A Boomer Road Trip
Queen-size beds, showers, and kitchenettes: A grown-up generation finds RVs are today's version of the VW bus
Not that the new breed of buyer is content to loaf around in leather captain's chairs. Many RV owners also bring along their motorcycles and ATVs, bolstering the industry's newest category: the toy hauler, a crossbreed that combines the features of a deluxe motor home with an attached minigarage. Retail price: about $100,000 and up.
If all this seems just a bit over the top, well, some industry insiders say it is. For many now hitting the road, the wide-eyed luxury of today's RVs is "a financial accident waiting to happen," warns Dave Gricunas, an RV salesman turned appraiser. Much like the McMansion craze that accompanied the recent housing boom, he says, low interest rates and easy credit have made it tempting for novice buyers to get in over their heads. That's because, unlike buying a house, which can rise in value as the land beneath it appreciates, an RV's value can only sink, often faster than owners can keep up with the payments.
Moving on up. Of course, buying an RV needn't send you into hock. The average price for a new travel trailer sold last year was just $15,000. And with campground fees averaging around $25 a night, even this summer's $3-a-gallon gas wasn't enough to keep the cost of an RV vacation from comparing favorably with the alternatives.
Yet for many, the temptation to go upscale can quickly overtake any potential savings. That's what happened to Dolores Merla and her husband after he spotted his dream-mobile on the road: a 42-foot Country Coach Magna Resort motor home. "He just flipped for it," she recalls of the decision to trade in their 11-year-old model for an updated version.
By buying a lightly used model with just 19,000 miles on it, the Merlas saved about a third off the $500,000 retail price of a new one. But they soon discovered that all its bells and whistles-dual slide-outs, heated tile floors, and a fancy home entertainment system, to name a few-required far more maintenance than they were prepared for. "We didn't expect it to be this complex," Merla says of the coach's computer-driven electrical and mechanical systems.
A change of both heart and plans prompted the couple to put their RV on the market in May, after upping the odometer reading by only 20,000 miles. Unfortunately, the magazine ads they placed have yet to land a reasonable offer, and the eBay auction Merla posted last month, with a top bid of $144,000, fell short of the $179,000 reserve price she had set. "And it's going to be even harder when the 2007s come out and flood the market," she laments.
Flood is right. After years of strong demand and months-long waiting lists for the hottest models, upticks in interest rates and gas prices began to squeeze demand last spring, especially for gas-guzzling motor homes. That was too late for manufacturers and dealers to dial back. The result mirrors the sharp downturn now underway in the housing market: bulging inventories and listings on eBay and classifieds sites like RVTrader.com. "Just about everyone's overstocked right now," says Don Wright, author of the book How to Buy an RV and Save Thousands. He expects the glut to continue through the end of 2007.
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