I thought I would start this post just talking from a historical perspective about RV shipments over the last few years. After that we can discuss the March RV shipment numbers.

The first time that the RV industry exceeded 500,000 units in a given year was 2017. As a matter of fact our current Imagine Travel Trailer was made in February of that year.

Producing half a million trailers comes at a cost, and many people who bought trailers in 2017 found their quality disappointing. Some of this may have been due to a ramp up period, where quantity was more important than quality. The factory should have caught many of the issues on our Trailer at the factory. That said, we bought a trailer that had fewer flaws than what some others experienced. I am not excusing the RV industry for the quality issues, they alone are responsible for their product. Click here to read my opinion on the RV industry’s decline in quality.

2018 came and shipments declined by a little over 4%. The projection was that the industry would have the same or slightly less shipments in 2019. In fact, in 2019, the shipment numbers were down about 16% from the 2018 numbers. Then Covid came. By October of 2020, sales were climbing so fast that October became the largest shipments month on record. November of 2020 shipments were 46.3% higher than the previous November. Overall, manufacturers shipped 3% more RVs in 2020, even though the industry shut down for two months to deal with the pandemic. By the end of 2020, shipments were up 16% over 2019. November and December of 2020 were also record shipment months.

In 2021, the RV market exploded, and manufacturers shipped 600,240 units. While Shipments are not the same as “Sales”, one only had to drive by an RV Dealership to see the lots were empty. There was a shortage of new and used RVs, and both were selling at high prices. With folks working from home and children connecting remotely to school, a new opportunity arose for families to travel while working and learning from the road.

In 2022 we started seeing a cooling off of the market, but it was still the third best year on record. The projection for 2023 will be slightly north of 400,000 units.

Having followed this industry for many years, I can tell you with great certainty that record shipments are only good for the RV manufacturers. Many folks can attest to the fact that they are happy they didn’t buy a “Covid Trailer” (A travel trailer manufactured during the pandemic). The quality complaints were overwhelming during this period. Several factors caused this, but manufacturers could have prevented the problems. Instead, they shipped travel trailers incomplete or with substitute amenities due to parts shortages. Keep in mind the RV manufacturers had no control over the parts shortages.

To be fair, we saw some of this happening in the automobile/truck industry at the same time.

Meanwhile, dealers scrambled to handle warranty repairs they weren’t equipped for. Manufacturers and dealerships couldn’t find enough workers, which only made the situation worse. Everyone ended up sharing the nightmare.

As I have said many times a great customer service from a manufacturer is nice, but no one looks forward to dealing with warranty issues or having their travel trailer in the shop while their warranty and vacation time evaporates.

So where are we today? The RVIA projects a 21% decline over last years numbers for 2023. They refer to this as normalizing to pre-pandemic shipment levels. The RVIA President, Craig Kirby, went on to say “RV shipments are expected to continue to retreat through the first half of 2023 due to economic headwinds to consumer finances stemming from inflation, financial market weakness, and higher interest rates. The industry will begin to recover in the latter half of 2023 with shipments expected to trend upward”.

I do agree with what Mr. Kirby said regarding the economic problems facing the industry. Those factors are affecting all of us, not just the RV industry.

In a nutshell, the RV March shipments were down 50.8% over the previous March of 2022. So the anticipated slide continues. However, don’t expect that a move downwards in production means an increase in quality – I don’t think those two things will go hand-in-hand. Like most of you, I know travel trailers and all RVs could be made better. It is frustrating to watch the complaints about brand new units on-line.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not here to bash the RV industry. I still think there is no better way to see the country, than in a travel trailer. I would just like to see us return to a time when the quality was much better.