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Old 08-19-2008, 04:19 AM   #5
Leslie & Nick
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: North Georgia
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Good questions Linda

I was just thinking the other day that I would not want to be a manufacturer (or a seller) of RVs right now. With the gas situation as bad as it is, and only faint hope that it will get much better, it's inevitable that there's going to be some shakeup in the whole RV market. This has happened before (in the early 70's, if you were around then), but I think the situation back then was more political grandstanding than a shortage of petroleum stock. I'm sure that some of today's situation certainly is political, but because of many factors, I now believe there is, or will be, a shortage of affordable crude oil.

Trailmanor is probably positioned better than most RV or TT manufacturers. They are going to make the most of the fact that their trailers are easier to tow because of their lighter weight, and as a result, require less fuel to travel from place to place. I just received an email yesterday from TM suggesting I check out their revised website - sure enough prominently pictured was a gas pump nozzle, with the message being that TMs cost less to tow.

I think that the overall point is that if people enjoy, and want to camp, then they are going to do it. They will find a way to go camping, no matter what, until the cost of camping interferes with other wants. They might not go as frequently as they once did, but they're going to camp 'come hell or high water'.

No doubt, the overall number of people camping is probably less than what it has been in years prior - campgrounds are not as crowded as they used to be, you might not need reservations, a lot of RVs for sale, etc. But the fact remains, there are still families out there who will continue to go camping.

As one of the earlier posters noted, 'RVs are not good investments'. In fact RVs are not investments (in the true sense of the word) at all, they are like cars - an expense. I'd say however, if you have fun and enjoy camping, now might be as good a time as any to jump in

Nick
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