Meet North America’s Most Popular RV Salesman

This week, we talk to RV salesman who has become a celebrity video star with a huge following you’d never have expected from the first video shot almost a decade ago He is Dean Corrigal, from Leisure Travel Vans, who shares with us how he became a YouTube star in his own right and therefore the most popular RV Salesman in all of North America We have lots of RV News for you, answer your questions, share some RV tips and trips, including a great off the beaten path report from the Burketts. Show Notes for Episode #263 October 9, 2019 of The RV Podcast; WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK We're just back from the California RV Show, held at the California Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. We met so many of our followers and really enjoyed this show, the biggest in the West. Look for a full video on our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel this Thursday. This week we head up to Mackinac Island n a short family vacation. This part of the podcast is brought to you by Dish Outdoors, which lets RVers pay as they go and watch HD satellite television from wherever they are camped with easy to set up gear made with the RVer in mind. Just go to https://rvlifestyle.com/dish for details on the service and special deal just for listeners of this podcast. RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK JENNIFER Growing popularity of Glacier National Park triggering new plans to manage crowds  Long time readers know we love Glacier National Park, so it was with great interest we read a story out last week about the Park Service's concern in how to deal with the growing popularity of the park. Nearly 3.5 million people visit the park each year, which is three times the population of Montana. The growing crowds are causing extreme gridlock, parking lot congestion, and many other challenges. One of the options under consideration is a shuttle system. Glacier is one of our favorite national parks, with wildlife and views that are spectacular. To get a glimpse of what makes it so special, see one of our videos of a gathering we held at Glacier here. MIKE Man severely burned after falling into hot spring near Yellowstone's Old Faithful geyser  A man was severely burned at Yellowstone National Park last week after he fell into a hot spring at the Old Faithful geyser. The man told rangers he went for a walk after dark without a flashlight and fell into the thermal water. But rangers found the man's shoe, hat and a beer can and footprints leading to and from the geyser. The matter is now being investigated and the man is recovering at a local hospital. JENNIFER Park service seeks to know why so many wolves relocated to Isle Royale die We have shared with you before the year-plus effort by the National Park Service to repopulate remote Isle Royale National Park in Michigan's upper peninsula with wolves. The island is overrun with moose, which are wreaking havoc on its ecosystem, and its once thriving wolf population which used to keep them in check is dying out, down to just one male and one female, both aging. But as the park service has captured and released wolves from Minnesota, Michigan and Ontario, Canada, on the island, three have died shortly after their release and one walked across the frozen ice to return to the mainland last winter. This interesting article explores what scientists are doing to try to determine why. MIKE Man dies at Idaho campground after fifth wheel falls on him  A 71-year-old man died last week in an Idaho campground when his RV fell on top of him. The man was jacking up his fifth wheel trailer when it fell on top of him, trapping him underneath. Others at the campground freed the man and started CPR until first responders arrived. He died at the scene. The man was camping at the Snake River RV Park and Campground. JENNIFER Wildfires in New Mexico's Carson National Forest burning near El Rito Wildfires in New Mexico last week were reported near the El Rito Campground in the Carson National Forest and were still burning as of this writing. The cause of the fires is unknown and is near the city of El Rito. If you're planning to head that way to camp, be sure to check ahead. 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 LISTENER QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK QUESTION: I am going to purchase a Class A RV in the near future and after reading your guide about the loss of value as soon as you drive a new rig off the lot, I want to buy a low time used RV.  My question:  Are there "buyer brokers" that could find me the best value for the money that I could "contract" with, that would really just represent my best interests?   Are there knowledgeable buyer  brokers out there  that will be completely subjective as to my needs and not have a "seller" agenda?  If you know, I would appreciate your advice about this and how I would find one.  Thanks, Gary ANSWER: I know of no such person or company that does that, though some dealerships may claim to do so, their first interest is always in selling their company’s inventory and not that of a private seller or the units on a competing dealers lots. There’s no way t get out of doing your own careful shopping and searching for TVs that meet your needs. We can help with ur RV Buyer’s Guide ebook and once you narrow your search down to a coiple of prospects, our best advice is to hite a qualified RV Inspector. Go to the National RV Inspectors Association website https://nrvia.org/ and you’ll find a search form that will locate the closest certified inspector to you. QUESTION: Ran into your youtube channel and love you both!!  I'm probably 10 years from purchasing a new RV, but hope to rent one for some upcoming vacations.  I'm intrigued by Leisure Travel Vans, but my question would be is demand going to outweigh supplies?  All the research I do says that finding a LTV is going to be a long wait - and renting one seems even more unlikely. Thanks for your work - you guys are very informative and oh so cute! Dan ANSWER: For popular RVs like those made by LTV, it is a seller’s market, Demand really outstrips supply. It takes 8 to 10 months from the time you put in your order until the RV is built and delivered to you. There are several private companies that do rent out RVs. To see if you can rent one of the make and model you want, try https://www.outdoorsy.com/ or https://rvshare.com/  But let me also tell you that there is also a huge demand for RVs to be rented. That’s one of the reasons we have our RV Renting School course. More info can be found at https://rvlifestyle.com/rentingschool  Finally, you say you won’t be buying for 10 years. A lot will change in the RV industry in that time. But by buying an RV now, and then renting ot out, you can literally have the RV pay for itself. That then gives you the enjoyment of using it now, whenever you want, then renting it out and earning income from it when you’re not using it. Do you have a question you’d like us to answer, or a comment on the things we’re discussing. If so, we invite you to leave us that question or comment on the special voicemail number we have for the podcast – it’s 586-372-6990.  If you are driving and can’t write it down right now, just go to the RV Lifestyle travel blog at rvlifestyle.com and scroll down the page. You’ll see that number prominently posted on the blog. This part of the RV Podcast is brought to you by Battle Born Batteries, maker of quality, safe and reliable lithium batteries that can be installed in just about every RV. Get in touch with Battle Born to find out what lithium batteries and an upgraded energy management system can add to your RV Lifestyle. Check them out at https://rvlifestyle.com/lithium RV INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK One of our most favorite characters in the RV industry is Dean Corrigal, the very enthusiastic on camera spokesman for Leisure Travel Vans. Over the past few years, Dean has become the most popular RV Salesman in North America. His on camera tours of his company’s RVs have been watched more than 31 million times and the channel has over 136,000 subscribers. Dean has become not only the best-known RV salesman in North America, but a full-fledged celebrity in his own right. He’s also a terrific guy who we’ve gotten to now well over the years as we’ve encountered him at various RV shows. Last week at the California RV Show in Fontana, we got him to come in to the display a little earlier, before the public arrived, and to sit down for an interview about how it all began and what it’s like being a celebrity salesman. Here’s a transcript of the interview: Mike Wendland:           Well, we're sitting in a brand new Leisure Travel Van, and this is the first time I think I've ever seen Dean sit down at an RV show, but we had to come early because once it starts, there you go. Dean Corrigal:               That's right. Mike Wendland:           Thank you for spending some time with us. Dean Corrigal:               No problem. Thank you for having me. Sounds fun. Mike Wendland:           What we want to know is about Dean. Tell us about Dean Corrigal. How did you get into this business and how did you become this guru of doing RV video tours? Dean Corrigal:               You know, kind of a funny thing, I started selling RVs at a retail lot back in the '90s and the factory reps would come in and I thought, oh, they were pretty cool. They didn't have to set up the show, they go out, drinks for the guys after the show. I thought, "Oh, I should be an RV rep, that's way more fun." Be careful for what you wish for, right, because then you get it. The video thing just came out of necessity, we were coming out of that recession, '08, '09. I mean, half the RV dealers in the US went bankrupt, GE cut off all the flooring plan money. We had just come out with the new Unity model and we didn't know how we were going to sell it. So Ryan,