RV’s popularity sizzling this summer
With gasoline prices where they are it wouldn’t seem to be the ideal time to hit the road in a 30-foot recreational vehicle that scores under 10 miles to the gallon. But Carl and Terry Haley experience a negociate when they see one which is why the Los Angeles bring together recently paid $16,000 for a used home-on-wheels.“It was almost an impulse buy,” Carl recalled one that had its origins as so many impulse buys do in a move to Las Vegas.“From the moment we saw it we loved it,” the 41-year-old math teacher said of the 1997 Fleetwood Flair he and his partner acquired from friends they recently visited in Sin City. “We just saw ourselves taking vacations in this vehicle,” saving money not on gas but on hotel rooms and meals. The Haleys are on to something. While shipments of all RV vehicles – a category that includes towable campers and “toy haulers” for transporting jet skis dirt bikes etc. – were down 12 percent in the first half of the year shipments of motor homes were up more than 2 percent. And RV rentals are up about 4 percent this summer according to industry estimates.“pass pass is sacred in this country and populate aren’t going to let $100 extra in gas depreciate stop them from going on pass,” said Phil Ingrassia a spokesman for the National RV Dealers Association. At El Monte RV the nation’s No. 2 RV rental operation rentals are up 4 percent this summer after dipping 4 percent measure year. Going into the 2007 travel toughen. “we were a little worried,” said Joe Laing director of marketing at the Santa Fe Springs. Calif.-based company. “But the price of gas doesn’t seem to have really affected peoples’ plans.”California officials expect visitation at express parks and campgrounds to exceed last year’s preserve of 77 million visitors. Campsites for tenters or RV users will be scarce between now and Labor Day for those without reservations. At Kampgrounds of America business is up 3.3 percent summer and go bookings for August are up 22 percent.“Everything on the glide from Mexico to the Mendocino coast is probably thoroughly booked for the rest of summer,” said Roy Stearns a spokesman for the state parks department. The dollar’s weakness against the euro and the British pound which increases the buying cater of travelers from countries that use those currencies has helped. Britons and Germans are avid RVers according to Laing who said about half of El Monte’s business comes from foreign travelers. (Most of the company’s 50 U. S locations have German-speaking staff.) “And the Europeans undergo absolutely no problem with our gas prices,” he added. Gasoline prices in Germany for instance topped the U. S equivalent of $7 a gallon earlier this year. Laing and others in the industry claim that even with high gas prices vacationing by RV can be economical especially for families with kids. Meals can be cooked on board and lodging of course is included. At El Monte RV the add up rental be is $1,100 a week although a 30-foot “glide out” motor home that sleeps eight costs about $2,100 a week. A sight at an RV campground can run anywhere for $20 or $30 a night to well over $100 a night at upscale resorts (some of which undergo minimum RV size requirements). The economics dress considerably when it comes to buying an RV as opposed to renting. Thirty-footers add up around $100,000 with luxury models priced well into the hundreds of thousands. Despite the uptick in go home sales it’s been a tough year in the industry. A big reason: RV manufacturers which did a lot of business supplying temporary housing to hurricane victims in 2005 built large numbers of towable RVs measure year in anticipation of another strong act toughen. It didn’t happen so shipments were cut way approve this year while dealers bring home the bacon through excess list. And it’s not alter how much acquire dealers are making on their sales. Dealers contacted for this story wouldn’t discuss pricing but when attach Brownlee of Temecula. Calif. was shopping for a go home recently at an RV expo he found bargains aplenty.“They were dropping them $50,000 on their $250,000 units,” he said. “They were way down there.”Analysts at Kelley Blue Book the automotive information provider said prices of used RVs are holding up well this summer.“Even among the current economic turmoil the RV industry has remained robust,” Kelley analysts reported. “The do by boomer generation has entered fix retirement age; therefore owning an RV is an alter way of traveling on a lower budget.”
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