DEALERSHIP SHUTS IT DOWN

[Hemlockusa]

Well the good thing is, it is not a MONTANA, KEYSTONE DEALERSHIP. It is the largest Dealer here in Topeka Kansas.
Just announced two days ago - closing up and selling to the bare walls. Dealers factory invoice plus prep charges. I think he carrys Georgetown, Carri Lite, and Cedar somehing. It is a little scary to think things are going this way in some area's. I think Keystone and MONTANA are the lucky ones and so are we for being owners of their product, this forum and Keystone's constant support for the owners I believe made the product bullet proof. It takes everyone to do this.. It makes me sad to think the USA has oil in the Kekkan Foundation Montana that would meet our needs and congress will not vote to drill... Now that is SAD.
Safe Travels every one.
John

[richfaa]

At the N.E rally Aram said that Montana is doing OK.Sales are down but I beleive he said they are building 33 units a day??? did I hear that Wrong??? Wonder how future orders are going. There was a time when they had several months worth of orders in advance..

[nailbender]

It is very sad to read about dealers closing. If something is not done soon about the cost of fuel, there will be many more dealers as well as manufacturers closing.

[sreigle]

John, is that Anderson's, ReMax, Roberts, The Boat House, or Wilcox? I can't recall which is largest. I think it was Anderson's.

[Hemlockusa]

Steve - It was WILCOX on highway 24, that is the largest in Topeka. Then anderson second... Remax is just selling consignments, I don't think he has sold a new unit of his own in three or four years, but he does do repairs.

[Garin1]

John, I read a couple of days ago that Alfa Leisure has closed it's doors in Ontario Ca. The article stated that the final blow was a lack of product support from one of their key suppliers. Sure hope this does not become a trend.

[Hemlockusa]

Gary, I think that is where Keystone and I would say MOST of there dealers shine. I do believe that this will not be the trend for GOOD DEALERS with the MONTANA KEYSTONE PRODUCT.
Coming back home from RGV this last spring it amazed me the large dealerships in the Valley and also through-out Texas. I would sure hate to have that kind of inventory the way the economy is trending, and I am sure there BANKS feel the same way. Some of these dealerships had over 75 to 100 coaches and about that many 5th wheels lines up along the highway. Now that is an Inventory nighmare right now. I wish them all good luck, for as they go WE GO.. We all have a partnership in this way of life and life style.. safe travels John

[fulltimedreamer]

We visited our local Camping World last week and took a stroll through the sales lot. I have never seen so much inventory on a RV sales lot. There were scores of new diesel coaches and all other types of RVs. We walked through a couple of Class A's, TTs, and 5ers. If they are carrying a note on all those units I'm afraid somebody will be in trouble very soon. I wish this fuel thing would turn around, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.

[Trailer Trash 2]

I will bet it's going to get worst. remember the 70's? 80 to 90% of the RV industry went south because of the gas crunch back then. Remember the odd,even days, and gas lines? were lucky we dont have them yet. Everything is going up except our salery or income.

[Dave e Victoria]

It is interesting that most of the posts on this topic are blaming fuel price. Fact is that the industry was in a severe tailspin for several months. The cause is the housing market according to industry insiders. In the past, new retirees made up the lion's share of the market. They took equity from their home and other assets to finance the retirement dream. Now the equity is gone as are all of the fancy financing schemes. Those coming in to purchase are either downsizing their purchases or forgoing the purchase all together. Interestingly, the RVIA estimates the average RV owner only uses about 1000 gallons of fuel per year. So, compared to the price of the rig and the financing, fuel cost is relatively small potatoes. Fuel is out of control for the past few months but the down turn at Fleetwood, Coachman, Monaco and others has been years in the making. Having said that, fuel cost might just be the iceberg hitting the sinking ship.

[dsprik]

I like your analysis, Dave (as usual).

[richfaa]

Good analysis Dave..The oil market is down 2.84 today but not to get exicted.It is the speculators that bought at 122/ 125 BBL taking advantage of the 16.00 increase in two days and profit taking. Any doubt about manipulation?????

[dsprik]

From what I understand from my reading - as oil prices are strictly a result of "supply and demand" - we must have had several million bbls of oil (supply) miraculously appear overnight. Mysterious stuff, that black gold... It's incredible that these commodities traders seem to have a sixth sense about when these supplies are going to appear and disappear suddenly.

And the next Lehman Bros/Goldman Sachs loud mouth that steps outside to announce "$150/bbl by July" or "$200/bbl by the end of the year", better have body armor on. Someone could mistake that for "manipulation"... These two firms hold "billions in oil future contracts" (CNN). Surely no one would misinterpret such bold public statements as a conflict of interest, would they???

[Trailer Trash 2]

I believe that Oil prices do have a lot to do with whats happining to our econamy along with the G8 countries, the airline industry, trucking, farming,and factories, all being hit hard of the cost to keep up and running for power, fuel, and supplies.
As for the housing section a lot of realy bad judgments on refinancing, and home equity loans, barrowing money for just about anything on there property, then the market falls they are in the red with large payments they cant make. It's sad to see. this happened in the 80's too, high interest and high housing prices then it fell. almost the same thing now. hopefully things will ballance out and we can fix it.
Of course these are how I interpret whats happing to everybody now. and there are other who will disagree which is OK too.

[Trailer Trash 2]

quote:Originally posted by dsprik

From what I understand from my reading - as oil prices are strictly a result of "supply and demand" - we must have had several million bbls of oil (supply) miraculously appear overnight. Mysterious stuff, that black gold... It's incredible that these commodities traders seem to have a sixth sense about when these supplies are going to appear and disappear suddenly.

And the next Lehman Bros/Goldman Sachs loud mouth that steps outside to announce "$150/bbl by July" or "$200/bbl by the end of the year", better have body armor on. Someone could mistake that for "manipulation"... These two firms hold "billions in oil future contracts" (CNN). Surely no one would misinterpret such bold public statements as a conflict of interest, would they???

Isnt it amazing,
I saw on the news the other day that the Oil we are using now is oil that was purchased for $90. a barrel, as for supply and demand people are driving less now, look at the freeways, hardly any trafic there like it used to be a year ago. when we get hooked up to the Monty and go somewhere we hardly see and RV's on the road as before. on our last trip last month I counted about 10 RV's on the road in the Palm Springs area, most of the time there are 10 times that amount.

[Okie Guy]

One place the fuel prices are not hurting the RV or housing industry are in central Oklahoma. RV sales are actually up and one station did a story on that last month. The housing boom is still in full swing. I purchased a home last month and got a great interest rate. The only problem is that while housing prixces are plumeting across the nation they are still going up around here. I hope we are not just on auto pilot until the crash hits. The only thing we have going for us is the oil industry. There is such a demand for oil field workers and places for them to live it just keeps driving the housing market.
Phil

[MacDR50]

There is a growing market here for 5vers from people who have no intention of buying a truck. The dealer I bought from moves them out each spring and back in the fall for 50 cents a km and $60 an hour. People move around each year to different CG's or, like us, they have a seasonal site at the same CG year after year. I intend to start towing next year regardless of fuel prices because I am not getting younger.

[jsmitfl]

My sister has been with Coachman for over 30 years and they are layed off right now. I guess they have orders but can't get the chassis. They can run all their orders with Fords but the Chevy and GMC chassis they can't get. I guess thats why I moved to Florida back in '84, got tired of being layed off 4-6 months out of the year. Only thing is, they've had it pretty good up there till now. It'll take a long time to come back again now.

[TAKPAK]

I went by the dealership that we bought our Monty from (three months ago) yesterday. There was nobody there that I recognized. The fellow behind the counter said that most everyone had been laid off and it was just a skeleton crew. No more maintenance at the shop, only two salesmen left, and the dealership was up for sale. The guy said sales and business were off 60 percent. He's been in the business for 25 years and it's the worst he's ever seen it. They have already closed one of their other locations as well. A friend of ours worked (yes, past tense) in the industry (SOB) and told us the whole industry is in turmoil right now. No one knows when (or if) it will ever come around.

We can only hope..........

[Waynem]

I talked with my favorite "technician," today and things have slowed down some. But, if anyone needs some private work done and are in my area, he's willing to work if you can't get it into the dealership.