It may be every dealer’s favorite season, but how has this year’s summer rental season compared with last year? According to most dealers who spoke to RV PRO, business is good and they are seeing signs of improvement for the industry as a whole. However, there are some who are still struggling and many are making concessions and adjustments to attract budget-conscious customers.
Rich Ela, business manager
Dee’s RV
Colorado Springs, Colo.
“We are seeing business up fairly significantly compared to last summer. Our smaller units, 26-foot Four Winds, are booked solid through the end of August, while our bigger Class C’s and A’s are also doing well. I think the lower gas prices this year have a lot to do with it.
“We are seeing people renting units for longer periods of time and taking them farther than they did last year. We have had them take them as far as Washington, D.C., and Florida, but most are taking them west to places such as the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone.
“The summer rate for our small Class C’s, 26-foot, is $1,289 per week, while our largest Class A is $1,599 per week. The prices are identical to last year because I didn’t want to make a price increase in the current economy.
“Our season starts just before Memorial Day and goes through September, but business continues for us, although a little bit lighter, through mid-October. We will run some specials in the spring season. We probably won’t do too much different next summer season because of the success we’ve had this summer.
“We see a lot of families traveling in the summer and retirees start renting right after Labor Day. We have seen some families that rented last summer, which is good. They are asking for exactly the same units they had last year. We rent all 2009s.”
Bruce Jeremiah, owner
Rent RV
Portland, Ore.
“I have been in RV rental business since 1973 and we are renting Class A’s, Class C’s, as well as some B-pluses. I rent Sunseekers, Lexingtons, Jamborees, Pioneers and Georgetowns, as well as Gulf Stream’s Conquest Super C’s. But this year I lowered my overhead and negotiated with my landlord for a smaller lease payment. I wasn’t able to get rid of any of my inventory this winter because no one was buying, but have retailed and sold at an auction seven or eight motorhomes early in our peak season.
“I have had about 120 units in the last couple of years, but I am probably down to a little under 100 now. That includes travel trailers used for recreation. I also have 32-foot and 38-foot trailers for temporary housing. Rentals are down; we did almost $2 million in rentals annually two years ago and it was our best year ever, but we will be lucky to do $1.4 million this year. However, my overhead is a lot lower.
“The peak season is five months in Oregon – May through September. And I’ve been in business for a long time, so we still get a lot of business in October and November for football games and hunting. We start getting reservations for the peak season starting in January.
“I figure the peak five months will be about the same as last year. I learned last year to lower my overhead and I’ve been working since April a year ago to lower my overhead. It’s done a lot of good. Last year, I opened another lot and I was lucky to close it and get out of it quickly.
“My rates are down this year about 10 percent. Of my Class C models, a 23-foot rents for $1,145 per week; a 26-foot with slide is $1,245 per week and a 31-foot with slide rents for $1,295. Of the Class A models, a 35-foot bunkhouse is $1,495 a week and a 37-foot is $1,595.
“I include 500 free miles per week. I charge 35 cents per mile on Class C’s and 45 cents per mile on Class A’s. I also sell 500-mile packages on Class C’s for $125 and Class A’s for $165, but they have to buy before they go out on the rental.
“My 31-foot Class C is the most popular.
“Customers are traveling more miles than they did last year. Many go to Yellowstone, especially those who fly in from Europe or from places such as Texas. Others will go into the Redwoods or Glacier National Park. We have ocean, lakes, rainforest, mountains, desert and some of the most beautiful scenery in the world in the Northwest.
“We also changed our website page to include picture galleries of all our motorhomes and it’s helping us. And we have a couple travel agents that give us a lot of business, but 90 percent of our business is still local; they are coming from a 100-mile radius.
“This is the first year in a long time that I haven’t bought anything. I was overstocked by 15 units because of the other lot so I didn’t need to buy anything. The oldest motorhome is a 2008 and because of the economy and gas prices last year, the ones I have are practically brand new. We usually buy units every year in Louisville, but I didn’t even go to Louisville this year.
“I sell about half my RVs the same year and one-fourth the next year before the new season gets started. This gives me the depreciation that I need for a tax write-off.
Carl H. Rochelle Sr., president
Gulf RV Rentals
Loxley, Ala.
“I rent travel trailers and most the people I rent to can’t afford motorhomes. I was the first in the United States to rent travel trailers back in the 1990s in Hot Springs National Park, Ark., and I came here to retire and to have something to do besides sale my boat all the time. I have a total of 10 units to rent this summer and they are 22- and 24-foot Mity-Lite Travel trailers, which weigh about 3,000 pounds and they were all designed by me for camping and I’ve been a camper all my life.
“July was the best month so far, but rentals for August are slow. These people don’t have money for vacations and a lot of them are struggling to live day by day and many of them don’t have jobs. I run the credit cards and some won’t even take $300. I called a customer back the other day and they had to rent with cash. My customers are struggling week to week.
“They aren’t traveling very far. They are going to north Alabama and to the state parks. We are in lower Alabama, south of Mobile and in one of the prettiest areas on the Gulf Coast. My office is 25 miles from the Gulf and there are 18 parks in the area. Of course there are plenty of condominiums to rent and there are pricey hotels rooms, but we are more affordable.
“I haven’t had a price increase since I started renting trailers years ago. I dropped the price recently to $698 to $598, giving the seventh night free to see if it would help business. I’m not sure if it did, but I may have picked up a few longer rentals because of it. I also have a ‘weekend warrior’ rate, but you can’t make money renting a travel trailer for $298.
“I don’t know what I am going to do next summer. I am just like my customers and, as long as it’s paying the bills, I am going to keep the business open. The only time I’ve had all of the trailers rented this year was during NASCAR and four big dealerships here have gone out of business, including those renting motorhomes.
“I think all of us in this business need to cut any costs we can. I been through this before and, in Arkansas, my business got better when other were struggling, but gas prices hurt us this time and the oil companies are determined to ruin everyone’s vacation. I’ve already had one customer cancel a trip to Disney World because he couldn’t afford the gas and chose to go to a state park, which is much cheaper.
“They are talking about $3 a gallon for gas before the end of the summer. The more it goes up, the worse my business is going to be.”
Sandra Garcia, rental manager
Freedom RV Rentals
Murrieta, Calif.
“We purchased the business in August 2008 and I manage the store and oversee the rentals. We have purchased software and updated the website with all our information. We’ve also been using Google Clicks and, since then, almost every weekend all of our eight coaches have been rented; it helped pick up our business enormously. When the Google campaign runs out of money, our phone calls really slow down.
“Most of our customers are between 35 and 50 with families. At a recent festival in Temecula we had a banner and brought in a lot of sign ups from people who said they were interested in motorhomes. But, for the most part, the Internet has brought in the customers and they are taking trips to the beach, local lakes, Las Vegas or the Grand Canyon. Business is rocking right now. People are booking only four weeks or so in advance.
“Among our units, we have a 26-foot Fleetwood Jamboree, a 27-foot Jayco JayFlite trailer, a 28-foot Winnebago and a 40-foot Providence. Rates range from $109 to $320 a night and there is a three-night minimum. Most are renting them for three to six nights.
“I am going to make informational binders for each motorhome, describing how to use everything in the unit because, while I spend an hour with them, the customers do tend to forget what they’ve been shown. They can refer to the binders for any information they need.”
Jennifer Hurst, Rental Coordinator
Northside RV’s
Lexington, Ky.
“We running motorhomes – Fleetwood 34-foot Class A’s with triple slides and 29-foot Fleetwood Tiogas – and we are running travel trailers. That’s the same as last year. The travel trailer business has picked up and we are seeing an increase in rentals of motorhomes in July and August. I have very few dates left open for the summer.
“People are taking the vehicles to music festivals, car races and one just left for seven weeks and is headed out west. Like last year, we are seeing people take shorter, weekend trips and staying here in Kentucky because of the economy. But I also have others who are going to Florida and to Disney World.
“We didn’t put out as many Class C’s for rent as we normally do. We have five, and all but one is rented out right now. They are being used by families and by retirees. Our heavy season runs from March until after Labor Day. We recently had three musical festivals in one weekend and we had people on a waiting list for units.
“I have been doing this for 17 years and we pretty much stay with what we’ve had success with in the past. It’s been a good summer so far.”
