Just saw this this morning from RV Travel newsletter.

Losses mount at struggling Fleetwood Enterprises
Fleetwood Enterprises Inc., announced a big quarterly loss on Thursday, hurt by a steep decline in sales of its motorhomes. The company reported a net loss for its fiscal first quarter, ended July 27, of $29.1 million compared with a year-ago loss of $2.3 million. Sales fell 41 percent to $289.9 million. The company's market valuation has slumped from about $750 million a year ago to $164 million today.

Fred

Fred,

Yep, even the big companies are having problems. I'm just afraid that it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Jim

Fleetwood being one of the larger manufactures of RV's I am thinking things will bet worse for all in the RV industry before better. southwestjudy

Wonder if business will slow down enough that dealers will actually take service appointments from people who didn't buy their rig there?

Hi, I've got to say, that in the 2 1/2 years we've been traveling that we've never had a problem getting a service appointment at a dealer anywhere, and none of them have been the dealer we purchased from. At least 6 or 7 dealers in many states, some of them not even Carriage dealers. Good luck, you may find that it's not as bad as you think. Fred

Fred...to be fair the last time I tried to get an appointment was at the end of June (2 months ago). I called 7 RV dealers in Calgary AB and before I could even tell them why I wanted a service appointment, 6 of the 7 asked "Did you buy your trailer here?". When I replied to the negative they responded that they did not service what they did not sell. (the 7th would give me an appointment 4 months down the road). Maybe its just a Canadian thing? In any event I did get my trailer fixed at a rural location 200 miles away from Calgary. Last winter I received similar service denial in Texas and Tenn but only occasionally. The RV service business must be good in the areas I frequent I guess. I agree that any RV business should service their big $ customers first, so I can't fault them. If it was my business that would be my priority as well. As I have told the recreational dealers association for Canada and Alberta, their dealers are missing an opportunity here. (I'll never buy from the dealers who refused my service business) Not sure what the answer is, but the area looks ripe for new service providers here. It appears demand for RV service outstrips supply.

Interesting time in the industry. I read that Tiffin cut 150 jobs (out of 800). We went through the factory three weeks ago and they are making six per week, going to five per week. Foretravel is making two coaches per week. Monaco has cut 1450 jobs and closing their operation(s) in Indiana and moving them to Oregon. (I think I read three offices remain open in Indiana.) Pam and I will be at the Hersey PA RV show in about 10 days so hopefully we can learn more about what that means for those of us that are getting closer (next June) to becoming Full Timers.