By RV News Staff
The latest J.D. Power Market Insights report on the RV industry found RV values at or near peak levels despite the 2023 retail sales slowdown. Following data in the RV industry (and boat industry) is one of the surest ways to predict the future for the RV and boat storage. Increases in sales in these industries is like looking into the ball for developers of recreation vehicle storage. Value reminds RV and boat storage operators that stored vehicles are rarely abandoned at facilities because they are tenants’ prized possessions, something they won’t walk away from.
The market is facing economic headwinds, the report said, and inventory levels are normalizing. The values of camping trailers, Type C motorhomes and truck campers all remain higher in the first half of 2023 than they were in the first half of 2022.
“With Class C motorhomes, Camping Trailers and Truck Campers all showing higher values in May-June 2023 compared to year-prior,” the report said, “it is difficult to take an overly pessimistic view of market conditions in the second half of the year.”
J.D. Power said the macroeconomic conditions would have to “worsen fairly notably” for RV values to drastically reverse in the second half of 2023. The report found travel trailers’ most recent 10 model years averaged 6.8% lower values in the first half of 2023 compared with the first half of 2022. For fifth wheels, values averaged 4.7% less.
Type A motorhomes averaged 3.1% lower values in the first half of 2023 than the first half of 2022. However, Type C motorhomes’ values averaged 2.1% higher values. Camping trailers averaged 1.3% higher values and truck campers averaged 2.9% higher values in the same time periods.
J.D. Power also tracks the most viewed RVs and brands online during the report’s time period. In the second quarter of 2023, consumers searched for towable RVs 67% of the time, followed by Type A motorhomes (16%), Type C motorhomes (11%) and Type B motorhomes (3%).
Keystone RV (32%) was the towable brand most often researched. Jayco (16%) was next, followed by Grand Design (10%) and Heartland RV (10%), Forest River’s Cherokee (8%), then Coachmen RV and Forest River’s Rockwood, Wildwood and Salem (all 5%).
Among Type A motorhomes, Thor Motor Coach (21%) was the most researched brand, followed by Winnebago (18%) and Tiffin’s Allegro (15%). Holiday Rambler (8%) was next, with Winnebago’s Itasca and Tiffin’s Phaeton at 7%. Fleetwood RV’s Bounder, Monaco, Entegra Coach and Forest River’s Georgetown all were researched 6% of the time.
Among Type C motorhomes, Thor Motor Coach (29%) again was the researched leader, followed by Winnebago and Jayco at 15%. Coachmen RV (13%) was next, with Forest River’s Sunseeker (9%) and Forester (6%) were next, followed by Gulf Stream and Winnebago’s Itasca (4%), Entegra Coach (3%) and Thor Motor Coach’s Four Winds (2%).
RV News, a brand of DRN Media Inc., is the oldest trade magazine in the RV industry, with its first issue appearing in 1975. No other RV trade magazine has the rich history of RV News. Now owned by DRN Media Inc., the monthly, business-to-business trade magazine is avidly read by business decision-makers in the RV industry, including RV dealers, RV manufacturers, RV parts/accessories suppliers, warehouse distributors, RV retail stores and repair shops, and RV storage operators.
