Pop Up market declining or staying the same?

We actually have a dealership within about 35 minutes of us that has a good variety of new and used pups. For the new ones they only sell the Palominos, and they usually have at least one of each size they make. Last time I was there I think I counted about 8-10 of them. Then they had about 6 used ones on site.

I could not see myself buying a brand new pup any time soon especially from there how all of them had every luxury item possible with the granite counter tops and everything. Way to much money when I can buy one just a couple years on it in great shape for the fraction of the price. Even the used ones at the dealerships are not bad priced compared to the new ones.

However the other dealerships around me they usually only have 1 or 2 new ones and maybe 1 used one on site.

 

As others have mentioned, I believe that dealers in this area are trying to force the market by only offering big, high profit rigs and doing the hard sell with anyone in range. The price gap between smaller and larger campers is less than it used to be, so that make upselling easier.

There is a reason that used popups and teardrop TTs sell within hours...a pent up demand for smaller units. There seems to be a few dealers that realize this, and are slipping in to offer mostly smaller campers. Check out the inventory at Elk River RV (where we got our Aliner) as an example....

http://elkriverrv.com/inventory.shtml

 

...but still not a single pop-up (other than A-liners) in the new inventory.

 

Maybe it depends on the area but here you seldom see a pup on a dealer lot, There is only one lone pup on a lot stuffed full of TT's out of several lots with new and used TT's.

The trend seems to be one upping everyone else on who has the fanciest TT with the most slide outs. Some of these folks might as well go ahead and tow a mobile home around.

It sucks for me though, I'm looking to buy a PUP and the ones I find on CL are 3-4 hours away. Makes it tough to compare different models or, As has happened twice drive for a couple hours to find out it was sold while I was on the way to buy it.

 

The dealers in our area have very few Popup campers on the lot and most of those are pre-owned. Only one Jayco dealer has new popups with the new "A" style as part of that. I am encouraged that Popups are still popular as per my weekly Friday 70 mile one way trip to visit my Mom I seen 6 Pups on the road along with one Scamp, one Airstream and many 5th and TT campers. One thing I can say is I see more Popups in our area then Silver campers. Hang in there Pup owners we are not phased out yet.

 

You're right. I was thinking small vs large. I drive a lot for my job and I pass all of the mega RV lots around the state, and I only see a few popups for sale. Not sure if they're new or used.

I wonder if new popups are getting priced out of the market? The buyer most likely to want a big folding trailer...families with kids...might not be able to come up with the 10k to 20k purchase price for a new popup:

http://www.generalrvillinois.com/product/new-2016-coachmen-rv-clipper-camping-trailers-1285sst-classic-352195-7

 

Edmundson RV Sales & Service in Edinburgh Indiana - www.edmundsonrv.com/
14501 US-31, Edinburgh, IN 46124 - (812) 526-7878.
They have two very clean used PUP on their sales floor, we just looked at them on Monday. Let them know Deena Kelly recommended you if you call or go look.
We love our pup.

 

We didnt even try a dealership b/c we wanted something older (cheaper) that we could afford to pay $$ for and fix up.

However, around here, they stay on CL about 2 hours . max. So you gotta be FAST. We missed 3 in our price point before we finally got to the one we bought. And why we were "kicking the tires" his cell rang 5x in 15 mins people interested in it.

 

Same in my area. I'm looking for $4000.00 & under and so is everyone else I guess. I was supposed to look at one tomorrow and the guy called me back 2 hours after I made the appointment and said it was sold. The sale happened within 4 hours of it being listed on CL.

I've missed 3 so far this week so there are still a lot of people looking for them.

 

On our trip to Colorado and Utah at the end of June, we saw many more pups than we had on our trip in May. Also saw quite a few Casitas and teardrops, along with ground tents. I think a couple of the reasons are time of year (schools are out so there are more families traveling) and the weather was better, even if hot. There didn't seem to be as many of the huge rental RVs either.
The dealer where we bought the Retro is one of the larger dealers in the area, and has everything from pups to the really big rigs, plus boats. Without walking through the lots, it is difficult to see just what all they have. However, when I stopped in last week, I could see several pups opened up under their large covered lot, and more closed in the same area.

 

We've been out 4 times since April. I think we've seen 20 Popups total. Maybe a couple more but that's still very few given the campgrounds we've been on. Surprisingly we've seen a lot of very very large bumper pulls. I didn't think there was many of those.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

We drove down to Iowa for the 4th, saw tons of campers in tow. Maybe 4-5 pups, the majority quite old. There was one Palomino P-series that looked similar to ours, and was probably <5 years old (can't remember when they started using that name). The rest were mostly VERY large 5th wheels and pull-behind travel trailers, appeared to be reasonably new for the most part.

 

I will ALWAYS love a pop-up! My husband HATES the thought of backing in the big RVs and TTs, especially at night, when we typically have to set up. No dealer will ever convince my hubby of anything different. I, on the other hand, would LOVE one of those trailers that have hard shells PLUS pop-out beds!

 

At least from this vantage point in my life, that's about as 'fancy' of a camper as I'd ever want to own. I have zero interest in one of the huge Class A's or even a big travel trailer... just doesn't seem like camping to me. You get one of those, and it's just assumed you'll have TV and full hookups and nice furnishings inside... to me camping is about getting away and going minimalist for a bit.

Now I'm not knocking what others do... just isn't for me.

 

Was down at Camp Hatteras in the Outer Banks, NC for the July 4th Weekend. The place has 400 sites. I would guess about ~10 were pop ups. I was on the sound side and only saw 3. I walked through the beach side and saw only about 3 more.

I do think it's dying based on the above. I think the new generation will keep moving to hybrids to be honest. I think there is a large group of pop up owners out there and right now I don't think the numbers are going down but I do not think we are growing

 

I can't speak for used PUPs but our local dealer told me that they quit carrying them because new PUPs were going up so high in price, people were passing them over in favor of a TT around the same price with a lot less work.

 

Just got back from a week of camping at Interlochen SP in Northern Michigan. There were GOBS of pop ups there. Pop ups are alive and well here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Perhaps the "traditional" pup market is in a bit of decline. It's a shame, but there are other "entry level" options available now, and that may interest someone who is just starting out. Remember, we are just rebounding from a serious decline in the RV marketplace due to high gas prices and a recession. As long as there are buyers interested in pups, manufacturers are going to make them. Let's just hope they don't PRICE them into extinction.

 

I live very close to the Elkhart IN area which is a large location for camping trailer manufacturing. I was over there just looking last summer and it was hard to find many PUP's. A lot of the dealers over there are carrying the higher end TT & RV's. Jayco is very close, so I am guessing if I got closer to there production center I would find more.