dale farley
04-09-2013, 03:59 PM
RV sales rolling along with better economy
http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/26/f26b05b6-9f9e-11e2-9ab1-001a4bcf887a/51619cb91c22d.preview-620.jpg
JAMES WOODCOCK/Billings Gazette
Sales manager Dean Benjamin, right, and marketing director Andy Piccioni discuss how business has improved at Pierce RV Supercenter. March sales set a new record by a mile, Benjamin said.
April 07, 2013 By Jan FalstadBillings Gazette (http://helenair.com/search/?l=50&sd=desc&s=start_time&f=html&byline=By%20Jan%20Falstad%0ABillings%20Gazette)
<aside id="asset-related" class="grid_3 right">
</aside> MISSOULA — Manufacturers of recreational vehicles, a made-in-America symbol of money and luxury, expect to sell 7.5 percent more RVs to dealers this year.
The Recreation Vehicle Industry Association expects U.S. sales to hit 307,300 this year, up from 285,800 in 2012.
But those growth estimates are too low for Montana, said Dean Benjamin, sales manager at Pierce Homes & RV of Billings, one of Montana’s largest RV retailers.
“We just finished our best March ever by a long shot,” he said, while declining to give specifics, saying, “I don’t share our numbers.”
Pent-up demand for RVs, a stabilizing economy, low interest rates and stock market indices setting record highs are reasons for the jump, he said.
RVs now fill 80 percent of Kampgrounds of America camp sites, so company officials in Billings closely track RV sales numbers.
Last year, retail sales increased 13 percent over 2011, said Phil Ingrassia, president of the Recreational Vehicle Dealers Association in Washington, D.C. And January sales, the most current available, have jumped about 20 percent.
RVs and the campgrounds that welcome them are a protected segment of the travel industry, said KOA spokesman Mike Gast.
“Once you make that investment, you’re locked in. They may travel regionally, but they are going to go,” he said.
KOA reservations rose 5 percent in 2012 and are up almost 3 percent so far this year, he said. The state of Montana registered 33,942 motor homes last year, up slightly from 2011.
After U.S. gas prices hit a record average price in February, they’ve been dropping, according to GasBuddy.com (http://gasbuddy.com/).
Montana gas prices averaged $3.34 last week, compared to $3.68 one year ago. High or rising fuel prices logically should drag down sales of motor homes, some drinking a gallon of fuel to go just a few miles, but Benjamin denied the impact.
“The people who buy a $300,000 diesel pusher aren’t that concerned about gas prices,” he said. “They buy luxury.”
However, elections, like last fall, depress sales until the campaigns end, Benjamin said.
“It doesn’t matter which party gets elected, it’s the instability in the markets,” he said.
Walking over to a 42-foot Winnebago, Pierce’s marketing director Andy Piccioni pointed out all the amenities of a luxury home: a king-size bed, 1 ½ baths, crown molding, central vacuum system, induction cook top, full-size French door refrigerator, dishwasher, washer and dryer, a fireplace and a 40-inch flat-screen TV -- topped off by four slide outs, including a living room and an outdoor kitchen.
This $376,885 luxury motor home gets eight miles per gallon.
John Huskey, who with his dad owns American Spirit RV/Marine, said people buying RVs are older and have more dispensable income and they’re going to travel regardless.
“I don’t know if we’ll see gas prices impact RV sales,” Huskey said. “Not at all, unless they get crazy high like four or five years ago.”
Oil money flowing into Billings from western North Dakota now makes up about a quarter of American Spirit’s sales, an economic boom Huskey expects to last for years. Workers may first live in an RV, and then keep it when they find permanent oil patch housing. Or they buy one to use when they go home for two weeks off.
“They just make such good money. A goofy deck hand is going to make $7,000 a month,” Huskey said.
Doug and Debbie Becker, who purchased Metra RV Center last summer at the Lockwood exit off of Interstate 90, increased their inventory about 20 percent in anticipation of a good year.
“If you order now, it would be six to 10 weeks out and transportation may take two to three weeks more to get a truck underneath them, than in the past,” Doug Becker said.
Snowbirds, the people who spend winters in warmer states, and oil field workers make up to 30 percent of the Beckers’ sales. Metra RV focuses on more affordable models. About $14,000 will buy a new 19-foot travel trailer, Becker said, with his fifth wheels towed behind trucks running up to $90,000.
For some, RVs are a lifestyle, he said.
“I think the biggest thing is its quality time for the families and people are looking for that,” he said.
But some owners get RV fever, only to park them in a year or two.
In 2002, Pierce RV was the first business to build off Interstate 90 and Zoo Drive. Since then, its storage area has doubled to almost 250 RVs. By fall, development of another five acres should be completed -- room for another 200 RVs.
Dale and Val Maxwell, who run the Sagecoach Ranch RV & Mini Storage two miles west of Zoo Drive, said they also stay pretty full, storing about 110 RVs.
“They just sit and sit. A lot of them don’t go anywhere,” he said.
Cities prohibit parking RVs by homes and most subdivision covenants don’t allow them either, said Dale Maxwell, which helps their business.
Motorhome owners can pay $150 a month for indoor parking, he said. The monthly tab at Stagecoach runs $30 for a spot in the pasture.
Maxwell said he does see higher gas or diesel prices affecting RV use because he stores a lot of $1,000 campers, used to take the family out twice a year and go hunting in the fall.
“Retired people, who have income other than their Social Security check, can afford to put $300 to $400 worth of diesel fuel into that motor home,” Maxwell said.
“But a working guy with a wife and three kids, how far is he going to go?”
http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/26/f26b05b6-9f9e-11e2-9ab1-001a4bcf887a/51619cb91c22d.preview-620.jpg
JAMES WOODCOCK/Billings Gazette
Sales manager Dean Benjamin, right, and marketing director Andy Piccioni discuss how business has improved at Pierce RV Supercenter. March sales set a new record by a mile, Benjamin said.
April 07, 2013 By Jan FalstadBillings Gazette (http://helenair.com/search/?l=50&sd=desc&s=start_time&f=html&byline=By%20Jan%20Falstad%0ABillings%20Gazette)
<aside id="asset-related" class="grid_3 right">
</aside> MISSOULA — Manufacturers of recreational vehicles, a made-in-America symbol of money and luxury, expect to sell 7.5 percent more RVs to dealers this year.
The Recreation Vehicle Industry Association expects U.S. sales to hit 307,300 this year, up from 285,800 in 2012.
But those growth estimates are too low for Montana, said Dean Benjamin, sales manager at Pierce Homes & RV of Billings, one of Montana’s largest RV retailers.
“We just finished our best March ever by a long shot,” he said, while declining to give specifics, saying, “I don’t share our numbers.”
Pent-up demand for RVs, a stabilizing economy, low interest rates and stock market indices setting record highs are reasons for the jump, he said.
RVs now fill 80 percent of Kampgrounds of America camp sites, so company officials in Billings closely track RV sales numbers.
Last year, retail sales increased 13 percent over 2011, said Phil Ingrassia, president of the Recreational Vehicle Dealers Association in Washington, D.C. And January sales, the most current available, have jumped about 20 percent.
RVs and the campgrounds that welcome them are a protected segment of the travel industry, said KOA spokesman Mike Gast.
“Once you make that investment, you’re locked in. They may travel regionally, but they are going to go,” he said.
KOA reservations rose 5 percent in 2012 and are up almost 3 percent so far this year, he said. The state of Montana registered 33,942 motor homes last year, up slightly from 2011.
After U.S. gas prices hit a record average price in February, they’ve been dropping, according to GasBuddy.com (http://gasbuddy.com/).
Montana gas prices averaged $3.34 last week, compared to $3.68 one year ago. High or rising fuel prices logically should drag down sales of motor homes, some drinking a gallon of fuel to go just a few miles, but Benjamin denied the impact.
“The people who buy a $300,000 diesel pusher aren’t that concerned about gas prices,” he said. “They buy luxury.”
However, elections, like last fall, depress sales until the campaigns end, Benjamin said.
“It doesn’t matter which party gets elected, it’s the instability in the markets,” he said.
Walking over to a 42-foot Winnebago, Pierce’s marketing director Andy Piccioni pointed out all the amenities of a luxury home: a king-size bed, 1 ½ baths, crown molding, central vacuum system, induction cook top, full-size French door refrigerator, dishwasher, washer and dryer, a fireplace and a 40-inch flat-screen TV -- topped off by four slide outs, including a living room and an outdoor kitchen.
This $376,885 luxury motor home gets eight miles per gallon.
John Huskey, who with his dad owns American Spirit RV/Marine, said people buying RVs are older and have more dispensable income and they’re going to travel regardless.
“I don’t know if we’ll see gas prices impact RV sales,” Huskey said. “Not at all, unless they get crazy high like four or five years ago.”
Oil money flowing into Billings from western North Dakota now makes up about a quarter of American Spirit’s sales, an economic boom Huskey expects to last for years. Workers may first live in an RV, and then keep it when they find permanent oil patch housing. Or they buy one to use when they go home for two weeks off.
“They just make such good money. A goofy deck hand is going to make $7,000 a month,” Huskey said.
Doug and Debbie Becker, who purchased Metra RV Center last summer at the Lockwood exit off of Interstate 90, increased their inventory about 20 percent in anticipation of a good year.
“If you order now, it would be six to 10 weeks out and transportation may take two to three weeks more to get a truck underneath them, than in the past,” Doug Becker said.
Snowbirds, the people who spend winters in warmer states, and oil field workers make up to 30 percent of the Beckers’ sales. Metra RV focuses on more affordable models. About $14,000 will buy a new 19-foot travel trailer, Becker said, with his fifth wheels towed behind trucks running up to $90,000.
For some, RVs are a lifestyle, he said.
“I think the biggest thing is its quality time for the families and people are looking for that,” he said.
But some owners get RV fever, only to park them in a year or two.
In 2002, Pierce RV was the first business to build off Interstate 90 and Zoo Drive. Since then, its storage area has doubled to almost 250 RVs. By fall, development of another five acres should be completed -- room for another 200 RVs.
Dale and Val Maxwell, who run the Sagecoach Ranch RV & Mini Storage two miles west of Zoo Drive, said they also stay pretty full, storing about 110 RVs.
“They just sit and sit. A lot of them don’t go anywhere,” he said.
Cities prohibit parking RVs by homes and most subdivision covenants don’t allow them either, said Dale Maxwell, which helps their business.
Motorhome owners can pay $150 a month for indoor parking, he said. The monthly tab at Stagecoach runs $30 for a spot in the pasture.
Maxwell said he does see higher gas or diesel prices affecting RV use because he stores a lot of $1,000 campers, used to take the family out twice a year and go hunting in the fall.
“Retired people, who have income other than their Social Security check, can afford to put $300 to $400 worth of diesel fuel into that motor home,” Maxwell said.
“But a working guy with a wife and three kids, how far is he going to go?”