Major RV Dealership Chain On Life Support As Industry Downturn Deepens

In this video, we take a look at recent moves by Lazydays RV dealership chain designed to keep the company fload amidst a cash crunch.

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[mchurch]

I wonder if RV manufacturers pushing garbage out their doors and not standing behind their products has anything to do with it?🤔

[TimMcmillan-kc]

I live in Chattanooga and I won’t go near the local CW for anything! In the past I would go to look at RV’s or buy something at their store and when I left I wanted to go home and take a shower, not because it’s a dirty place, it’s just the way they do business. I’ll give you an example of what I’m talking about. October 2023 their service department burned down but they still wanted people that lost their RV’s to the fire to pay their service invoices, that’s how greedy they are! I can get anything I need for our RV from Etrailer or Amazon. Rant over.

[martyh]

No surprise Lazy Days is struggling. Years ago I was involved in a consulting project that was tailored to help Lazy Days to become more efficient. Well Lazy Days top management wasn't comfortable with actually making the changes per our recommendations and the help we offered. Now they are finally paying the price for their complacency. Now, selling to Camping World is just passing the buck, as Camping World itself is not much better either.

[MarcoAntonio-wdjs]

Sadly, the future may look bright for CW, but not for the consumer. I've heard nothing good at all about their lack of customer service or them standing behind the products they sell or making warranty issues right for the customer.

[ellenpowers]

Bought our motorhome at LazyDays in Tucson a couple years ago. Good experience there with both sales and service.

[towgod]

Great video! The behind the scenes machinations of the industry is not something I normally pay attention to. Unfortunately for me, nothing has changed. I am still holding off on buying my next RV until two things happen a) the build quality improves dramatically. B) the current OUTRAGEOUS prices come down to a level us mere mortals can hope to afford.

[Max-on-Tour]

We went to the recent RV Fall Show in Tampa, and from what I saw, I am not surprised at all to hear this news. They were showing off RVs that clearly suffered from the recent hurricanes in the area. They were dirty and one Class A even had mold growing on the roof line.

[gerrysherman]

We went to a Camping World a few months ago to look at a used Airstream. The unit was a mess. They jacked up the internet price after I told them I wanted to look at it. When we got there I felt li, e we were at the deli counter at the grocery store and fe.t limewe needed to take a number even though we had made an appointment. The place gave us the creeps and we'll never go to another one.

[jackalay]

Yeah I keep hearing housing downturn, car sales downturn, RV sales downturn. I see corporate earnings in these industries crashing. What I don't see is lower prices.

[chrisschiel]

So glad lazy days got rid of their CEO. I was in the one in Knoxville and I was told that the first priority was to redesign all stores so they all look the same. What a total waste of money. The guy said no money was allowed for training just redesigning.
I hope they don't sell that one. They have really stepped up their game. Brought my class B van in for warranty service and they went above and beyond to repair it knowing I did not even buy it from them (like the last 2 I did)

[dalehuber]

It's a sad commentary on the rv industry as a whole. Thank you for the update!

[FrankC-qp]

Been to the Council Bluffs, IA (Omaha) was super new & nice. Fantastic staff. Over consolidating is rarely helpful:(

[AlexConner]

As someone who bought their RV from Lazy days in Elkhart, they're probably the only dealer where customer service will sharply improve under CW ownership.

[ozzielinkin]

Keep the news coming and thx for posting !!!!

[TheFreewheelinNomad]

Great analysis, Jason! Lazydays’ strategy shows how even big names face challenges. Thanks for your insights. It helps me grasp these complex RV business moves. Keep up the awesome work! 👏💡

[scottc]

I visited the LazyDays dealership in Tucson last week. The sign on the door for parts (the retail store) said it was closed for refurbishment. The employee I spoke with indicated he didn't know if it would reopen or not because it wasn't profitable. Another employee recommended to another potential customer visiting at the same time as me, to visit the Camping World down the street for parts.

I am an RVer in the Winter and a Campground owner/operator during the Summer. The quality of RVs that came out during the Covid experience burned many first time RVers so bad that they sold up and chose to abandon RVing as a recreational past time. Or, at least, that is the impression I gathered just talking to guests and other RVers over the last couple of years. RV manufacturers and dealers, in my opinion, burned the future for a quick profit during the Covid Experience.


Between this and the crisis brewing in California with the Clean Air standards, I am a bit anxious for what the future of RVing will look like. Less overall RVers? More trailers and 5th Wheels?

[ExpeditionNomadicAdventures]

Camping world is becoming the “Thor” of RV dealerships.

[KylesRV]

Several months ago, Lazy Days closed their Houston Texas location. I sure hated to see that because they were a good service center. In Houston they had primarily low end units. 20+ years ago I purchased a towable Holiday Rambler from Lazy Days. It was an excellent experience.

[sherriweber]

That’s sad that Lazy Days is struggling. The one out here in Vegas is still here I believe. They just bought out one of the Rv dealers here. Hopefully it will get better for them in the future. Thank you Jason for this news and information.

[stevenglacoste]

Very informative video! Camping World took over two Dealerships in Mass. One in West Hatfield (Diamond) and the other in Uxbridge. Prior to them selling their Dealerships, each Dealership were selling Diesel Pusher motorhomes. Unfortunately