RV sales down 30 percent

CONCORD, N.C. -- RV sales have plummeted some 30 percent in the last three years. Now with rising gas prices and the credit crunch, experts are calling for another drop this year.

When you look out over the camping lot at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, which is filled with RVs, it’s tough to imagine the industry as a whole is hurting.

But the truth is, business is down and some people here have found a way to take advantage of that.

“I get about 12 miles to the gallon,” says RV owner Jim Neely.

With today’s gas prices some say RVs are just too expensive to drive for all the trips they want to take. Nancy Dreyer says they couldn’t go on their cross country trip this year because of fuel prices.

“At a cost of probably well over $10,000 and we cancelled it,” she said.

Even the racing regulars like Neely are starting to doubt their annual trips.

“Had to make sure I had extra money set aside to come down this time,” he said.

Salesmen at Tom Johnson Camping Center in Concord say a $1 increase in gas prices really doesn’t affect the average 400-mile RV trip.

Dan Seymour says, “You’re only talking about an increase of $20 each way,” when you consider that the average gas mileage for an RV is 10 miles per gallon.

For a friend of Tom Dreyer though, that was simply too much.

He says, “A friend went down to Key West this year and he called us and said he’d like a loan because he had to get back. He bought a new RV and he’s sorry he did now.”

Dreyer was able to take advantage of the declining RV sales.

He told his salesman that he wouldn’t pay more than that RV would be worth after one year of depreciation.

“They were willing to do it," he said. "And they even put in the satellite and washer and dryer and a bunch of other things.”

In Concord, Seymour says, race week has definitely helped their sales so far.

But they are working out more creative deals and services to keep from loosing money this year.

“The industry again is expecting about a 10 percent decrease and we’re starting to feel that,” Seymour said.

The good news, he says, is that people are realizing they can still afford some trips.

"You might want to travel a little less further from home than you wanted to,” he said.

And that means some people are still buying RVs.