
I used my Dad's Casitas back during Easter, it was tighter than cramp!!! If only two people in the camper it's okay but cramped, 3..... not good. We decided to go back to pop-up after that trip. I heard that the dealership was 6 months out on new units but that was back in March.
You guys might want to check out this video. Stuff like “waiting on a microwave” sounds like it could be a reason a new camper siting on a lot before delivery/pickup. Talked to 2 dealerships in the past 2-3 months and they both said they are running 95%+ new inventory on the lots. They can’t keep a used one on the lot long enough to take pictures before they sell.
You could give these people a call. I heard they are now doing factory direct sales: https://chaletinc.com/ Might have to drive to Oregon to pick up and camp your way home. Maybe go to the coast for a shake down before leaving. It’s an hour +/- from the factory. Oh darn
I'm done looking...Maybe after this season things will settle down. I cant justify the money or the waiting.
I just bought a used Jayco A-Frame from a very large dealer in Tampa. There is a few other large dealers in the area. Their lots look full of RV's but when talking to the sales guys, they are having trouble keeping stock. They are down 60% of normal inventory, and the RV's that are on order are being sold as fast as they come in. Even used inventory is moving quickly. 3 weekends ago, my husband and I visited this dealer to look at the 4 used A-Frames they had, to see if they would work for us. As it was a research trip, we didn't try to buy any of them. Within 5 days of us doing that, all 4 had sales pending on the listing. Luckily for us, the one my husband really liked, the deal fell thru and that is the one we wound up buying 2 weeks later. Lots of people have decided to avoid hotels this year, and try their hand at RV Camping.
