RT168 The Big Issues Facing the RV Industry for 2018

This episode of the podcast is coming to you direct from the 2017 RV Industry Trade Show in Louisville, KY. Taking questions and comments received over the past week from our Roadtreking.com blog readers, out Roadtreking Facebook Group and Roadtreking Facebook Page and our RV lifestyle Channel on YouTube, we’ve interviewed top leaders in the RV industry and identified the three biggest issues this booming industry needs to address as 2018 approaches. You’ll hear their responses in this podcast, plus much more. Click the player below to Listen Now or scroll down through the show note details. When you see a time code hyperlink, you can click it to jump directly to that segment of the podcast. [spp-player] Show Notes for Episode #168 Nov. 29, 2017 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK [spp-timestamp time="2:07"] Mike and Jenifer podcasting live from the floor at the 2017 National RV Trade Show in Louisville, KY Jennifer and I have been in Louisville all week and we are actually doing this episode right from the show floor. This show is not open to the public, just RV manufacturers, RV dealers, service techs and parts suppliers. Plus the RV media, of course 2 million square feet of exhibitor space Hundreds of new RVs for 2018 Seminars, accessory dealers, parts dealers and the elite of the industry. We are moving from our standard podcast format to instead identify the three major issues and bring on industry experts to help shed their insights on what it means. The three issues are: With a million new RVers this year, and another million expected in 2018, where will they take their RVs? Campground development is not keeping space with RV sales. What can RVers do? We’ll try to put it into perspective Our audience identifies RV service as another channeling issue. RV repairs are often hard to get done. Sometime, it takes weeks to get an appointment and when you’re out of town and need help, what can an RV owner do? What’s the industry’s effort to add more service personnel. RV quality is the third issue our audience raised. With manufacturers rolling our new RVs as fast as they can, many of our readers and viewers think quality has taken a backseat. What is the industry doing to insure the quality of the new RVs they are building in record numbers? We’ll talk about these, in depth. This portion of the Podcast is brought to you by Campers Inn, the RVer’s trusted resource for over 50 years, the nation’s largest family-operated RV dealership with 19 locations and growing ISSUE #1 – With so many RVers on the road, where will they stay? [spp-timestamp time="12:30"] We discuss this with industry leaders Bill Sheffer, executive director . [spp-timestamp time="14:30"], Michigan Association Recreational Vehicles and Campgrounds Kevin Broom,  [spp-timestamp time="20:46"] Recreation Vehicle Industry Association This part of the podcast is brought to you by RadPower Bikes ,an electric bike manufacturer offering direct to consumer pricing on powerful premium electric bikes. Now with free shipping Issue #2 – The need for more service techs to repair and maintain RVs [spp-timestamp time="27:32"] We discuss this with industry leaders: Marl Polk runs rveducation101.com , a website devoted to teaching RVers how to do it themselves. He shares his thoughts. [spp-timestamp time="28:07"] Bob Zagami is executive director of the New England RV Dealers Association. He says the problem is a serious problem and has helped pioneer some innovate ways for the industry to solve it. [spp-timestamp time="34:56"] Sponsoring this part of the podcast is Van City RV  Bringing You the largest Inventory of class B’ RVs with locations St. Louis, Missouri; Las Vegas, Nevada; Kalispell, Montana and now… Colorado Springs, Colorado.. Issue #3: RV quality [spp-timestamp time="43:38"] Talking about this issue is: Walter Cannon is a well-respected leader in the RV industry,