RV dealers looking for a rebound around bend
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Workers help put up signs marking the trailers displayed by Huffy's RV & Trailer Sales, of Finleyville, at the Pittsburgh RV show at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
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When their new 25-foot Four Winds travel trailer needed routine end-of-summer maintenance, the Steinmetzes dropped it off at Cavalier Coach in Belle Vernon, the same place they bought it.
Days later, when they called to check on the repairs, they were told to come claim their travel trailer post-haste, because "we might not be here next week," recalled Carol Steinmetz, of Shaler. Cavalier had just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and told Carol and Gregg they'd have to get their repairs done elsewhere.
That was in 2008, and it was symptomatic of what was to come: a devastating two-year recreational vehicle sales slump that resulted in closed dealerships, bankrupt manufacturers and thousands of layoffs across the United States. The RV -- like its smaller cousin, the SUV -- was a threatened species, a lumbering, gas-guzzling anachronism that might not survive the Great Recession.
Today, dealers are hopeful that the sales slump is nearing its end. Attendance at this year's Pittsburgh RV Show -- which started yesterday and runs through Jan. 17 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center -- should be a barometer, as it's one of the first American RV shows of 2010.
"Last year at this time was probably at the bottom of the industry," said Rob Young, promoter of the Pittsburgh RV show.
The recession prompted people to hoard discretionary income, if they had any at all. The credit freeze meant people who wanted loans for more expensive motor homes couldn't get them, or had to come up with a larger down payment. People who already owned an RV elected to put a few more miles on the old one rather than trade for a new one.
It's not unlike the throes that beset the auto and housing markets over the same time period.
"It was a weeding-out of some of the lesser manufacturers," Mr. Young said. "The strong ones survived, the stronger dealerships survived."
Dealers like Cavalier Coach didn't; RV manufacturers Fleetwood and Monaco didn't, either, as both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2009. Winnebago Industries, synonymous with the RV, had laid off half of its workforce by spring of last year.
There were worries that the RV market would take years to rebound, but that time line may have been too pessimistic.
First Published January 10, 2010 12:00 am
