RV Lifestyle RV Podcast
RT019: Don’t Buy at an RV Show Without Listening to This!
Joe Murray has seen a lot in his 40 years of being in the RV business, but the current market is among the best he can remember.
It only took one look around the floor at the Grand Rapids Camper, Travel & RV Show this past weekend to see why – the packed aisles were full of potential buyers, from millennials to baby boomers.
And to Murray, regional sales manager for Roadtrek, packed shows like this – and RV horns sounding a sale just about every five minutes – signify a great start to the year after a stellar 2014.
“There’s an awful lot of money in this economy and there’s a lot of interest in mobility, camping and travel,” Murray told Roadtreking in Grand Rapids. “I think we’re going to have another banner year.”
Murray talked to us for episode 19 of the Roadtreking RV Podcast, addressing all-things-RV, from how use of RVs has evolved in the last 15 years (less camping, more touring) and who the typical customer is to what you should hope to take away from your RV show experiences – just in time for the busy RV show season.
Murray, with the help of other show attendees, help you understand:
What are some questions you need to answer about buying an RV that might not be so obvious
Should you even touch anything when checking out RVs at the show
Whether you should buy from inventory or special order to get the best price
Whether the prices at RV shows really are rock bottom
How to "try on an RV" for size at the show, making sure it works for you and your RVing style
What is the most important question that you should ask an RV dealer before you buy
What kind of RVs have the hands down highest resale value, year in and year out
How are today's RV buyers different from those of year's past
[spp-tweet "Secrets of buying at an RV show"]
[spp-player]
Shownotes for Episode 19 of Roadtreking The RV Podcast
First Things First: Florida RV SuperShow Sets the Tone
The Florida RV SuperShow from Tampa, Fla. sets the tone for the entire year when it comes to all-things-RV. Roadtreking's Campskunk was there for day one and two of the show last week that set attendance records, further distancing us from the dark days of the late aughts. Need further proof? A surprising number of units were actually sold during the show. But is an RV show the best place to buy an RV? It's the focus of this week's show.
Interviews: How to Shop for an RV at an RV Show
We were at the Grand Rapids Camper, Travel & RV Show this past weekend and talked to several experts to gain super-insider info on how to shop for and buy an RV and how to use and RV show to find the best deal on the best unit.
Questions of the Week: Grilling and Organizing
A listener shared feedback on the George Foreman Grill and how much she loves us after reading a post where we shared our use of it. We responded to her feedback with an update about the new grill we use after our old one fell off a table last year.
We now use the Cuisinart GR-150 Griddler Deluxe $159
We then took a question from a reader named Don who wondered about cabinet and drawer dividers to keep things in place in the RV. We suggested a visit to Bed Bath & Beyond and Walmart for starters, or any Camping world store. TV shows all have lots of vendors who sell such items, too.
Travel Tech of the Week: Password Management and Hacker Protection
The massive theft of over a BILLION email accounts by a Russian hacker gang has Internet security experts scrambling and ordinary online users wondering what they can do to protect themselves. But there are ways to protection yourselves.
The very first thing Internet users need to do is change their passwords. Use a program called LastPass to manage all your passwords. It keeps track of your user names and passwords for you and logins in automatically with them. This is how passwords should be -- very complex. The program will generate secure passwords like fshsgRHF#1kaj# .... just try and remember that one on your own!