A View From The States

madbluemad

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I know its XMAS but I found this article on a us rv forum. Whatever happens in the states normally gets too us eventually.

This week SunnyBrook RV, makers of towable RVs, laid off half of its workforce and the largest Jellystone RV park filed bankruptcy. Meanwhile attendance at the opening day at the prestigious National RV Trade Show fell 37% from what it was last year.

The dealer attendance was even worse and are you surprised? After all, we’ve lost so many RV manufacturers and dealers this year I’ve lost count.

I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I know a trend when I see one. With the big three automakers up against the wall and begging congress for a bailout is it any wonder discretionary spending categories like boats and RVs have fallen off a cliff? The present RV industry is a dinosaur destined for extinction.If you believe the RV market is going to turn around any time soon you’re from another planet. The fact is we will continue to see more RV manufactures, RV parks, RV dealers and RV related businesses tank in 2009. Call me a wet blanket or call me a pessimist, in fact you can call me anything you want, but it doesn’t change the facts. The RV industry is dying and I’m writing the obituary now.

You’ll hear pundits say things like, “The RV industry has gone through tough times before and we survived and we’ll survive it this time as well.” I have some advice for the pundits, “Go see a psychiatrist while you still have health insurance because you’re living in a fantasy world.”

The RV industry as we know it will not recover this time. If the largest U.S. auto makers can’t make it without you and me giving them a monster loan through our taxes, then what makes the pundits think the RV industry is going to survive?

Every CEO in the RV industry knows the end is near. They’re fearful and doing desperate things like quietly looking for buyers like Coachmen successfully did last month. They’re trying to fend off bankruptcy by negotiating with their investors while not being able to make interest payments on their loans like the manufacturer Fleetwood and the largest Florida RV dealer Lazydays.

Seriously, this time next year you’ll be saying, “The Professor of RVing was right, the RV industry really did tank…I wish I would have listened to him and had that warranty work done while my dealer was still in business.”

Thinking about joining one of those RV park membership systems? I would think twice before I committed any money into that sink hole.

Thinking about purchasing a new RV? Do yourself a favor and buy a quality used RV instead because it is likely that most of the warranty work has already been done and the majority of the bugs worked out.

If you insist on purchasing a new RV subtract at least 40% off the already marked down price. If they don’t want to deal, give them your phone number and tell them to call you when they get serious and walk off the lot. You might as well get the best price you can because you’re not going to be able to get any warranty work done after they’ve gone out of business. Better yet, wait until the bankruptcy court appointed trustee holds an auction and sells the same RV for pennies on the dollar.

The main stream media has fallen down on the job of reporting the facts that we are entering the most serious global depression in history. Just this week we learned the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007. You didn’t have to wait for the mainstream media to tell you the RV industry was in trouble because I told you back on December 2nd, 2007 in the article entitled, “RV industry in financial crisis.” Now I’m making another prediction: The next few years will be the worst catastrophe in economic history and the RV industry will not be spared. The worst part of our current economic crisis is yet to come!

I caught a lot of flack from my December article but it turned out to be true. I suppose I’ll catch even more flack from this article, but as a journalist covering the RV beat I would be professionally negligent if I did not tell the truth and report the facts as they emerge.

This coming year our world will be shaken to the core and it will never again be the same. I doubt there will even be a National RV Trade Show in 2009 and if it does happen it will be a much smaller event, unrecognizable from its former grandeur.

Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing

Jim :Smile:
 

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